Hating Politics

Politics seem to permeate almost everything these days.  I remember when people just went about their daily business and were only assaulted by politics when an election year rolled around.  But now it seems to be politics every day and in almost everything around us.

The sad thing is that it affects us as humans.  I see people all the time shunning their fellow man simply because of opposing political ideology, or even the perception of opposing views.  A good example is John Cuzack.  John is a good guy, a Democrat and a concerned citizen.  A couple of weeks ago he tweeted that he read an interesting article by Tom Engelhardt about how the Office of the President has become “imperial” to the point that the president can order someone killed at any time. The article wasn’t a direct slam on the president; in fact it went into detail about how the office started to change after 9/11, and how the Bush administration made changes.  Obama simply inherited these new powers, but he’s also expanded them to give himself even more control. 

Cuzack wasn’t saying anything bad against the president; he was just saying the article was interesting and that perhaps the Office of the President has become almost king-like instead of an office of serving the people and there needs to be accountability.

Well, the response he got was mixed, but I was really surprised at the number of liberals who attacked John because they didn’t care what the article really said, they just saw something they deemed negative about Obama so they tweeted that they didn’t know Cuzack was a Republican and they wouldn’t follow him anymore, even though he had been on their top 10 follow list.

Huh?  So you love John Cuzack, watch his movies and follow him on Twitter, but he posts a link to an article saying that presidential powers are getting out of control, and you decide that he can’t possibly just be a concerned citizen, but that he must be a Republican… so now you hate him.

This is just an example of what goes on today.  We have become a nation of two camps: Democrats and Republicans, and people try to force you into one of these camps even if you’re like me and claim no political affiliation.  I see them on TV sizing up people by asking the hot-button questions, “are you for gay marriage,” and “do you believe in gun control.”  If you answer yes to these questions they put you in Camp Democrat; but a negative response will get you put into the Republican camp.  Once they have you in a camp they know whose side you’re on and whether or not they like you.  They don’t care who you really are inside, they base their entire opinion of you on the camp they’ve put you in.  You can be the nicest person on the planet, but once you’re put into a camp you’re labeled for prosecution by the other side.

A good example of this is the 2009 Academy Awards.  Every year they present a montage of Hollywood industry folks who have died the past year.  The amount of applause that occurs as each picture is displayed is a good indicator of the actor’s industry popularity.  Well that year Charlton Heston’s picture was shown, and the room was almost silent.  Now, this is a man who brought us iconic pictures like Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, and the Sci-Fi epic Planet of the Apes.  He won a ton of awards, including the Jean Hersholt Academy Award for his humanitarian work.  He was a consummate actor and good guy, but the room was almost silent.  Why?  Because Charlton had been put into the Republican camp and this wasn’t acceptable to mainstream Hollywood.  Instead of revering him for his amazing contributions to their craft and his humanitarian work, they shunned him over politics.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: the single greatest threat to the safety and prosperity of this country is Republicans and Democrats.  Well, there's the Tea Party too, but as far as I can tell the Tea Party is just a bunch of disgruntled Republicans.  I have certain views from both conservative and liberal camps that I agree with, but I refuse to be pushed into a camp. Politics and politicians are all the same in the end, so I choose to not participate in a party.

I vote for the person who most closely believes in the kind of America I want to live in. 

There’s no perfect candidate and it’s a forgone conclusion that the two main parties are too big and strong to not get elected, so unfortunately I have to choose one of their candidates or my vote is wasted, and I refuse to abstain from voting.  It would be irresponsible of me and all of you as citizens of this free country to ignore the election process.

We can’t help but get some of the political rancor on us.  It’s everywhere and I don’t think any of us will completely go unscathed.  Politics, liberal, conservative, racism, reverse racism, poor, rich, black, white, media, blogging... I'm just tired of all the hatred.

“God, sometimes it’s a bit depressing to watch as my fellow countrymen spend their time hating each other instead of using their skills to help one another.  I ask for patience to handle this, and wisdom as we prepare to vote later this year.  Thanks.”

The Choice of Blaming

I had lunch today in the Haven for Hope cafeteria, which I do most days now that I work there.  I always try to pick someone new to sit with every day because it's always very interesting to hear their stories, and I've heard a lot of stories. Today I sat with a young man named Ryan.  He seemed quiet when I sat down, and a little jittery.  He looked to be less than 30 years old, but it's hard to tell people's ages in this place.

I finally introduced myself and he told me his name.  We talked about the food, and how it was to live at the Haven.  He had only good things to say.  Then I asked him how he got here.  It turns out that he was a youth pastor until his wife suddenly died.  His faith was shredded and his life spiraled out of control until he ended up sitting across the table having lunch with me in a homeless shelter.

