A novel… a raft of hope, perception, and entertainment that might help us keep afloat as we try to negotiate the snags and whirlpools that mark our nation’s vacillating course toward and away from the democratic ideal. – Ralph Ellison, introduction to 1981 edition of The Invisible Man (1952).
“Words on Paper” is a metaphor for a response to the drawbacks of the Postmodern Era and the digital age. It looks forward to a restoration of values such as truth, trust, credibility, faith, and hope, yet seasoned with honest questions and skepticism, or a sort of informed or wise naiveté – the so-called Metamodern Era. Post topics include philosophy, faith, history, and current events. Of course, you are reading this on a screen, which symbolizes the synthesis of the Postmodern and Metamodern Eras, appreciating the best of both, words printed on paper or on a screen. I hope you enjoy reading these! If you have any questions or comments, please respond. Thanks! – Forrest
Enough! Jan. 6, now Jan. 7 – Honor public servants who truly protect and serve
Does anyone remember Cassidy Hutchinson, the government employee who told the truth about things happening or not happening at the White House on Jan. 6, 2021?
The title of Cassidy Hutchinson’s book, Enough, is even more resounding today than when it was published in 2023. After the tragic, unjustified shooting by ICE agents Jan. 7 in Minneapolis we need to hear more Americans shouting ENOUGH!
The initial draft of this post focused on public servants, in particular, those who fought against the Jan. 6 mob. Although on the public payroll employed by the Dept. of Homeland Security, calling rogue ICE agents ‘public servants’ borders on obscenity. The following picks up on the original post.
Today and in the future, as we commemorate what happened Jan. 6, 2021, we should remember with gratitude the public servants just doing their job to protect the people, buildings and processes of democracy. Their heroism and the violence they faced is the pinnacle of a universe of service provided by local, state, and federal workers. Cassidy Hutchinson too, who showed great courage in her testimony about Jan. 6.
My experience about 20 years earlier with a business that included some violence against a public employee does not compare with that of Jan. 6. Yet the experience left me feeling unsettled and unsupported, which enables me to gain some understanding of what the capitol police experienced. Perhaps the worst part is the aftermath, or lack of it, in terms of gratitude.
As all public servants must ignore false ridicule about ‘lazy, overpaid’ public employees, those on the frontline Jan. 6 must feel revulsion seeing the pardons of the hundreds convicted of their crimes. At least one showed remorse. Paula Hemphill refused to accept a pardon, and in a hearing Jan. 6, she apologized to a police officer. An Associated Press story reports that the plaque created to honor the Capitol police and staff fighting to defend democracy has never been posted, and is nowhere to be found.
Recognizing public service
This might be a good time to become aware of the Partnership for Public Service. Claiming to be non-partisan, its website states, “We believe that our future and our democracy depend on our ability to solve big problems—and that we need an effective federal government to do so… While others may debate whether government should be bigger or smaller, we focus on making it better.”
Last May during Public Service Recognition Week it launched programming “to support federal employees and raise awareness about attacks on the civil service.” Usually the first week in May, it was “dedicated to recognizing the work of those engaged in public service.” Perhaps the date should be moved to Jan. 6, and instead of focusing on the violent assault on democracy, commemorate the work of all public servants. Maybe that will happen when the adults retake control of Congress and administration.
Government provides the framework for all aspects of society and economy to work together in harmony as much as possible. It is not a zero-sum game; rather, a creative synergy that if fairly applied will produce the best outcome for the majority of people. Citizens need to believe that a majority of government workers are motivated to some degree by a mission of serving the public. It adds meaning to their jobs. These days that ethic must be qualified, adding, service in a positive way, not as ICE thugs.
My June 5 post cites a good book, Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, edited by Michael Lewis (author of The Big Short). A reviewer wrote, “Whether they’re digitizing archives, chasing down cybercriminals, or discovering new planets, these public servants are committed to their work and universally reluctant to take credit.”
Poli Sci 101
My full-time work life was about equally divided between the public and private sectors. Working in a state environmental protection agency, I was surrounded by well-educated, experienced, competent, and dedicated staff. This was essential in a very complex area, the natural environment, which involves every branch of science, including political and social science. Although many of my colleagues could have taken private sector jobs and earned much more, the public service ethic ran deep.
