Striving for Unity - January 26, 2021

I have tried very hard, as a citizen, to be informed, to be steadfast with my opinions and positions while being willing to take in new information, to see the value in compromise, and to recognize all people around me in my country as valued human beings.  Even when lobbying and speaking representatives and senators, even ones who disagreed with me, I only wanted them to listen and consider what I had to say.   I didn’t always sway them, but they heard me. 

  Now, I see senators and representatives either believing a quasi-fascistic approach to party politics that focuses on one person who has influence over their voters, much more than they have.   And what can some of them do if they want to stay in office, other than vote in a way that still shows homage to that person, whether or not they believe it’s moral, appropriate, or warranted?  

    These leaders say current proposals on how to handle the difficulties of the last several weeks are all about “hatred” of that person.   That person had many opportunities to win people over, but he was never inclined to do that.  It was more important to ridicule and denigrate.  It was more important to him to burn bridges than to build them.  So now, as the burning reach the most extreme level of communal arson, accountability must be a condition of unity.  Yet, those who say, “it’s time to move on” fear the consequences of revealing their moral fiber which could deprive them of their influence and power.     

    So it is likely that they believe, or have to believe, falsehoods that they must present as true if they want to retain their positions. 

    This isn’t the first time a need to hold onto a lie has happened in American history, of course.  However, when this approach excuses the perpetration of a campaign meant to undermine the fabric and foundation of our democratic government, its consequences will be with us for the foreseeable future.  

     I pray that some of us will find a way to preserve and add to the American tapestry and make it more colorful and more beautiful, rather than to see anyone eliminate altogether its many hues that are essential to our national character.   

      That must be our mission moving forward.

A Prayer for January 20, 2021

A Prayer for January 20, 2021

God, bless this new day. 

A time of renewal,

A moment of regeneration. 

An opportunity for reconciliation. 

A celebration of history. 

A commemoration of growth yet to come. 

God, bless this new day. 

A reflection of our people 

A consequence of our colorful human tapestry. 

A culmination of consistent and honored service 

A confirmation of a choice of leadership. 

A consecration of national persistence. 

God, bless this new day

A reminder of our hallowed values. 

A challenge to demonstrate our essential moral fiber. 

A clarion call to exhibit the best of our collective character. 

A restoration of avenues leading to intersecting perspectives. 

A recognition of the role of every resident 

   in this ongoing pageant of democracy. 

God, bless this new day

And may there be more days in the future

That mirror 

This day

And, Eternal One, 

With the strength of Your hands 

Working through our hearts, 

Hold within those many approaching days

Hope

Consideration

Cooperation 

Promise 

Equality 

Charity 

Prosperity

Progress

Understanding 

Love, 

And

Peace.  

To the new day - Sunsets...and beyond January 19, 2021

To the new day - Sunsets...and beyond 

January 19, 2021

As the sun goes down

There is a cavalcade of colors

And a glow on the horizon 

Over the houses and hills

The lingering radiance is an invitation 

To consider hours just passed

What did you achieve? 

How did you make a difference? 

Did you create something wondrous?

Did your routine assume new meaning? 

When you wake up tomorrow, 

Will you remember what you learned from today? 

Creator of day and night,

Rolling light from darkness 

And darkness from light, 

Causing day to pass and bringing the night

Dividing between day and night

The Eternal One, 

Author of Creation’s essence

Is Your name. 

As the darkness descends

There is a blanket of protection

Under the cover of clouds 

Or beneath the sparkling stars and planets

Reflected in the city lights below

The universe spread above us is an invitation 

To find moments of contemplation 

About what has come before

And what is yet to be. 

Will we connect with other people

Who search the sky and the human soul 

for beauty and hope? 

Under our common heavens, 

Will we find a path of resolution for

Elusive understanding

Compromise that was once beyond our grasp

Unity that transcends 

divisions that require vigorous deconstruction? 

Creator of day and night, 

Rolling away wrong from right,

Open our eyes to see bright possibilities

Even in the darkness

Lead us to enough agreement 

That we will be One 

As You are One, 

Author of Creation’s essence

God of our days.

We pray for You, always, 

To repeat the cavalcade of beautiful colors 

Of sunset and sunrise.

What can America Be? An “-ism” response to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - January 19, 2021

So what is America, Secretary Pompeo? 

Do you realize that multiculturalism is at the heart of the state you represented in Congress (although some state leaders try to dismiss that reality)? 

Of course, when you say, “all the -isms,” are not America, 

You might want to reconsider.  

What about patriotism?   

Well, of course, patriotism comes in many forms, not just the type you try to claim exclusively for yourself.   Peaceful protest is patriotism when it works for change.  You see even peaceful protests in the name of acceptance of people of color and different backgrounds as unpatriotic. 

There are -isms that you would deny exists, but we have seen them all too much, well beyond these last four years. 

You probably would say there is no racism, but it persists.

You would claim there is no classism, but the oligarchy rears its ugly head all too often. 

Fascism hovers around people in the United States who prefer authoritarian leadership over the democratic processes of our federal and state governments.  

