What Are You Fighting About?

When we were little boys arguing and scuffling with one another, my mother would yell out the window: "What are you kids fighting about? Stop it!" That would almost always abruptly end whatever quarrel we were having. A simple question and directive put us back at play, sometimes with a grumble, but with enough resolution to carry on. Peace had been mandated from on-high.

What we are fighting about and what we are fighting for are quite different. Unlike children, we find it difficult to let go of things in deference to the needs of others. We fight about things that are silly, momentary and transitory. But we fight for the things held most dear. Freedom, liberty, basic human rights, our homes, and way of life are well worth the battle. I once asked a WWII Veteran what he fought for.  He replied; "Mom, apple pie, the girl next door, and her dog Spot." He was being whimsical of course. But there is plenty of truth to his statement. We also stand our ground against tyranny, injustice, and oppression. The differences between fighting about and fighting for are quite distinct. In either case, non-violent resolution is far superior to violent conflict.

Unfortunately, most of us think that we must win at all costs. Tribalism trumps our common bonds and oneness with the rest of creation.  Some are even willing to weaponize religion and scripture to justify violence against those who threaten us. Extremists have historically endorsed wars between nations and civilizations on the basis of differences in religious beliefs. I wonder how we might treat a Palestinian Jew who rallies huge crowds of followers telling us that we are responsible for feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and welcoming the stranger. Would we call him a Socialist Libtard? Would we crucify him again?

“If Christ Himself walked through these doors, teaching that we should love our neighbor and our enemy, that we should welcome the stranger, that we should fight for the least of us...He would be maligned as a radical and rejected.”

— Rep Ocasio-Cortez quoted by Jim Wallis, President and Founder of Sojourners 

Yet these are the very things that Jesus asked of his followers two thousand years ago;

• Love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without any hope of return

• Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.

He also told them this;

I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you invited me in

I needed clothes and you clothed me

I was sick and you looked after me

I was in prison and you came to visit me

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

All of this ridiculous fighting amongst one another would come to an abrupt halt if we stopped ignoring these age old directives of Jesus. We wouldn't have time for such nonsense. Maybe if we listened hard a voice could be heard from the kitchen window asking what the fight is all about and telling us to stop it. Perhaps that voice really is coming from on-high.

Through the Glass Darkly; Our Fear of Strangers

The premise of my journal entry, The Fear That Divides Us, was that many Americans today seem to be overwhelmed by fear of those who are strangers or in some way not-like-us.  Of course, this is nothing unique to our time or generation.  Fear of 'the other' has been around as long as there have been human beings.  Historically, it seems difficult to love and accept those who we cannot relate to or understand.  We are naturally suspicious.

"I think what we're seeing today is just because the spiritual waters have receded and so all the filth that lies at the bottom of human nature, so to speak, is being revealed.  Hatred has always been around.  Obviously, it's human frailty that causes that, and tribalism, and then fear of the stranger." ~ Rabbi Moshe Scheiner Beyond Fear and Anger

Categorizing, diagnosing, and labeling people allow us to disguise our fears by compartmentalizing them.  It allows us the smug comfort of stereotyping groups of individuals so that we are never required to know them on a personal level. Perhaps this is at the root of our crisis of fear in America.  We have insulated ourselves so tightly that it is impossible to know one another.  Our perception of spiritual, philosophical, physical, emotional, and moral otherness has reached explosive proportions.  

The apostle Paul broke down walls of spiritual division and exclusivity by bringing his message to the gentiles more than two thousand years ago.  He understood that the gospel of love was meant for everyone and found getting to know people eliminated fear and created bonds of oneness. Paul discovered the face of God in everyone everywhere. We are seeing through the glass darkly because we cannot bear to look at the stranger face to face. (See 1 Corinthians 13:12).  Our fears will not be dispelled until we are fully known to one another.