It's important and hard to remember this. We have just got a left(er) government in the UK and whilst I am pleased and love some of the changes they are making, just this week I have seen how this government too bows to pressure from the strong and overlooks the most vulnerable.
1. I loved the theme of joy running through speakers comments at the DNConcvention. It was real joy, never at anoyone's expense. Well, almost never.
2. There's politics, and there's power. Jesus was politically astute in turning the other cheeck, forcing the person to deal with him as a person by using the right hand, not the left which was reserved for toilet uses. Or when he would walk through a crowd who would have torn him apart, Francis was politically astute managing the relationship with the Bishop and the Popes very carefully. Other mendicants similar to him were excommunicated or imprisoned. Jesus and Francis had little power, liittle wealth, but they finessed their way through the crowd of politics. I think we have to do the same this election. Politics is worked through relationships. Political power is worked in spite of relationships. It uses force rather than love or persuasion.
What disappointed me was not including the voice of the nearly forgotten Palestinian people. Other than their voice, and the Native American voice, most voices were heard in beautiful politics--relationships with one another.
I also didn't like the call to ensure the US had the "most lethal force". Isn't there a force less lethal that would work well enough? a "lethal enough force"? It lack rhetorical power and therefore lacks political power, but if I go you to think about it, then it works in the realm of politics.
All that being said, I know whom I am going to support in this election, and it gives me joy.
I very much appreciate @Rick Bellows discernment between politics and power. As for hope/optimism, i’ve been reading Marianne Moore’s poem “the hero”. her two qualities of heroism are non-optimism and love:
Tired but hopeful -
Hope not being hope
Until all ground for hope has
vanished; and lenient, looking
Upon a fellow creature’s error with the feelings of a mother - a
woman or a cat.”
Optimism when i look back on mine tends toward spiritual bypassing and/or ambition. Hope is some other thing and does not require optimism at all.
And lenience? What can i do with that without getting pissed off? Not indulgence, but responsibility?… acceptance of humanity if not kinship? Ugh. Its hard but i can see the point.
It's important and hard to remember this. We have just got a left(er) government in the UK and whilst I am pleased and love some of the changes they are making, just this week I have seen how this government too bows to pressure from the strong and overlooks the most vulnerable.
Two things:
1. I loved the theme of joy running through speakers comments at the DNConcvention. It was real joy, never at anoyone's expense. Well, almost never.
2. There's politics, and there's power. Jesus was politically astute in turning the other cheeck, forcing the person to deal with him as a person by using the right hand, not the left which was reserved for toilet uses. Or when he would walk through a crowd who would have torn him apart, Francis was politically astute managing the relationship with the Bishop and the Popes very carefully. Other mendicants similar to him were excommunicated or imprisoned. Jesus and Francis had little power, liittle wealth, but they finessed their way through the crowd of politics. I think we have to do the same this election. Politics is worked through relationships. Political power is worked in spite of relationships. It uses force rather than love or persuasion.
What disappointed me was not including the voice of the nearly forgotten Palestinian people. Other than their voice, and the Native American voice, most voices were heard in beautiful politics--relationships with one another.
I also didn't like the call to ensure the US had the "most lethal force". Isn't there a force less lethal that would work well enough? a "lethal enough force"? It lack rhetorical power and therefore lacks political power, but if I go you to think about it, then it works in the realm of politics.
All that being said, I know whom I am going to support in this election, and it gives me joy.
I very much appreciate @Rick Bellows discernment between politics and power. As for hope/optimism, i’ve been reading Marianne Moore’s poem “the hero”. her two qualities of heroism are non-optimism and love:
Tired but hopeful -
Hope not being hope
Until all ground for hope has
vanished; and lenient, looking
Upon a fellow creature’s error with the feelings of a mother - a
woman or a cat.”
Optimism when i look back on mine tends toward spiritual bypassing and/or ambition. Hope is some other thing and does not require optimism at all.
And lenience? What can i do with that without getting pissed off? Not indulgence, but responsibility?… acceptance of humanity if not kinship? Ugh. Its hard but i can see the point.