A Return to Civility

A scene in Norman Maclean's novella "A River Runs Thought It" describes a fight between brothers in their mother's kitchen. It was a culmination of tension arising from their differences, and ended in a draw. It was to be their only fight, perhaps because they realized there could be no winner of such a contest. While they were different, they were also brothers, and as such shared a bond that transcended their differences. After the fight, they returned to civility.



Recently I watched the coverage of the funeral of Senator John McCain. I knew some of his story, but I was not fully aware of his stature as a senator who worked to see a return to civility in the senate. In fact some of his final words were invested in encouraging just that.  Senator McCain's core belief was that his political adversaries were patriots too. They were decent human beings who were different from him in some way. But their love of this country transcended their differences. While they could go at it in on the senate floor, they could and often did, become friends.

A lack of civility in our government is not new. Thankfully we have not had any duels or canings of late. But I believe there have been seasons in my life where government was able to be more effective than in recent years where the goal of lawmakers has seemed to be protection of their positions or ideas rather than service to this country. Bipartisanship appears to now be all but impossible.

Why are we here and how do we return to a functional legislative body? I contend that a politician's unspoken job is to get elected, and re-elected.  In order to get into office and remain there, they have to convince a majority of us that they are representing our interests well. If for a moment we imagine this to be true, then our legislators are simply mirroring the contention between us as constituents.

During the news coverage of Senator McCain's funeral, one of the commentators mentioned that recently a senator had chosen to not run for re-election because he felt that the climate in that body was so divided that any attempt at bipartisanship on his part would result in a loss of support  such that his re-election would be scuttled. In other words, it wasn't worth it.

So we have capable, interested, and passionate people leaving the fray, bloodied and battered, and are leaving because the fight is no longer worth the personal cost.

It's easy to armchair quarterback this and blame politicians for the divisiveness in this country. Perhaps there is fault to find there. But when I am unable to have a civil discourse with people different from me without resorting to name calling and slander...well we have met the enemy and he is me.

I may not be able to change the nation, but I can choose to change how I respond to people who are different from me. I can choose to hear their side. I can choose to respect them and their opinion, even if I disagree. I can come to a place of looking at myself and admitting where I have prejudice and blindspots. I don't know about you, but I still have work to do there.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was,  he said loving God was the greatest. But the second was is to love your  neighbor as yourself.  There is no qualifier that allows me to not love my neighbor because he is brown, black or red. Nor if  he is gay or straight, Democrat or Republican, old or young.  I haven't always done a great job at that, but I am working on it. I might not be able to make a difference in the nation, but perhaps I can make a difference to my neighbors.

Comments

Jim Clarke said…
Thanks, Mark. You are right.

Jim

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