I'm surprised everyone in the room couldn't hear my heart breaking.

I asked him if his faith had been shaken, and he said it definitely was.  So then I told him that I thought it was odd that when terrible things happen to people they raise their fists and rail at God, blaming him for their pain and suffering... and all the while they let the devil completely off the hook.  I said God is the creator of everything that is good and pure, but Satan is the destroyer of everything good.  Perhaps his anger was being directed in the wrong place.

All Ryan said was "Fair enough," and we sat in silence eating our lunch.  He finished his meal and said it was nice to meet me and went on his way, alone, head down, destroyed.

It's too easy to say that God works in mysterious ways.  It's almost a meaningless cliche when someone has lost the love of their life.  I can only hope that God will free Ryan of this torture that he has put on himself.  In the end it's his choice though.

"God, I pray for pastor Ryan.  Please reveal your plan for his life and relieve him of the hell in which he has relegated his life.  I know you don't want that for him.  Please.  Heal him."

On Brown Coffee

It’s been an unfortunate day having a local San Antonio business put in a very bad light on a national level. Several hours after NY decided it would be ok for homosexuals to marry each other, the owner of Brown Coffee Company, Aaron Blanco posted on his business Twitter account that “No human law can ever legitimize what natural law precludes.”

The result was a predictable hailstorm of liberals spewing hatred at the company, even so far as Anthony Bourdain from the Travel Channel chiming in with his two cents in a Tweet that said “Dear Brown Coffee: God called. He said you suck.”  How arrogant do you have to be to think you can speak for God?  Your quip is both offensive and intolerant, Mr. Bourdain.

Yes, I said intolerant.  The liberal’s buzzword for anyone who doesn’t agree with their views.  I submit that it’s the liberal community who are actually intolerant to other people’s Constitutional right to free speech.  Mr. Blanco’s comment didn’t say “Kill homosexuals,” he simply posted that he doesn’t agree with homosexual marriage.  It wasn’t a hateful statement; it was just his opinion for which I spent 21 years in the military defending our Constitution so he could voice his opinion as a free American, just as I defend the homosexual’s right to free speech too!  We’re supposed to be a free society in which we can agree to disagree about anything, and voice our opinions without fear of being harmed.

Our society has degenerated to the point that only a few are allowed to have an opinion and if you disagree with them you’re vilified in the media and your livelihood is threatened.  Just because someone disagrees with homosexuals they are instantly labeled as intolerant and homophobic, when it is them who are being intolerant by trying to take away people’s right to disagree with them.

What Mr. Blanco did wasn’t smart.  Using his business account to give a personal opinion about a hot-button topic like homosexual marriage was a bad idea.  Business owners should know their business has to be neutral unless they want to lose a segment of consumers.  But he didn’t express it in a way that would cause physical harm to anyone, so the hatefulness being delivered to him and his business by the liberal community is just another attempt to chip away at our Constitution and force people to bend to their way of thinking.

Christ commanded us to love one another.  He didn’t specify a race, color or politics. He meant everyone.  So that’s what I do.  I don’t care if you’re homosexual; my only concern is whether or not you have a personal relationship with Christ.  After that, you and Him can work out the particulars of your lifestyle choices.

“God, please help us to love each other the way you love us, and to be bold enough to stand up for the truth that you have given us in your infallible Word.”

Death, food, giving and an oasis.

Saturday was an interesting day.  My wife read an article in the daily paper about 18 month old Jesaydin Guerrero losing his life in a traffic accident.  The family needed money to have a funeral for the child so they set up a BBQ stand at the funeral home over the weekend to raise much needed funds.  The accident was especially tragic because it was a family member who accidentally ran over the child, and then to add insult to injury the family doesn’t have the money to bury him.

It took about .3 seconds for us to be in the car headed for the funeral home.  Although I’ve been going to school for over a year and have had no job, my wife and I still feel blessed and when God moves us to share of our finances we know we have to do it.  God loves us, and would never leave us short on money, so even when we don’t think we have enough to share, we have found that if we follow God’s urging we always come out ok.

Anyway, we went to the funeral home and there was a pretty good crowd.  Family and friends were busy grilling up chicken quarters and Kielbasa sausage.  There were beans and potato salad and bread, packaged in the neat Styrofoam container with a picnic style plastic fork, knife and napkin in a sealed bag.  Nice meal.

