I love books – I love the feel, the covers, the ease of finding what I want in them. I am also an environmentalist, so I bought a Kindle – which is powered by electricity that is probably created by coal or gas. It’s complicated. I own a pickup truck (gets 25 on the highway) that I use often to deliver things to people in need – but it uses a lot of gas, compared to a Yugo. I would love to own an electric or hybrid truck, but they – again – have to be charged by electricity – and the batteries they use are extremely toxic and hard to dispose of – and, as of now, made with elements that are in pristine parts of the world, like Congo. It’s complicated.
I believe in a woman’s right to have control over what happens to her body, but when my wife was pregnant, we both started thinking of those fetuses as our children and started thinking of names. I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I often think there are some people – those who have admitted to heinous, unspeakable crimes – who should not be allowed to live any longer. I am scared to death of nuclear weapons, and I think our armed forces are bloated beyond the extreme, but I also benefit from living in a fairly safe part of the world. It’s complicated.
I watch as we prepare to vote for president, and I see one man who is objectively bad and, I think, a danger to democracy – but the other option often seems addled and unable to do the job. Both have done good things as president, and both have done bad things in office. I would like another choice, but not an anti-vaxxer. I don’t expect perfection. I don’t want religion of any kind in the public arena, but I also want America to be a better place for all people. I want us to be good. It’s complicated.
It might help all of us to stop siloing and othering people. I will admit that when I see a MAGA hat or a giant flag hanging off the back of someone’s vehicle, I brace myself. I also have to admit that when I hear people say things like “Next time, don’t miss” I feel sick. Life is complicated, and trying to simplify everything is dangerous – it is fundamentalism. I think of issues like the Yin and Yang symbol; there’s a little of the other in each of us. Nobody is purely one ideology, and very few people are 100% bad or good. Embrace the complications – they force us to think and listen and change our minds. This is why fundamentalism in any form is dangerous. Nothing is simple – everything has complications. We should all grow up a bit and use our brains to think about all sides of issues. Not just the one that appeals to us.
Prayer – Holy God, this world and all of creation is complicated, as are we. Give us all the courage to pause and think and wonder. Amen.