What is this sweet little old lady getting at? Firstly, I can't see how political correctness has improved the situation for any group. Hidden prejudice seems to fester more than overt. I am not sure I am right about this, but racial problems couldn't be worse right now, the world over. I suspect that the young people need to be our saviors here. In the USA, younger people just can't work up the terror, anger, righteousness about gay marriage that older people have been freaking out about forever. That's a good thing in my little world. Hopefully, soon we can put that issue to rest as we put my generation to their eternal rest. That along with many others.
One thing fundamentalists of any stripe seem to have in common is a complete lack of humor about themselves. And, really, pretty much every religion is by its very nature pretty funny. I am a Catholic of sorts, but I could see a lot of humor in having a birds and the bees talk with a teenager and then throwing in the Virgin Birth and explaining that. I can see a lot of humor in soldiers over thousands of years claiming to follow Judaism and talking their way out of the "Thou Shall Not Kill" problem. Christians of all ages have wiggled their way out of Jesus' ideas about "Love Your Neighbor As You Love Yourself." There is a lot of wiggle room there. Oh my God, take any page in the Bible and take it literally and you could die laughing.
But, the literalists don't see the humor. I think most of the creation stories I have read are beautiful, evocative, and real. They are real to me in that they offer another inspired picture of how we got here. But I am not going to kill someone because they don't believe that God is an ear of corn (although I like food images a lot). I am not going to kill anyone anyway but especially not for not believing that eating meat on Friday is a sin. I do not like the art work in Charlie Hebdo, never have. I do not like racism, but I suspect that I probably have some unconscious dirty little knee-jerk crap that could surprise me. But, although I take my spiritual life seriously, especially when things aren't going my way, really it is pretty bizarre when taken literally or dissected.
For me, today, the issues are very muddled. What is religious hatred (should those words even sit together?) and what is racism and what is political economic maneuvering and what is nationalism? Nothing quite makes sense. I mean are Arabs even a race? The name Iran stands for Aryan. That is confusing. I am very confused and I am sad. I am sad if we are launched to replay the Crusades, the Holocaust, the extermination of Indigenous Peoples the world over.
Lama Marut says the best way to get rid of an irritating person is to see what bad karma they are making for themselves and generate compassion. An irritating person can be someone who is cutting into the line at the super or someone pointing a gun at you. Same thing. It is impossible to love and hate at the same time. I have tried it. I think it helps to look at myself and have a good laugh and then step off my high horse. I have even tried this with Sarah Palin. In reality, I am as rediculous as she is. Tina Fey where are you when I need you?
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