Friday, September 21, 2012

A SKINK IN MY SINK....or


Do You Like Me?..Check Yes or No


Dear Squirrely Girl,

I almost like you but then I don’t. Because you say bad things about Mitt Romney and he is the only Christian President we have. How can you support a man that you know is a Muslim? And even if you don’t support him, when you say things on Facebook that make Mitt Romney look bad you are hurting his chances of winning which means we will be stuck with a president who believes in abortion, homeosexuals, and socialism for another 4 years. Is that what you really want? I can’t believe that because I think you are a Christian and you would not stand for any of those things, so please don’t say anything else like that.

Signed~ Thank you

Dear Thank you (very much):

I almost didn’t like you and then I did.  I really appreciate you sharing your concerns with me and I am flattered that you think I might have that sort of influence on the choice for President of the United States. I wish that were true. You know….sometimes I wish everybody just agreed with me--- wouldn’t that just make things so much easier on us all?  ~Sigh~  If we all just agreed and if we all had the same opinions, the same religion, the same background, the same amount of money, and so on and so forth we would have more time to do really important things like eat chocolate and kill skinks in our sinks (that is a whole other story and you are NOT going to want to miss it).   But I don’t think that is going to happen and it is probably not a very good idea anyway. It is all the different thoughts and opinions that make life so interesting.   I learn so much more from people who do not agree with me on much of anything.  Actually, I just learned a great deal from you.

For example, I did not know that Obama was a Muslim. Oh, I have heard all the talking heads and political pundits and a few preachers say that he is Muslim, but when I actually looked for any evidence of that….there was none.  He says he is a Christian, he tells the story of how he came to accept Jesus Christ as his personal savior, how the holy spirit moved upon him and he walked down an aisle and made a public profession of faith and I cannot disprove that so he is just as Christian as I am as far as I am concerned. The only one who can know a man’s heart is God. Then they say, “Yeah, but he sat under that Wright guy who hates whites.”  And I say Mitt Romney’s Prophet Joseph Smith once taught that blacks were a punishment to Cain. So unless I hear Obama say he is Muslim or I catch him in the act of praying however many times it is they pray a day facing Mecca. I will leave that up to God.

I have also heard many say that Mitt Romney is not Christian either, because he is Mormon and that Mormonism is a cult. (I have still not figured out which is worse, Muslims or cults, it seems to change on a daily basis.)  I cannot judge his heart either. He also says he believes in Jesus and follows His teachings.  So I will take him at his word on that too.  I am going to assume from your letter that you are a Mitt supporter and believe it or not, I have many friends who are also Mitt supporters or rather they or NON-Obama supporters and have pretty much told me they would vote for “Mr. Ed, the talking horse of course” before they would vote for Obama.  And I respect their opinion even if I don’t always understand the reason for it.

 When I ask them to explain further they say, “ BECAUSE  (they are usually yelling by now) BECAUSE, he is a liberal and all liberals want to kill unborn babies and they believe being gay is okay and not an abomination before God AND they think we should take care of poor people, even the ones who don’t deserve it and that is SOCIALISM…. AND he wants to force us to buy health insurance just like I already have to buy car insurance, just like those awful countries like Canada or France….and …well..some other country we don’t like because they give all people the same health care. And here in American you should “earn’ the right to be treated when you are sick and people should get off their  lazy bum and get out there and work just like I do, I am sick of taking care of people who are too lazy to take care of themselves!”

Those are all excellent points. Heck, I can barely take care of myself much less take care of half of America. So I sort of feel a certain amount of pride when I realize my little bit put with your little bit and maybe a whole bunch of people’s little bit can then be used to help a whole bunch of folks. Then they tell me it is the church’s responsibility to take care of people, not the government’s. But when I ask them if they would like to take in a homeless family and support them until they can get back on their feet after an illness or long lay-off from work, they are not exactly “thrilled’ about that prospect and say, “Aren’t there programs to help with that sort of stuff?”  So you see where I find myself in a dilemma? 

Now your question about gays and abortion is a bit more complicated. So the simplest answer I can give you on that is I believe it is impossible to legislate any morals or religious beliefs, even though it has been tried many times. Drinking alcohol is dangerous, drinking and driving is even more dangerous but all the prohibition and laws have never stopped either one. Driving without your seatbelt is not smart and there are laws saying you should not do that, but it doesn’t stop people from doing it.  And what is the difference in voting for a candidate who is pro-choice but cares about children after they are born and one that is pro-life but could care less about a baby once it is born?  Life is life. It is all precious. I realize many consider abortion murder, but isn’t the murder of unborn children the same as the murder of the neglected and abused children? And if we are going to tell homosexual people how to live their lives based on the scripture, don’t we have to tell heterosexuals to stop going out and getting a divorce when they get bored or punish them for committing adultery? We would be awfully busy. See how complicated things can be? I don’t have all the answers but I have certainly heard all the questions and the only thing I can assure you of is that it is not black or white-- it is a shade of gray that hopefully you will never have to face.

If I were picking either of the presidential candidates as my pastor or spiritual leader, I would just pass. But I am not hiring them to minister to my spiritual needs… I am hiring them to run a country.  I am not extremely happy about either one of them, but I will cast my vote based on policy not where they go to church, just as I try not to judge anyone’s professional life by their faith. I trust you and others will do the same.  Basically what I am saying is until me and the Ninja Squirrels go take over, we really are stuck with these two choices so we should all look very closely at the actual facts and not listen to anything said on MSNBC or FOX NEWS…or at least listen to both of them equally.

I wish life was much simpler, I wish that we could all find some common ground where we respect each other and more importantly, love each other enough to agree to disagree without harsh judgment. When people tell me I am going to hell because I do not support the right political party in America, I worry about all those millions of people who do not live in America…how can they possibly get into heaven when some have never even heard of America? The world is so much bigger than our political views in the United States, but the world’s problems are pretty much the same…too much hate and not enough love.

I will promise to be good and not say anything bad about anybody, if you promise to research things for yourself and not listen to others to form an opinion. Deal?  Okay…let’s go get some chocolate and I will tell you about the Skink in my Sink. 

~Squirrely Girl

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