Democracy Under the Gun: Who Will Save Us From Ourselves?

They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”              --Jeremiah 6:14

Myths die hard, especially the mythical stories we tell ourselves as Americans.

In my dining room hang reproductions of four Norman Rockwell prints, created in 1943. Called “The Four Freedoms,” Rockwell based his paintings upon a 1941 speech by President Franklin Roosevelt.  FDR said, “In the future days…we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.... freedom of speech and expression…freedom of every person to worship God in his own way…freedom from want [and]…freedom from fear.”

I love the sentiment behind those images. Parents tucking in children as the dad holds a newspaper with headlines speaking of cities being bombed. A family sitting down to the abundance of a Thanksgiving table. A lone man standing up to speak at a New England town meeting. Worshippers from a variety of religions pictured in community, each connecting to God in their own way.

These are not perfect nor inclusive images. They portray a very white and very male America. Yet I still love them, because of the deep and eternal values they seek to portray. Our aspirational American values and myths, those we celebrate on Memorial Day Weekend.

Freedom for all, no one left out, citizens and immigrants alike. Freedom of speech, opinions  shared, decisions made by citizens gathered in peace. Freedom to worship, no one religion forcing its narrow view of morality upon other folks of faith or no faith. Freedom from want, providing the weak and the sick, medical care, housing, food, and work.

We once might have believed these myths defined America. But lately? In 2022 I weep for America and who we’ve become. Our myths are no longer even aspirational. They are false, a civic fig leaf to make us feel okay about ourselves. Yet nothing can cover up the depths to which we have fallen as a society, the noblest of human and transcendent values forgotten, rejected. 

We were attacked by a pandemic. If most of us had taken basic precautions and gotten vaccinated, hundreds of thousands of Americans might have been saved. But because some value so-called “personal freedom” more than the lives of their neighbors, COVID kicked us to the ground, and we deserved it.   

We elected politicians who are bullies and braggarts, purveyors of conspiracy theories. Folks  more interested in partisan power than the common good. Thus, gridlock, even while most Americans are political moderates, and seek compromise in government. Give and take. Common ground. What we have instead are politicians ready to burn down the house to stay in power.

Thus, we sacrifice the lives of our children and the innocent, so we can worship at the altar of the second amendment to the constitution, the “right” to bear arms.  No exceptions. Easy access to weapons, like assault rifles that can slice someone in half in a second or two. 

More than 90 percent of Americans are in favor of new gun safety laws. Not to threaten gun ownership. Just sensible laws to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not bear arms. But a handful of politicians want power more than to protect our sons and daughters. 

In the faith I try my best to practice, the truth matters, even if it hurts. Telling the truth, even if it punctures long held myths. The truth is what sets us free to be free. The truth binds us with integrity to fellow children of God and to the divine.

In America, it is time to tell the truth about who we really are and just what we really stand for in 2022. It is not pretty. But if things are to change for the good, we have to confess to who America has become in these past few hellacious years. Only then can we aspire to lasting values that will shape us into a decent and just citizenry.

God help us all.

The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org), blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com, and was a longtime columnist for Gannett Media. He has served churches throughout New England for more than thirty years and is also a resident scholar at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.

 

        

 

Encourage a Young Person. The World Will Be Better for It!

“Be an encourager. The world has enough critics.”—Dave Willis, British author, and teacher

I would not be the person I am today if not for the encouragement of Becky. Oh, and Coach Holland too. And definitely Sue. And absolutely Dr. Beck. These are some of the caring adults who took an interest in me when I was a young person, and young in my career and calling, and who encouraged me every step of the way.  Who reminded that I was so much more than I might think I was, at any given moment.

Who would you put on your list, in your encouragement lineup? You know, the people who believed in you before you believed in you. The more experienced worker who showed you the ropes in a new job. Maybe a teacher who lit a passion and fire within you for an academic discipline or some new skill you’d never imagined for yourself before.  Maybe some old pro who showed you as a rookie, how to really play the game.

Encouragement: it is like spiritual oxygen in a way. With enough encouragement from others, we begin to believe we can do anything! We soar! But with little or no encouragement, with discouragement, we can wonder just why we were put here on this earth by our Creator. We stumble. I’m a lucky guy. You see, along with being encouraged early in life, I now also get to do encouragement, and for a living, in a way. 

Take a few Sundays ago.

In the afternoon I said an opening prayer at an Eagle Scout Court of Honor and then got to meet and encourage three young men who are already making this nation a better place by being good citizens.  I thanked and encouraged them to keep at it! Later I was a judge at a local student film festival for high schoolers in the greater Boston area. What a wonderful time—to watch the creativity of those young filmmakers blossom on screen and then to be able to meet them, tell them “Great job!” and encourage them to keep at it. Finally, that night I had a confirmation class with a group of nine young people studying faith. Owning it for themselves for the first time in their young lives. I encouraged them to take the class seriously and boy, they did! How thoughtful they were; how much their joy and energy just lifted me up.

Giving encouragement doesn’t take a lot of time. It isn’t rocket science. You don’t need to take a class. All you need to do is think of a young person in your life who could use some encouragement. I guarantee it won’t be hard to think of one or maybe even more folks. A son or daughter, or grandchild. A neighbor. A player on the team you coach. A young person in your house of worship.

All they need, all any human needs really, is someone to be a cheerleader. To bring our hearts to bear upon the heart of another and then to give them confidence. "Encourage" simply means to give heart.  To remind someone that they actually do have the right stuff.  All that is needed is for a fellow soul to speak encouraging words, and to love another so much that we want the best for them.  We want them to succeed at whatever hope God has for their one life.