The gentlemen gave us our meals and asked for $12. Now, this is where God moves in my life.  He continually shows me that I am blessed, and I have to say one of my greatest pleasures is giving to those who are in need.  I’m the guy who stops traffic to hand a beggar a few bucks that everyone hates because they feel I’m enabling this guy not to work, or that he’ll just spend it on booze.  Well, I don’t care what they think, if the guy spends it on something I wouldn’t approve of then that is on him, not me.  What I handed him was a gift, and once I gave it to him it became his to do with whatever he wants.  It doesn’t lessen my responsibility to try and help him.

Sorry to get off the path.  My point is that I know people need help sometimes, and I’ve been blessed beyond compare.  So I took my two meals, handed the guy a hundred bucks, politely said “keep the change,” and left.  I heard him say “God bless you!” as we walked away, and I thought to myself “He just did.”

We left the funeral home and it was such a nice day that I drove to the other side of I-10 to Camp St and stopped at Chris Park.  This little one acre green-space is truly an oasis in the ugly downtown urbanity of San Antonio.  It was built by Linda Pace as a memorial to her son who died at the age of 25.  The park is across the street from the Camp Street Lofts and is pretty easy to find off S. Flores.  You may recognize the name “Pace.” They created Pace Picante and used to own the Pearl Brewery (Pabst Blue Ribbon).

We took our BBQ bounty and sat under a beautiful shade tree and enjoyed the beauty of the park, shutting out the sights and sounds of the city for a while, and contemplated the abruptness of life, and losing an 18 month old child.

The contrast of death and the beauty of the life in the park was a reminder to me that our world is filled with both, and we will all be touched by both at some time in our life.  I don’t have the answer to the question of “why did God let this happen to Jesaydin.”  I only know that He doesn’t wish us harm.  Only Satan wishes us harm.  God teaches us through adversity, and strengthens us through our failures.

40 Days

It was Easter Sunday yesterday, and the season of Lent has ended.  I’m happy to say that my social experiment in news deprivation for the past 40 days was a success.  For 40 days I didn’t purposely watch the news on TV, or log on to any media outlets online, or use my iPhone to check any news stories.  I also didn’t listen to any radio stations but KLOVE, or read any books except the Bible.

I wanted to see what life would be like without the negative inputs that can come from media.  So I cut out everything: no liberally biased NPR radio, no conservative leaning Fox News, no news at all except for collateral information gleaned from posts on Facebook or Twitter.

What did I learn from this experience?  Well, mostly that the old adage “if it bleeds, it leads” is absolutely true, especially in San Antonio.  Although I never purposely turned on the news, there were a few times I couldn’t help but hear it because it was on a television at a restaurant.  After not seeing the news for several weeks it really stood out that what our local news agencies report the most is bad news.  It made me wonder why I needed to know that someone crashed on 1604 and died, or that someone robbed a cell phone store in Leon Valley, or that two morons were charged with drunken boating.  How did these stories enhance my life?  Why was this news that everyone in San Antonio needed to know? 

Some people will simply say “don’t watch it, just change the channel.”  That’s a problem for me because I’d like to know the news, the real news, the news that makes a difference in people’s lives; like how people are helping the homeless in San Antonio and how others can, and should get involved.  I want to know what our government is doing in this city and state, and how our representatives are actually representing us.  I want to know about events like festivals, and stories about the hundreds of good and kind acts that happen in this city every day.  What I don’t want is 30 minutes of news that has two good stories and 25 bad.

So what now?  Has my social experiment changed me in any way?  I’d have to say yes.  It’s helped me see what is important.  Without the constant intake of injustice and inhumane acts from around the globe, I’ve spent the past 40 days not worrying about all the things going on in the world and concentrated on the vicinity around me.  The place that I can really be effective. 

Don’t get me wrong, I pray for the entire planet on a regular basis.  But getting my stomach in a knot about how Gaddafi or some other despot is treating their citizens doesn’t do anything to enhance my life.  I know there will be injustice, that’s a given in this world.  But knowing about every instance of it only brings us down.

Overall, I’ve felt better the past 40 days not having the “news” in my head.  I’ll probably watch some news now, but I don’t think it’ll be the same.  Maybe I’ll start a “pleasant news” network where for every bad story that has to be reported, 20 good stories must follow.  Ha!

My advice to all of you is to unplug like I did and see how your life changes.  If you’re a media junky and think that you have to know every news story that gets broadcasted, then that’s your god.  Take a break from it and see how you feel in 40 days.

“God, thanks for this experience.  It’s helped me become more focused on meaningful use of my thoughts and time.  And oh yeah, to celebrate Easter can you tell Jesus 'Happy Resurrection' from me.  I know that was a pretty busy day and we all appreciate His sacrifice and love for us.  We love Him back.  Amen.”