I can honestly say, and I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic, that I have never seen this level of ugliness in the United States of America. As Donald Trump takes over the media, as he takes over every news cycle, I am surprised at how low humankind can sink. We expect this kind of behavior in other countries… in third-world countries, but here?
It’s hard to know if it’s worse now, or if it’s always been this way, but to me, it looks as if America is becoming angrier and more vitriolic, and that compassion in our nation has been all but abandoned. Calling Mexicans rapists, threatening to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, threatening to ban all Muslims from the country, violently attacking protestors at rallies… I’m seeing racism and xenophobia at a level I don’t think I’ve ever seen… at least not here.
The rhetoric is explosive. There’s the veiled (and not so veiled) threats urging “Americans” to use “Second Amendment methods” to deal with those who we don’t agree, all the while trying to do away with the Fourteenth Amendment. “Don’t retreat, reload.”
America looks barbarous right now, and there’s a very real possibility—regardless of what anybody says—that the man who embodies it all, could be the next President of the United States. Every time I hear someone say, “Donald can’t win,” I think back to the Tea Party. We never dreamed that a group of people so devoid of intelligence, of human emotion, of compassion… would ever come to power. And yet, they current run (or obstruct/keep our government from running) our government. Trump could win. There a lot of ugly out there… right here in America.
Ironically, this is all in the name of God. It’s the “Christians,” the evangelicals, the religious who are falling for this fear-based hatred. How is it that a God of love finds itself SO angry, volatile, and ready to snap at a moment’s notice? Is it marriage equality? Is it woman’s healthcare? Is it equality among ethnic groups?
“God” seems frightened at the direction this country is headed, and It can’t stop talking about “making America great again.” But when was America not “great,” or “taking America back from what?”
Is this a misunderstanding? Is it possible that I just don’t know what love is in the first place? After all, who can define love? If God is love, then this must be love. Does love look like anger? Does love compare its enemies to Socialists, Communists, or worse, Hitler and his Nazis? Is love really this afraid or threatened?
It has been said so many times that “Love conquers all,” and it’s a lovely platitude, and it makes for some great rock and roll/Top 40 Radio. However, that has never been true. Love is only as powerful as those who choose to live from it and it often finds itself challenged by those who live from fear. In fact, those who live from fear will often attack love with everything available to them. Jesus was reported to have been one of the most compassionate men that ever stood on the surface of the Earth. Yet, at the young age of thirty-three, this brilliant love-philosopher and love-thinker, Rabbi Jesus, was crucified by Pilate and the Romans with the aid of the Religious people of the day because they believed that he was a threat to the state. They wanted their country back.
There are some ugly places on terra firma. We know of them. We are surprised at how horrible they can be, and how much agony they inflict upon their own citizens. We cringe at the “unspeakable” evils. Yet we’re now faced with a serious question: “Is America next?” Is America the next North Korea, with Donald Trump the American version of Kim Jung Un?
If it is, is there anything we can do about it? What would Jesus do if he were here now? Ultimately, what would God do? Does God agree with Donald Trump? And if He/It doesn’t agree, then why won’t It say something one way or the other? Why doesn’t God defend “the least of these” who now find themselves under attack from the very God that’s supposed to love them?
Rabbi Jesus once told a young attorney, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Is it possible that maybe, JUST maybe, we’ve never considered what love is, what love looks like, and what love is capable of? I hope so. Otherwise, we’re pretty much in the same boat as every other dictatorship in the world, including Russia, North Korea, Nazi Germany, Italy, Japan (during the 1930s and 40s).
If there is compassion, may we find it… and soon—before it’s too late.