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For all that has gone on in our country, it's amazing that when you think it's time to move somewhere else, you're still hard pressed to imagine where. As I've told my boys over the years, there are people in the world who would kill to have our worst day. Not that an American with a brain tumor the size of a watermelon is therefore not really suffering or shouldn't complain. It's just that we have so many wonderful blessings we can take for granted that barely rank fiction in many places in the world, and throughout most of human history. That's why it's easy to forget how thankful we should be. Which might be part of the problem; a problem perhaps intentionally manufactured.
UPDATE: Another example of the malaise among those forgetting our blessings comes from Where Peter Is. A young John Grosso demonstrates that common line of thought, especially among the Left, that says America deserves to be celebrated only if and when America votes Democrat and acts as the Left dictates, and not a minute before. This is accomplished under that liberal umbrella that claims to be tolerant of everything but evil, while defining evil as anything that isn't liberal. So they're not saying Americans must conform to their politics, they're merely saying America shouldn't celebrate in such evil times, which looks to all observers like being defined as not conforming to progressive politics. While leftwing activists like you'll find at WPI are more flagrant with the notion that praiseworthy only means progressive, I fear it has filtered down into a common mentality, especially among younger generations. An excuse to avoid sacrificing or committing to a cause unless it's worthy of me - and I can always make sure it never is worthy of me, so I needn't bother with those sacrifices and commitments to other causes.
BTW, I've taken to visiting WPI semi-regularly to note the sparseness of Pope Leo articles compared to how you couldn't go five minutes without seeing new articles singing the praises of Pope Francis on a regular basis. I find that interesting, and yet I've noticed it across the liberal Catholic spectrum. We'll see.
Nobody is really sure what to make of Leo yet, including me. Lots of bet-hedging going on.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to be flying under the radar, that's for sure. At least now it doesn't look like he's what those on the Left wanted, while those on the Right are at best cautious. While it would be nice to say 'we only want a pope who isn't political', we all know that there are forces in our world that are pushing the world in certain directions, and they are political forces. It's not if Pope Leo speaks to things, but how that will make the difference. And, as I've said, how he conducts himself when he does so. Because that, as much as anything, was always the problem with Pope Francis.
DeleteMany have commented on Pope Leo's time in S. America, the decisions he made, things that he said and the thoughts he may have had and how it may affect his papacy, but it is a far cry from his current responsibilities as leader of approximately 1.2 billion Catholics as well as a leader for many other christians in the world than the responsibilities he had in Peru and other places. The papal office will weigh greatly on things he teaches and decides for now he shepherds the world, not a few million souls. This weight may change him in ways that no one anticipates despite his past words and actions. Peter had quite a past yet God saw Simon as the man for the job.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, because when he was first announced, that he was the first American pope, multiple Catholics, and not a few press outlets, presented it as if he was born in the US and then moved from the cradle to S. America to spend his life there. A swift storm of comments came out saying he was in no way an "American Pope" and his true roots were in Latin America. Not that Latin that such an experience wouldn't mean anything, but it's clear that he was quite the child of the USA. I found it interesting that when Pope John Paul II or Pope Francis were elected, everyone went gaga about their nation's of origin and how important that was, and yet how quickly people tried to squash the idea that Americans, like Poles or Argentinians, should have any special feelings about this pope. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself just how deep America-Hate is in some quarters of our society, and not a few Catholic ones at that.
DeleteIt just goes to show you how easily society is influenced by malcontents if they are made to feel as if they are the ones responsible for America's ills. It only takes a few to sway timid minds if their status is threatened. Don't like America TOO much or you will be seen as part of the problem, or a racist, or a nazi, or, or, everything else they throw at you. Lol, I'm glad I'm on the last legs of my journey here on Earth. I can't take too much more of this crap.
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