Dare I? Politics... Part III

My final installment in the politics series. :)

When all is said and done, I think that it's important to realize that the political situation locally, nationally, and internationally seems like a HUGE DEAL, but I don't think it's healthy to become obsessed about it. Governments have ebbed and flowed, we've had conservative presidents and liberal presidents, and the world has had evil leaders and gracious ones. I think that it's important to do what one can to have a positive effect politically, but I've met people who freak out about our current political situation, and it sucks the joy out of them.

I believe God's bigger than any leader on earth. I also have a feeling that he finds politics less significant than we do. No leader has ever stopped the sun from rising. Nobody has stopped flowers from blooming. Babies still have infectious smiles. There's still joy in hugging and laughing. There are people doing good. We complain about how evil the world is, but God's still here loving us and blessing us and being as in control as ever.

Politics is significant, and yet it is also completely and utterly insignificant.

Dare I? Politics... Part II

I'm going to pick a generally hot topic, abortion, to illustrate part of why I think that it's hard to have a conversation about politics today. I apologize in advance if I have misrepresented anyone, but I am going write based on what I've understood from listening to people. The following statements are probably generalities, and I'm sure that some people differ from the generalities.

From what I can tell, people who think that abortions should not be regulated do so because they think that it would be regulating morals that should be decided by the individual. They may or may not think that abortion is an OK thing to do, but regardless they do not think that it is an issue that should be decided by the government.

On the other side, those who wish for the government to regulate abortions do so because they believe that they are protecting the life and rights of an unborn child. In addition, they may be working against abortion for the protection of the mother (since abortion can have long-term ill effects on the woman.) I think they believe that this is a moral issue significant to the state and national government.

I think that the underlying question isn't really whether or not abortion is OK but rather if it's an issue appropriate for our government to decide for us. A bumper sticker I saw recently stated: "Don't like abortion? Don't have one!" This may seem like reasonable logic stating that we should all make our own moral choices, but then again, it probably wouldn't seem as reasonable if someone had the sticker, "Don't like murder? Then don't do it!" That is because it is the current paradigm to believe that the government should, for the greater good, regulate murder.

Which brings me to my real point: I think that we don't have all the answers. I think it is extremely unfair to label people who don't want to regulate abortion as "pro-death." Similarly, I don't think that it is fair to view those who want to regulate abortion as people who simply want to regulate morals and take away freedoms.

We get so wrapped up in our own perspectives that it's hard to see that the other point-of-view isn't hateful, evil, or crazy. I'm not saying that we shouldn't develop (informed) opinions, but I am arguing that it is harmful to become too wrapped up in a belief. Since none of us holds all of the truth, it seems like we should be more open to listening to others to learn and understand more. Maybe if we all let our guard down, we'll be able to sort things out better. Or maybe not. I don't know...

Dare I? Politics... Part I

Talking politics can get kind of ugly. If I'm talking to someone on a different part of the political spectrum, I often walk away from conversations about politics with my hackles raised because I feel like I was constantly under attack. This is pretty weird since most people I talk to about such matters are generally reasonable people. So, why can't we have a simple conversation?

Reason One: People often assume that because I am a follower of Christ that I am politically conservative. This is not a good assumption. I agree with a lot of liberal ideas. Does this make me a bad person? I tend to think not. :) However, I have found that some people will make fun of or attack things that I believe because they assume that I am politically conservative like they are. I try not to be offended, but it certainly does not feel great. Not a good way to get into a civil conversation.

Reason Two: We're all so convinced that we are CORRECT. Uh oh!!! Picture a conversation between two people who completely disagree but neither person can imagine that his or her view has any flaw. Defenses certainly are going to quickly go up. How can anything productive happen? (As a note, this happens when talking about God too. I think that people feel attacked by Christians, and I can understand why. I'm not saying people need to compromise beliefs, but I think we should definitely be more conscious of how we are treating people.)

Reason Three: So cliché, but I'm going blame the media. :) Seriously though, I think that to keep ratings up, news networks are spreading hate, maliciousness, and lies. It's just so much more interesting when there's a conspiracy theory afoot!! I think both sides of the spectrum are guilty, and this makes all of us unsure about what is truth. It also gets people who believe the maliciousness extremely riled up. How can we make good decisions this way?

I'm sure that there are other reasons too, but these are the ones I've been thinking about recently. I'm going to do a second post on more thoughts related to this subject.

Reflections on high school days

Piano. Every time a performance came around, the sinking feeling fell upon me. The palms became sweaty, and my heart was running a race of its own. I'd nervously walk up to the piano bench, bow, and sit down to begin my piece. My knees would start to jump as I began to mangle the piece that I had practiced for a hundred hours at home. I'd cringe as I reached the end... panicking... hoping that I had not played as horribly as I had imagined. As I returned to my seat in the audience, I'd burst into tears of disappointment and dismay.

Public speaking. The idea of giving a speech induced a frantic, trapped feeling for years. As I gave my speeches, I'd speak quickly and turn a lovely shade of red. As the girls' team captain of the XC team junior year, at an all-school assembly our team wanted to honor our wonderful coaches by having me say something nice about them. I don't remember a thing about what I said, but I do remember some reactions. My friends called me long-winded. My teacher, Mr. Montgomery, looked me in the eye and told me he was proud of me.

A broken heart. In ninth grade, I became close friends with a boy and developed feelings for him. He decided to suddenly stop talking to me and avoided me as much as possible. Being a 14-year-old girl, I lived the following months in a whirl of confusion, angst, depression, and tears. As I recovered and found hope, I grew stronger. As an adult, I still don't understand what happened to our friendship, but I am grateful for the strength that I found.

Friendship. On our way home from school, Joannah, Becca and I decided to buy ice cream cones. Becca dropped hers on the ground, and she burst into tears. (I think she was having a bad day...) Feeling her pain, I threw mine on the ground next to hers, and Joannah quickly followed suit. Becca thought we were crazy, but I think she knew that she was more important to us than ice cream.

Confidence. Near the end of my senior year, as I was walking through the hall, my Spanish teacher of three years came from behind me and put her arm around me. She told me something to the effect that she enjoyed watching me grow up the past four years. She saw me change from an awkward, shy individual into a "beautiful, confident young woman." A treasured comment.

Knowing everything. At some point in high school, I started feeling like I had things pretty well figured out. I knew what was right and what was wrong. I probably made a lot of people pretty frustrated. I'd like to think that I'm at least a little wiser now. People and life are deeper and more complicated than I realized.

Love and belonging. After 13 months of dating, Andrew broke up with me near the end of senior year. I felt a remarkable sense of loss, although not the hopelessness I had felt in the past. I went to youth group a few hours after he broke the news to me, and I couldn't help but the cry through the whole thing. Before, during, or after, only the person right next to me noticed that anything was wrong. The next day at school, anytime we had free time in a class I'd discretely burst into tears. One of my friends noticed. The next school day, she gave the office a bouquet of tulips to deliver to me.

Whew. What a journey just remembering these small pieces of my life five to nine years ago... Thanks to everybody who loved me through it all.