As for me, 

I would prefer

Optimism

Volunteerism 

Altruism (for the good of everyone, not just some) 

Professionalism (in how people approach positions of responsibility and leadership) 

Universalism (in how we see the world)  

Pacifism (in how we treat each other) 

Idealism (with a dose of realism, and vice versa) 

Ethicism (where values are not dismissed as necessary for communal well-being) 

To name a few. 

I think we need those, Mr. Secretary. 

Please write a speech on every one of those -isms and how they have been a benefit to the United States at one time or another. 

That is your assignment. 

Send it to me ASAP 

Signed, 

A former Kansas resident 

Secretary of State Pompeo’s rant against multiculturalism as “not who we are”

Pre-Inauguration Day - Time to admit that “Stop the Steal” was false - January 19, 2021

Senator Romney just said of his fellow Republicans that their calls for “unity” are useless when it is the LIE they perpetrated about the election that is causing disunity.   

Good morning, Senator, and thank you for speaking truth.  

Those of us who were upset about the election of Donald Trump in 2016 were not claiming voter fraud and unfair elections.  We were claiming that there had been waves and waves of incorrect information in the campaign that led people to make decisions based on those lies, much more than ever before, that led them not to vote.  The perpetrators of those waves tried again in 2020, but we we were able to identify their efforts and reject their information. 

  We were, also, claiming that the new 2017 incumbent’s character would not comport with the office.    Some still believe it did.  Many of us believe it didn’t.  The mismatch of character and the office - and our democracy- was demonstrated by the campaign of lies by the incumbent about rigged elections as soon as the 2016 election was over and on into 2020 and 2021, culminating in the events of January 6.  

   Yes, we do want our country back, and we will get it if these baseless lies coming from the leader stop.   

    He will try as a former President, to continue to spread his falsehoods and grievances. Some will listen. 

   Many won’t.

A response to a commissioner of a neighboring county in NM - January 17, 2021

FREEDOM?  

STOP IT!  JUST STOP IT!

YOUR “STOP THE STEAL” MOVEMENT IS A LIE! 

YOU ARE PERPETRATORS, NOT THE PERSECUTED!

YOU SAID THAT I, AS A REGISTERED VOTER OF THE PARTY OPPOSITE YOU, WOULD ONLY BE GOOD IF I WERE DEAD, ALONG WITH OTHERS LIKE ME!  

AND THEN YOU TRIED TO BACK-PEDAL ON THAT. 

SORRY. 

AS ONE OF THE POSTS GOING AROUND SAYS, IF YOU ARE STANDING WITH ANTI-SEMITES AND NAZIS, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE.  

OR, MAYBE THAT EXPRESSES YOUR VIEWS.

(I SUPPOSE MY JEWISHNESS DOES NOT HELP ME MUCH IN YOUR EYES, EITHER). 

AS A COUNTY COMMISSIONER, YOU SHOULD DEFEND EVERYONE’S FREEDOM, AND YOU ARE NOT DOING THAT WHEN YOU REJECT ELECTIONS DEEMED SMOOTH AND FAIR BY ELECTION OFFICIALS AND GOVERNORS OF ALL STATES WHO BELONG TO BOTH PARTIES - THAT INCLUDES YOURS! 

YOU ARE IN A CLASS OF YOUR OWN, WHICH IS ALSO OCCUPIED BY ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO TOOK PART IN AN UNDEMOCRATIC RAMPAGE OF A HALLOWED NATIONAL CENTER OF GOVERNMENT. 

YOU SHOULD RECONSIDER WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUR POSITION OF LEADERSHIP. 

AND, YES, I AM SHOUTING! 

Cowboys for Trump leader arrested

Benediction for Dona Ana NAACP Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday program - January 18, 2021

In a 1957 sermon, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about love and about hate.  

He said: 

 “Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys one’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes people to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”

  In recent months and years, we have seen the fruits of hatred. 

  Hatred has led some people to believe that what some say is true must be false, and caused those people to define their false claims as true. 

   Hatred has led to pardoning the guilty, 

Sidestepping necessary accountability, 

minimizing and dismissing claims of brutality and abuse against people of color, 

denying that racism and prejudice persist among us, 

and dividing people in communities to an extent where they no longer speak a common language of values and personal character. 

   Eternal God, who created us as one worldwide family, 

    Remind us that Martin Luther King, Jr.  taught us

   To dispel fear with sincerity, compassion, trust and patience. 

    To engage in an endless search for the goodness within our fellow human beings, even when that quality might seem elusive. 

    To shine a light into the darkness of the soul of people around us, so that their eyes will see the shining possibilities of cooperation and partnership. 

    To share one truth, and then another, and then another, so that there will no longer be room in anyone’s mind for false notions that would lead them astray.  

    To confront misunderstanding, ignorance and contempt with the power of love.   

    To see the Unity that You, Our Creator, bring to the universe as 

   enveloping every single one of us in bonds of essential equality that cannot be broken. 

    This is our dream, God of justice and righteousness. 

    This is our mission, Wellspring of hope.  

    Walk with us, Eternal One, on our continuing journey. 

    Amen.