Touched

I have a very special family. My wife, Teresa, can handle just about any challenge that life throws at her. Our daughter, Victoria, has been afflicted with Lyme Disease for the past three years and has challenges with pain and exhaustion that I can only imagine. She suffers with great strength and a faith that I marvel at. Our son, Landon, has seen the difficulty of his sister and struggled with understanding all that is going on. But I have been so touched by the ways in which our family is learning to deal with chronic illness of Victoria and how we are still learning to stand together. That has been a lot more difficult than I ever imagined. Families that are caught up in a crisis frequently don't realize just how bad things are - how tough it is to stick together - and begin to take out their frustrations on each other. Too bad it is so hard to love each other the way we want to when we are so tired, so frustrated, so frightened and so worried. Yet, because we are so close to one another (in proximity and in relationships) we show the worst of ourselves instead of the real love that we feel. I'm just thinking -- God has big plans for all of us. He shows us every day that He loves us and that we are making a difference in the lives of others. If we can recognize that, why are we so hard on each other during these times of stress and crisis? Tonight I pray for all of the families that are hurting - because of illness, because of finances, because they don't know how to love. That hurt is a lonely feeling and I pray that God continues to open doors that we might be helpful to those who need His touch - and that we can be His hands to accomplish it.

We Are All Disenfranchised

When I started to write this post, I was thinking about the little guy in the picture above.  One of my favorite Saturday morning "Schoolhouse Rock" shows.  It was a simplistic song that suggests if someone has an idea, someone says "hey!  there ought to be a law!"  It can happen.

I still find myself singing this song - "Oh, I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill . . ."  I know.  I'm a little weird.

What got me thinking about the little bill above and about a big idea currently unfolding all around us is that our laws - the bill that, in an idealistic world gone by, would have been easy to write, easy to enforce, easy to understand - have become anything but.  The practical effect of the way laws are being written today is that every one of us is being disenfranchised. It is behind Brexit in Great Britain.  It is behind Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the US.

OK, I know.  Disenfranchisement is a word that we don't really use.  Sounds like one of those old-fashioned, Declaration of Independence words.  It's actually very important  for us to know and appreciate.

Disenfranchised:  

The adjective disenfranchised describes a person or group of people who are stripped of their power, like disenfranchised post-Civil War African Americans who were deprived of their right to vote even after being freed from slavery.

Being disenfranchised is no fun. The rules work against you, your rights are constantly violated, and you have little power to change your life for the better. The Old French word enfranchir means “to make free,” and when you add the negative prefix dis-,disenfranchised means “made unfree.” A disenfranchised population doesn't rest easy, and often they organize and fight back against their condition to demand their basic rights and freedom.

 Disenfranchisement is happening to all of us at a very fast pace and we don't even know it. I believe we sense that something beyond our control is happening in our city, state and federal governments but, unless we read every piece of legislation (which we know even our elected officials do not do) a normal person cannot keep up - we violate a law at almost every turn.

Just a few months ago, Oklahoma City announced it was making a "primary law" or a law for which a person can be stopped for specifically, if a driver fails to signal for 100 feet before changing lanes.  Police said it "would add another layer of protection."  That's ridiculous.  The fine for this offense is $172.  How would an innocent driver ever prove that they did signal for 100 feet?  You would have to prove yourself innocent because the assumption of guilt is there with the police "eyewitness."

What it does add, is not a layer of protection, but a layer of disenfranchisement for everyone.  Every time you drive you must do so in fear of not signalling for 100 feet - but the list of reasons for which you can be pulled over (or not rest easy) is myriad.  Our governments, at all levels, keep stacking on more and more reasons for us to be fined, harassed, stopped, forced to explain our very presence somewhere.  The latest example is that of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol engaging card readers in their patrol cars to "examine" gift cards, credit cards, money cards - with the, for now, theoretical ability to drain those cards and put the money into the state's bank accounts.  They say it isn't happening but the reality is it just isn't happening now.
We lose our independence to make decisions which are best for ourselves and our families in situations like this.  We end up as "law-breakers" without ever knowing it because laws are so convoluted, so misunderstood or unintended that normal people really don't know how to stay legal.

So, around the world, we see regular people fighting back against the rule makers.  The people who clearly live in a double standard world where the law means one thing for those who make it and enforce it and something very different and ominous for those who must live under it.

We are all becoming disenfranchised because we can't know the implications of the laws that are enacted. Not even the authors know what is being proposed.  Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives said it best:  We have to pass the bill to find out what is in the bill - speaking of the monstrous ObamaCare bill.  The bill that no one still understands, few like and is becoming more unsupportable by the day. Yet, violate a provision and the IRS is on your back and in your bank account.

