A Letter to My Fellow Citizens Regarding Marriage

To my fellow citizens of the United States of America (the place where freedom reigns!),

I want to thank you for not voting for who I get to marry or not marry. It means a lot to me that my freedom to choose my spouse based on love, not law means enough to you to give us our space and enjoy each other. As long, as, you know, he has a penis and everything.
I'm also super thankful that we live in land where "separation of church and state," is a phrase that we take seriously. I mean, a government ruling by religious ideology sounds a lot like Sharia law to me.While I respect my Muslim brothers and sisters, I'm not really sure I want their laws dictating what I can and cannot do. So it's super awesome that we're able to keep things separate, making sure the beliefs of others aren't dictating our lives. I truly love the old school Republican idea of small government, you know, the kind that lets people decide what's best for themselves. I love living in a free country where we have the freedom to pick and choose how we live our lives.
One of the things I love most about my faith, Christianity, is that Christ (you know, that guy it's named after) never set up boundaries between himself and others. He invited all to come to him. He never forced his opinions on others and in fact told those guys he sent out (you know, the disciples) to "shake the dust from their sandals" and head out of town if the people didn't care to listen to what they had to say. People disagree with you? Great! Brush the dirt off and get on with your life. Leave them to live theirs.
Then, he instituted the Church, his body, to take care of folks. I'm pretty sure he said "Go then and make disciples," not "Go then and make voters."
Don't get me wrong, voting is important. It's pretty cool that we get to live in a country where we have a say about what goes on. But when we start voting on religious issues, the lines get blurred in a hurry. The government cannot and never will be a religious institution.
Have an issue with the way someone is living? First of all, ask yourself, how much does it really affect you? Second, if it's religious issue, and you really feel the need to, take it up in the proper place: a religious institution. The Church is not the Capital. The Capital is not the Church.
So thank you, fellow citizens for treating others as you'd like to be treated. Thanks for letting me marry whichever boy I choose, because it in no way affects you. Thanks for not singling me out as responsible for the demise of America because of who I'm attracted to. And thank you, Christians, for being the body of Christ and following the greatest commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself. (No stipulations.)

Sincerely,

Melisa

About a half and hour after posting that, I read this:

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?"
-- Henry David Thoreau --

DC Dreamin'

This is what happens on the tail end of an overnight shift, mere hours before departing for the first leg of vacation to the East Coast,Washington DC, included. The beginnings of a story from the over active imagination of a small town girl soon to be roamin' the big city. (I'm great at starting stories, shite at finishing them. I'm pretty sure I have what I've dubbed "Writer's ADD," or probably just ADD in general.) I'll just toss the Flash Fiction label on it and call it done?

"Yep. This seems about right."These were the last words to pass through Thomas' mind before he expired. A gunshot wound to the chest has a tendency to have that effect. Though he couldn't quite be sure, what with his dying and all, it appeared to him that the only car passing by just then was a shiny black sedan,the darkly tinted window scrolling up as it turned the corner.It was merely days before his 26th birthday and he found himself on the steps of the United States capitol; the building that plays host to the civil servants working roughly 58% of the year to make the country a brighter place. Generally a peaceful bystander of American politics, the direction his country was moving (he pictured a rope fraying in the middle as it was pulled harder and harder by either side, its fibers nearly ready to give way) made him both uneasy and motivated.He had been standing ther alone, in silent protest, peacefully holding aloft a simple sign he'd made from tag board and construction papered letters. Across a hand drawn picture of his imagined rope, taut at both ends, perilously frayed in the center, he'd pasted the words
POLARIZATION IS DESTROYING THE NATION
As he sat there isolated on the chilly steps, munching an apple with one hand, holding the sign with the other, the only accomplishment he was shooting for that day was for passersby and capitol entrants to digest the message so dear to his heart.Apparently, message received.

Citizen's Duty

I generally try to stay away from writing about politics. But today, I heard some news that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I wrote a post earlier this year about the polarization I see occurring in all different avenues in the USA. This evening, it came to my attention via the news that should the democrats and republicans not be able to reach a compromise, the federal government may simply  "shutdown." Now, I understand that this would be temporary, but the fact that such a drastic measure could happen is devastating. So, for the first time in my life, I wrote a letter to the South Dakota Senator, John Thune. (Actually, in high school I had to write to a senator, but that was for a grade in American Government class) Here then, is that letter:

Dear Senator Thune,

            I know that you most likely get hoards of letters daily, and regarding the upcoming spending bill, which has gained much press as of late, I’m sure you’ve already heard countless opinions. However, I am not writing to you pleading for your vote one way or another regarding the upcoming spending bill. Generally, I’m fine with your decision either way, so long as something gets done. Honestly, you’re one of the few politicians I have any real respect for these days anyway, whether I agree with your policies or not. What I am writing about is the result of the potential “shutdown” of the federal government that may occur simply because those we’ve chosen to speak for us refuse to find common ground. I understand that an outcome of this magnitude is certainly a last resort, but should it occur, it will only serve as further degradation of the citizens of the United States. We, the hard working American people have entrusted you (collectively, in Washington) to govern us fairly. We should not be made to suffer the consequences which result from those who claim to represent us fighting like spoiled school children. Yet, this is precisely the effect of such unbalanced polarization I continue to see in Washington.

