It's Over; Now Can We All Pull Back From the Edge?

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Pinebluff people, I have found over the years, tend to be pretty sensible. OK, so that's a generalization. And all generalizations, someone once said, are false - including that one.

So let me narrow the thing down and say that Hilda Mitchell, who lives in Pinebluff - and whom, to my knowledge, I have never met in person - has written a number of wise and sensible letters-to-the-editor over the years. I hereby direct your attention to one of hers that appears elsewhere on this page. I wish everyone in America could read it. But if that's asking too much, I'll settle for everyone in Moore County.

Among other things, Hilda says - in a message that (like this column) was written before the election outcome was known and intended for publication afterward - that we need to quit demeaning religion by mixing it up with politics.

"Next," she writes in a passage I find particularly moving, "write an invisible mantra across your forehead: 'Reconciliation.' Pledge to support our president, no matter who it is. Pray for him."

Listen to Hilda, folks. Please.

Or if you do require a little religion mixed in with your politics and are not quite ready to go cold turkey in that department, consider the passage from the Book of Common Prayer that Father John Tampa read during Sunday's service at Emmanuel Episcopal Church. It was the closest he came - not very close at all, thankfully - to discussing the approaching election, let alone taking sides.

Addressed to "Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges," the short and simple invocation goes like this: "Guide the people of the United States in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation enabled to fulfill your purposes."

Amen.

What the specific divine purposes may be for our lives, public as well as private, must always be open to conjecture and interpretation - in contrast to the sense of prophetic certainty projected with such conviction from some quarters during the seemingly interminable political campaign that has finally (let's hope and pray) terminated.

But if the New Testament says nothing else, surely it teaches us that humankind is supposed to be loving, tolerant, humble, understanding and forgiving. Blessed are the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. The direct opposite, in other words, of the judgmental, the vindictive, the bigoted, the self-righteous.

But enough of that. The point is that we have just been through one of the ugliest and most negative presidential campaigns in my long memory, and that's going back some. I think any sensible observer has to have been appalled and deeply disturbed at the levels of ugliness, polarization, incivility, dishonesty and outright hatred that has infected our body politic over the past 18 months or so.

Let's get real here. Barack Obama is not a socialist or a Muslim. (Not that there is anything wrong with being a Muslim.) Mitt Romney is not a ruthless robber baron out to ride roughshod over the working class. Both are patriotic Americans who want what's best for their country and its people. Whoever has now emerged victorious, the United States will survive and prosper because of the goodness and ingenuity and industriousness of its people, which are attributes that transcend party and ideology.

Now that this whole mess is blessedly over, or nearly over, my fervent hope is that we can all now pull back from the edge of the cliff - that we can depressurize, contemplate the dangerous directions in which we have been lunging so recklessly, recognize that the things that unite us as Americans are so much greater and more important than those that threaten to divide us, and reach out to those we may have come to think of as enemies. Maybe even invite them out for a beer.

In short: What ideally needs to happen now, to borrow a word from Hilda Mitchell, is for all of us to manage somehow to reconcile - to put this thing behind us, and move on down the road with some semblance of national harmony.

Here endeth the sermon.

Steve Bouser is opinion editor of The Pilot. Contact him at (910) 693-2470 or by email at sbouser@thepilot.com.

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ProudYankee 6 months, 1 week ago

Wise words. If only folks would follow them.

skylinefirepest 6 months, 1 week ago

"Pledge to support our president?" No, Steve, you know I can't do that. First, he is not my president....and you know why I say that. I love this country and it is my firm contention, based on what I have read, that your president doesn't have the best interests of this country in mind. When he said he wanted to fundamentally change the country, he meant it! But the way he wants to change it lowers our standing in the world. It lowers our security in the world. It lowers the respect that we have earned over many years. We have fought and died to protect others and even befriended those countries that we have conquered or destroyed in world wars. Now you have a president who has no respect for and wants to "fundamentally change" our "arrogant" country. My opinion is that at the end of the next four years we will no longer hold the standing that our country deserves. We will not have put the country back to work or recovered financially because this president has no idea what to do to start a recovery. Our healthcare will be in shambles and we'll have to de-value our money to begin to save ourselves. Obama believes in class warfare and hasn't done anything to foster better race relations. He is singularly the most un-qualified president in my lifetime and won his terms on a basis of sounding good, and he looked good to a country that wanted change from the tired old political games. What we got was a master of the dirty play, a liar with no conscience, a man who has ( with the gracious help of the liberal media ) pitted both parties against each other with a vengeance. When you figure out how your grandchildren are going to pay their fifty thousand FAIR SHARE I'd like to hear it. When you figure out how to put twenty some odd million people back to work, let me know. When you figure out just when and if this rotten administration is going to explain away the killing of our ambassador and other brave Americans, please let me know. I'll be long gone by the time our history books proclaim the obama administration to be our worst hour!!