We live in a time when children, youth and young adults need all the help and encouragement we can offer. While the pandemic has often been hard for many of us adults, COVID has been a disaster for lots of kids. It isolated them socially at times when many were just learning how to be social and be in community with peers. COVID took them off of their teams and off the performance stage and away from their friends. Add that to everything else happening right now—climate change, the war in Ukraine, toxic politics—and you can see how easy it is for our young people to feel disheartened. Discouraged. 

It is amazing what a difference just a little encouragement makes in the life of a fellow child of God. Those adults who shaped me and my one life? Becky was a counselor at the first summer camp I went to: she loved me deeply and honored who I was at a time in my teens when I struggled to love myself.  Sue was my first church youth group advisor who then mentored me into my career for the next 35 years! When I told her of a challenge, she’d always remind me that I had it within myself to do the right thing. I believed her. Coach Holland taught me to stand up for myself against grade school bullies. Dr. Beck made the Old Testament come alive for me when I was a biblical neophyte studying to become a minister.

They encouraged me. Now it is my responsibility to pass it on. We cannot solve all of the world’s pain and hurt but we can begin to heal and give hope to our fellow children of God when we are encouraging. When we take the time to listen and really care for the children, youth and young adults in our daily lives and world. 

Someone gave you heart when you needed it most. That made all the difference in your life. Now go. Do the same. Encourage. Encourage. Encourage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

From AOL to Twitter: What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

Dinosaur (noun) 1. a person or thing that is outdated or has become obsolete because of failure to adapt to changing circumstances.                      --Oxford Dictionary

“You’ve got mail!”

That’s what my computer “said” to me almost thirty years ago. “You’ve got mail” was the chipper announcement on the first popular internet company—AOL--in the early nineteen nineties. Your emails were just a click away. Twenty-eight years later I still have my original AOL email address.  And I yes, I still use it.  And yes, some of my younger friends shake their heads in disbelief when they realize the email address I’ve written to them from.

Yes. I am a dinosaur.

AOL of course stands for “America Online” and back in the infancy of the internet it was the place to be. Cutting edge. Innovative. Cool even. When I signed up for my AOL account in the summer of 1994, it was amazing. Then I was a rare breed. I was the earliest of early adopters. In 1994 barely 5 million Americans even had a consumer email account like AOL. Email and surfing the net was mostly the province of academics and the government and corporations.

You actually had to pay a monthly fee to AOL and dial in to the service using a telephone modem.  You knew you were connected when a random series of beeps, squawks, and buzzes ended and then if you had email, you’d hear that amazing welcome. “YOU’VE GOT MAIL!” and always spoken in the cheeriest of tones.  

At the height of its popularity and success AOL was worth some $200 billion and boasted in excess of 35 million folks who used the platform.  Today—well AOL is more of a punchline than anything, a quaint leftover item from the good old days of computers.  It still limps along. But it no longer tells me “You’ve got mail!” when I sign in these days.  

That’s how it often is with big tech. So many companies here today and gone tomorrow.  Red hot and on fire in the present and then ice cold and out of business oh so soon. That COMPAQ computer I had in 1994…that company bought Digital Computers in 1998, which was once the largest private employer in Massachusetts and is now gone. Hewlett Packard (HP) computers then bought the whole conglomeration in 2002. HP is now one of those fading computer companies along with IBM. Both were once blue-chip companies. I worked in high tech in the nineties. Every single company I was employed by is now gone.  Prime. Data General. Sun Microsystems. Honeywell. Digital. 

Perhaps more than any other industry high tech is known for dramatic ultra-fast growth but also its head spinning super quick decline.  The darling of Wall Street and the public one year might be consigned to the trash heap of history the next. Makes me wonder what our time’s AOL might be.  Facebook? Google? Or how about Twitter? Will our kids be tweeting in 28 years or will this soon to be Elon Musk owned company become the next AOL?

Is Musk’s $44 billion purchase a savvy investment or is Twitter more smoke and mirrors than solid enterprise? Yes, it boasts 217 million daily active users and yes, if you could monetize infamy and drama, then Twitter might actually be worth what Musk is paying for it. Or not. There is the fact that ten percent of its users produce eighty percent of its tweets, meaning the number of actually active folks on that platform is relatively small. Since Twitter was introduced in 2006, its not been a moneymaker, not even close. Since 2010 its lost $4 billion and turned a profit in only two of the past twelve years.

On Twitter can be found both the profound and the profane, the fluff and the destructive. Consider the fact that the ten most followed Twitter accounts are two politicians, one soccer player, a business tycoon and six entertainers. That’s kind of lightweight. Want to witness the worst of human behavior? Bullying and racism and misogyny and the unchecked power of the mob? Check out Twitter.  The place where some of the January 6^th insurrection was planned, coordinated, and promoted, and by folks at the highest level of government too. Twitter is a place where just about anyone can use the platform to spread misinformation about COVID. Or the “danger” of vaccines.  

You can see I’m no great fan of Twitter and I’ll probably never have an account. It is just too ugly and weird a place for me to visit. That might be my tech dinosaur credentials showing. For those who love Twitter they tell me there is no better place to find the latest news, hear the latest celebrity gossip, or share the latest opinion.

Wither Twitter? Who knows?

But my faith teaches me the great gift of perspective, seeing the long arc of human history as the truth of our existence.  Human enterprises like Twitter always rise and most often eventually fall. What is seemingly so valuable today might tomorrow be lost to memory and oblivion.  God alone stays forever.

Everything else fades. All of our of the moment fads. All of our human drama. All of our cultural chatter about seemingly “important” news like a multi-billionaire buying a social media company for a personal play toy I suppose. But good luck Elon. You might just have purchased the next Amazon. Or the next AOL.  Time will tell.

And by the way: “You’ve got tweets!”