2002-05-26 - 2:32 p.m.
29 days since my last update � I�m getting better!
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So, I woke up this morning and turned on the TV � which is a completely normal thing for me to do. This being Sunday, I didn�t tune in to CNN like I usually do while I get ready for the day. Instead, I got caught by a political thriller called �The Contender�. It was on as background noise, but it grabbed me enough to sit down and watch it. Hey, you can do that on a Sunday, you know? Basically, I guess I was so interested because I thought it did a really good job of boiling politics down to what it really is � a chess match. The plot follows the confirmation process of what would be the first female vice president of the U.S., and as may be expected some �sticky issues� arise. Not to mention that I especially liked the metathemes about keeping your private life exactly that, about standing for a principle you believe in when standing for it is inconvenient, and about the whole idea of being fallible and human.
Issues. Big issues. Why is it that our society manages to maintain an ideal of perfection that doesn�t tolerate the fundamental thing we all share in common?
We�re human.
We make mistakes.
Get over it.
Ideally, we learn from our mistakes and move on, hopefully not making the same mistake repeatedly. Not spoiling the movie, the allegations were of a sexual nature for an event that allegedly happened some 20 years prior. The position of the Chairman of the confirmation committee is that this reflects a moral bankruptcy on the part of the nominee. And that�s my issue, the whole Borking of confirmation processes (okay, it�s REALLY hard not to follow politics at some level when you live in the DC beltway and work for a government contractor). Whatever happened to overcoming adversity making someone a better person? We all make choices, and we�re all responsible for those choices, but I really like to think that we�ve come a long way since Hester Pryne was made to wear the scarlet letter. Personally, I don�t give two shits if or how much cocaine Dub-ya did or did not do � I�m much more interested in his positions on taxes and welfare reform and health care security for the elderly and homeland security � and whether or not he follows through with what he says he�ll do. Ever heard of a concept for separation of �the body physical� and �the body politic�?
Here�s one for you � my mother and step-father live in Augusta, Georgia, and I had the occasion to visit with them a couple of weeks ago. While I was there, my mother and I spent an afternoon driving around seeing the sights, including a visit to their church � where President Woodrow Wilson�s father had been pastor. As we walked through the historic church, we talked, and my mother happened to mention that my step-father would never be an elder of that church, because that church is a member of the highly conservative Presbyterian Church in America. When I was growing up and still believed, we attended a church that was a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which is much more liberal. Both my mother and step-father were elders, as were both of my grandparents. Now, because my step-father has been divorced (in something like 1973 � he�s been married to my mother for 27 years). And my mother, being a woman and all, can�t be an elder either � besides the fact that she�s been divorced as well. And they�re okay with that limitation, so good for them. But I�m not particularly comfortable with the idea that someone is not fit to lead the flock, so to speak, because they have been divorced and therefore couldn�t possibly help another couple save/strengthen their marriage. Whatever.
Chew on that for a while.
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Luv to my peeps!
Q
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