Y'all.
I'm tired, y'all.
Partially I was tired of dealing with winter up North-ish, but we've thankfully gotten a reprieve in the weather this past week.
I wish that were the case for our society.
I'm so tired of living in a place that thinks it's more important to keep transgender individuals out of a bathroom where they fit in than it is to keep cisgender, heterosexual male predators out of bathrooms...or locker rooms...or the highest offices of government.
I'm so tired of living in a place where people defend the Muslim ban with their fear of a fringe sect halfway around the world bent on destroying, well, everyone. Where Republican politicians mourn for made-up incidents while ignoring the hundreds upon thousands of innocent Muslim lives taken by ISIS across the globe.
[And somehow that 5 year old Syrian kid is going to like us better when he grows up in a refugee camp hearing that the U.S. abandoned him instead of providing shelter and helping him recover from the traumas of war...right.]
I'm so tired of living in a place where two darker-skinned men can be gunned down by a white man shouting racial slurs and it's no immediately condemned as a hate crime. Where crimes committed by white supremacists are pardoned and ignored but law-abiding communities are targets of police surveillance.
I'm so tired of hearing the comparison of, "Well, you lock your doors at night don't you? That's what we're trying to do for the country."
You know why we really have to lock our doors at night? Because we live in a capitalist society that thinks it's okay for rich politicians to take money away from educating the poor, feeding the poor, providing a basic right to life for the poor, just so they can buy a second yacht with their tax breaks. Because letting non-white people vote does not immediately erase CENTURIES of bigotry, systematic oppression, lack of opportunity, and violence done to their communities.
I'm so tired of living in a so-called "Christian nation" that has never had a state religion, not from its founding, for a good reason. The irony is, these leaders we have [and pardon the language here, but really] don't give a damn about good stewardship of the earth, loving their neighbors as themselves, feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, etc.
They have corrupted the beautiful gospel of PEACE to bring war on people who don't look like them.
They have corrupted the beautiful gospel of JOY to tear families apart because they weren't born in the right place and didn't know the right people.
They have corrupted the beautiful gospel of FELLOWSHIP to reject and disparage the refugees who want to come make this country great.
They have corrupted the beautiful gospel of HEALING to deny their fellow human beings the right to live a healthy, productive life.
They have corrupted the beautiful gospel of LOVE to bring hate and intolerance to God's rainbow array of children.
And if they don't have love...from my religious standpoint, they're just banging their drums and cymbals. They build up their earthly wealth and power, that rich man feasting while Lazarus starves outside. I know the God of Wonders can work a miracle with these people. I desperately hope and pray it will happen, for the sakes of all those who are suffering and will suffer under them. But I see the downward spiral they're on. I see the downward spiral this country is on.
Somehow, we've retained this idea that America = #1!!!!!!!!!
Number one in what, though?
Obesity?
Incarceration?
Drug use?
Cost of higher education?
Infant mortality?
Bankruptcies brought on by medical costs?
Bloated defense spending?
Gun violence?
Y'all, I know there's a whole theology about the end times and Revelation and s*@$ hitting the fan, but...I don't want to see that in my lifetime. I don't want to give up the fight against evil. I don't want to lose hope for ending poverty, and domestic violence, and the school to prison pipeline. I don't want to stop dreaming that we'll end the refugee crisis, and welcome migrants, and love our neighbors.
I really hope y'all are dreaming and hoping and praying this with me. I hope you care. Because I have to believe that we can still turn this sinking ship around.
