Are you hanging in there? By that, I mean are you coping with 2020 chaos, unrest and political warfare alright? Lately, I’ve been determined not to let politics, mandates and other stressful issues get me down. It’s tough. When I go out into my community and see things like pregnant women, elderly people and young children wearing masks, it makes me want to cry.
As I keep telling my kids, it’s especially important nowadays to focus on Truth — to seek it, to recognize and acknowledge it, and to live by it, NO. MATTER. WHAT. It’s the NO. MATTER.WHAT. part that’s getting a bit concerning. I want to be among those who “finish the race” as Saint Paul encouraged us all to do. The problem is that a desire to do so doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be a BOAT LOAD of suffering along the way.
Why this but not that?
A few things have been making me shake my head in wonder these days. I know that confusion is a tool of the enemy, so I try to think and process with clarity and make informed decisions. There are certain things, however, that do, in fact, make me feel confused because no matter how hard I try, I can’t make sense of them. The following list includes several “Why this but not that” issues regarding politics, mandates and more that cause me to go, “Hmmmm…”:
- Why is it okay for thousands of people to gather in the streets (many of whom are sans masks) in order to chant, march, provoke others and destroy private and public property, but it isn’t okay for people to gather in person to watch high school sports?
- Why is it okay for Kamala Harris to say she is proud of being African American when, in fact, she is not or Elizabeth Warren to take another person’s place in a college enrollment by saying she is Native American when, in fact, she is not, but it’s not okay for Caucasian people to say they are proud or glad to be white?
- Why is it okay for approximately one third of all U.S. presidents to appoint Supreme Court Justices during their election years while it’s not only not okay but apparently an “impeachable offense” for the current POTUS to do the same?
- Why is it okay for students at a Catholic University to plaster their windows with BLM signs but not okay for neighboring students to hang a Trump flag from their window?
- Why is it okay for people to order an alcoholic beverage at a pub as long as they order food that Governor Tom Wolf says meets the definition of food but not okay for those same people to order the same alcoholic beverage if they’re just going to snack on some peanuts?
- Why is it okay for governors and mayors to march shoulder-to-shoulder with mobs of people to protest law enforcement or the entire Caucasian race, but it’s not okay for a wife to enter a hospital so she can sit by her dying husband to hold his hand or say good-bye?
- Why is it okay for some people to say they believe in freedom and choice for all regarding personal health but not okay for others to say they choose to be pro-life or to decline vaccines?
- Why is it okay for Democrats to voice their opinions on politics, mandates and more but not okay for people who disagree with their opinions to voice their own?
- Why is it okay for mayors, celebrities and angry citizens to threaten the life and safety of the POTUS and to threaten national security, but it’s not okay for private homeowners to bear arms to protect themselves from angry crowds of people who have stormed onto their property?
When you’re dealing with politics, mandates and more, there will always be multiple sides to every issue. Those of us who are rational people with common sense and reasoning ability understand that it’s okay if people disagree. It makes the world go ’round.
Have you been asking yourself similar questions about politics, mandates and more?
These questions that have been swirling around my mind suggest a lopsidedness that has encroached upon our culture. I don’t understand what makes people think they can waltz into a restaurant, for instance, and start smashing dishes onto the floor or picking up drinks from a patron’s table and guzzling them down “just to show that they can.” Why is this okay but restaurant owners who try to defend their right to stay open against unjust politics, mandates and more are scorned or legally penalized?
John 15:12 — to live out this verse doesn’t mean people can never disagree. It does mean that, in all things, love comes first. Love doesn’t burn down people’s businesses. It doesn’t scream “I hope you die” to innocent children (as a masked woman was caught doing on video in a department store to unmasked children who were with their masked mother). Love doesn’t say that a child should be burned alive for wearing a hat supporting the POTUS (as an elementary school teacher recently stated was her first thought when she saw a student come to school wearing one).
Where will it end? May God help us all.
