Relatively untouched, but still touched

"Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”

                               Attributed to Benjamin Franklin

 “Fairness does not mean everyone gets the same. Fairness means everyone gets what they need.”

                                Rick Riordan, The Red Pyramid

__________________________

It is vacation time

I have earned it

I work hard

I have always worked hard

Very little time to breathe

As I juggle being a part-time pastor,

Running a mental health program,

And helping facilitate the life

Of a Presbyterian Presbytery

(for Presbyterian geeks I am a transitional Presbyter

 and the Stated Clerk)

I have done well over the years

And I am comfortable

More than comfortable at the moment

With a nice house

Nice things

A “nice” income

A bit of money in the bank

And so as the shit show that is today’s

America roils around me like

a flood of muddy, gross water

I am relatively untouched

The stock market is high

Woo hoo

My children are doing well

I live in a beautiful place

with my amazing animals

my wife can do her dressage

and we can talk about new horse

what difference does it make to me that the President lies?

What do I care about the fact that he and his family profit off the office?

Or that the Senate Majority leader has broken the Constitution?

Or that our Attorney General has decided that justice isn’t important?

What do I care if a horrible person gets his sentence,

Richly deserved, cut in half by a tweet?

And why does it matter to me that family in need are losing SNAP

and will go hungry

Why do I care that families cannot afford housing

and that health care continues to bankrupt many

and that some cannot get the care they need?

It matters because I care

It matters because I see the pain around me

And the fear

It matters because the people I work with, afflicted by pain,

Can’t get the care they need.

And because the people I serve who have mental illness live

in fear of losing their housing (and go hungry)

I remember sitting and talking

About the fact that “it doesn’t affect me personally”

This erosion of all the values our country has pretended

Through my lifetime,

To embrace

But it does

This touches all of us

For all people are children of God

All people are carriers of the Sacred

All people are invited to the table of God

All people are valuable

And all people

Deserve “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

And history has shown, that if all don’t flourish

Eventually all perish

And the Bible is clear!

We are to take care of others

Read the Gospels

I dare you,

And come up with another conclusion

So this touches me

Even on vacation

Even in my affluence

This touches me

And I hope to God, it touches you

Because there are people hurting out there

And the planet is dying

And freedom is slipping away

This is no time for selfishness

or foolishness

we must return to the way

of justice

and equity

and generosity

and kindness

the time is now