“I sing a song of the saints of God…..” It is All Saints’ Sunday and we sang the old faithful hymn in church this morning. It is also several days before the official voting day for we Americans. Both of these things were running through my thoughts as I sat in the choir loft. It has been a brutal election season with millions of dollars spent on ads that make most of us cringe whether from our candidate or not. My Facebook and converstations are full of the same sentiment, “thank God it is almost over.”
In the midst of these conversations, came a quiet voice. One I have wondered about during this election hype. It was a dear friend who is the daughter of one of the candidates. I have always thought that it is hardest on the children of candidates. It is their Father or Mother that they must stand by while horrendus things are alledged. For every hand that touches them with kindness and words to make any Son or Daughter proud, there are just as many cutting and ugly words. Indeed, she had made the mistake of reading her facebook feed and that of others. She came away and elegantly said what I feel as well. “… I am crushed that our society continues to be so angry and cruel to one another, and I’m not speaking only about politics. Look around at who we have become as a nation: the bullying, the public humiliation of high profile people, the discord we create for no reason but perhaps a momentary feeling of superiority. I say, enough is enough. Live and let live. Why not try to learn from our differences and have compassion for our neighbors? Think about the other side of the story that you don’t clearly see right away. That’s the world I want to be a part of, and I simply reject all others.”
In the last election cycle of 2012, Barbara Bush was asked to record a message that would be used for those dreaded robo calls. She would not say the script they had prepared for her. Her comment was, “I hate that people think compromise is a dirty word. It’s not a dirty word.” As a wise woman in a successful marriage of many years, she knew that meeting in the middle was the secret of not only successful partnerships but also in any business negotiation, peace negotiation, and how our country has achieved our greatest triumphs.
A Dallas Morning News columnist, Steve Blow, wrote:
“Compromise has become a dirty word nowadays because it’s associated with weakness, with cowardice even. But we need to reclaim the understanding that you can compromise your position without compromising your principles. Only toddlers and tyrants expect to always get their way. In contrast to the taint on the word “compromise,” there’s another phrase still held in high regard, and that’s “collective wisdom.” We still buy the idea that two heads are better than one. In fact, democracy is based on the idea that we’re smarter together than any one of us could be individually. And being collectively smart inevitably requires some individual compromise.”
This made me want to jump up and shout “Yes!”
In the old familiar song of Saints, we are told that Saints are not only in history, that they are beside us every day. We are urged to look upon each other and see a Saint. Not what our popular culture has become. We no longer look for God in each other. As Mr. Blow noted, we behave like toddlers and bullies and call those who do not see things the way we do some epithet, or we say I don’t let my friends vote ________(fill in the blank). No wonder we are at a standstill, bullies and tyrants never really achieve anything.
So let us heed the message of my friend. Tomorrow, let us “learn from our differences and have compassion for our neighbors.” Indeed, is that not the call of God’s second great commandment, “To love our neighbors as ourselves?” By seeking an understanding of “the other,” we honor each other and can reach that great maxim of business, “a win-win.” Our nation of different people, from different lands and different experiences is best when we reach across the divide and hold the hand of our neighbor and say “we can do this together.” Our nation was not built by men who thought the same, indeed, our beloved constitution was written after many compromises and wrangling by our bewigged forefathers who did not like each other, but who looked into the eyes of their neighbor and saw a better way.
So on Tuesday, if you have not already voted, please do so. On Wednesday, let us join together as neighbors, love each other and seek our collective wisdom, borne of our differences but united in our passion for a better way. And maybe hum along….”You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea, in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea; for the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.” Let us be a part of the world my friend hopes for America to be.
