Encouraging Words for Those Who Feel Overburdened by American Politics by Jaye Lewis
Hello friends,
I suppose that I should send a copy
of this blog post to each of the candidates in every election in the United
States
Yes, I, as an American voter, do
become disgusted with the political sniping, barbs, innuendos, lies, and cruel
remarks. I am disgusted with the new
definition of “truth.” Remember when
your grandmother, at least my grandmother, said, “If you can’t say something
good about someone, then say nothing at all?” Another grandmother of mine used to
say, “There are three sides to every story:
yours, mine, and the truth.” Truth would be nice for a change. And when did it become okay to claim truth when facts are twisted, so that truth is no longer truth, but a lie? Billy Graham tells of a woman who came to him and asked, "Dr. Graham, how can I stop exaggerating all the time?" Billy Graham's answer was, "Call it a lie."
A wise teacher once said to me,
“Right is right when nothing is right, and wrong is wrong when everything is
right.” Meaning, no matter how you
flavor it, snipes, barbs, innuendos, lies, and cruel remarks are never the
truth, no matter how blind society becomes.
You know, in the early days of our
Country, we had real heroes, who risked “their lives, their fortunes, and their
honor,” all in the defense of liberty. Patrick
Henry, a fiery red-head, and true patriot, said, “I care not which course
others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Where is today’s Patrick Henry? Where is today’s George Washington, who could
have been, but who refused to be, King?
Where are the heroes of our time?
Where is honor and truth? We once
knew what that was.
To my friends from
other countries, you know of what I speak.
It is written in the hearts of all of us. We long for honor and truth, and when we
don’t have it, we are not fooled by false heroes. We know truth, even if, as it is in some countries, you dare not speak it.
In America United States
I may not be thrilled with the
selection of people that I have to choose from, in an American election, but if
I want to, I can decline to vote, and stay home. Or I can choose whom I think is the best
candidate. Or I can even vote for the
least worst candidate. Sometimes we have
great choices: Ronald Regan; Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Teddy Roosevelt, Bill Clinton. Great Presidents, not perfect men. Then, there are others who were not so great. I will let you choose the losers.
My mother always said, “The office
of President makes the man, not the other way around.” She, of all people, inspired my interest in
the American political process, and I have never been able to shake the need to
know, “who’s on first.” Now that I have
a laptop on my lap, and I have the internet, Google, Facebook, and the World
Wide Web, I have at my fingertips more information in a minute, than my mother
had available in a year. And, still, my
mother was more informed than I. I
remember that fondly about her, and the memory always makes my eyes sting and
my heart smile.
To many of my friends overseas, if
you live in a repressed country, where fear follows every utterance of your
tongue, do not give up in working for change.
Change, no matter where you are, comes from within. Small changes within oneself can make big
changes possible. If you live in a free
country, the message is the same. Change
comes from within.
In my own country, you don’t have to
be a genius to see the things that are wrong.
Read the remarks after every news article on the web:
“The President is perfect,” if you
are a Democrat.
“The President is evil,” if you are
a Republican.
“You must vote for this candidate,
or you are not a true Republican,” says the Republican establishment.
“If you don’t vote for this
candidate, then you are at war with Free Enterprise and Capitalism,” again says
the Republican establishment.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t
like to be told who I must vote for; and I certainly don’t like to be told that I’m
some kind of traitor for not buckling under.
If you try to control me, I am likely to do exactly what you do not want
me to do. I’m not easily pushed, and
bullying has never worked.
My friends overseas are obviously
confused about what they see on our news, so I will let you know, that the very
arguing that you see on TV, while often offensive, is the direct result of
total freedom. In the end, we are still
friends. We still love our country, and
we honor our laws. If necessary, when
attacked we fight as a unit. When you
harm one of us, you harm all of us.
As Americans, let us remember
the day of September 11th. While the
dust still filled the sky, and our hearts and country was wounded,
spontaneously, on the steps of our Capitol, all of our Congress members broke
out into one of our favorite hymns: God
Bless American. Let us understand that they are our leaders, flawed though they may be. So, I guess my message today
is as much for me, as it is for you.
We live in a blessed nation, which most
of us believe is “under God.” We care
about one another. Our hearts swell with
pride, and our eyes fill with tears, at the first strains of our national
anthem. In our strange and imperfect
way, we love each other. We love our
country, and no matter our faith, most of us, love God. We may see Him in different colors, races,
and creeds, but we all know in our hearts, that we need not fear that He might
not know who He is. Because He does.
For whatever strange and wonderful
reason, America
With love,
Jaye Lewis
