The Case for Being Better Humans - Part 2

I believe that the color of your skin and the accent in your voice do not matter.  If you do not speak the same language as I do, that is just as much my fault as yours.

I believe that you do not get to choose the person you fall in love with. 

I believe that to deny someone legal status or rights based on the point directly above (marriage, for those who don’t get my point) is wrong, immoral, unethical, and goes against the fabric of our society’s progress towards equality.  Either we claim equality, or we do not.

I believe that a two-celled zygote is not yet a human being.  I don’t know what point the zygote goes from being a mass of cells to something that we choose to call human life, but I would bet it is someplace around viability outside the womb.  Until that point, it is not two lives we are debating but one.  And in either case, no one can stake a claim to knowing something that is a moral decision.

I don’t care whether you believe in the God of Christ, the God of Moses, the word of Allah, or the word of Buddha.  I don’t care if you call yourself a Sikh, a Hindu, a Catholic or a Lutheran.  I only care about one thing – do you treat the people you come into contact with on a daily basis with love, respect, kindness and fairness?  If so, you have my love, respect, kindness and fairness.  If you do not, or if you seek to deny anyone those four things, then you have not earned mine.

America is the greatest nation on earth.  But America is not the greatest nation it can be.  I do not believe in the notion of American exceptionalism.  In my short lifetime, I have witnessed Vietnam, Watergate, bussing and segregation, Iran-Contra, Grenada, the failed “War on Drugs”, Whitewater, impeachment for a blowjob, 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, torture and Guantanamo, Katrina (and now Sandy), mortgage-backed securities and textbooks for children designed by creationists.  No nation that wants to be seriously considered the greatest nation on earth can claim that mantle without looking critically at those things and ensuring they never happen again.

America is the greatest nation on earth.  I know this when I see us sending a rover to Mars, dropping a man in freefall from low orbit, watch what Apple creates, think about Apollo 11, listen to jazz, play bluegrass, see the response to 9/11, hear the support for our troops, walk the beach in Cambria, fly over the plains of Kansas, see the love that is shared between friends and neighbors. 

I believe these two views are not exclusive; I can love my country and be critical of it at the same time.

I believe that it is possible to disagree about the basics of politics, religion or culture, but only if you and I have a respectful one-on-one discussion about it to find the sticking point.  If you feel that scripture is inerrant and that leads to our disagreement about gay marriage or abortion, that’s fine.  But let’s then have the discussion about the inerrancy of scripture instead of the one about the other two things.  Then we can have a productive discussion.

I believe that anything can be corrupted by greed or power.  Exhibits A through G: Barry Bonds, Karl Rove, Anthony Weiner, Lance Armstrong, Ted Haggard, the Catholic Church hierarchy and Richard Nixon.  I believe we should stop acting surprised when someone behaves this way.

I believe that people can act in very magnanimous and beautiful ways.  I believe we need to reward those people, especially the ones who do it for no recognition.

I believe that there is a way to be a faithful doubting Christian, but I believe most “Christians” don’t understand this.  I believe this is becoming the undoing of the Christian church.

I believe that music has the power to heal, transform and transport, and opens up the largest window we have in our lives to the eternal, to the spiritual, to God.  I don’t care how you define it, but I truly believe music is what keeps us alive.

And finally, I believe that only one thing really matters in our lives, and that is love.  Who did you love, what did you love, how deeply did you love, how freely did you give yourself to unconditional love, no matter how much it may have hurt.  The acts you committed in the service of safety, fear, your own comfort, power, avarice or greed will leave you empty at the end of your life.  The acts you committed in the name of love will leave you full.

My friends, I will not post about politics anymore on Facebook.  This is a medium that has lost its luster for me, and revealed itself to be shallow and depraving.  As I said above, if you and I can have a deep conversation about any of this, I am all ears.  I live for these conversations.

But posting photos of what Einstein said, or saying “Like if you love Jesus” or recycling the latest meme from Moveon.org or the GOP goes against the grain for me, and I can’t stomach it anymore.  I am mortified by some of the things I have seen human beings say in some of these threads, and I can’t be part of it anymore. 

I’m voting for Obama on Tuesday.  I don’t care who you vote for; just vote.  But I don’t expect my vote or an Obama win will do anything to change our country.  Only we can do that.  So I will look for other, more productive avenues to do so.

Open your hearts.  Put on some music.  Let love rule.  Because on November 7, after this is all over, nothing will have changed unless we decide it is time for it to change and do it.