A little self-righteousness

Last night, my wife is telling me about a woman who came into the library where she worked and needed some help with some books. No big deal, but in the midst of it, she launches into this whole diatribe about President Obama. She tells my wife, "I'm not an Obama supporter, and I don't know how anyone who is a true Christian could be."

So yet again, we have another so-called "true" christian who decides it's their job in sit in judgment of everyone and anyone who does not hold onto the same idea of right vs. wrong. And, as it always does, this incensed me. So here's a little self-righteousness of my own.

First off, let me go straight to the point here. If you are the "true" Christian you'd like to paint yourself to be, then simply go back to your Sunday school lessons to see where your comment is wrong-headed and offensive. It's simple -- only God can sit in judgment of man. If you're a TRUE believer, then you know that free will is one of the greatest gifts we've been given. And when judgment day comes, only God Himself will judge whether the choices made in this life were the right ones or wrong ones.

And while she didn't say it, I'm betting this woman's position was based upon a pro-life stance. OK, I'm making my own sweeping generalization there, but my own experience tells me that once she uttered the "true Christian" line, the pro life diatribe was coming next. Whether Obama is a good president or not hinges on that one issue and that one only for her.

That's as unenlightened as you can be. You CANNOT base your whole decision on abortion rights. That’s short-sighted and small-minded. And incidentally, it’s about being PRO-CHOICE, NOT PRO-ABORTION. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m personally against abortion. But I don’t think it’s a decision that the government should make for a woman. It’s one of the most, if not the most difficult decision any woman may be faced with. What gives me or anyone else the right to dictate to her in that moment? She should be free to make her own decision based on her own beliefs and moral compass. I’m every bit as much a Christian as any one of the fundamentalist, right wing, Bible toting elitists who feel they’re in a position to postulate as to what God wants her to do. But the last time I checked, the Big Man hasn’t put anything down in writing since Moses came down from the mountain. So, she needs to make her own peace with God on that decision. And the government should not be involved in it.

There are other issues we need to be concerned with — our economy is failing, prices are escalating, the quality of public education is deteriorating, our position of leadership in world affairs is gone and the gap between those who have and those do not grows wider every single day. We need a president who can and will address all of these problems, who cares about the legacy we leave our children. The privileged few can afford to focus on a single fundamentalist issue. They don’t have to worry about feeding their kids, paying their mortgage, saving for college or dodging gang warfare and drug dealers on their way home from a substandard public school or a minimum wage job. But they’re missing the point.

America is supposed to be about a fair chance for everybody. We’re supposed to care about helping those who have less, at home and overseas. We’re supposed to recognize that “nobody wins unless everybody wins.” Or to steal from another song, “them who got got out of town, and them who ain’t got left to drown” -- that isn’t good enough for America. And many Republicans, who like to wrap themselves in the flag and bask in American traditions and values, simply don’t get it. That the promise of our country was to be a shining light for the world, a place where everyone was welcome and where freedom wasn’t for the few, but for all. Instead, they’re good at putting up walls — around their communities, around our borders and in front of those who look different, speak different or would have the audacity to present a different idea or point of view.

You see the stakes in this game are higher than one issue. I worry every night about what the future holds for my kids. What opportunities are going to be there for them? Can they really still be anything they want to be?

The President has an unbelievable burden placed upon him. He's going to make some mistakes, he's going to need time to right a ship that's been rudderless for a long, long time.

I believe in President Obama because I think he embodies the idea that America is for ALL Americans. There isn’t a red America or blue America, or black America or white America. There's our America, and right now, it just isn’t good enough.

As for that lady, there's a lot of books I'd like to recommend to her. But since she's a "true" Christian, I'd recommend she start actually reading that one that she likes to present as her barometer, her truth. She might learn a few things about tolerance, acceptance, faith and love.