Arestorer 6 months, 1 week ago

Skyline,Dont be so angry man...Just shortens your life...

And, Who is your President????

Easygoing 6 months, 1 week ago

Skyline, ranting, hateful and fanatic, try to do something useful please

jimt 6 months, 1 week ago

Steve: "Let's get real here. Barack Obama is not a socialist or a Muslim. (Not that there is anything wrong with being a Muslim.) Mitt Romney is not a ruthless robber baron out to ride roughshod over the working class."

But Pest, AFChief, et.al. DO believe Obama is both a socialist AND a Muslim. They will never accept that he is the legitimate President of the United States.

And Romney's history, actual facts on the ground, suggest he is/was a ruthless robber baron who cares little for the "working class."

JD 6 months, 1 week ago

Pestilence in rare form. Hates America, hates the vote, hates the President. All in all a world class hater...

fugitiveguy 6 months, 1 week ago

"And Romney's history, actual facts on the ground, suggest he is/was a ruthless robber baron who cares little for the "working class."

Total HS but I must consider the source. Robber/barrons don't give tens of millions to charity. How much did Obama and Biden give?

clarabelle 6 months, 1 week ago

hmmmmmmm.........."HS".........the fugitive seems to be frothing from the fingers now!

clarabelle 6 months, 1 week ago

btw - when you have a few billion dollars in offshore accounts - a few mil is a pittance!

hey - maybe he donated the elevator in his new 100,000 square foot vacation home.

dustyrhoades 6 months, 1 week ago

"Pledge to support our president?" No, Steve, you know I can't do that. First, he is not my president....

by dustyrhoades

JD 6 months, 1 week ago

Robber/barons don't give tens of millions to charity.

Non-Christian cults does not a charity make.

jimt 6 months, 1 week ago

One of the self-appointed heads of the tea party just held a press conference where she sadly blamed the GOP defeat on the fact that they nominated a moderate, country-club Republican. They won't make that mistake again! Hee-hee. Love it!!!

dustyrhoades 6 months, 1 week ago

by dustyrhoades

fugitiveguy 6 months, 1 week ago

"Non-Christian cults does not a charity make." a fine example of an opinion

He and his wife gave tens of millions, a fine example of a fact How much did Obama and Walter give?

dustyrhoades 6 months, 1 week ago

by dustyrhoades

JD 6 months, 1 week ago

If I give money to convert people to a cult, that's charity? So do you consider your givings to the tea party charity?

My understanding is that charity helps people. How does a cult spending money for political ads (anti prop 8 in Cali), among other things, actually help?

fugitiveguy 6 months, 1 week ago

I suppose you have a reputable source for what you have alleged above? Share?

OldPilot 6 months, 1 week ago

"It's over, now can we all pull back from the edge"? Apparently not.

moconative 6 months, 1 week ago

FirePest- Turn off the Rush Limbaugh show and concentrate on what the article is saying. It is sad that you and others like yourself are harboring such hate. The election is over and America has spoken, so get over it and try and not be so miserable.

JD 6 months, 1 week ago

Share? here Google this anti prop 8 in California and Mormon

heres a tip

Courseaire 6 months, 1 week ago

JD - Nice video, you could also interchange the word "Mormons" with "Catholics" or "Muslims" or "Christians" with a few date differences and not change its meaning.

Toda 6 months, 1 week ago

Thank you Steve for an inspirational and poignant article.

Father Tampa is always on target and ahead of politics. If only some could spend time listening to his sermons ~ maybe they can tune in on our churches website for last weeks sermon and an interview with you!

http://www.emmanuel-parish.org/

native 6 months, 1 week ago

Folks, He has this. God has a plan, whether we like it or not. He is in charge. I don,t understand why the very people who protest to be so "Christian" are not able to believe that he still is in charge.

JimHeim 6 months, 1 week ago

What amazes me is the laundry list of made-up controversies that divide us. From 'death panels' (complete delusion), to the Benghazi 'conspiracy (in Fox's mind), to a socialist president (really? He's putting production under government ownership?), to birth certificate accusations (that one really is a laugher), to 'voter fraud' (supposedly widespread and utterly undetectable. It should be noted that in this election cycle, every arrest for election fraud has involved Republicans and their operatives), a small but vocal portion of the population has adopted a series of fantasies to base their objections on.

There are plenty of real-world problems to deal with. Wasting time and energy on non-existent issues prevents honest and useful dialog.