Election Thoughts -- Revisited

A year has passed. So much seems to have happened; so little seems to have changed. It seems that people are concerned more nowadays about what is happening in Washington than ever before. (For the first time in my life, I have blood pressure problems.) Perhaps because it directly affects them more than ever before, affects them on crucial matters of life – and death. So I think it’s a good time to reflect on some thoughts from a year ago, when, despite my best efforts, anxieties began to increase:


Orig: 11/13/08

I’m sure you’re eagerly awaiting my thoughts on the election results. Some I expect VERY eagerly – that’s ok, I can handle any “gotcha” replies you might want to send. And should you not give a whit about my thoughts, well, that’s why your page, like mine, has a delete button.

You may not agree with my thoughts, but I do think you’ll be surprised.

I hope you have a happy and blessed day.

A Meditation: Are Martyrs a Bad Thing?
Last week a black man won the U.S. presidency. My initial feelings were that some innocent human beings, who would continue to die – and perhaps in growing numbers, via abortion -- lost. And I had secondary concerns with the outcome’s impact on the U.S. economy (being in Finance, of course I know THE solution to ALL the country’s problems – and darn, nobody’s asked me that yet).

Upon some reflection and prayer, however, I could see that perhaps my initial concerns were misplaced.

I didn’t care about the color of the skin of the presidential contenders, and to some degree I resented those who appeared to place great emphasis on it. I would have been chastised (and rightly so) if I said I were voting on the basis of color, yet huge numbers of minorities obviously voted that way. I did not call those people stupid, but I did feel they were ignorant (there’s a fine point there – think on it) on the importance of some other issues, including the value of human life.

Upon further reflection, perhaps I was the one who was ignorant.

I’ve known for a long time that there is a cultural issue associated with some minorities which I cannot logically understand. I saw it concretely during the O.J. trial, when black friends and co-workers looked at the same evidence I saw and yet reached radically different conclusions. And I couldn’t call those people stupid or ignorant – I knew some of them were definitely smarter than I was, and so we had to just “agree to disagree”. The same facts could be interpreted differently by each of us, and I could never quite understand why. Aren’t facts the facts? Isn’t truth the truth?

What caused me to change my initial feelings about the outcome of this recent election was the reaction of various black people and other minorities in subsequent days. I was told Oprah came out the next day holding flags, crying, and singing God Bless America. Other prominent blacks and Hispanics said: “I thought I’d never live to see this”, and “I kept my kids up all night to watch the tremendous, wonderful event”.

Huh? That was my initial reaction when I heard of these cries of happiness of these people. “Never thought I’d see this”??? What?? Well…. I did. A black president didn’t surprise me, nor would a Hispanic one, nor a Muslim one. This is America. Once again, I got that eerie feeling that I didn’t understand something here. I lived in this country; I saw the issues of the election race; I listened to the candidates; and I was not surprised by the outcome. So why were these people? Why were these people so surprised, why did they see this as a life-changing event, and why did they vote in such a block and seem oblivious to what I thought were extremely critical issues?

I may have found the answers to my questions in my prayers – both past and present.

During the election I did pray for some concrete things, like an end to abortion, but I always ended my prayers with a recognition of my ignorance of God’s will and power: “I know You can do these things because You said if I have faith, You could move mountains. I have faith, and so I trust that you can do the things I pray for --- although I do not pretend to know how”. So, I prayed for God’s will to be done in this election, and I trust it has. So what of the results which troubled me and the wild enthusiasm by minorities which confused me? Perhaps, just perhaps, they are God’s answer to my prayer.

If – for reasons I can’t understand – blacks and other minorities believed they couldn’t be equal in America, that their children couldn’t get equal jobs, that a majority of white-skinned people had a latent fear or hatred of them, that there was little real hope for their lot to improve in any way – wouldn’t that terribly depressing view of self overwhelm any other logical, reasonable views they may have – perhaps even views of their God? I saw in the Old Testament where many times Jews lamented and despaired of God ever coming to help them, despite all the evidences and promises they had to the contrary. What if U.S. minorities had a similar, lingering, generations-old despair? What would this election mean to them? Might it not mean exactly what I saw in voting patterns and exuberance over the results – neither of which I could quite understand?

Perhaps these results might be, as many minorities exclaimed, an answer to their prayers. Perhaps, truly, it was an answer to mine as well. Perhaps minorities will now come to know that they are exactly like me – and really believe it in their hearts. Perhaps in future elections, they will look beyond the color of a man’s skin (knowing that any man can be elected) and focus on more important issues. Perhaps they will instill in their children a new hope and confident outlook. Perhaps their Christian churches will join with all Christian churches in this country and fight for what is right, fight for the real Truth. Perhaps. There are many things I don’t understand about God, and how He works. But I trust.

And what of the key issue I was concerned with: abortion? I often worry that no one speaks for these little lives and so I must stand up and be counted. Perhaps I forget that God also speaks for them. Perhaps He sees the unity of His churches and people, and the giving of them hope, resulting from this election as a more important, necessary, first step to healing this country, and He accepts the little martyrs as necessary, for now, to advance the real truth, His Truth.

And so is continuing abortion in this country and more little martyrs absolutely such a bad thing? I can’t know that as an absolute truth. And I trust in Him who knows all Truth.

Perhaps everyone should be celebrating the election of Mr. Obama, and God’s answering of all of our prayers. Perhaps.