Sometimes I get so frustrated that this blog has gotten so political. Then, I have to remember...I had to spend years keeping silent about my beliefs and opinions.Why, you may ask? I was married into an uber-Conservative family, and felt like if I opened my mouth to contradict their bullshit at any given time, I was going to have a shit storm unloaded on me. I could already tell the in-laws didn't really like me...they could sense by my demeanor and dress that I wasn't like them...I wasn't about to add more fuel to the fire. I've had these uber-Conservative views shoved at me my whole life, seeing as after my parents divorced, my mother had primary custody of me, and her family is very uber-Conservative. I am very thankful for having a hippie for a dad, to expose me to a more open way of thinking. See, it was mostly dad that pushed for me to not be baptized Catholic as a baby, saying that the fight between his parents in trying to determine if he would be Lutheran or Catholic (which are nearly the same dang thing) almost caused his parents to divorce. My dad convinced my mother to allow me to explore the world of religion on my own, and I'm so thankful he did! Sure, I ended up going to Catholic church when I was a kid...on my own, mind you, because my mother was and still is a non-practicing Catholic, but she never stopped me from going. I took the same stance with my kids, and one was baptized in the Catholic church, while the other a non-denominational Christian church. I was never actually baptized Catholic...was baptized in the Baptist church when I was 17 (part of my my religious journey), and rededicated my baptism in a non-denominational Christian church in my late 20's before I married my second husband. Since splitting from my second husband 2 years ago, I've further explored my spirituality outside of the church, and what I found is that I don't need religion at all! My thoughts these days is that religion only serves to divide a people!! Do I still have faith in God...a higher power? Yes, because I know I have felt the presence of such. Do I believe the Bible as written? Not really, because I've grown to understand this is man's interpretation of what God has said to various people in history. Do I believe in Jesus? Well, there is historical references outside of the Bible to his existence, so yes. But I don't believe in religion...I believe in love. I guess you can say I'm now a non-practicing Catholic with a sprinkle of Buddhism (as I have started to study these principles in the last two years), if you really have to define things. I believe in energies and karma...which is not contrary to Christian belief. I mean, what is the spirit but an energy being. This can be shown through science...you can see the energy in the body through special machines, and when we die, that energy disappears. It is also safe to say if you believe that God created all, that all things have an energy having been touched by such an entity as God Himself!
Wow...that is a long introduction for this post...but all that said. The events of this past week have really stirred some thoughts in my mind about humanity...specifically...people who call themselves Christian. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling out all Christians here, as I have seen several who actually get it. What "it" is, you may gather as you read further.
It seems to me, that so many of these people value symbols over actual lives! The people who are defending the flag so much are using arguments that there is no racism...that there is equality already, so what more do these people want. They are ignoring the fact that a black man doing the exact same thing as a white man is more likely to get shot AND KILLED by an officer, and that said officer is very rarely convicted of using excessive force, manslaughter, or even murder even when it is found that the officer's account of the situation was not true, and the perceived suspect was not armed. They are ignoring the fact that in most metros, neighborhoods are still very segregated with cities reluctant to put money into poor black or Latino neighborhoods, while they are revitalizing poor white neighborhoods...thus feeding the problem that people of color are more likely to live in poverty than whites, because all of their lives, all they see is desolation. They are ignoring that just within the last couple of months, White Supremacists marched in Charlottsville proving that racism is still very much alive and well in this country! No, they are focusing on a SYMBOL, instead of lives. That is all the flag is...a symbol. It is a symbol of what this country SHOULD be...the land of liberty and freedom. When a group of people say they can't stand to a symbol of a country that doesn't truly exist, we get backlash from a group of people that is made up mostly of self-proclaimed Christians...a group of people that you would think, by their very religious beliefs, should be concerned about the well-being of other people. However, what I see more and more from this group of people is that they only really care about themselves!!! Think about it...healthcare is a prime example. The Conservative Christians are over there saying they don't want to have to pay for coverage they don't use in order to make sure that said coverage is available to all people. They don't want to pay into a system that will help pay for people to cannot afford health insurance on their own to get subsidies to allow them to get coverage. They don't want to pay for the sick, or the elderly. Oh, and you know those veterans they are so concerned about in their national anthem arguments? When it comes to needing money for proper medical and mental health care for our veterans, again, they don't want to have to pay!! I feel like it is more pomp and circumstance for these folks! They can talk the talk, but not walk the walk.
Did you know that in the midst of all this NFL crap, that on Sunday, a gunman opened fire on a church? I saw ONE post yesterday that finally addressed this, and the complaint was that the media was trying to bury the story, because it didn't fit in with the liberal agenda. What I noticed is that the Christians themselves were more concerned about the NFL issue to even offer up prayer to their fellow Christians! Yeah...if you are thinking what I'm thinking, you are sitting there shaking and smacking your head right now! The media didn't bury it...I saw the reports on Sunday, and my heart went out to those poor people. I sat in wait for details on the shooter to see how the Conservatives were going to spin things based on the shooter's race and motive. Nope...not a peep...not even an offer of prayer. Nope! All week it has been "boycott the NFL...boycott all of their sponsors...disrespect for the flag"!
The other thing that had me pondering were the multiple videos of people burning their NFL gear. Really, a whole lot of these people have spent some serious money on this shit! Yes, I follow the NY Giants, and I have one shirt that I found at JCP that is not official NFL gear. I think I maybe spent $15 bucks on it, and bought it because I was like, "Oh, I could wear that to a football watching party to rep my team, since everyone there will be wearing jerseys." We are talking bomber jackets, jerseys, hats, coozies, etc. And it isn't like just one shirt! No, they could basically have a bonfire with the amount of NFL team gear they have! These people spent thousands! Talk about team worship! And then that REALLY got me pondering...all of this team gear they have spent all of this money on (probably more money than any of them have ever put in the collection plate or given to a humanitarian charity...and we already know they don't want to spend on sick, elderly, or vets). All this concern over the disrespect of a flag...a symbol. At that moment, I remember the Second Commandment...do not worship idols!!! MIND BLOWN! I mean, isn't that exactly what these proclaimed Christians are doing in their week long defense of the flag? In demanding boycotts against companies that if successful would destroy the US economy and put thousands, if not millions, of people out of work? The flag is an IDOL, and they are worshiping it!!!
I know this is long, and it took me some time to get to the major revelation. I felt it necessary to lead you down the path I followed through the week before this revelation. DO NOT WORSHIP IDOLS! Wake up Christians!