Let me preface this post with a light warning: I am about to delve into thoughts that wander into politics a bit. I am not here to inflame or accuse. My intentions are to express my thoughts and opinions and to do so with honesty and compassion. I don’t believe in bullying, but I do believe in self-defense. I also believe whole-heartedly in love. So there it is.
Unless you ignored all the TV and radio news, internet news, and social media the last couple of days, you’ve all heard about and/or seen the story of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer arguing with President Obama on the airport tarmac this week. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, a particular photo of Jan Brewer with her finger apparently wagging in the President’s face has generated heaps of commentary. Most of the comments I have read imply that Brewer is without class, disrespectful, and an embarrassment to the State.
This shouldn’t come as any surprise, because that’s what people do—make fun of Governor Brewer. I’ll admit her public speaking skills leave much to be desired. And I’m not always sure I agree with her positions. But she has done something important to me—she has stood up for what she believes is right. Those of us that believed in SB1070 when she signed it into law didn’t make a lot of noise. So at first, it seemed to me that just about everyone was against 1070. The more I talked with people, I realized I knew a lot of people who felt the way I did. We just weren’t out there screaming about it.
One of the things I like about Governor Brewer is that she really tries. I heard the text of the letter she handed to the President, and it sounded good. Respectful of the President, putting our best foot forward, excited about the state’s economic recovery, and nicely inviting him again to visit the Arizona-Mexico border. In the conversation on the tarmac, the President brought up Brewer’s book and expressed that he didn’t like the way she portrayed him in their meeting in D.C. I don’t see how that’s relevant to the purpose of his visit, which was job creation. He hasn’t even read the book, either. I think it was inappropriate and rude on the part of the President. And he is still ignoring Arizona and our immigration issues. I’m injecting a bit of my own assumptions and opinions here, so please be patient with me.
When Democrat Janet Napolitano was governing Arizona, we had the same immigration issues. I actually voted for her the last time, before she went to D.C. to head up Homeland Security. How is it that the same fight Napolitano fought under President Bush is portrayed differently now that it’s Brewer and President Obama? Brewer is doing the same things Napolitano did, sending the invoices to the Feds, and we still get zero response. Except Brewer is vilified while Napolitano sits, lips mostly zipped, in her ivory tower. Napolitano, as far as I’m concerned, has completely abandoned her former state. She should know these issues better than anyone, and it’s as if she’s been brainwashed since she got to D.C.
Yesterday, as I saw comment after comment assuming things that people couldn’t know, I started to feel very sad. It reminded me why I generally don’t like talking about politics – because my natural tendency is to mediate and everything out there in the media and social media feels so divisive. It is easy to get caught up in the arguments. We all have our beliefs and most of us probably feel attacked by the other side at one time or another (or maybe all the time).
Last March, my husband and I went to Tucson for a benefit concert. The show was absolutely wonderful and had a large number of acts, both big names and not-so-big names. The show was organized by Ron Barber, one of Gaby Giffords’ injured staffers. The beneficiary was the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding. The emotional atmosphere, the music, and the guest speakers led my husband, at one point in the show, to proclaim that he wanted to do something. He needed to do something. Something to help people, somehow.
I wonder how many other people felt that way after the Tucson shooting, or some other tragedy. Wanted to reach out. Wanted to extend a hand in the spirit that we are all neighbors, we’re all in this place together… But how long does that last? Why are our politics and debates and rhetoric so ugly and mean? As soon as someone decides an appropriate amount of time has passed, we see how nothing really changed from that event, or the next one, or the next one.
How many of us identify ourselves as Christians? I’d venture to say a majority of us. How easily we forget the Ten Commandments. How effortlessly we ignore God’s desire for us to love one another as He has loved us. How quickly and repeatedly we abandon attempts to live like Jesus did.
I’m not perfect, I don’t know everything, and I’m not always right. I try to remind myself of those truths when I find myself making assumptions. The only thing we know for sure is that we don’t know what really happened on the tarmac. But I am compelled to refrain from condemning either person because of a photograph or an article about the event. There are always multiple sides to a story.
Yes, personally, in my gut, I do feel the President can come off looking like a bully. Like the time he told John McCain that the election was over. Jan Brewer is no saint, but I think she isn’t one to kowtow to anyone that she knows doesn’t have our state’s best interests at heart. If you ridicule someone for expressing a belief that is different from yours, then you are a bully. My first instinct is to say, “Shame on you.” But upon reflection, I remember I should instead act with civility, respect and understanding. That also implies I should act with love. And one of the greatest, and most challenging, aspects of real love is the necessity of forgiveness.
Looks like I've got my work cut out for me.
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