WHERE ARE THE ADULTS?

by Ruth A. Sheets

Paying attention to the news lately has been a trial .  We hear/see how this group has attacked that group and performed atrocities that are nearly unspeakable, but of course, they speak them. 

The commentators try to analyze the cause of the attack and the reasons involve religion, language, land, power,  or  some other of the usual excuses.  I think they are wrong.

Children are coming across the border, desparate for safety and a real childhood and they are often met by screaming people who cannot summon sympathy let alone empathy for their plight .

Lying seems to be the order of the day in politics, especially on the side of conservatism, as if truth will bring down severe punishment from on high.  But, in God’s name, the ends justify the means.

What do these events have in common? Absence of adults. There are clearly grown-up people involved, but somehow, they didn’t mature into adults. Their childish dialectic, self-centered  thinking, keeps them from making good judgments. They have not learned to value the lives of anyone different from themselves.

And, there is no adult present to say “NO!!” In fact, the would-be adults have been absorbed by the childish insanity and often eagerly participate.  Perhaps hoping they will gain power when they pick up the pieces.

These child actors in the various scenarios are mostly male, but the females often stand by nodding and smiling, rooting on the bad boys, just like high school teens.

Would-be adults make massive weapons and sell or give them to the children and are shocked to see what they do with them.  But, of course, it is all about money for the sellers.  It’s free enterprise, you know.  We just sell them.  We can’t control what they do with them.

Sadly, we can’t expect the United States to assume the adult role in the world because we have too many of our own children in Congress, the judiciary, and other places of power.  They are proud of their limited knowledge, but want to foist their beliefs on everyone else, and like out-of-control kids, try to rule the house, assuming their own superior intelligence, talent, and love of country. 

Their petulant sulkiness makes them impossible to work with, so very very little gets done.  Many are enamored with guns and war, especially since they and theirs will not have to participate.  It’s a game.   

What do we do?  Well, we adults can start by withdrawing our support for the children.  We go to the polls and vote out the children who are not mature enough to serve, you know, the ones who deny reality, who dare anyone to teach them anything..

We need to stop preaching jihad and other forms of hatred.  Speaking a different language, worshiiping a different diety, having a different color skin  do not make a person worthy of death, well, except, perhaps to grown-up children.

 

Then, serious penalties should be applied to corporations who sell to the children:  insurgents, terrorists, religious extreemists, and the rest of the kids.  We adults need to fund and apply education about how to behave in a civilized world.  The “children” need to be incorporated into communities of adults who can care for them and help them grow up. 

We need to put more women in charge, since it is they who often mourn most when they see the death and destruction caused by out-of-control children.  They can often come up with workable solutions too.

It’s time for the reasonable adults to step out of hiding and assert their proper role.  They must  find ways to put the children in a safe place until they grow up,

DON’T TELL ME WHAT YOU BELIEVE

I’ll Tell You What You Believe When I See What You Do

by Ruth A. Sheets

The American “Christian Right” has stepped up its campaign to make the United States a Christian nation.  They claim incorrectly, that the founders were Christian and really intended that this be a Christian country which only tolerates people of other religions.  To modify that notion further, they want us to be a people that reflects their particular world view.

What does that world view consist of?  It is a world of the Bible, so they tell us.  Jesus is at the center of this world and of course, Jesus looks like them, tall, handsome, and white.   

It is not sufficient to hold these beliefs within their own spheres.  Members of the “Christian Right” see themselves as evangelists.  To forward their “cause,” they are and recruit public officials willing to pass laws restricting the rights and beliefs of others, (for their own good, of course).

The “Right” laments the lack of formal Christian prayer in school.  They sue districts for their anti-school prayer policies so the Supreme Court will ultimately rule that school prayer is really OK.  And, the current court will.

The “Rights” laws require that The 10 Commandments be posted in courthouses and courtrooms.  Of course, among the several versions, the one to be posted is the King James version, the one they grew up with. They can’t actually state what the Commandments are and don’t follow them particularly well. They “love” guns and encourage wars, and have no problem bearing false witness against their neighbors or coveting their neighbor’s . . . .  Oh well!  That clearly doesn’t matter; it’s the principle.

Their interpretation of their Bible demands women’s submission.  This allows men to pass any law they feel necessary to keep women in the place men approve for them.  “Christian Right” men value women who have learned to want only what their men provide.  Women with choice regarding their reproduction, on the job pay, or anything else is forbidden.  Women just can’t handle it.   

The “Christian Right” reads hatred of homosexuality on every page of their Bible and will stand against any manifestation of it to the death (well, maybe to the death of the homosexuals).  This is interesting since there are so few references to same-sex anything in the Bible it is almost invisible.  And, Jesus said nothing about it.  He clearly would have known of it as popular as it was in Roman culture.

Jesus tells his followers to care for the poor, imprisoned, outcast.  However, the “Christian Right” seems to despise the poor judging by the budgets they bring to Congress.  There are more imprisoned in America than in any other country.  The “Christian Right” doesn’t have much problem with that.  Funds to support “the least of these” are being cut on a regular basis.

Our problem with the “Christian Right,” as I see it is that few non-members today seem brave enough to say “NO” to the “Right.”  Each time they pass a law that restricts religious freedom in one state, a group of them in another part of the country pushes a similar law through there too.  Then, it creeps around to other states and localities. 

The cost of challenging a law once it is passed and signed is high.  The “Christian Right” knows this.  If enough restrictive laws are passed, the rest of us will be overwhelmed, unable to challenge all of them.  On top of this, the “Right” restricts the vote, so more “Right” lawmakers are elected.

