In response to a few of my articles printed in this paper, it appears some readers have labeled me as one of those “liberals” - a ‘designation non grata’ that many of my Mississippi friends would bristle at if directed their way. In my three opinion pieces, I noted the irony of a Southerner like me supporting Donald Trump (I partly blame Mama who shunned arrogant Yankees); supported Roe v. Wade by highlighting the moral ambiguity within the abortion issue; and bemoaned our movement back to the uncivilized days of the Wild West thanks to the proliferation of guns. These articles may rightly warrant the liberal label. But such an attribution gives me pause as I do not wish to be “nothing but” a liberal, or reduced to being described as only one secular adjective.
My mentor John Claypool often quoted Carlyle Marney who said: “A window stuck open is just as dysfunctional as a window stuck closed.” Wise words that have helped shape my thinking. A window moves up and down, toward being open and closed, to fit the current need as it was designed to do. The same functionality should apply to our opinions and perceptions of the world.
There is a very interesting story found within Hebrew Scripture in the book of Jonah. The people of the city of Ninevah turned from their wicked ways and God repented of the evil which He said He would do to them. Here God changes God’s mind from being poised to obliterate the city, to saving the city. My Old Testament professor ended the telling of this story by saying that the Word of God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but the words of God change to fit the situation and set in motion what love requires to help create a new heaven and a new earth. I believe God desires no less from us.
If we allow keys on a piano to serve as a metaphor for the range of a human being’s thought processes, feelings, and perceptions, my hope is that we will learn to play all the keys on the piano, to broaden and deepen our perspectives. I think resiliency, a sign of psychic strength and spiritual maturity, is needed in the living of these days. (Richard Rohr, the Director of the Center for Action and Contemplation, has themed his daily devotionals for 2024 as Radical Resilience, which reflects his prophetic sense of what is needed for the healing of community in all times and, perhaps especially, in our day.)
In light of the upcoming national election, I’ve been thinking a lot about the citizen I am, what I stand for, and what kind of country I wish to live in. If we are to achieve the aspirations of our founders -- e-pluribus unum, though many, one -- we as Americans must resist rigidity and narrowness of thought, and the tribalism of being just left or right, liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. As Americans, hopefully all the keys on the piano will be appreciated and heard for what they offer, and played in hopes of achieving a more perfect Union.
If this belief labels me as a liberal, then I’m guilty as charged -- at least on this issue.
Rob Townes was raised in Grenada. He resides in Decatur, Georgia, but family, friends and business often bring him back to his ancestral state.
