If he has not struggled with that possibility in light of his exclusive power to stop such a killing then he is hardly human himself.
I want my elected officials to struggle with matters of life and death. I want Rick Perry to struggle every time someone is executed in Texas. By law the governor is given the power to commute the death sentence. He is supposed to struggle with that weighty decision.
It is his job to be human, even if it does not come naturally.
I want my elected officials to struggle with the pain that will be caused to the poor, disabled and disadvantaged by budget cuts.
I want my elected officials to agonize every day over soldiers in harms way at war, hundreds or thousands of whom will not make it home alive. I want them to struggle over collateral damage of our bombs and bullets, collateral damage being an antiseptic name for the death of innocent mothers, fathers, children and grandparents who cannot escape the ferocity of our not so smart bombs.
I want my elected officials to struggle over injustice and inequality maintained by systems, institutions, and businesses supported by our elected officials.
I want my elected officials to struggle over inadequate medical care.
I want my elected officials to struggle over a degrading environment.
I want my elected officials to struggle over children who need guidance, education and a way out.
I want them to struggle.
I know they can't solve all the problems. But how can you solve any of them if you never admit that we have a problem.
So they have taken the easy out, and we have let them. You are familiar with this easy out. You may even really like it when you hear it. It goes like this . . .
"Sure, all of those things are important, but they cost money, and to get that money would mean a tax increase, and God knows we can't do that."
And He probably knows that we won't.
Too much of a struggle.
.
I love this post! As a bleeding-heart social worker, I struggle with all of this. I am a state employee and sometimes I can't believe the bureaucracy and the wastefulness and duplication of services and poor prioritization of need and spending. The unfairness of our politicians to vote themselves a raise, even though their political service is supposed to be a service and not a vocation and to know they all have regular jobs at home that pay them and provides insurance coverage. This is the worst kind of double-dipping to me. Call me old-fashioned, but I long for the days of integrity and compassion.
ReplyDeleteHell. Yeah.
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