This was a tough Lent. I am feeling too much anger myself, these days, too much resentment at all the divisions between liberals and conservatives, clergy and laity, men and women, black and white, us and them in saecula saeculorum. I probably should have fasted from the news for 40 days, since it was raising my blood pressure rather than my spirits. St. Francis spoke to the birds and the beasts. I’m talking back to the radio and snorting in disgust at the newspaper.
Yes. That was my Lenten experience. Except I didn't feel anger so much as I did despair. My perspective of the world was colored darkly by the news. It seemed that every family member was a lunatic ready to explode, that every teacher was ready to hurt your child, that every neighbor was ready to plunge a hatchet in your back, that every clerk cared nothing about their job - evidenced by the rude treatment we all receive wherever we go. However. . . .
. . . just as the author of that linked article had an Easter epiphany about the state of the world, so did I! So, to share my Easter joy with the family and friends who visit this blog, I am going to share why there is no reason for despair. And why fasting from the news is a healthy activity.
Family. Obviously, you'd think I have to say something nice about you, since you visit this blog. But if I didn't feel I had anything nice to say, I simply wouldn't say anything. I am grateful for my family. I genuinely like my family members. We have a good time together, so that's easy to say -- but we don't agree on everything under the sun and that's okay.
Friends. Not all of them know about this blog and those who do visit it because we don't live near each other anymore. But, same goes for all of you. I am blessed to know some great people! Whether far or near, whether we agree on everything or not, my friends are good people.
Teachers/Coaches. My children are lucky to have instructors and teachers who seem to genuinely like children and enjoy the skill they are teaching to kids. No "Dance Moms" type of teachers. No experience with coaches who swear at kids when they make a mistake.
Neighbors. Now, if there was anything bad to tell, I could tell it, as I never told the neighbors about the blog. But there's nothing bad to tell. I have nice neighbors. I know from others' experiences that this doesn't always happen. Just the other day, we were recalling a rather pushy girl who once lived next to us. She used to stick her nose in my window on nights I was cooking ethnic foods and shout, "Eewww! That STINKS!" I hope she grew up to attend a culinary school, coming to appreciate international cuisine with a burning desire to share with the world. But I digress. Nice neighbors have done everything from patiently answer my questions about how things work when I was a foreigner, to cautioning me that I might blow myself up if I tried to use the lawn mower that I'd broken in a very bad way. But let's not revisit that little mishap.
Clerks, librarians, cashiers, and servers in restaurants. I'm definitely safe here, as I know none of those who work in my regularly visited places know I'm writing this. But I cannot complain! They are all nice! We chat in friendly ways. We comment on holidays and birthdays and current events. And everyone is perfectly pleasant! You will not see any of the people I visit in my travels as the star of some viral video that was secretly taped of clerks/librarians/cashiers/servers behaving badly.
The concluding paragraph of the article:
The Church is heading toward Pentecost. This is when the apostles were set on fire, leaving the safety of the upper room and stepping outside to preach to the world. Their Holy Spirit-fueled courage reverberates down to us. The Church has always suffered from divisions. Just read Acts. But that Easter joy, that Pentecostal fervor, that’s what reminds us why we keep trying to get it right.
The world is not perfect. And those imperfections are displayed in the news in horrifying ways. But there are billions of us living on the planet. We are all imperfect, but (happily!) our imperfections are not worthy of the 24-hour news cycle. There is no need for the discouragement I sometimes feel when I've spent too much time reading/watching the news.
Happy Easter Season to all. You are a blessing to me!
