When the going gets bad; do good. When they go low; do more good. Always do good. That should be the answer to the Trump and his followers. We will resist and we will do good. Too often evil has only one objective: to distract us from doing good. If you want to tear apart families at our border I will resist as I am able but I will also do good. I will work to make the world better for the children in my city. If you want to discriminate against gays I will resist as I am able but I will also do good. I will donate money and time to the local LGBTQ center. I am not afraid of your evil. For you see if I continue to do good evil will pass. I will plan and organize and do good. Because when evil finally fades I will be ready to do even more good than before. So the times are hard now but I am sitting here doing good. Be warned you are facing the first wave of goodness which is our resistance to the things you wish to destroy. But behind the wave of resistance is a tidal wave of organized goodness that will drown you out. If evil cannot distract you it will attempt to cause despair in you. That is why doing good is essential. It is hard to feel despair when you have helped someone out of poverty. In fact studies show people who volunteer are more likely to be happier, feel more connected, and live longer. So if you cannot find that altruistic bone in yourself volunteer and do good and you will reap benefits. Nothing like selfishness to encourage us to do the right thing. We may not be able to always effect change in all the great challenges in our country. But we can bring goodness to those we meet and see on a daily basis. Determine that you will be the person at work that creates community and makes sure you are all doing well. The same for the block you live on. There is so much you can do wherever you find yourself. The racist can squawk about white superiority, the anti-immigrant can build walls, the homophobic can refuse to bake, but you can sing the glory of diversity, you can stretch your hand of welcome across your town to the immigrants, and you can bake a cake for the gay couple down the street. Doing good is the only answer to evil. Evil will have its day but you can be sure the world is not without goodness even amidst the times of darkness.
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So we should take children away from their parents at our borders? This is who we are now. We no longer can think of creative solutions to solve a problem. It is sledgehammer time or as some like to call it tough love. We are the home wreckers of today and many of us wear it like a badge of honor. They say they reassign the children to foster care situations. We are told they made one call back to each new “home”. This was above and beyond, they emphasize. Children stripped away from their parents and put into a strange household need nothing more than one call to see if they are adjusting. And heck, if they cannot get a return call from the reliable people they entrusted the children to, what the hey. If they cared about the children they would be making several call backs to ensure the children were adjusting. The truth is we do not care that is who we are now. If some were sold as sex slaves that is the consequence of their parents bringing them to our country. We do not play games. We will punish children for the acts of their parents. Of course the dirty little secret about ourselves is we are no strangers to the act of taking children away from their parents. We did it to make money with slave children, we did it to civilize the Native American children, we did it to make good patriots of the Japanese citizens’ children after Pearl Harbor. We are known since the early days of our countries with having orphans living on our city streets. Bethesda, the oldest orphanage in Savannah, started in the 18th century. The local Yamacraw Indians here in Savannah were glad to see the orphanage because they could not understand the concept of orphans. In their culture if parents die someone takes them in. The Yamacraws supported Bethesda by donating food and other supplies to help maintain it. We are also known for being the richest country in the world but having a poverty rate of children at 21 percent in America. This is who we are. So how can you be surprised when we take children from their parents when we have another group of people we wish to exert control over. This is who we are. Our current Attorney General Jeff Sessions, proving he is nothing more than a Dixiecrat is behind the new separation. You remember his confirmation hearings where he was accused of being a racist by none other than Corretta Scott King has now opened his can of whoop ass on immigrants. He fears they are the great threat to the great white American way. Children will be taken away from you if you try to smuggle them in our country he says. This is the law he pompously proclaimed. Okay Jeff if I grant you that is the law, is it the law to not take loving care of the children? Jeffy why are they being kept in cages? Is that just the way of a white racist? Just asking. You see we are demonizing our brown brothers and sisters. We have a president who loves to refer to these children and their parents as animals. Even had the crowd say it with him at his political rally. I am told Mr. Two Corinthians is a Christian. Shows how much I know. The truth is we do not care about children. That is who we are right now as a nation. The far right is right: we do devalue life in this country. Maybe one day we will focus on the least of these again but for now give me a sledgehammer. Kneeling is respect for the national anthem. They respect the anthem enough to know it is the place to challenge when America is not the place it is destined to be. If they did not kneel while our country is failing in its racial relations it would say the national anthem is not relevant to our country. All of those who want people to stand for the National Anthem in times of internal crises are the unpatriotic ones. The Players are not avoiding the National Anthem they are relating to it in an invested way. Their critics are not engaged with the national anthem; they are blindly following the whatevers of government and culture. Trump suggests they stay in the locker room during the anthem if they want to protest. This is like saying if you want to protest come through the back door. They have not chosen to hearken back to Jim Crow years which diminished us as a country. They have come through the front door and said we too are part of America and we are not being treated fairly. We love the anthem but cannot stand for it to be diminished because of ongoing police brutality and racism. In my own life I have always chosen to dialogue with my elders and tell them respectfully what they are doing that I disagree. I have been told do not waste your time, they will not change. But this is to say they are no longer relevant. Their day is past. I think this is ageism. It is the same attitude when you do not include people in the decisions of your business, non-profits, or family that effect them. Your opinion does not matter we are saying. When we tell people to conform no matter what is going on; we are letting them know they are not important. We do not need your views, we need your conformity. Trump is asking for conformity in a private business he has no stake in. (It should probably be mentioned here that Trump tried to buy an NFL team but the owners rejected his application.) The nouveau rich New Yorker says he is speaking for Middle America. Which indeed some of them have voted to give him this power. But the Middle America that he represents are primarily conservative whites. Conservative whites are telling black men to protest in the way they demand and which they are comfortable. This was really on so many levels a battle that President Trump should not have engaged. What a powerful image it could make if people saw the unity of our country in being present for the anthem even when we currently feel disappointment. That is the true believer ‘Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see’ Hebrew 11:1’. To ask them not to stand or not be on the field is to ask them to reject the teaching ‘to be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2. Unity is not about agreement or conformity of action it is about staying together in truth even when things are not going well. So I say let us make an America that our black brothers cannot only be with us during the National Anthem but be proud to stand. This is the America we are called to be. |
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