If we don’t season our cultural analysis and introspection with some gratitude from time to time, we tend to get a little on the grumpy side. I know I do. With Father’s Day approaching, I’ve been thinking about my dad. What a guy he is!
Dad came from the humblest of beginnings. As a child he was exposed to poverty, hunger, abuse, alcoholism and more. Positive role models were scarce. Street fighting was a way of life in those days of bigotry and segregation. He was what we call today a gang-banger in the hood. Although schooling was not emphasized, an 8th grade education was all his parents had, Dad had street smarts and the precocious insight to understand that if he were ever to amount to anything he had to get out of that way of life. He enrolled in the army just after WWII. There he was selected to serve in an elite Special Forces unit.
After his honorable discharge, he briefly returned to the party lifestyle until a spiritual encounter set him on a forever changed course. This once poor street kid married the church pianist, enrolled in a Bible college, completed theological training, became a very successful pastor for 16 years, before going on to serve as a denominational leader and administrator. All this, while raising 4 exuberant kids. He has spoken to audiences all over the United States in a style that is next to none. He is a consummate story teller. He has also served on boards and committees that have involved him internationally with high government officials.
He retired briefly before accepting the call to full time chaplaincy at a large retirement complex. Although he hits 78 next month, he preaches several times a week, makes hospital calls, conducts funerals, counsels, attends strategy meetings AND is writing what I think will be a great book. We recently moved 4 doors down from him and mom in the same townhome complex. He is fully engaged in life and world affairs about which we have frequent stimulating conversations. He is a man of deep thought and prayer. He is my friend, my mentor, my hero, a gentleman through and through, and I’m so glad he is my dad. Happy Father’s Day!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
National Bird-flipping
What goes around comes around. We reap what we sow. A man’s appetite works for him. Opportunity knocks. You don’t spit into the wind. Wake up and smell the coffee.
What the heck am I talking about? Immigration. It seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. Each of these above quoted tidbits of scripture or cliché have something to do with the current immigration debate in congress. This debate showcases one of the clearest examples of political grandstanding and hucksterism I have ever seen. Playing off of our irrational fears and selfishness, the politicians are trying to convince us that they are going to fix the problem (assuming there is a problem to fix). I’ll go on the record by saying they won’t fix the problem because they can’t.
Whatever laws congress enacts to “get tough” on immigration will have the same clout as the treaty the Sioux Indians signed with the United States. The original treaty stipulated that the First Nations people would retain sovereignty over the Black Hills in present day South Dakota. Settlers were forbidden by the law from entering the Indians’ sacred territory. Custer’s cavalry had been dispatched into the region to enforce that law and protect the borders. Then gold was discovered and the law became as worthless as the paper it was signed on. A stampede of opportunity seekers crossed the border, overwhelmed law enforcement, and created a new reality.
The “gold” of opportunity resides inside the borders of the United States. Hungry and hopeful people will not be deterred in their quest to lay hold of it. They are here and they are coming and anyone who imagines that we are going to stop them is ignorant of history and living in extreme denial. It is human nature to resent people who don’t play by the rules and seek to get an unfair advantage. Many are reacting to illegal immigrants with the same attitude they react to lane cutters and rule breakers in traffic. But, just as honking one’s horn and offering a finger salute doesn’t stop line cutters and traffic violators, our immigration laws and attempts to secure our borders will continue to be ineffective.
We value law and order when it protects our interests. When it doesn’t we change the rules. All the high sounding rhetoric about law and order forgets the colonialism, slavery, invasion and conquest that shades our history as a nation. We are reaping what we have sown and the best we could do in reaction to the new wave of opportunity seekers is be hospitable, cultivate the potential benefits of the new reality, and stop this embarrassing, immature national bird-flipping. If we don’t, history could repeat itself and the “hostiles” could end up confined to the reservation—or worse.
What the heck am I talking about? Immigration. It seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. Each of these above quoted tidbits of scripture or cliché have something to do with the current immigration debate in congress. This debate showcases one of the clearest examples of political grandstanding and hucksterism I have ever seen. Playing off of our irrational fears and selfishness, the politicians are trying to convince us that they are going to fix the problem (assuming there is a problem to fix). I’ll go on the record by saying they won’t fix the problem because they can’t.
Whatever laws congress enacts to “get tough” on immigration will have the same clout as the treaty the Sioux Indians signed with the United States. The original treaty stipulated that the First Nations people would retain sovereignty over the Black Hills in present day South Dakota. Settlers were forbidden by the law from entering the Indians’ sacred territory. Custer’s cavalry had been dispatched into the region to enforce that law and protect the borders. Then gold was discovered and the law became as worthless as the paper it was signed on. A stampede of opportunity seekers crossed the border, overwhelmed law enforcement, and created a new reality.
The “gold” of opportunity resides inside the borders of the United States. Hungry and hopeful people will not be deterred in their quest to lay hold of it. They are here and they are coming and anyone who imagines that we are going to stop them is ignorant of history and living in extreme denial. It is human nature to resent people who don’t play by the rules and seek to get an unfair advantage. Many are reacting to illegal immigrants with the same attitude they react to lane cutters and rule breakers in traffic. But, just as honking one’s horn and offering a finger salute doesn’t stop line cutters and traffic violators, our immigration laws and attempts to secure our borders will continue to be ineffective.
We value law and order when it protects our interests. When it doesn’t we change the rules. All the high sounding rhetoric about law and order forgets the colonialism, slavery, invasion and conquest that shades our history as a nation. We are reaping what we have sown and the best we could do in reaction to the new wave of opportunity seekers is be hospitable, cultivate the potential benefits of the new reality, and stop this embarrassing, immature national bird-flipping. If we don’t, history could repeat itself and the “hostiles” could end up confined to the reservation—or worse.
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