To those who say the government bureaucracy is too large, it is necessary because government provides the goods and services that people want and need, but the private sector is not willing to provide. That is basic political science. In the natural environment, people want clean air, clean water, and waste control. The necessary rules and regulations must come from the government.
However, in the U.S. much of the tools, equipment, and practices that animate the regulations are provided by the private sector, usually at a good profit. This is where the U.S. differs from other major nations in terms of bureaucracy. Overall, the U.S. has fewer government workers per capita because we do more to outsource the work to the private sector.
One problem with outsourcing making headlines these days is fraud. Much of the staff time in government bureaucracies goes to monitoring the work of regulated parties, or the companies that provide those services. The few exceptions where fraud occurs grabs headlines and becomes amplified on anti-government channels.
From the inside, I have observed numerous examples of businesses taking shortcuts or cheating in some way. Despite constraints and limited resources, government agency staff do their best to fight fraud. Yet, when it happens, the government takes the blame. However, when the current federal government is the main perpetrator of fraud, it deserves the blame.
Enough!
Being mindful of what lies beyond – As mainline church attendance declines, interest in God and spirituality rises
Morgan Freeman interviews Tulku Lobsang Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher who appears in “The Story of God” series, discussing Buddhist views on the divine. (National Geographic photo in Variety).
It’s Sunday morning. I’m looking out the window at snowflakes falling sideways, trying to rest my eyes and brain from screen time on research about God. The inspiration for the topic arose from a recent edition of Lauren Jackson’s “Believing” newsletter in the New York Times.
Under the title, “God As Black,” Jackson wrote: “Kwanzaa is a weeklong holiday honoring African American heritage, observed by people across religions. It was conceived during the Black Power movement in the 1960s as a shared holiday that would give people a way to express independence from white cultural norms. This week, in honor of that history, we’re looking at churches that have depicted God as Black.”
If that wasn’t enough, I had just watched several episodes of National Geographic’s rebroadcasts of “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” If you were ever to envision God as Black, it would be Morgan Freeman, the voice, mostly.
The NatGeo website states: “Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman explores the meaning of life, God, and many big questions in between in an effort to understand how religion has evolved and shaped society. A different divine subject is covered in each hourlong episode, titles of which include “Creation,” “The Devil Inside,” “Afterlife,” “Apocalypse,” and “Who Is God?”
“In some places I found answers, and others led to more questions,” Freeman says. “The constant through it all is that we’re all looking to be part of something bigger than us. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that we certainly are.” Another example in popular culture comes from the success (200 to 280 million viewers globally) of “The Chosen,” the streaming series about Jesus and disciples. This is one side of a great paradox.
Spiritual interest
As polls, pundits, and scholars suggest a growing appeal of spirituality, at the same time we are being told that overall church attendance is dropping. “Religious leaders say they’re observing a hidden trend among younger Americans,” states a Dec. 9 headline in the Washington Post. “Religious affiliation has been dropping among young people for decades, but examples abound of surging interest on college campuses and in cities like D.C.” Considering the world they are inheriting, that is understandable.
I hope that the renewed interest is for the right reasons. Medieval crusades and violence seeking earthly power in the name of religion, or ‘converting’ others to one’s ‘true religion’ throughout history have only given it a bad name. We are seeing that again with “Christian nationalism” attempting to control the U.S. government. It is troubling to see this movement entrenched in some charismatic ‘mega’ churches.
If religion encompasses humankind’s efforts to reach out to God, being receptive to spirituality may be God’s way of reaching out to us at a personal level. About his book, God – A Human History, Iranian American scholar and TV host Reza Aslan, says “It is we who have fashioned God in our image, not the other way around.” In the book he writes, “We are, to put it simply, born believers. Whether we remain believers is nothing more or less than a choice.”
Beyond All That Matters
Aslan’s book is one of several that I read as research about the theme of my fourth novel, Beyond All That Matters. Intrigued by the nexus of religion and science, physics and metaphysics, faith and facts, along with a curiosity about quantum physics, I attempted to use that tension to build the story. Some background about this appears in my Dec. 11, 2024 post, “Religious literature a vast resource about human condition.”
