Let’s Play Cards

We’ve been back in the States for 10 months now. I’ve been watching the television news stations, listening to the politicians, political commentaries and others trying to get a handle of what is really going on here. You have to remember that for the majority of the past 15 years, our family has been living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. So, every time that we come back to the U.S., I go through a learning curve trying to rediscover and understand the place where I grew up.

I’m concerned about something that I don’t know how to express exactly. It seems, in general, that people now days, when they don’t agree, especially politically, accuse the other person of “playing the race card.” It seems that if you have one opinion and I have another and we can’t agree to disagree, then obviously one of us has to be a racist. I’ve seen some of these guys on TV blasting the “right” and frothing at the mouth because “they [the right] did this”, or “they did that”. It’s interesting to me, I never hear people from the “right” accusing the “left” of racism, because they didn’t agree on something! They just say that they disagree [OK, OK, some of these too froth at the mouth when talking about the “left”]! Since when did not agreeing have to do with the pigment of your skin? Just like I never understood the whole “You a Yankee?” thing while I was living in the South during my days of seminary. So too, I don’t get this whole race card thing. In fact, some of the guys screaming “racism” seem to me to be more “racist” than the one’s that they’re accusing.

I don’t agree with everything that our current president is doing. But then, I didn’t agree with everything that our previous president did either. Does that make me a racist? I mean, isn’t ex-president Bush a less pigmented person, than say, our current president? Both have been right and wrong on leading our country into the future. So, if someone disagrees with a current or ex-president, then automatically that person is a racist? Right?

I don’t like being called an “Anglo” or a “Caucasian” (or worse) because my tan is not as rich or deep as others. I’m not a guy who blames America’s problems on one political party or another. I don’t blame one race or another for the problems of our society. I understand that our history has been tainted because of bad decisions and poor judgments of some (not all) of our country’s Founding Fathers. But honestly, show me ONE country that has not made poor decisions where the masses were not affected, either for the good or for the bad. It just doesn’t work that way! It’s easy for us in the 21^st Century to blame our nations’ original leaders when (1) we didn’t live there in that culture at the time and (2) it is impossible to put the current world view of today onto the world view of 200+ years ago. That argument is as silly as saying that if you were in the crowd when Jesus was along side of Pilate, that you wouldn’t be yelling, “crucify Him, crucify Him!” Baloney, you would too! This “Monday Morning Quarterbacking” of the Founding Fathers needs to stop!

Our country was founded by fallen, non-perfect men who, in their time period, did the best they could with what they had. In fact, most of them lost their fortunes trying to get this new experiment of a nation started. They were very aware of their imperfections and asked God to guide them in the attempt to make a new model for the nations of the world. Their idea of this experiment was to be a republic* based in a democracy** and it was a totally new idea. No one previous form of government, not even the Romans, had this same idea.

I’ve lived overseas for 15 years. I know what it’s like to be hated just because I am an American. I am an American by birth. If someone has a problem with that fact, then I suggest that they take it up with God, because only He has the “say so” to make that decision.

My point is this; it’s time for ALL OF US TO GROW UP! If you grew up in a racially prejudice family, then it’s time to let that go. It’s not what Christ would do and not what He wants of you or your attitudes. It’s time to let go of past mistakes and move on (that applies to ALL of the melting pot of the various races that we have in the U.S. of A. and not just a selected few). It’s time to start opening up our ears to the ones beside us and the ones across the isle, to learn to accept the fact that it’s OK to agree to disagree without accusing the other person as being a racist.

If you’re going to play any cards, why not open up a deck and play some Rummy?

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*Republic – “a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.”

**Democracy – “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”