The way things ought to be

With apologies to Rush Limbaugh, of course…

Is it just me, or has civility gone the way of chivalry? I don’t think people can simply agree to disagree anymore, and this is particularly the case over the last year. People who backed the lady in the race won’t even talk to the folks who backed the guy who fired everyone – of course, those supporters had a hissy fit with backers of other people in the contest who aligned better with their political beliefs and would never vote for that firing guy.

But then the lady backers complained that the others had that attitude for the previous eight years, beginning with the time they got all riled up with those tax day rallies organized simply because their president was a different race. But no, charged those supporting the guy who fired everyone, you started it by wishing that President before him was dead because he started so many wars. Before that, we all pretty much laughed at the exploits of the lady in the race’s husband because somehow things were going smoothly. Now we couldn’t really laugh at the guy before him because he was so daggone serious about us reading his lips before he betrayed us and did what he said he wouldn’t do.

Come to think of it, the last President everyone liked was Ronald Reagan. I liked him too; in fact he’s the first one I voted for. This was back in the days when we didn’t have social media, smartphones, or even a whole lot of cordless phones. So do you know what we had to do? We had to talk, either over the telephone or (even better) face to face. We actually did fun stuff like go bowling, play board games, cruise aimlessly around town in our parents’ Oldsmobiles (although we fretted that gas was a buck a gallon), and hang out or watch movies at the suburban mall (or even a drive-in, which we were fortunate enough to still have), making sure to stop in the closest drug store and buy…the large size candy.

I’m going to make a suggestion here that you may feel free to put in the hopper, laugh at, or just plain ignore. Now Lord knows I like social media (and the occasional blog post) because I write more ably than I can talk, at least in front of a lot of people. But I don’t seem to have those problems in front of my church family or the small group we have on Wednesday nights. And on Sunday evenings, I know our teenaged daughter is in a safe place because she’s in the church youth group.

You may disagree, and I wouldn’t want to be accused of pushing my religion on anyone despite the fact salvation is free for the taking. But there’s a whole lot more civility and chivalry in a church than I find anywhere else in life where people just want to argue. Granted, the group is a little more homogeneous than your average pack of people in a crowd, but I’m sure I can ask questions on a variety of topics and receive a bushel of different answers. Their one thing in common: faith in our Lord.

It would not bother me a bit if this nation entered a period of religious revival – after all, we’ve tried just about everything else under the sun and found ourselves not only wanting but increasingly angry and bitter at our lot. It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, so after the better part of thirty years spent on pursuits that have loosened the ties that once bound us I think our nation is about certifiable.

It’s time to come home, America.

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