The Observation Deck

In contrast to many 'Deck discussions, I really think this is a good one. It has a depth of thought that is stimulating to me in the extreme...

Here is a story:

I think that I do know to whom it was supposed to have been about, but without documentation, I will leave that particular aspect to others.

I do understand that the young man, of whom the story is told, went on to change the world around him in a great many ways.

Regardless of provenance, the story stands well on its own.

This particular young man, one day in frustration, asked his minister why there was so much sorrow and tragedy in the world. In anger, the lad asked why God had not done something about it.

"He did", replied the minister. "He created you."

Since the time of Christ, in some ways, this old world of ours has changed very little.

Many, if not most human governments still would have us believe that they are sterling examples of purity and idealism on the one hand, while their other hand reaches either for our wallets, or for their own whips.

The poor indeed, continue to be with us always, and as Scripture enjoins, the foolish of this world continue to confound the supposedly wise among us.

The purifiers and reformers continue their hollow and mostly unheard cries for social justice, while those having temporal power continue to concoct countless subterfuges to keep the rest of us thinking that we might actually share in that power. Sometimes, we even do.

But the real power is indeed spiritual, and is available to all of us...

...and it can, and does still, move mountains every single day.

Looking at history, so many times, a single person rises up, almost Christologically, and makes the kind of difference that most of us never dream about. Whether that person be a St. Francis of Assisi, or a Mother Teresa, the paradigms are there for us.

You own life is unique to your own time and place. Rather than look to others, seek what is that YOU can do, to make that better world that we are discussing here.

Back to the banjo...

Nancy Pelosi has the look of a commander, the split second after telling the firing squad to shoot, realizing she is still standing in front of the target.

I referr to this as the "OH CRAP!" moment.

"I didn't know!"

"well, I knew some of it, but not everything!"

"okay, I knew most of it, but I didn't really have the ability to do anything about it!"

"okay, okay, here's what REALLY happened... they lied to me."

last time I heard a story like this, my two year old son (crumbs all over his face) was trying to tell me he didn't know what happened to the cookies.

I, for one, love history.

And while there are those who might think that the polemical squabbling that goes on here on the 'deck is a rather recent phenomenon, the truth is that this whole left/right cat fight goes back to the beginning of our country's history, if not well before.

During the Civil War (Or was that the war of Northern Aggression? As those south of the Mason-Dixon line are still often wont to suggest) Union General McClellan often disagreed with President Lincoln on the waging of that war. In 1864, the General ran against Lincoln for the presidency.

I guess that, as long as we can wage verbal or written political conflict without resorting to lies, subterfuge, or violence, that's probably a good thing.

I would simply offer that these positions that we take are not new ones. Our strings have been pulled by our backgrounds, our preconceptions, and yes, at times, even our rose-colored glasses. (hence the banjo)

It's that deep abyss that we have to stay back from, and there is a very slippery slope indeed leading up to that abyss.

We MUST remember that the 20th century probably caused the deaths of more people, due to political violence, than all other centuries combined.

We MUST remember that the potential, as well as the technological prowess for even greater political violence, continues to exist and even play out in this century.

For that reason, I would argue that the enemy here is not your neighbor with whom you might politically disagree, but rather the potential for uncivil or intolerant conflict itself, that we must try to avoid.