Isaiah 5:20 -21
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Woe!

Like my box haircut and Hammer pants from the 90s, I might look back on this post one day and wonder what I was thinking by expressing myself this way. But today on Nov 5, 2018, I am going to go ahead and put these words out in the Universe because I am of the mindset that even as the scriptures teach that God’s Word is creative and will not return unto God void but rather accomplish the task for which it was sent out, I—in the eleventh hour of election/voting day—want to put my words out there. So here are some of the statements that I have expressed about voting in recent days.

Your Votes Will Haunt You

What I wrote below was in response to a post by a woman who, though I believe she was well-meaning, made a statement that I had real difficulty with and decided to comment when I saw people I know and respect liking it and even sharing it. I will not repost what she wrote because I do not know her. But I will sum it up.

As I understood it, she was trying to say that a person can support President Trump and yet not support his agenda or the hatred that other of his supporters do in his name. She goes on to say that it is not about one person or who we vote for. But that Trump supporters and those who do not support him should work together to denounce hatred. This was my response. I waited an hour to post this just to ensure my intentions were clear.

This is one of those posts that I would typically not respond to because I get people’s benevolent intentions and don’t want to come off as needlessly discouraging. But I honestly think that it lets too many people off the hook. And I think that if I don’t comment now that I’ve seen this makes me complicit.

I do appreciate the sentiment. But, from my perspective, when we vote for representatives, it is because they represent a system that we think we will benefit from in some way. The one person represents the will of many. I have great compassion for people who voted for Trump and feel now that he does not represent their values and have made the choice to distance themselves from his fear filled rhetoric. I even feel compassion for people who are either misinformed or uninformed and vote for this system because they have never engaged the larger world or are looking for a savior from fears that have been sold to them. Damn, by the grace of Jesus Christ who says “love your enemies”, I can access compassion for poor white people whose only good thing in their life is the thought that at least they aren’t a minority or LGBTQIA+ (I’ve been told this by a poor “so called” white person).

I get that some of them feel better by association to the illusion of white supremacy than they would by facing the reality that Trump does not give a crap about them and is just using them just like the other representatives that create legislation that does nothing to serve them. I might even feel more sorry for them than I do the people who have so bought into this illusion that they would sell their souls for just a hint that they are accepted. And I am not under the illusion that every politician who denounces Trump is doing so from a place of pure goodwill. But I can tell you this, anyone who justifies supporting anything that emerges from the system that motivates the atrocities we’ve seen increase since T came into office is supporting these hate crimes. If someone tried to separate support of Hitler as one person from the Holocaust would we let that fly? “Hey, I don’t have anything against the blacks. I don’t support the slavery system. I just am pro inexpensive products and services.” Hmmm. “I respect the Indigenous People’s of this land and think they should not be abused. I also just happen to support free land and westward expansion.” NO!!! That does not compute.

I apologize since you don’t know me. But people who do know me have likely experienced me as reasonable person. Debra knows that when we worked together in a hospital as chaplains, a woman responded to my “hello” by saying “I’m a racist.” And proceeded to tell me about the failings of every race that wasn’t white. And I listened to her with compassion until we got to a place where even she admitted that her racism came from the fact that she felt that since she was white she thought she automatically deserved a life that was better than that of the poor POCs in her community. She felt cheated by the system not realizing that she was supporting the system that kept her down too.

And in pursuance of Christ, I pray that I can say from my soul, “forgive them for they know not what they do.” But I can not deny what they ARE DOING–consciously or not. In my opinion any justification for supporting Trump or the people who blatantly follow his rhetoric is donating to the cause of white supremacy inspired hate crimes.I won’t even go so far as to call out Republicans in general. There are far better choices out there than what you see on deck right now. But I will say that the party has been hijacked and until saner people are steering the ship…

This opinion will self destruct in 59 minutes. I proceeded to delete it from her timeline at that point.

Your Votes Are Enduring Elements of Creation

Every vote is a prayer. I am praying for every vote cast and even those not cast. Praying for suppressed votes and votes manipulated. Praying for those who’ve had their voting rights stripped and those who think that they win by limiting the number of people who can vote. I pray for all the people who long to vote. I pray for all votes because I believe that ultimately no vote is lost in the mind of our Creator and that on an unseen level the world is being shaped by the votes of our hearts.  #everyvoteaprayer #voteyourconscience

Do what you want to do with this information. I just want to say that every time I exercise my right to vote, I feel like I am taking a little bit of the sting out of the blows and abuses and deaths of my forebears who went through so much crap so that I could vote. I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty. But, even if I could prove that people were tearing up my vote, I would still vote because I believe that there’s something transcendent about the act itself. I consider it is an act of conscious co-creation. When we vote from our conscience, we imprint upon the Universe an impression that long endures even into futures not yet manifest.

Make your impression. Vote! And if you’ve been made to feel like your vote doesn’t count, turn you dollars into ballots. And if you have no dollars, create some art. If art isn’t your thing, sing a song of hope. And if you don’t sing, pray. Do something to impress upon this world your highest intent. We’re waiting for you.

And Finally…

I believe that none of us is separate from the intentions we put out into the world. Ultimately, what we offer to the world revisits us in some form in a manner that is sometimes difficult to trace, but directly related to our actions and inactions. So be watchful.