The main character in the novel is a middle-aged engineer with a state highway department. Single, self-sufficient, empirical, his social circle outside of work revolves mostly around a passion for fitness sports. He spends little time worrying about the ‘big questions’ in life. His intelligence for the sciences contrasts with a degree of myopia about human relationships and subjective matters.
An awareness of the big questions begins to surface when he begins to receive text messages from a good friend from years ago, who, he learns later, has died. The friend “from beyond” leads him on a journey across South Dakota, where he encounters the friend’s family, their faith, and also Indigenous spirituality. Somehow the friend, who in life appreciated learning about quantum physics, had achieved some synthesis of faith and science, and more so from “beyond.”
The book list included: A History of God, by Karen Armstrong; Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, by Michael Epperson; Quarks, Chaos, and Christianity, by John Polkinghorne; The Language of God – A scientist presents evidence for belief, by Francis S. Collins; Quantum Leap, How John Polkinghorne found God in science and religion, by Dean Nelson and Karl Giberson; and God Is Red – A Native View of Religion, by Vine DeLoria, Jr. In his book, The Courage To Be, Paul Tillich proposes a “God above God,” the ultimate divine being. (See my Jan. 22, 2025 post). Reading the books helped but came nowhere near the level of genuine scholarship.
Christian rationalism
It might be better for everyone if we tried to offset Christian nationalism with some Christian rationalism. While the latter may be seen by some as heretical, in my understanding it attempts to understand faith and metaphysics in the context of the physical, ‘scientific’ world. DeLoria seems to do that in God Is Red: “The principles used by Indian tribal religions have tremendous parallels with contemporary scientific experiments.”
Bible Hub, which appears to be a privately funded, evangelical resource in Pennsylvania, says “Christian Rationalism is a perspective that emphasizes the use of reason within the framework of a divinely revealed truth. It maintains that logical thought is not contrary to faith but is a God-given tool for understanding the truths presented in Scripture… (it) finds its grounding in the biblical call to love God ‘with all your mind’,” as well as your heart.
It should be noted that many Indigenous people converted to Christianity, yet we can appreciate their deeper relationship and understanding of the natural world, which God created, and if you consider North Whitehead’s process theology, continues to create. The more that humankind pursues science, the more we learn about it.
Throughout the year I try to attend about half of the services at a small, rural ELCA Lutheran church. While attendance has declined over the years, the congregation remains active with good demographics. Were it not for the snowstorm that Sunday I probably would have attended the service. It would have been much easier to sit among the parishioners, recite the liturgy and apostles’ creed, listen to a sermon, share the peace, and receive communion, than to try write this.
The ICE Man Cometh – But not in a Chinook helicopter, at least not yet
In the wake of political rhetoric, nearly 150 people descended on a Somali restaurant to have lunch and write notes of support.
It was a bit of a relief to learn the explanation for the Chinook helicopter I saw hovering near the local airport about two weeks ago. The twin rotor Chinook can carry a payload of about 15,000 pounds, enough for a couple of SUVs. At the same time social media posts told of the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in our small Midwest city.
I had contemplated including this in a news story about a community’s response to reports of ICE assaulting immigrants. It wouldn’t have surprised me if there had been a connection between that and the helicopter. There wasn’t, at least not yet. However, it was a good example of the need for fact-checking. Posting something could have launched a thread of false information.
The guy I called at the airport seemed amused when I asked about the helicopter. He said the Air National Guard uses the airport for training missions from a nearby city, landing, taking off, that sort of thing. The only cargo reported by the airport guy was a bag of deli sandwiches. The father of a crew member lived in town. Once when the big chopper landed they opened the big ramp and picked up the sandwiches he had brought.
Not amusing, is the thought that there could have been a connection between a Chinook and ICE. They certainly could have afforded the expense. The initial ICE budget runs around $10 billion annually. A supplemental appropriation in 2025 adds nearly $75 billion through 2029. A Republican bill would direct another $75 billion to ICE through 2029, including $45 billion for detention expansion. That could pay for operating big helicopters.
Eugene O’Neill’s play, “The Ice Man Cometh,” first staged in 1946, could be a metaphor for some of the political and cultural morass experienced today, including the assault on immigrants. Its bleak themes portray “self-delusion, despair, and the human need for illusion in order to cope with life’s harsh realities.” The self-delusion and despair could resemble MAGA mania. The need for illusion could be their worship of a fraud who seems all powerful. They want Just ICE; we in the majority want justice.
