Fourth of July … If we’re as good as we say we are …
In between hot dogs and beers today, check out this from the Raven Foundation, by Suzanne Ross:
http://www.ravenfoundation.org/blogs/copy-that/abraham-lincoln-vampire-slayer-a-true-story-for-the-4th-of-july
Quotable:
…if we are as good as we say we are, we won’t ignore the moral complexity of our own history
Suzanne’s piece hits me hard because of a conversation I overheard the other night. Grace and I were eating at a funky little place on our funky little island-town at the edge of the Everglades. I was really trying to concentrate on our own scintillating conversation, but I kept getting distracted by this guy at the next table who was talking about ten decibels above NRV (normal restaurant voice).
Anyway, I’m sketchy on this first part because I was trying to block him out, but it sounded like the fellow at the next table was talking about our governor Rick Scott’s refusal to cooperate with the now-ruled-constitutional Affordable Care Act. Then he started talking about South Carolina – the place where the Civil War began.
Around this point, I whispered to Grace … “Can you hear what the guy next to us is saying?” At that point we surrendered to eavesdropping.
There are lots of groups in South Carolina, he said, who are getting ready to stand up to the federal government. Eventually, they’re going to bear arms to reaffirm States’ Rights. (Sound familiar?) The hope is that when these South Carolina “patriots” rise up, similar militia across the South will join them.
Then, he said, there are a lot of “captains and such” in the military who will switch sides and join the “patriots” in fighting for “freedom.”
Maybe the Northeast will want to stay with the federal government, he suggested. But not the South.
It was the first time I’ve heard an overt (10 decibels above NRV) argument for civil war – I think in my lifetime. Which is why Suzanne’s piece really hits me hard and makes it hard for this Fourth of July to be a normal one.
To quote Suzanne once more:
…if we are as good as we say we are, we won’t ignore the moral complexity of our own history
PS. Here’s a video blog I did for Patheos.com:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/takeandread/2012/06/brian-mclaren-a-message-to-the-church-on-the-fourth-of-july/