Obama and the Pastor (no, not that one)

So, I was just reading this article on AOL:

[headline] Obama's Pick for Invocation Under Fire
[first graph] In a move that's infuriated some rights activists and other supporters, President-elect Barack Obama has chosen an evangelical minister opposed to same-sex marriage to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

Has it really come to this? Already? "Activists" are up in arms because someone (a minister) with a point-of-view with which they disagree is going to say a prayer at Obama's inauguration. Really?

I voted for Mr. Obama because I believed him to be thoughtful, balanced, fair and bi-partisan to a certain extent. This choice--as well as a few of his cabinet choices--bolsters my belief in his sense of wanting to include people from all walks of life in his administration, his inner-circle and his contacts in general.

We voted for "change," right? I suppose we could have elected a Democrat who did nothing but toe the party line, but isn't that what we've done for generations up till now? I'm probably not a fan of Pastor Warren (I'm a Catholic Democrat after all) but I'm open to the idea of listening to him and others with different points of view. And I'm open to supporting a new President who will think and behave differently than our previous leaders. He'll make mistakes to be sure; but if he didn't, he wouldn't be trying very hard.

What's the worst that could happen if we listen to a prayer delivered by a pastor who's very popular (apparently) with a bunch of folks? So what if he supported Prop 8? It doesn't mean that Mr. Obama supports Prop 8 or anything like it. It just means he chose a popular pastor to deliver a prayer.

By the way, I can't recall listening to a single pastor, minister or priest with whom I've agreed on every single thing. In fact, I'd guess that I disagree with most pastors/ministers/priests on a lot of very basic, everyday things. And let's face it: These guys (most of them are guys) would be out of business fast if they delivered only the sermons or homilies that people wanted to hear.

But I digress ...

Do we really want another president with a "with-us-or-against-us" attitude on every single thing? I don't.

Read more...

Old and Young.

This evening, I sat at the kitchen table with my youngest son, who is 22 months old. Also at the table was one of his Grandmas--my dad's wife Becky--and her own mother, Granny, who is living with some stage of demensia, possibly Alzheimers disease. Three of the four of us were coloring with crayons.

I watched my son use his crayon in mad fashion all over the page and, occasionally, I helped him out. And Becky was trying to get Granny interested in the project. Becky used a pink crayon on the page and handed the crayon to Granny and asked her to color also. Granny tried for many minutes to figure out what to do with the crayon. She was frustrated with this project.

After Becky demonstrated the process several times, and repeatedly handed the crayon to her mother saying "color," Granny finally took the crayon and tried to spell the word "color" on the page.

I was struck by how similar--and how different--my and Becky's lives must be at this point. We both spend a big part of our days teaching, instructing, encouraging and physically helping someone along. But while I can look forward to my own children picking up new skills and becoming more and more independent, Becky is likely to see the opposite effect. She spends a majority of her day physically caring for her own mother, who now is living in a convalescent home in which she does not receive much, if any, individual attention or care.

Last month's bill for Granny's shared room in the convalescent center was more than $5,200. Something is very wrong with this system.

Read more...