Simplicity in our laws brings all of us into an opportunity of compliance, safety and agreement that these are laws which protect us and make our lives better.  Complexity, of the kind we are seeing now at every level of government, only brings uncertainty, division and disenfranchisement of the worst kind.  It used to so simple.

For those who remember the School House Rock Song - here you go!

Lyrics to I'm Just a Bill :

Boy: Woof! You sure got to climb a lot of steps to get to this Capitol Building here in Washington. But I wonder who that sad little scrap of paper is?

Bill: I'm just a bill
Yes, I'm only a bill
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill
Well, it's a long, long journey
To the capital city
It's a long, long wait
While I'm sitting in committee
But I know I'll be a law someday
At least I hope and pray that I will
But today I am still just a bill

Boy: Gee, Bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage

Bill: Well I got this far. When I started, I wasn't even a bill, I was just an idea. Some folks back home decided they wanted a law passed, so they called their local Congressman and he said, "You're right, there ought to be a law." Then he sat down and wrote me out and introduced me to Congress. And I became a bill, and I'll remain a bill until they decide to make me a law.

I'm just a bill
Yes, I'm only a bill,
And I got as far as Capitol Hill
Well, now I'm stuck in committee
And I'll sit here and wait
While a few key Congressmen discuss and debate
Whether they should let me be a law
How I hope and pray that they will
But today I am still just a bill

Boy: Listen to those congressmen arguing! Is all that discussion and debate about you?

Bill: Yeah, I'm one of the lucky ones. Most bills never even get this far. I hope they decide to report on me favorably, otherwise I may die.

Boy: Die?

Bill: Yeah, die in committee. Oh, but it looks like I'm going to live! Now I go to the House of Representatives, and they vote on me.

Boy: If they vote yes, what happens?

Bill: Then I go to the Senate and the whole thing starts all over again.

Boy: Oh no!

Bill: Oh yes!

I'm just a bill
Yes, I'm only a bill
And if they vote for me on Capitol Hill
Well, then I'm off to the White House
Where I'll wait in a line
With a lot of other bills
For the president to sign
And if he signs me, then I'll be a law
How I hope and pray that he will
But today I am still just a bill

Boy: You mean even if the whole Congress says you should be a law, the president can still say no?

Bill: Yes, that's called a veto. If the President vetoes me, I have to go back to Congress and they vote on me again, and by that time you're so old . . .

Boy: By that time it's very unlikely that you'll become a law. It's not easy to become a law, is it?

Bill: No!

But how I hope and I pray that I will
But today I am still just a bill

Congressman: He signed you, Bill! Now you're a law!

Bill: Oh yes!

Boy: Woof! You sure got to climb a lot of steps to get to this Capitol Building here in Washington. But I wonder who that sad little scrap of paper is?

Bill: I'm just a bill
Yes, I'm only a bill
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill
Well, it's a long, long journey
To the capital city
It's a long, long wait
While I'm sitting in committee
But I know I'll be a law someday
At least I hope and pray that I will
But today I am still just a bill

Boy: Gee, Bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage

Bill: Well I got this far. When I started, I wasn't even a bill, I was just an idea. Some folks back home decided they wanted a law passed, so they called their local Congressman and he said, "You're right, there ought to be a law." Then he sat down and wrote me out and introduced me to Congress. And I became a bill, and I'll remain a bill until they decide to make me a law.

I'm just a bill
Yes, I'm only a bill,
And I got as far as Capitol Hill
Well, now I'm stuck in committee
And I'll sit here and wait
While a few key Congressmen discuss and debate
Whether they should let me be a law
How I hope and pray that they will
But today I am still just a bill

Boy: Listen to those congressmen arguing! Is all that discussion and debate about you?

Bill: Yeah, I'm one of the lucky ones. Most bills never even get this far. I hope they decide to report on me favorably, otherwise I may die.

Boy: Die?

Bill: Yeah, die in committee. Oh, but it looks like I'm going to live! Now I go to the House of Representatives, and they vote on me.

Boy: If they vote yes, what happens?

Bill: Then I go to the Senate and the whole thing starts all over again.

Boy: Oh no!

Bill: Oh yes!

I'm just a bill
Yes, I'm only a bill
And if they vote for me on Capitol Hill
Well, then I'm off to the White House
Where I'll wait in a line
With a lot of other bills
For the president to sign
And if he signs me, then I'll be a law
How I hope and pray that he will
But today I am still just a bill

Boy: You mean even if the whole Congress says you should be a law, the president can still say no?

Bill: Yes, that's called a veto. If the President vetoes me, I have to go back to Congress and they vote on me again, and by that time you're so old . . .

Boy: By that time it's very unlikely that you'll become a law. It's not easy to become a law, is it?

Bill: No!

But how I hope and I pray that I will
But today I am still just a bill

Congressman: He signed you, Bill! Now you're a law!

