I. "Bless them, change me"
My friend, perfectly named Ed Goodrich, changed my life today. He knows my distress amid our national leadership crises and how it may impact caregivers.
"There's a four word phrase that could help," he said. "When insulted, pray: 'Bless them, change me.'"
Instantly, I felt better. No more saying "I'll pray for you." That sounds like I'm asking my God to change your "wrong" into my "right." Bless you. Change me.
Beware of political brain fog. Because we support Trump or Harris does mean we ARE either.
II."With charity toward all"
Cursing fellow Americans while refusing to practice love can be deadly.
"We are not enemies, but friends," our most admired President told 25,000. "We must not be enemies," he begged; passion may strain friendships, but, "it must not break our bonds of affection."
Listen to "the better angels of [y]our nature," Abraham Lincoln implored.
The crowd agreed and fatally failed to heed.
It was March 4, 1861. Just thirty-nine days later, April 12, 1861, Confederate soldiers fired on Fort Sumter. Deafness to the new President's appeal triggered the most tragic display of homicidal idiocy in American history.
March 4, 1865, precisely four years later, a victorious and heartbroken Lincoln, appealed once more to the best angels among his 40,000 listeners. Millions had died or suffered other unspeakable loss. Northerners wanted what men's darkest demons always seek: Revenge.
Lincoln, would have none of it. "With malice toward none, with charity for all" he told the startled crowd "...let us bind up the nation's wounds, care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan...do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace..."
April 14, 1865 the calendar again tolled tragedy. Four years and two days after Rebels fired canon balls into Fort Sumter, a revenge-poisoned Rebel fired a single bullet into the head of our finest President. Lincoln had joined the list of the Civil War dead.
III. "Ultimate and absolute revenge"?
The same revenge-devil that poisoned Lincoln's assassin now darkens the voice of former President Trump. Increasingly over recent days he has repeatedly promised "ultimate and absolute revenge" against anyone, including Republicans, who opposed him. The list grows by the hour and now includes not just Harris and Pelosi but numerous former members of his own cabinet. A few days ago, he said former Republican Congressman Liz Cheney, should be "shot in the face" by a 9-person firing squad.
Will we choose a champion of "Charity toward all" or break "the bonds of affection" by choosing an advocate of violence by Americans against Americans?
Yes. Trump remains a child of God. May God's blessing quiet hate from both sides, and change us.
Meanwhile, why wait for leaders to unite us? Regardless of party, why not heed the voices of our better angels?
-Reverend Erie Chapman, M.T.S., J.D.
