I think we've all lost our minds. Seriously. We've lost our minds. I'm at home a lot, so I watch a LOT of news. It's a bad habit, a horrible default. I should be doing something more productive with my time. But is it as shocking to any of you as it is to me the ridiculousness of people these days?
We are one of the 800,000 lucky folks who weren't getting paid recently. While you can sit on whatever side of that fence you want to, in the end, it was all a silly standoff over pride and semantics, in my humble opinion. History tells us (very recent history in fact) that everyone wants Border Security. How that actually looks takes on MANY forms...people, technology, sometimes a physical wall. But democrats and republicans alike generally agree that we need to ensure our national security. Trump promised a wall that Mexico was going to pay for, and dog-gone-it, he's been pressed up his own proverbial wall now, trying to deliver on that campaign promise. His pride, along with the determination of Democrats to take him down, has led to thousands of us praying we can put food on the table.
While we were lucky because we happened to be in a pretty good place financially, others weren't so lucky. In fact, just a few short years ago, WE would have been hard pressed to survive without two paychecks. Y'all, government employees are not rich. ESPECIALLY government employees living in Washington, DC. And for those of you naysayers who say, "Oh, but you CHOSE this life," I don't disagree. But we CHOSE this life for several reasons: first of all, because we are PATRIOTS! We LOVE our country and have chosen to serve. And secondly, because working for the federal government has generally had pretty good job security. (Not that this is always a great thing, because let's face it, sometime turnover is good, but I digress.) So while we CHOSE this, we did not choose to be a pawn in this game of "he said, she said."
There are countless books written on why our government, from the President all the way down to individual citizens, can't seem to get along these days. But I have one opinion about all of it: We've literally lost our minds. In this age of Social media, it seems no one (including me) can put their phones down long enough to get to the business of governing. We are SUPER busy being politically correct, affirming or condemning the latest Tweet, and leaking whatever crazy news we can find to make the headlines, which further alienates all of us. How about everyone put their phones in the box by the door and move into a chamber and talk about actual business? How about we all remember WHY we serve! We aren't serving so that we can get re-elected. We are SERVING because service should be a higher calling. It should be self-less, but it has become exactly the opposite. It has become SELF-SERVING.
And let's talk about the latest chaos in Virginia. I mean we could go as far back as a few weeks ago and talk about Kavanaugh, too. In fact, let's, because it's on BOTH sides of the aisle. HOW many of you would like to take out your year books from high school or college AND your photo albums and let the entire world scrutinize them? (Well, I could, but I'm not running for office.) Did ANYONE else make stupid choices in their youth? Did anyone disappoint their parents? Did anyone LEARN from their experiences? Did anyone think, "Man, that was kind of dumb. Glad it didn't kill me!" I mean, COME. ON! Guys, youth is exactly that, YOUTH! KIDS make stupid, stupid choices. ALL THE TIME.
I'm rearing three children. Two are currently teenagers. I'm incredibly blessed because I have awesome kids. They are kind and generous and well behaved. I could go on and on and on. And while my husband and I TRY to instill a strong sense of Christian values into them, and we have very high expectations, that does NOT mean that at some point in their youth, they won't make a mistake. Maybe not even an intentional one. Maybe what is TOTALLY acceptable now won't be in 30 years, when they are 20 years into their own careers. What if we don't even KNOW what's going to be taboo! And frankly, how could we? We are just doing the best we can with what we have at this time. I am terrified that somehow, someway, someone is going to try to derail their life plans due to some crazy picture they'll take at some point in their YOUTH.
Now don't misunderstand, I think it is CLEAR the differences between bad decisions and criminal behavior. So let's talk about that for a second. Accusing someone of being a racist, while a horrible, horrible thing to BE, is still not criminal (assuming we are no longer slave owners or acting on these feelings). But accusing someone of violating you, now that's criminal. And bravo to any young woman or man who digs deep and finds the courage to expose it. BUT, and this is a big but, we STILL HAVE DUE PROCESS! Everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty. I'm totally in agreement that people who are in any way violated should be given a voice. But it is then incumbent on them to PROVE it. Sometimes, this is overwhelming, too much time has passed, the crime is irreversible in terms of proof or evidence gathering, and all of that is truly horrible, but we have RULE OF LAW for a reason. And let's face it, there are some crazy folks out there who are literally happy to take advantage of our current cultural #metoo movement or frankly, just lie. Therefore, we have due process!
So back to my main point. We've all lost our minds. Why can't our leaders exhibit some LEADERSHIP, and put down their phones, sit across the aisle from one another and dig deep? Find some common ground (they certainly have some)? Why is it so hard to say, "Hey, we don't agree on this point, but we DO agree on this one." People, check your pride (and your next election points) at the door. Think about ALL the people. There's no doubt that government is a give and take, a negotiation, but it's not a dang hostage environment. We all live in this great nation TOGETHER! In fact, while I'm no counselor, I've read lots of books about restoring relationship. Maybe we should remove the tables in the room, and make all of the Republicans sit with their knees touching the Democrats knees? It's super hard to be nasty when you are in physical contact with someone. Try it. Maybe we should all try some humility. Maybe the House should wash the feet of those in the Senate, and then, the other way around. Everyone in our nation is not a Christian, but there is truly no greater example of servanthood than Christ. So whether you believe or not, you could study the history books about it. You might be shocked at how changed we would all be in the end if we practiced "service" like this. Service is not selfish. So, to our government, and all of our citizens, let's revisit why we are fighting. Let's think about why we are working in these government jobs. Whom are we serving? And how are we doing it? It's time to stop being crazy, and start doing our jobs.
