Ain't Got Time to Die
Back in ancient times, when I was married and trying to be an Evangelical - and not doing very well at either - I heard a lot of talk about "witnessing". That is to say, essentially giving people a sales pitch inviting them to "accept Christ into their lives" (or "be washed in the blood of the lamb," for the more poetic types). Having been raised a properly low-key Episcopalian (not to mention being an introvert), that kind of thing was just too weird for me. But I remember this one "tract," one of the little pamphlets you could buy and hand out to people as part of your routine. It depicted God as this brilliant light that was too wonderful to take your eyes away from, and it depicted non-Christians as standing with their backs to the light, stubbornly refusing to turn around and look.
How ironic, then, that I find myself thinking of this tract when it comes to the people who want to Make America Great Again, many of who are white Evangelicals. Because in this case, the light is the future America that is truly the Land of the Free for all people, a future where we work together to fix the mess we're in, and the ones too stubborn to turn around and look at it are the Evangelicals themselves.
That's Story #1. Now here's Story #2.
When I was a kid, my younger brother and his friends used to insist on all sorts of things that weren't true. I now suspect that much of the time he did it just to bug me, and my more scientific, facts-are-facts mind. The kid who was the mastermind to whom they all played wingmen was rather obese, but they all vehemently insisted, "That's not fat! It's muscle!" Time and maturity cured us of that little game, but I still hear it echoed in the voices of those who want to Make America Great Again. Some of them believe what they're saying, but I suspect that more than a few are just saying things that will "bother the libtards." You'd think they would have outgrown that kind of thing by now.
These experiences keep leading me to an uncomfortable conclusion about the Trumpocalypse. A lot of the people who think they're Making American Great Again don't want to be reasoned with. They're angry or resentful, or they just like to "bother the libtards," and there's no real point in trying to talk them out of it. They've got to turn around on their own. They've got to admit to themselves that the course they're on isn't taking them anywhere. In many cases, they'll argue with you just because they enjoy getting you frustrated, or because as long as you're spending all your time arguing, you can't do anything that might be constructive. There's no value to engaging with them - no value to ourselves, certainly, and probably no value to them, either.
Last night, I got Story #3. I was just closing out my computer for the night when Facebook showed me a post from an old friend of mine, someone I've known, worked with and respected for close to thirty years. He was reposting someone's explanation that the Confederate flag really just represents the wishes of upright, God-fearing Christians to defend their God-given liberties. Something in me snapped. A couple of years ago, this same guy had tried to convince me President Obama was a Muslim, and I brushed it off because, as I said, I've known him a long time. But fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... well, I was upset. Enough to have nightmares about it.
Where do you even begin with something like that? I suspect it came from ignorance at least as much as from bigotry, but that doesn't make it any better. If anything, ignorance makes talking about it more difficult, because often the person gets defensive and angry when you suggest there might be some bigotry in what they're saying. I already have to deal with this sort of thing in the real world, with people I can't just block on Facebook. I don't need any more of it.
If feels like failure to say, "I don't have time to persuade these people, and they don't want to be persuaded anyway." It feels like I'm being callous and uncaring, or acting like I'm superior. But really it's about self-preservation. And it's about conserving resources - time, effort and mental energy - that can do more good elsewhere.
In the Episcopal church, they teach that the best "witness" is to live your life as a follower of Jesus. If that catches anyone's attention enough for them to ask you about it, you can talk then. If it doesn't, other people have still benefited from your efforts. And so it is with the Trumpocalypse, I think. I don't have time to get bogged down in pointless arguments. There's too much that needs to be done.
And on that note, my hope and plan is that I'll shift my posts here away from the disaster we're going through and more toward the constructive things I'm trying to do about that disaster. (A part of me objects to that plan, on the grounds that my hit-count will probably go down, but oh well...) I can't say I'll be perfect at it, but I'm going to give it a shot. Watch this space.
How ironic, then, that I find myself thinking of this tract when it comes to the people who want to Make America Great Again, many of who are white Evangelicals. Because in this case, the light is the future America that is truly the Land of the Free for all people, a future where we work together to fix the mess we're in, and the ones too stubborn to turn around and look at it are the Evangelicals themselves.
That's Story #1. Now here's Story #2.
When I was a kid, my younger brother and his friends used to insist on all sorts of things that weren't true. I now suspect that much of the time he did it just to bug me, and my more scientific, facts-are-facts mind. The kid who was the mastermind to whom they all played wingmen was rather obese, but they all vehemently insisted, "That's not fat! It's muscle!" Time and maturity cured us of that little game, but I still hear it echoed in the voices of those who want to Make America Great Again. Some of them believe what they're saying, but I suspect that more than a few are just saying things that will "bother the libtards." You'd think they would have outgrown that kind of thing by now.
These experiences keep leading me to an uncomfortable conclusion about the Trumpocalypse. A lot of the people who think they're Making American Great Again don't want to be reasoned with. They're angry or resentful, or they just like to "bother the libtards," and there's no real point in trying to talk them out of it. They've got to turn around on their own. They've got to admit to themselves that the course they're on isn't taking them anywhere. In many cases, they'll argue with you just because they enjoy getting you frustrated, or because as long as you're spending all your time arguing, you can't do anything that might be constructive. There's no value to engaging with them - no value to ourselves, certainly, and probably no value to them, either.
Last night, I got Story #3. I was just closing out my computer for the night when Facebook showed me a post from an old friend of mine, someone I've known, worked with and respected for close to thirty years. He was reposting someone's explanation that the Confederate flag really just represents the wishes of upright, God-fearing Christians to defend their God-given liberties. Something in me snapped. A couple of years ago, this same guy had tried to convince me President Obama was a Muslim, and I brushed it off because, as I said, I've known him a long time. But fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... well, I was upset. Enough to have nightmares about it.
Where do you even begin with something like that? I suspect it came from ignorance at least as much as from bigotry, but that doesn't make it any better. If anything, ignorance makes talking about it more difficult, because often the person gets defensive and angry when you suggest there might be some bigotry in what they're saying. I already have to deal with this sort of thing in the real world, with people I can't just block on Facebook. I don't need any more of it.
If feels like failure to say, "I don't have time to persuade these people, and they don't want to be persuaded anyway." It feels like I'm being callous and uncaring, or acting like I'm superior. But really it's about self-preservation. And it's about conserving resources - time, effort and mental energy - that can do more good elsewhere.
In the Episcopal church, they teach that the best "witness" is to live your life as a follower of Jesus. If that catches anyone's attention enough for them to ask you about it, you can talk then. If it doesn't, other people have still benefited from your efforts. And so it is with the Trumpocalypse, I think. I don't have time to get bogged down in pointless arguments. There's too much that needs to be done.
And on that note, my hope and plan is that I'll shift my posts here away from the disaster we're going through and more toward the constructive things I'm trying to do about that disaster. (A part of me objects to that plan, on the grounds that my hit-count will probably go down, but oh well...) I can't say I'll be perfect at it, but I'm going to give it a shot. Watch this space.
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