We can do better; we must do better

One of the great benefits of writing this on Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, is that I have absolutely no idea who will be sworn in as president on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021.

Maybe we still don’t know.

One thing we all know is that, as a nation, we can do better in how we govern ourselves and teach our children and grandchildren to behave.

We must do better.

For some to whom history is a foreign language, our recent civil discord, fueled in part by the quick-twitch poison of online anonymity, is considered historic and perhaps even unique.

I was born in 1956 – too young to have been in the crosshairs of the Vietnam War and the draft lottery that tore the country apart.

But I do recall being in second grade at St. Leo the Great School on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963 – an overcast, rainy day in New Orleans – when our teacher, in hushed tones, delivered a message that we couldn’t quite comprehend: School was shutting down early because President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.

So, at about 2 p.m., those who walked to school simply walked back home (there were mostly stay-at-home moms in those days).

During the weekend, our family kept vigil around the black-and-white Zenith TV in the den. On Sunday, Nov. 24, we came home from church to find out that Jack Ruby had killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the president’s alleged assassin, at point-blank range while Oswald was in handcuffs in the custody of Dallas police.

There was a live network pool feed, and the images were replayed over and over – the first instance of “instant replay” in broadcast television – as Ruby emerged from a crowd of reporters with his pistol. I’ll never forget the TV announcer – it might have been Walter Cronkite – saying, “Watch for the man in the black hat.”

On Thursday, April 4, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. (That happened to be the same day Dr. Norman Francis was named the first lay president of Xavier University of Louisiana, beginning a career as one of the longest-tenured college presidents in U.S. history.)

On Wednesday, June 5, 1968, Democratic presidential front-runner Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down  in a Los Angeles hotel shortly after winning the California primary.

As we send up our pleas to God to deliver us from 2020, it may be spiritually reassuring and emotionally therapeutic to remember that the 1960s rocked our nation and world in ways previously unseen.

And we survived.

However, we can and must do better. Our children and grandchildren deserve better.

In the world of cancel culture, where people are quick  to vilify and verbally destroy  those with divergent political or religious views, the only remedy for those who profess Jesus as their savior is to make the Beatitudes a way of life.

How different our country and world would be if we truly put the Beatitudes into practice. Put yourself in the crowd, at Jesus’ feet, on the mountainside, near the Sea of Galilee:

“Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

“Blessed are the clean in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

We can start our own healing by looking within and recognizing those times when we have allowed ourselves to jettison a relationship or a friendship because the other person did not share our political views.

We can make a silent promise to build up, not to tear down. Never tear down.

We can vow to become what Jesuit Father Harry Tompson once suggested: “Be a ‘but’ person.”

In his earthy way, Father Tompson meant that when those in our inner circle are crushing someone through gossip or even calumny, never be afraid to be the person who stands up and defends the person being attacked.

We can work to advocate for our ideas vigorously but never sink to personal attacks that would not even be acceptable in the schoolyard.

We can vow to become be better. Our children and grandchildren are watching.

pfinney@clarionherald.org