January 19, 2017

Honoring

Last Monday we observed Martin Luther King Day (MLK) and a few people in our community are indignant that some government entities were open for business rather than closing their doors. Unbeknownst to some is the fact that government employees as a group often have a say in which holidays they want to take off. It’s understandable that, unless you are into skiing, snowshoeing or ice climbing, you would most likely pick Columbus Day in October over MLK in January as a day off. I understand those that want to celebrate and honor Dr. King. However, as believers know full well, you can’t impose on others your own sense of tribute and reverence for Someone. The psalmist wrote, “Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise” (Psalm 79:13 NIV).

1 comment:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----Why honor either? The people who no longer wish to honor Columbus day, who indeed desire to mask over it with “Indigenous American Day”, or such, want to honor MLKD, but by their actions, words, and beliefs they dishonor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If you are going to honor the day, then also honor what the day stands for. And before doing that, remember that a day stands for what it stands for, not for what you want it to stand for. That’s why there is no such thing as “Indigenous American Day”. If indigenous Americans ever did anything for this country, then maybe there should be a day for them honoring what they did. I’ve often heard that without the Navajo code talkers used by the Marines during WWII, the Nazi’s would have been successful enough at breaking our message codes to possibly have won the war. And few people know that Cherokee and Choctaw code talkers were used in WWI. Moreover, their culture has added to the traditional American culture in subtle ways. I am thinking there’s good meaning for an Indigenous American Day to stand for. But beside, not in place of, Columbus Day. For meaning is a real thing. It involves the truth. And pasting over one meaning with something of a different meaning is a lie.
-----That’s precisely what has happened to MLKD. I don’t think Dr. King’s movement lasted a moment beyond his death before it was pasted over with a lie. His movement was for the measure of man by his character, not by his skin color. The Black movement is today about putting forth Black and all else “get out of the damned way!” Today, MLKD stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but never for the a National Association for the Advancement of People. MLKD girds up a Congressional Black Caucus, but would fight with fiercely wild eyes so much as a thought or mention of a Congressional White Caucus. That would indeed be as racist as is the Congressional Black Caucus. The Black Lives Matter bullyhood pretty much made apparent the racist error of the current day Black movement.
-----We’ve allowed our cultural and political leaders to charm and fool us with this “who’s to say what’s true” bull ony. As soon as they’ve shut up their neighbors with it they begin telling their neighbors what is “true. We could have been speaking about commonly held truths reached by commonly applied reasoning upon commonly known facts, if we only would have admitted that the truth is estimable to a close enough degree to be highly useful. Even simple controversies would clear up, for example, a child inside the womb is as much a living human as the adult in whose womb the child is, by practical estimation, or racism is racism whether black racism or white racism, by practical estimation. After all, racism is just another way of shouting “ME” with a bullyhood to back it up, by practical observation. The impractical expectation of knowing all truth being used to dismiss the practically estimable truth of any real solution is a lie for assuring every neighbor pleases me. But God says, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him.” (Romans 15:2) That dissolves racism. It spares the child the pain of abortion. And it is a practically estimable truth about God’s way. I would think it wise to have a “God Day”, but He already has one. Maybe realizing it is practically coming would be a good idea.


Love you all,
Steve Corey