NOTE:
I posted some of these comments on Facebook before I deactivated my
account on Sunday 11/13/16. To make them more coherent I have edited and
reproduced them here at my blog.
Congratulations
to all democracy minded people. Well played. Well fought. The Republic stands.
Democracy works. We should all celebrate the day. The hating needs to end. A
nation divided can be defeated. This country should be about family, love,
friendship—those things that truly count the most at the end of the day.
We need to
follow a practice that works well for couples--never go to bed angry if you
want to stay together. Half this country needs to stop going to bed angry about
the other half. My best wishes to all those that voted. It is what it is. We
need to make it work. I believe that the
Christian response should be to embrace the vote and move forward in a positive
fashion. That doesn’t mean capitulation of one’s ideals and values. Jesus
accepted Rome’s laws. (Matthew 22: 18-21, But Jesus, knowing their evil intent,
said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for
paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image
is this? And whose inscription? “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them,
“So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” NIV) He
didn’t tell Romans to follow Caesar with their actions and lifestyle. He died
at their hands for his beliefs. Beliefs that he did not compromise on or
change. This election doesn’t require anyone to take such drastic action.
Hate has a
voracious appetite and it is never satisfied. Hate always wants more. Hate
needs more. I made one of my last posts on Facebook about stopping hate in
hopes of making things better. It was nice seeing a lot people expressing
“likes” in support of the idea.
Facebook
algorithms allow users to see what “friends” are liking, including the posts of
others that we like. Expressing sentiments are nice. Actions will be much more
important. If we “like” seeing a post that denigrates others then that doesn’t
speak well for our sincerity about coming together as a nation.
I checked in on
several of those ‘liked’ posts and it seems that I am now lumped in with what
sounds like a pretty unsavory crowd including both liberals and terrorists.
Hateful posts are being liked with alarming frequency by some of those who said
we should pull together.
Then I made the
huge mistake of checking in on a live feed awaiting the meeting between
President Obama and President elect Donald Trump and watching the posts scroll.
OMG! The amount of hate being expressed was overwhelming. The rest is history.
History will be
what we make of it.