There But For the Grace of God
The Maori's word is Manaakitanga.
I haven’t set foot in a house of worship since. . . well, I can’t remember. Unless there have been some baptisms or weddings or funerals of which I’m unaware, I’ll bet the same can be said for my ‘heathen’ siblings.
From the day I was born, my father was on his way down the path of becoming a minister. Prior to that he had, literally, been a Jack-of-all-trades. Tradesman, sportswriter, Marine. A son of Mississippi. But all of my siblings caught some portion of his ministry.
None of us embraced organized religion like our parents did.
Even so, I soaked up the pieties along with the hypocrisies. I learned the meaning of the metaphors as well as the unvarnished truth that churches are enterprises. I listened to the platitudes emanating from the pulpit just as I studied the attitudes and vicissitudes of the men who delivered those sermons.
Once removed from the house where I spent my formative years, I never thought about being a part of organized religion. I dabbled with the “idea” of the Baha’i Faith but only because of the band Seals and Crofts and only because I had lost all interest in Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Seventh Day Adventists and Presbyterians.
Yet.
I continued to live a spiritual life.
I was a Good Samaritan whenever possible. The phrase, “There but for the grace of God go I” was never far from the surface of my consciousness. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is another phrase that stuck to my soul as diligently as bubble gum to the bottom of your shoe.
I have always been kind to strangers, unless they gave me a very good reason not to be. I am practically Buddhist in my approach to all creatures great and small. I read someone’s description of how they gently escorted a wolf spider out of their house by using a paper towel and a paper cup and then they remarked that if they were wandering aimlessly about, minding their own business, that is exactly how they would like to be treated. Not crushed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time by an unknowable powerful force.
My brother sent me an article about how the inherent nature of the Maori culture has played a prominent role in the success New Zealanders have had containing the coronavirus. It’s because they feel and understand how interconnected all living beings are and how you are only as strong as your weakest link and this belief has helped them manage to control the virus effectively.
This in spite of New Zealand’s First World status and being accustomed to living extravagantly if they so wish. I’ve met New Zealanders at whitewater contests. They can be ribald and randy and ever ready to party, but when their chips were down, they pulled together as one for the good of their country.
Meanwhile, here in America, we can’t even agree on masks.
If I were an alien landed from another planet, I’d be scratching my head trying to understand - assuming an alien would have the instant ability to comprehend America, like a hyperspeed de Tocqueville - why it seemed the ‘heathens’ wanted to get a handle on poverty on a societal scale and side with public health scientists when it came to the pandemic while the churchgoers were fine with every man, woman and child for themselves.
How is it that poverty is political? Pollution? Renewable energy? (Renewable!) Public health? Vaccinations? The fate of the planet?
Why are people who are devoted to Christ, who I distinctly remember throwing money changers out of a temple with a bullwhip, devoted to a man (and men/women) who would, if given the opportunity, place money changers inside every temple possible? Where did the lesson get lost? As I said earlier, all churches are enterprises, they have to be to survive, but some are simply dedicated to money making for the person standing behind the golden pulpit or strutting in front of the 100 member choir. Then they use their platform and power to extol the trappings and behavior of a man who would never be mistaken for being Christ-like, and all of his craven minions.
When I was churchgoer, I understood worshipping golden calves and idols to be a bad thing and, yet, I saw Americans worshipping a golden idol that looked like a repurposed Bob’s Big Boy statue at the Conservative Political Action Conference. It was the earthly incarnation of the exact opposite of their God’s teachings.
Separated at birth?
I guess I am having a hard time coming to grips with a so-called “Christian” nation behaving less like a Christian than those of us who walked away from the pomp and circumstance of American religiosity decades ago. Where’s the tolerance? Where’s the generosity? Where’s the magnanimity? What happened to the ability to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?
In a normal world, a normal America, no church would ever have come to the side of our former president. Consequently, the current state of our nation - the rampant xenophobia and the ready-to-put-a-knife-to-your-throat tensions - can be laid, equally, at the foot of American clergy who sucked up to the clown car administration of three months ago.
They were cheerleaders. Enablers. The getaway car drivers.
They should not be let off the hook. They could have respected the ‘office of the presidency’ during the last guy’s term by politely refusing to play his game. Instead they came to lay hands on him as if he were the second coming of every prophet throughout history. Churches should not be in the business of pulling a country apart.
It has only been a little under three months since we’ve had a new administration and their messaging has been pitch perfect. We need to remind ourselves they were given little to no lead up time to prepare for their ‘early’ days. For that reason, we were fortunate to have elected someone who already ‘knew the ropes’.
The problem with this pandemic and the never-ending wars and climate change and racism is that they are “existential threats”. By that they mean, we are the amphibians in the slowly heating pot of water. The threats are clear but barely detectable to the society as a whole.
Blacks are a minority. Most families do not have members of the family in the military. The pandemic has yet to significantly touch a large enough percentage of the population to garner the attention it continues to deserve. The real changing of the climate proceeds unseen, while the manifestation of that change - wildfires, forest fires, Category 5 hurricanes, drought, hundred year floods arriving way sooner than a hundred years - are just obstacles humans learn to overcome.
Our diversity is working against us because we don’t have a common cultural concept, as the Maori do, to bind us during a state of emergency.
Except we do.
The atheists, agnostics and pious of America may not agree on much but should all be able to agree on this:
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
Most of what I really need
To know about how to live
And what to do and how to be
I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top
Of the graduate school mountain,
But there in the sandpile at Sunday school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life -
Learn some and think some
And draw and paint and sing and dance
And play and work everyday some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world,
Watch out for traffic,
Hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
by Robert Fulghum
For those who were once fans of Seals And Croft, here is a blast from the past. They might be considered Yacht Rock.
Also, I saw this the other day while browsing through my Twitter feed and, since March Madness has begun, I thought I should bring this to your attention as an alternative. Especially if your favorite team did not get picked or has already been unceremoniously booted out.
Looking for something to write to your representatives about? Remember how National Guard troops were NOT deployed in a timely fashion on January 6th? Well, if the District of Columbia was considered to be the 51st state, it would have had a governor who could have called out the National Guard to defend the capitol building. That seems pertinent following the recent insurrection. This makes it a timely issue and it just so happens that there will be a hearing on March 22nd (tomorrow!).
Thanks for reading, writing, responding and passing the word along. Take care! - JLM
Dad would be proud of you James. I wish the whole world could read this, and heed.