(B)eware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Hunter S. Thompson
I had a lot of plans for retirement, not the least of which was to travel and explore the back-roads of America. This was the year. This was the summer. This was the time.
My plans were purely selfish, of course. They would benefit no-one but me (and the travel industry). There is and was no higher purpose to be served traveling the highways and byways of our great land except, perhaps, the pursuit of happiness. But it is hard to pursue happiness in the midst of a pandemic. It is hard to find peace in a time of civil unrest – during a time when evidence of grievous injustice has been placed so clearly before us that one cannot easily “re-hide what has been un-hid.” [sic]
My desire to hit the road for some personal (and “well-deserved”) R&R has been derailed for now, but that’s OK. I am safe. How many people world-wide can make that claim? I have food a’plenty in my fridge, freezer, and cupboards. How many families around the globe can say that? I have all the fresh water I could ever want within a half dozen steps of my couch while my waste is flushed away and treated ever-so-efficiently. How many billions covet what I and we have?
However, I find the constant drone of everything wrong with the world around me drains my soul and every fiber of my being.
Covid-19 is tenacious and awaiting to grab us like some famous bath-salts and take us away!
People who have been oppressed and who have not been truly heard over the past dozen decades are crying out for justice – just like the Children of Israel did those many centuries ago when they were slaves in Egypt – praying and lamenting, “When, O Lord, will you deliver us from this evil?”
The people elected to serve us have been as self-serving as any generation and seem incapable of even “thinking” of the public good (let alone acting on it).
The “News” is mislabeled. There is nothing new under the sun. The Preacher told us that nearly three thousand years ago in the Book of Ecclesiastes. “All is vanity,” he wailed, cried, and lamented, and I suppose the story could have ended there.
It could have, but it didn’t.
While the preacher was weeping into his hanky, a prophet stood up and bellowed: Let justice pour down like a monsoon; let righteousness (good and holy deeds) stream forth like a mighty river! (Amos).
He understood what we all understand: Each of us hungers for righteousness, justice, equality, and equity. We know wrong when we see it, whether it is laid on the back of others, or ourselves. We see it and, like the prophet, there comes a time we can do nothing else but stand up and cry out: NO MORE!
A man was asked one day what those who follow him must do, and I suspect he recalled the sage advice of his mother. It is the wisdom we have all received at the knees of those who love us – no matter where we grew up, no matter where we came from – and what she told her children he passed along to his friends: Do unto others as you would have it done unto you (Matthew 7).
The Golden Rule. It is known across the globe. No matter your religion or culture, we know: Do unto others …
When I was baptized, I promised to “respect the dignity of every person.” I did that as a cop. I did that as a priest. I do that as a human being. One does not need to belong to any religious group to recognize and respect the dignity of a fellow human being. The best people I have ever known (including cops) have been those who treated everyone (cops, victims, ne'er-do-wells alike) with respect.
The fact is, we are all capable of showing respect for one another, showing kindness to one another, and doing unto others what we would want to be done unto us. That, ultimately, is good news for all of us here – even as we may pray and lament – in this, our valley.
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