We need to stand up and fight the childishness of a group of “Christians” who think they have the full truth. They don’t.  Seeing what they do, though, we know what they believe.

 

They believe that one’s gut feeling is more valuable than thinking. 

They believe the Bible is one’s plan for life, even if they pick and choose from it what they will follow and ignore the rest.

They believe that money and the pursuit of it for themselves and their kind is Holy and entitles those who have the most to do whatever they want with it.  They are God’s favored ones.

They believe the poor are in that condition due to their own actions.  If they weren’t lazy and stupid they would have money and whatever they want and God would bless them.

They believe that acting holier than thou is better than actual caring, kindness, and love directed toward the other.

They believe they have a phone line to God and no matter how they act, God approves and wants everyone else to approve.

These are the fantasies of self-centered children who have no business governing anything.

 

Raise Your Hand!

by Ruth A. Sheets

Raise your hand if you are sick of old, rich, White folks pontificating about poverty.  If you’re like me, you don’t want to hear one more complaint that: 

if the minimum wage is raised, poor people will be disincentivised to work;
 
if Medicaid is available for the poor, there will be no reason for them to seek a job. Besides, they’ll end up wasting tax dollars on their medical care since they won’t bother taking care of themselves anyway;
 
if Food Stamps are available for poor folks, they won’t go to get help from their local religious and service organizations where the help should really come from in the first place;
 
if decent housing is provided for the poor, they will only destroy it anyway;
if unemployment is extended, folks will just be lying around not looking for work at all;
 
why should anyone worry about poor people voting; they don’t contribute anything of value to society.
 
Statements like these regularly come from those old, rich, white folks, even those in public office. And they profess to believe it all.
 
What’s happening here? The people in power, the wealthiest among us choose to keep Americans believing that poor people are poor because of their own actions. The poor are lazy, unmotivated, greedy, God-forsaken moochers, the “takers.”

And, the inverse must therefore be true; the rich and powerful are that way because of their own hard work, superior intellect, cleverness, and favored position in God’s sight, the “makers.” If poor folks worked hard enough they could have it all too.

The privileged can’t imagine, let alone acknowledge that their parents’ money, their skin color, the schools they attended, their better health care, the networks they were able to tap into, and just plain luck had anything to do with their current situation. It would totally rock their world.
 
That might mean people who are poor don’t choose poverty and don’t employ less effort than the more fortunate.

My goodness! That might mean the pontificators have no right to look down on those who are poor. What shall they do? Blaming the poor and struggling folks is all these morally bankrupt “makers” have.

BULLIES – Let's End Our Love Affair With Them

by Ruth A. Sheets

The subject of bullying has arisen again with events in New Jersey.  Everyone knows that Chris Christi is a bully.  He pushes people around, insults people who don’t agree with him, and allows an atmosphere of bullying in his office.  Yet, he won a second term as governor and wants to run for President of the US.  He has high ratings among Republicans and some Democrats.  So what if his people closed entrances to a bridge or held up funds to gain concessions.  We love his “straight shooting.”

Roger Ayles of FOX News is also a bully according to Gabriel Sherman’s new book THE LOUDEST VOICE IN THE ROOM.  He has a huge following and his on-air team is extremely loyal despite knowing they could be fired at any time if they “step out of line.”  He has plenty of sponsors for his network’s hate-mongering.

Tea Party members of Congress use bullying too.  They force their opinions on America and back them up with threats of government shut-downs, sequesters, and defaults on the US debt.  Most of them will be re-elected in November 2014 and beyond.

President Lyndon Johnson was a well-known bully who was highly respected by the bullied.  He managed to get all sorts of important legislation through with his skill and is remembered fondly by many for it.

Bullying used to be (and maybe still is) a way of life in the military academies, upper classmen bullying the lower classmen, supposedly to build character and leadership.  Is it possible that the bullying does not continue to be filtered down through the ranks?

In the school district where I work, we are told that there is a ZERO TOLERANCE FOR BULLYING!  Of course, when that is enforced at all, it is limited to the students bullying one another.  Administrators regularly bully teachers and staff while sometimes, teachers and staff bully students.  Parents also get away with bullying whoever they feel is not making their child #1.

Police bully suspects into confessions.  Conservatives bully women into keeping pregnancies they can’t afford for health, financial, or other personal reasons.  Loud talk-show hosts bully their listeners into silence or support of positions against their own self-interest.

As a society, we tolerate the rape of our young men and women in the military.  We condone bank foreclosures even to the destruction of whole neighborhoods.  We allow organizations like the National Rifle Association to dictate who should have guns  and under what circumstances.  In the guise of freedom of religion, we permit religious institutions to threaten members in a variety of ways if they do not tow the line on their particular doctrine.   Governors can take over cities and refuse to help their most vulnerable citizens.  These are all bullying no matter what term we use.

We could stop this if we wanted to.  The problem is, we admire the bullies.  We regularly say things like “ I don’t like his/her position, but I admire how it was done.” or the old cliché “The ends justify the means.”  It is almost as though bullying is the American way. of doing just about everything.  Bullies are strong and have power.  We want to be in their shadow so we can share a little of their power.

Bully lovers have bought into a series of lies.  Wealth trumps common sense, personal greed trumps others’ needs, hate is stronger than caring, fear cannot be faced, change  is more frightening than the status quo. 

Those of us who are disgusted with bullies and their bullying need to get the truth out.  Without their groupies the bully’s power would be gone.  Being in someone’s shadow is generally not a good thing.  No one deserves to have so much money that they corrupt our Democracy.  Every TV has a channel changer and an on/off button when the hate speech begins.  There was no “Golden Age” when everything was perfect.  Today is what we have and tomorrow is what we can build together.