Who Do People Say That I Am?

After 8 years, this is what they say.  Hey, 1 out of 10 ain’t bad!  12 days, America…12 days.

Who Throws a Shoe?

Doubtless, you’ve probably read this story.

I find it humerous for a couple of reasons:

1. Bush has earned nothing less than the experience of having shoes thrown at him by Iraqi journalists.
2. To throw a shoe at someone in the middle of a press conference takes guts.
3. I can’t watch the footage or read the story without thinking of a certain Austin Powers scene.

That really hurt!  I’m going to have a lump there, you idiot!  Who throws a shoe?!  Honestly!  You fight like a woman!

Memorial Day: Look Forward As Well

For the past couple of years, I’ve been a bit conflicted about Memorial Day as a national holiday. Every year, millions of Americans take the day off and enjoy being able to do so. This is not, by any means, a bad thing. We should be reminded of those things that we take for granted; having a job, taking time off from that job, being able to travel on the highway without significant fear of being roadblocked and robbed at gunpoint. Our country, however flawed it might by, affords us certain privileges that we all too often forget.

So, my conflict does not come from questions of whether or not we should enjoy our freedom. What is not to enjoy? As well, in keeping with the holiday, remembering those who have died for our freedom is not a bad thing.

My conflict concerning memorial day comes mostly from what we have made out of it in recent years. It has become a sort of military pride celebration in which we not only remember those who have died in the past, but we glorify (perhaps even deify) the wars that killed them. Memorial Day is a day for celebrating freedom as well as for remembering who we have to thank for it. However, as we celebrate, perhaps we should also look to the future and think of ways to prevent more from dying.

Glorifying the military might of the United States can be a dangerous thing. Yes, we have fought wars in the past that have been for the greater good, and we have done so with the greatest intentions. However, we forget that, while we continue to enjoy freedom, our wars have transformed functioning nations into ruined police states. We do not fight wars on our own turf, and thus it may be difficult to remember that we are elsewhere taking freedom away from persons who deserve it as much as we do.

So, on this Memorial Day, let us indeed remember those who have died and let us continue to support those who volunteer for service, but let us also try and imagine a world characterized by peace rather than by war. Let us imagine a world where armies become unnecessary, or at least a world in which they are bored and can find absolutely nothing to do. On this Memorial Day, let us remember those who have fallen, but let us work towards a world in which others will not.

Niebuhr

I just finished Moral Man and Immoral Society by Reinhold Niebuhr, who has been one of my favorite theologians for quite some time. I have read this work before, and every time I finish it, I think two things. First, I wonder if things really are as bleak as he paints them. Second, I wonder why anyone, including myself, continues to read him.

Niebuhr’s argument throughout the book is that persons are capable of being moral which, for Niebuhr, involves the seeking of social justice. Although they are capable of such an action, they will shy away from it, overshadowed by their selfishness. Nations, in effect, are created in this same spirit of selfishness and thus serve only to amplify it. Through introspection, which religion provides, individuals may return to a point where they are willing and able to seek social justice, but they can only accomplish it on a small scale, within their own communities.

Niebuhr also claims that, if any real change is to occur, the working classes may have to resort to violent coercion against the “privileged classes.” This is where Niebuhr and I part ways, because I believe violence to be contrary to the Gospel of Christ, which also demands that we strive for social justice. Now, Niebuhr is not necessarily endorsing violence as a means to an end, but he is acknowledging it as an option.

So again, I ask myself, why do I continue to read him and why do I consider him one of my favorite Christian thinkers. Well, for starters, I see Niebuhr as a Christian ethicist who is actually trying to be practical. So often, Christian ethics operates apart from society, taking place exclusively as dialogue in the ivory towers of academia. While this has its place, Christendom is in dire need of an ethics that will actually speak to our social situation, rather than just talk around it or impose upon it a set of requirements that it can’t possibly fulfill. Niebuhr is not optimistic about the future of society, namely because he feels that we, as individuals, are too corrupted by selfishness to ever bring about a just society. But, he does feel that social justice can be accomplished on a small scale, within Christian communities, and it is with this point that I definitely agree.

I would also take Niebuhr a step further by arguing that the larger society may very well be influenced, albeit slowly, by a true quest for social justice that takes place within smaller communities. Of course, this cannot happen overnight, but very few things can. As well, it requires action from persons across the social spectrum, from the lowest point to the highest. It can’t and won’t happen passively.