So President Obama has lived up to his promise. Change has come. Again. He likes being The First at doing anything.
Charged and polarized, the factions shout cries of either justice or reproach.
It’s hard not to become a hater. We want our own way. We hit the share button and retweet messages we wish we would have thought of first. Our readers think silently, “Tell us how you really feel.” Some make comments of their own.
We find it easy to participate in protest rallies, but feel the weight of anger in our words at a family reunion when we reunite with that beloved childhood cousin now on the other team. The arbitrary people somewhere out there with their insidious ideas against which we freely picketed now have a face. Someone we love. Someone we wouldn’t want to insult with our fiery opinions.
There’s always another side to every human story. It’s hard to see it from our shoes. We don’t have to love all legislation, but we are required to love all people if we claim to know God. We think we know exactly how we might behave if we were in the other person’s shoes, but we don’t, really.
I have found even the most well-intentioned people to be enslaved at times, inadvertently spurring an attitude of judgment that can be cast onto the lives of others. They want to restore gently, but don’t know how. Filled with intellectual garbley goo, they are ineffective.
Two helpful rules of thumb I’ve learned: Language that contains the term those people generally indicates a large log in the eye problem. Never trust anyone who hasn’t had his guts kicked out by a fellow sojourner.
That said, there’s one non-negotiable we must never abandon. We must never depart from the original principles of America’s foundation. There’s no denying the history books. Some would say they are out of date. But, to evolve or bend to any other benchmark is to merely manipulate the system so our own way seems right. We cautiously discern between what is cultural and what is Biblical.
A child wants candy before dinner. A mother knows what is best for the child. The child has a tantrum as she lovingly handles the situation with care. No one would ever usurp her authority.
We are now turning the corner in America, laying aside another Judeo-Christian facet of society. Perhaps if we deconstruct those ideological byways one at a time, life might be better. Aren’t we modern thinkers? Don’t we have the power to make these big decisions on our own? Everyone deserves to be happy, right? Isn’t that the goal of life?
Thankfully, we suburbanites don’t have to think much about things like this or participate in answering such questions. We cling to our villages built of soccer Moms, 100% fruit juice, and Reading Counts programs. We attend nouveau worship services in primo denim and jeweled shirts with crosses on them. Until…
“Mom, can I sleep over at Jacob’s house tonight? His Aunt is going to pick us up after the game.” I ask Jacob about his Aunt, including where she lives and works. “She lives with her wife,” he says. Careful not to judge, I’m just not ready to tell my kid I believe this is normal.
Without any hatred in my heart and a clear conscience, I respectfully disagree with President Obama’s definition of the family unit and a method of parenting that embodies the mindset if Sasha and Malia think it’s okay then it must be. I personally believe that Moms and Dads are still the ones who will be held accountable when it comes to teaching children from their deepest personal convictions, at times failing, but always returning wholeheartedly to the irrefutable precepts of our nation’s heritage.
Read Brandi’s column each month in The Cross Timbers Gazette newspaper.
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