Jonathots Daily Blog
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I felt the need for some caution.
When the Mogelthorpe family invited us over for a discussion, I was bewildered. First, I did not know the Mogelthorpes—only that their teenage daughter was dating our teenage son. Additionally, I didn’t think I had ever participated in an event dubbed “a discussion” that remained discussing and didn’t deteriorate into some sort of verbal standoff.
But I went.
As it turned out, the Mogelthorpes were very concerned that their daughter was getting too serious about our son, and that their high school dating experience was progressing at a frightening pace.
I listened. But I must admit, I find folks who attempt to curtail sexual activity somewhat comical. They, themselves, historically did not “cur their tail,” and most of the time when we try to keep young humans from doing things, they just do it sooner and faster.
I tried to talk like a responsible, aging, overly anxious parent and take the whole thing seriously.
At length I failed.
After an hour-and-a-half of back-and-forth conversation, which was deteriorating into each set of parents beginning to blame the other set for raising either a “tart” or a “rascal,” I finally concluded, “Folks, this is really simple. Your daughter has a radioactive vagina and my son is toting a Geiger counter.”
They did not find this humorous or even enlightening.
We left on semi-cordial terms—but with no prospects of future interaction or fellowship. It was especially ridiculous when within two weeks the two lovers lost interest in each other.
At this point, you might think the parents would relax and laugh at the failed conference. But no, the whole time I lived in the community, they never spoke to me again. And I imitated them.
Now, I felt the same way yesterday afternoon as I watched the news.
Made-up people are putting together made-up discussions over made-up problems in a world that has been made up by all of us.
The result will not be good. For it has become much more important to score points than to make one.
We are determined to wrestle our opponents to the ground and stand over them, spitting bullets.
We need to understand one fact:
Where there’s an absence, there will be a presence.
And where there is a presence, to make room for such an introduction, something will have to be absent.
Although the Democrats are certain that all the problems in our country are caused by the Republicans, and the Republicans feel they’re on a holy mission to prevent the Democrats from gaining control of the steering wheel to our government, the tactics that have been conjured are now the only things we all share in common.
Republicans aren’t nastier than Democrats. The Donkey Party has pulled even.
The Democrats are not free from scandal. They are completely equivalent to their Republican nemesis.
We believe the best way to settle a Presidential campaign is to insult until we get the desired result.
So the absence of one thing becomes the presence of another. And if you’re not careful, you may not even notice that something beautiful is gone. It is quickly filled in with something ugly. Then people tell you that this ugliness has always been there.
For instance:
The absence of civility is the presence of aggression.
Civility began feeling too “goody-goody” for us, so we attempted to change it to “toleration.” In other words, “I agree to disagree with you.”
Little did we know that in order to maintain this neutrality, we would have to be aggressive to keep our opponent at bay.
Likewise, the absence of truth is the presence of lying.
We didn’t believe that. We thought some matters could be “private,” and an explanation would not be necessary. But with a 24-hour news cycle, the facts always come out—and then, lying must be used to cover up the secret.
The absence of understanding is the presence of confusion.
Parts of our country have attempted to isolate themselves from other parts, pleading ignorance of social, cultural and even spiritual differences. But ignorance is a hard idea to present as a virtue.
And the absence of understanding has become the presence of confusion.
In other words, “How can those people be so stupid?”
Countered with, “How can those people be so arrogant?”
It may be difficult to understand, but:
The absence of good becomes the presence of evil.
We would like to characterize this as free will—but when humans are given liberty, they normally use it for an occasion to gratify their flesh. It’s just in our DNA.
So as Abraham Lincoln suggested, if we are not in pursuit of our better angels, our worst demons start planning the picnic.
I do believe we have good intentions.
But once you want to dominate, you don’t take the time to ruminate.
Yes—to sit and ponder how often we’re wrong, and to allow that to soak in so we don’t have to act like we are always right.
For I can tell you:
The absence of love is the presence of hate.
For the past twenty years, we have tried to achieve a relaxed indifference toward one another.
We have more interest in our personal family than the family of man.
And we have changed our lives to an electoral-college map, which tells us how to act.
Love is more than affection and it is more than commitment.
Love is the certainty that we are wrong often enough that we need to talk a helluva lot less.
Without this admission, hate shows up early, and leaves late.
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