I'll Hug Your Elephant if You'll Kiss My...

In case there is any confusion, I'll just make it incredibly clear: I'm one of them.

Use whatever word you want: hippie, socialist, pinko commie, liberal....whatever. But it is true. I'm a Democrat. Which isn't to say that I stand 100% on the party's platform. I'd call myself a "moderate liberal" if I had to put a more descriptive label to myself. There are things I agree whole-heartedly with and things I wish were a little different but nevertheless I've planted my flag and there it will stay until another party presents a philosophy that I like better.

This political affiliation doesn't sit well with most of my fellow East Texans. We dems are few and far between. Last Fall, I was at a county fair and was impressed when the local Democratic Party office had a booth. Bold. I went up to get a sticker and was pleasantly surprised that I knew one of the people manning the booth. It was one of the postal workers at my local post office. We didn't say anything to each other but exchanged glances that seemed to say, "You? ME TOO!". At the same fair, there was a huge tortoise that, according to the sign, was 114-years-old. My "Hey! This tortoise is almost as old as John McCain!" joke did not go over well. Anyway, you get the idea. I take a lot of crap whether it is directly aimed in my direction or just things I hear on the side.

Leni is a member of an organization on campus that is chalk full of guys who very strongly support the Republican National Party and very vehemently dislike our sitting president. These opinions are, of course, fine and the wonderful thing about this country is that we are free to share them. These guys often use the email list of their organization as a sounding board for their political rants. After a particularly ridiculous one was circulated recently in which many government programs and politicians were referred to as stupid and moronic, the faculty advisor for the organization finally chimed in. His email was quite lengthy but I wanted to share a part at the end with you all. Here it is:

Here is the only point that actually matters! I strongly disagree that the world is made up of two non-intersecting groups: people who agree with me and people who are stupid/evil. It is possible for you to believe that people who support health care reform as proposed by the Obama administration are misguided or uninformed. But it is arrogant to assume that they are stupid or evil. This has a strong effect on our Christian witness. If we regularly treat people we disagree with as "them" or "the enemy," we cannot - at the same time - be showing them the love of Christ. If a non-Christian were to overhear discussions between Christians which demonize democrats, gays, abortionists, drug addicts, evolutionists, jihadists, Catholics, celebrities, welfare moms, illegal immigrants, or any other "them," they would not be likely to come to us to hear about the love, compassion and forgiveness offered by Christ.

I was very pleased at the poise and love with which this response was written and am very thankful to the author for his stance and courage to share with so many opposing members. My prayer is not that these people will change their political views but rather take to heart this message.

If anyone is interested in seeing the original email and the faculty advisor's response, let me know and I will email it to you. Reading them both in conjunction with each other yesterday was fascinating to me.

1 month and 6 days until Leni graduates.

Keep It Real!