Keeping Faith

Families are split in America today. There are conservatives and liberals, middle of the road folks, libertarians, republicans, democrats, anarchists, and lots of ideological divides, both nuanced and not! Add to the mix franchised and disenfranchised people; poor, rich, middle class, educated, not educated, energetic folk and lazy people. There are readers and video watchers, do nothings, do everythings, and ignorant and well informed.

All of these people exist within each family as well. And there’s the split, the divide among us. Somehow it is more painful and tentative within the family. We don’t want to think someone is that ‘stupid’ but there you have it. The facts reflect who knows anything, who doesn’t know much, and yet from where do their opinions and loose lip chatter derive?

Relationships are strained as minds tend to seek consensus, agreement, commonality. And minds should. We people – human beings – should be seeking the commonality that unites. That is where the good work will be done. Maybe not just now but eventually when we tire of the gridlock and infighting and misery. The anger. The frustration. The fading energy on a daily basis.

We are looking for affirmation and support. We need this to feel good about our lives and ourselves.

I’m here to say that all is not lost. There is hope. We do have a future and one that will unfold well.

It is just not going to happen very fast yet. There is more disagreement and unrest to experience before we feel ready to get to work and solve problems together. Selecting our form of government is one of those tasks in need of doing. Don’t underestimate the basic-ness of our situation.

We have people among us who think all government is suspect and wrong. Before America was founded, those sentiments were rife. Today is no different really. Oh sure, communications are instant; research is readily shared; histories are written and catalogued and available at the whisk of fingers on a computer keyboard. Those who believe government is the problem are well represented in our society.

On the other hand many of us believe government may be the only form of organization that can attack large problems and improve upon them. Private organizations don’t want to work on these issues because there are few profit dollars available in the work, if any. And many of those helped are not in the mood or frame of mind to thank their helpers. Thankless and profitless; what is the allure to do this work?

So if the problem is a plague on our society and its way of life, we ask agencies to do something about the problem. We are uncomfortable knowing less fortunate people are visible and among us. Besides, some of our compatriots think such less-fortunates will infect our society and make it sick. They avoid such populations but dearly hope someone is caring for them.

Of course there are charities that do this sort of work because of their value orientation. They love all people and minister to those in need because it is their ‘calling.’ Churches do this as well; in fact churches use these projects as a living out of their call to love one another and serve God. That is their value orientation and an act of living it out in real life.

And then there are those people among us who feel a call to action for whatever reason, and they organize relief programs that address human problems throughout the globe. Many of these seek foreign lands for their work because they view America as the land of plenty in which the needy do and should be served by the many.

So we have two views of our world among our own communities: one is inclusive and reaching out to share what we have so all are healthy and in a positive position to enjoy life; the other is a view that each person is responsible for their own situation and needs to accept that, work to fix their own problem and not be a burden to others.

One is small government; the other is larger government.

These thoughts pervade government discussions at all levels. City, township, county, state, federal; whatever the government level these considerations are being talked through. The discussion goes something like this: “Should we do something about this problem? Or is it more properly cared for by private resources, charities, churches and whatnot?” Obviously, if it is handled by someone else, then public money and staff are not spent on the activity.

Where the concern intersects with programs common to most or all of us, our national discussion becomes much more blurred. Examples include health care; who pays for those unable to pay? Education; how much money do we spend to make our classes and programs accessible to those under-prepared for whatever reason?

You see the conflict? We are not speaking of curbs and bridges and roadways. We all use those and so we program expenses accordingly to build and repair and maintain such infrastructure. Same for military expenditures to protect us all. Those discussions are much easier; it is only a matter of how much can we afford at any moment in time? It is not the whether we should spend money on these things, but how much and when.

Needs of people are different. They are wildly variable as well. Some are dire and immediate; life and death; contagious diseases, too. Others are more systemic and long term; they pose little immediate threat but the long term implications are very real. An anger might arise as to why this problem exists, and who might be to blame? Yes, that’s how our minds work in such situations. We don’t often wish to put our minds, emotions and creativity on the line for such matters. We prefer to enjoy ourselves and ignore the downtrodden.

But we can’t really. That is another point that must be made. We cannot ignore these issues for long or else they will consume us. The cancer eating at our souls is whether we care for others as much as we care for ourselves. I think it is as simple as that.

Either we believe what we say our values are, or we don’t. You see this is the locale of the cancer if we don’t follow our values consistently. Do under others as we would want them to do to us? This is where the value meets the road. And the needy.

Shall we pray about this? Or ignore it? Or take action.

Government stands ready to do; all we need do is decide.

March 21, 2017