            Political polarization is destroying the nation. I implore you, please, to remember and remind your colleagues that before anyone in Washington is Democrat or Republican, they are first fellow human beings and fellow citizens of the United States of America. These battle lines that both parties continue to draw MUST be erased. America has become a fraying rope, with both parties pulling so strongly on opposite sides, that it is only a matter of time before the fibers give way, the rope snaps, and everyone is lying face down in the mud. 

I consider it a great privilege that I live in a country where I can write our leaders letters in which I can openly and freely express my opinions without fear of threat.  I am thankful that currently, I am allowed to send this letter, whether it will be read by you directly or not. I know that no matter what happens in Washington, there are millions around the globe who are dying simply for crying out for the right to speak their mind. However, if we as Americans continue to segregate ourselves (following our leaders’ examples), I fear our fate may be no different.

Thank you for your time. I’ll be in Washington in April. It would be fantastic to grab some coffee, sort some stuff out, and together plead our case for keeping these States of America United.

Sincerely,

Melisa G.

Gandhi, Obama, and the Body of Christ

While it will most likely be January 13 when this is published, it is currently January 12 at the time of writing. Normally not a notable detail, however what I am writing about this evening entails events which occurred on January 12...2011 and 1948.  At least, those events will be the jumping off point. (Stuff happened on some other days, too, but, you know...whatever) We'll see where this ends up.

(Um, that being said, it should be made known that pretty much everything on this blog is a rough draft. I don't really edit or revise much. One of my main points in keeping this blog is simply to get myself generating material, keeping my writing brushed up on and the creative juices flowing.)

On January 12, 1948 Gandhi began his "last successful fast" meant to persuade Muslim's and Hindu's in New Dehli to work with one another toward peace. Despite being Hindu, he seemed to get Jesus' meaning of loving folks and is even rumored to have read the Sermon on the Mount nearly every morning. 

On January 12, 2011, US President Barack Obama addressed the nation at the memorial of those whose lives were lost in Arizona this last Saturday. Obama said something that has been on my mind for quite some time. He said, 

...at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized; at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do, it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.

Whatever your views of President Obama may be, and I know they are varied, and whatever sincerity or insincerity you attribute to this statement, I'm going to take that statement at face value and run with it. Not because President Obama said it, but because it is true. 

It was the word "polarized" that caught my attention, and it isn't solely to politics that I used that word in reference. It's true that polarization finds a fitting home in politics, and that issue crossed my mind. However, polarization has found it's way into the one place it has absolutely no right to be, and that is in the Christian Church; what is supposed to be the united Body of Christ. In fact, it seems because polarization is so at home in politics, it has been allowed to ooze into the Body. Rather than "separation of church and state" we are simply ending up with "Separation of Church." (Church. Capital C. The one meaning every single one of us in the whole entire world who have professed faith in Jesus Christ.) 

Both the United States of America and the United Body of Christ are nearing the point in which "United" could simply be stricken from their names. Democrat. Republican. Fox News. CNN. Red. Blue. Beck. Cooper. Conservative. Liberal. Catholic. Protestant. Evangelical. Emergent. I could go on. These are the labels that we allow to rule our lives and in turn separate us from one another. So many of us are convinced that the other guy has it all wrong, when, whoa! Reality Check...

WE'RE ALL WRONG!!
Wasn't that the point of needing a savior anyway? "For all have sinned..." Emphasis word "all." I'm sick of being in the middle of friends and family consistently bashing the other side. Through the course of conversations, had I taken what was being said and applied it to people I know personally,  I've heard my friends and loved ones be called "communists, bastards, assholes, naive, tree-huggers, biased, bigoted, uneducated, bible-thumpers, destined for hell, narrow-minded..." Well, you get the idea. And yeah, I've heard those pseudonym's come from professing Christians as well as professing atheists and humanists. I've been known to use a few of them myself, I suppose. 

I don't know. I wasn't there when he said it, but I'm pretty sure that's not what Christ meant when he said both "love your neighbor" and "love your enemy." 

So...I don't know where to go from here. People are set in their ways and will continue to watch one news channel over another, claiming the other is biased. Liberals will be liberals. Conservatives conservatives. Writing this has lead me to despair, the hope for unity perhaps too far to be grasped. It seems so simple to just say "get over it, love each other." I pray that our words as Christians become words of healing, no longer of wounding, for more often than not, it's only ourselves that we maim. I'm not really sure why that's hard. Are we that threatened by people who think differently than us that we either curse them or avoid them? Is there a place for conversation between two sides without one side getting offended or the other side getting riled?

Oh.

I guess it's probably at the foot of the Cross.

But, I don't spend very much time there. 

Maybe we can all meet there? In humility? Political and Religious agendas aside? And find commonality in our human-ness and just love and be loved by a savior? 

But, how do we do that, in a real life setting? If you have any ideas of how we can take this polarization thing and send it packing to the darkest pits of hell and instead, work on this unity thing, either as Christians or Americans, (no, they don't go hand in hand) your suggestions are more than appreciated. Frankly, I'm at a loss. Idealism occasionally gets the best of me.