Bill: Oh yes!

The Desperate Search for Importance

Eventually, every one of us gives in to it. 
The search to be recognized.  The desperate demand to be found important.  To have others see that the actions we take have a magnified effect.

We push out Facebook posts.  That amount to nothing.

We Tweet.  About miniscule aspects of our daily existence.

We Instagram and blog.  In an effort to show that we are doing or thinking something that separates us from everyone else.

We use the power of these magnifiers to prove our worth.

It ends up coming off as a self-important, ego driven mania to be famous.  Because, unfortunately, famous is seen as successful.  Successful is seen as happy.  Happy is seen as better.  And it is better to be famous than not. 

One of my great guilty pleasures is watching Judge Judy.  It astounds me to see the people who will agree to be on her program, however.  Many come with an obvious desire to be on TV.  It's as though this is their "big scene" in life.  Even worse are the Jerry Springer-type shows where people with no apparent idea of the ridicule to which they are being subjected, fight to be "seen" as famous.  As important.  As meaningful. 

This even comes through in regular, everyday meetings.  It becomes clear, in just a few minutes, that some people are proud of their ignorance.  They don't care what they don't know.  They simply desire to be taken seriously so badly that their life is spent in . . . being seen . . . being heard . . . being something important.

Teenagers post images of themselves in activities they will one day wish was not retrievable on line.  People my age often post about themselves truths that they later regret (there is a reason a local divorce attorney's radio ad says the first thing he does in a divorce case is search social media).

Very few of these people do what it takes to become really . . . important. 

In his book, Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning, Viktor Frankel writes:

“Man is originally characterized by his "search for meaning" rather than his "search for himself." The more he forgets himself—giving himself to a cause or another person—the more human he is. And the more he is immersed and absorbed in something or someone other than himself the more he really becomes himself.”  

What is the whole purpose of the way we communicate now?
Is our aim of being noticed, recognized and seen by others as what?

Famous?
Important?
Witty?
Smart?
Wise?

So much effort is put into getting blog hits, getting Facebook notices, getting recognized in some way that we forget to live our lives in a way that, as a natural outcome, demonstrates our importance.  How many people say, write or record themselves saying something provocative, stupid, obscene or dangerous, just to get attention? 

Social media is full of it.  Literally and figuratively.
It seems the goal of millions of us around the world is to "go viral."  Be thought of as so . . . interesting . . . stupid . . . funny . . . significant for just a moment that the whole world takes notice and can't wait to share that image with everyone.  To be famous and to have meaning in our lives becomes an end unto itself.  And we will do anything to achieve it.

And yet, no one who is pursuing that time of significance stops to realize they are quickly . . .laughed at . . . enjoyed . . . used . . . forgotten and the world will move on to the next jester who keeps it's attention for another moment.

In this ever growing drive to become important, we end up killing real relationships - because we present to "friends," readers, watchers, listeners a false image of who we really are.  We want those who see us on Facebook to believe our life is fabulous.  Our office overlooks the ocean.  Our meals are always healthy, appealing and eaten by all of our family members gathered around the table.  Every.  Single.  Evening.  With stimulating conversation that highlights our genius.

In reality, we heated Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for one child, made spaghetti for the other and collapsed in the living room, in front of the tv, with our own tray of leftovers from  . . . who remembers?

If we can be honest with each other, none of this social media persona is real.  And it harms those around us.  Jesus, in Matthew 23 says this about those supposed leaders who desperately wanted to be viewed in a certain way:

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries^[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. ²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:1-7, 11-12, 25-28 - NIV)

When we put such effort into getting people to see us living our lives, we actually fail to live our lives at all and are merely acting.  Trying to get someone to notice us.  It reminds me very much of little children who cry "mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy" over and over in order to get the desired attention.

But Frankel sees the innocence of children as the time when we can best see ourselves in action.  As a time when we can see our worth, our importance.  Our meaning.

“Just consider a child who, absorbed in play, forgets himself—this is the moment to take a snapshot; when you wait until he notices that you are taking a picture, his face congeals and freezes, showing his unnatural self-consciousness rather than his natural graciousness. Why do most people have that stereotyped expression on their faces whenever they are photographed? This expression stems from their concern with the impression they are going to leave on the onlooker. It is "cheese" that makes them so ugly. Forgetting themselves, the photographer, and the future onlooker would make them beautiful.”   Viktor E. Frankel, Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning

Our beauty is found is finding our mission in life, of serving a purpose.  Our ugliness is evident in our push to be recognized.  When we give up the search for being important and, instead, work to find a way to serve others and forget ourselves, that is when we can become needed.  Valued. 

Truly important.

*Now, please forward this along so that I can increase the hits to my blog! :)

*(See, told you that looks ugly!)