My blog posts aren’t well-researched New York Times pieces, but I believe my opinions are rarely out in left field. While some of what ends up in a published post might be considered a collection of unformed or loosely connected thoughts and a shooting from the hip, I’ve more often written things that are sooner or later corroborated or confirmed to one extent or another.
Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if my insights are actual insights or if I’m simply forgetting where I’ve read or heard something and later writing as if it is an original thought. But I’ve seen enough over the years in pastoral ministry to make what I consider safe assumptions about human nature. While not a recommended path, one can on occasion make generalizations about what one hears from people, what they say and the way they say it. Stereotyping isn’t always a jumping to conclusions. Peoples’ words reveal things about them.
I’ll always believe that each one of us is a unique being, but this by itself doesn’t mean we are all equally endowed with a capacity to process information. There are too many variables, among them the wise guidance of an elder or the lack thereof, or a somehow deprived view of the world that engenders hopelessness and futility and anger.
It seems this neglect has loomed large over the last six years, though most likely longer. The mind-numbing reality that a person like Donald Trump could become President of the United States has led many to believe that this nation is in trouble, that cracks are being revealed, that America is following a path that well-intentioned, freedom-loving people eventually follow, or succumb to, namely that the burden of (relative) freedom is too much to bear and we just need a “strongman” to show us the way.
What is disheartening and extremely disappointing is seeing that enough people still take this bait, still believe such a thing to be true. And that America, sadly, is destined to be no different than other failed experiments strewn across human history.
3 Cents' 