Why don't people question things more?
When did we become a society that just swallowed any pap the media handed out to us as though it were truth, without thinking about it? Why don't we question the motives behind incendiary and hate-mongering talk? Why don't we question whether "no new taxes" actually serves our highest good? Why don't we question whether our President is lying about things? Why don't we question those stupid emails that come into our mailboxes that make absolutely no sense if you stop and think for even 20 seconds. If the world was really coming to an end, if there was some new virus destroying every computer in America, if X detergent was really killing babies, don't you think you'd have heard about it in the news? Why don't people stop and think?
My primary vote was cast a long time ago for Dennis Kucinich. It bothers me that people didn't question the media's motives for silencing a great man. One reason, I think is because Dennis K asks questions about important issues. He asked questions (and offered answers) about universal health care, about peace, about impeachment... all things that the forces currently running this country into the ground don't want asked. Questions move the world forward. They are the foundation for all scientific advancement. We know that. But they are also the basis for intellectual, social and spiritual growth.
I've never understood the idea of "unquestioning faith." To me that isn't faith at all. How can one have a true relationship with the Divine if you have never questioned the who and what and how of what you profess to believe? How can one understand the tenets of one's faith if one doesn't question them? I find that mind boggling. But I digress
Questions are important, whether they are trivial or deep. Children know this. They question everything. It's how they figure out who they are and how the world works. When we stop asking questions, stop looking beneath the surface, we rob ourselves and our lives of a richness that is what makes it worth living. We rob ourselves of the opportunity to find the truth and we put ourselves at the mercy of those who would control us.
I've been saddened by the whole Rev. Wright debacle that is playing out in the media right now. I don't agree with all this man says, but I'm not black and I haven't lived my life with the shadow of racism hanging over me. Still, when I heard the clips being played over and over in the news, I wondered why nobody was asking about the context in which these sentences were offered? What was really being said? What was their intent? When I asked those questions, I came to a very different conclusion than what the media was implying. I also asked the question? Do I agree with everything every pastor I ever listened to has said? Did I leave the church when they said something I didn't like? Is it possible to love someone and disagree with what they preach? Aren't people profoundly complex and multi-faceted?
I'm going to stop here and let Bill Moyers - one of my favorite people on earth - ask some questions and suggest some answers on the subject of the Rev. Wright.
That's it for the letter "Q." I'm sick with a touch of the flu today. If I am even less coherent than usual, I apologize. Hopefully, Bill Moyers will make up for my failings.
