EXTREME CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

I have been thinking a lot about cultural differences in the last few weeks of turmoil and dissension, because of all of the ways that the new administration is targeting groups of people of whom they do not approve based on ethnicity and religious faith; lifestyles; and whether they are champions of people who need health care and help, and/or the environment -- or for equal rights and opportunities for minorities and for women.

As a young girl growing up in a suburb of Chicago, I was part of the dominant culture of our nation, but there were three distinct cultures represented by my four grandparents: English, Italian and Pennsylvanian Dutch. Three were immigrants and the fourth had an ancestor who came to the the Massachusetts Bay area in 1633.

As baby boomers, we grew up in an era of passionate liberal protests -- the Civil Rights Movement; the Viet Nam War protests; and women's liberation. We were anti-establishment and suspicious of our government.

But here we are again.

And it occurred to me that the biggest cultural difference we have in our nations is between the people represented by the majority of our citizens who voted for Hillary Clinton by about 2.4 million voter over that minority: those who voted for the current administration.

Today I saw a symbol of the divisiveness and polarization that is tearing our country apart when I passed one of those huge American flags you sometimes see along an interstate highway. I was shocked that it was flying, because no one with respect for out nation and our flag would have allowed it to be raised and waved in the brisk wind that was blowing today. More than three or four of its stripes were separated from the stripes next to them and raggedly lurched in the stiff breeze. It reminded me with sorrow how our country is torn up.

Sadly, along another interstate around here I have many times seen an even bigger Confederate flag. I thought about how the one that is torn apart and disrespectfully displayed, and the one that represents one of the most shameful part of our nation's history are symbolic of the extreme cultural differences evident here these days.

There is a power struggle going on and the stakes are the highest they can be for a nation that was "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," as Abraham Lincoln interpreted the ideals of out founders and the way those ideals had been under attack, especially at the moment he spoke those words while dedicating the Gettysburg battlefield and honoring those who fell there.

Many people I know who are part of the culture connected to the new administration are upset over those who are part of the dissenting culture. One of the biggest problems I see is that they claim to have no conception of why the rest of us are upset.

But it seems so self-evident to me. I think it may be that they just can't imagine being in anyone else's shoes, or if they are able to do that, they have no compassion for their plight.

They seem to block out any empathy for minorities including native Americans who are the sons and daughters of people who for generations have not had the same kinds of opportunities that white people take for granted.

They can't seem to put themselves in the place of the newest groups of people who are doing exactly what their ancestors did fifty years ago . . . or a hundred years ago . . . or like my great great great great great grandfather did when he came to the Massachusetts Bay area to escape religions persecution and turmoil and start a new life in freedom.

They don't seem to be able to imagine themselves living on a minimum wage and/or working for a company that does not offer health care benefits.

They don't seem to be able to open their hearts to people of the same gender who love one another and have made a commitment to spend their lives together.

They seem to cut themselves off from understanding why a woman would be in the kind of difficult situation when she would decide not to bear a child. (And when they post how many babies have come to this life over the years because of the decisions their mothers have made, they neglect to imagine how much more of a burden their would be on our broken society that is not helping to provide for people who are homeless; that does not make sure that all children have access to decent educational opportunities; that has gone out of its way decade after decade to deny health care benefits to huge numbers of people--except for the last seven years or so; and that perpetuates systemic racism.)

It's sad. But it's also shocking.

When you can't seem to "walk a mile in the shoes" of another person, it comes down to an inability to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." You are ignoring the needs of "the least, the last and the lost." Your lack of compassion leads to a kind of selfishness that announces, "I have what I want and need, and I have worked for it, so everyone else should do what I do, and it's their fault if they don't have what it takes.

So, yes . . . we have our work cut out for us because so much that this administration has done and has promised to do in collusion with the majority members of Congress will cause huge amounts of harm and grief and destruction of the ideals and highest ethical practices upon which our nation was founded.

What can we do to change the minds of the people of the other culture and help them see and understand and help and be more compassionate. Probably we need to start by praying for them. But if praying for them and trying to convince them about what we believe is true, we have to work against them as we are beginning to do.

But we must work harder.

We are on the defensive, but we have to get pro-active and be more creative.

Now is the time.

As ever, Beloved, no matter what you believe, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and yours.