Christmas spirit
With the message of Christmas upon us, there couldn’t be a greater contrast than with the anti-immigrant evil excreting from the minds of those now in charge of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, and those above them. Those who claim to follow the Christian, Jewish, or Muslim faiths exhibit profound hypocrisy in the face of their teachings about welcoming the foreigner.
In the Old Testament: Psalms 146 verse 9: “The Lord watches over the foreigner, and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.” We’re still waiting for that last part to happen. And Leviticus 19:33: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
While most Americans are celebrating Christmas with family, thousands of immigrants to the U.S. are being illegally imprisoned by ICE. Of the nearly 70,000 being held, more than half have no criminal record, according to The Guardian. In total this year ICE has detained 328,000 and deported 327,000.
Several of the recent detainees were abducted by ICE from the small Midwest city visited by the helicopter. If they were imprisoned at the local county jail, they could have been among those receiving holiday greeting cards sent by local citizens. The card-writing represented a variety of support activities.
Embracing diversity
About a week before the ICE visit, the community was still processing hurtful and false rhetoric spewing from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue about people from Somalia. The community (pop. ~22,000) is home for up to 2,000 residents from East Africa, primarily Somalia. Immigrants are major players in the local economy and public services. The rhetoric, followed by the ICE invasion, brought a surge of fear and absences from schools and workplaces.
In a county where a majority favored the authoritarian wanna-be, the community has a long reputation and practice for supporting racial and cultural diversity over past decades. (See my Aug. 22, 2025 post). They showed that Dec. 6 in support of a local Somali business.
Responding to a social media post, about 150 people showed up at a Somali restaurant to have lunch and show their support. That included writing notes expressing support, which were posted at businesses and offices around town. A video of the event went viral on Instagram drawing more than 17,000 views.
A week later several dozen showed up at the county library to write greeting cards. They were delivered to the county jail, which is used by ICE to imprison up to 150 immigrants. The event was sponsored by the local Indivisible chapter and the ACLU, which sent the follow-up note:
“Thank you so much for attending yesterday’s holiday card writing event! It was heartening to see how many community members wanted to send messages of solidarity to people in ICE detention… As ICE continues to have an increased presence locally, we encourage you to keep having conversations with each other and your elected officials about your concerns.”
In small Midwest cities, ice – frozen water – is welcome on the lakes, but not on sidewalks and roadways, whether in the frozen water form, or in the heavily armored, poorly trained, overpaid, and deeply misguided form that represents Americans in fearful attack on the new Americans. Our nation has enough substantive issues to address that far outweigh the overwrought focus on immigration.
Facing off on social media – Content analysis shows contrast between hate and hope, facts and fear
A Facebook post announced this candlelight vigil in front of a county jail, where a minister spoke to the group in support of people being detained by ICE.
When we survive the current assault on our representative democracy in America (and we will), it will take years, decades perhaps, to clean up the mess. A big part of that will be the need to rehabilitate the beliefs and misbeliefs of people who have succumbed to a political cult, a vacuous populism enthralled by a demagogue.
The key will be to find a way to replace the irrational and emotional mindset with one more realistic and rational. Some will never recover, due to personality, biology, and life experiences. Many will respond to compassionate re-education. Evidence of the two mindsets is on display in a brief content analysis of Facebook posts by local political groups.
In the days when newspapers, news magazines, and television newscasts mattered, students and scholars studying a particular outlet would conduct a content analysis. They counted and categorized all the stories in each day’s publication or broadcast. The following analysis helped to make judgments and better understand important issues in society, and the particular news media’s role and position on the issues.
Today, content analysis must be directed at social media. (My limited use of Facebook lands mostly on news about close family and friends. I avoid the feed and start with Search to see if family or friends have posted anything. Occasionally I will use it for research about an individual or group, understanding that any information gathered has not been fact-checked.)
It took some determination to conduct a very brief, informal content analysis of the Facebook pages of the local Republican and Democratic parties, and the county’s Indivisible chapter. It offers clues to the underlying beliefs and values of their respective positions. One seems to revel in hate, fear, and if not ignorance, surely misinformation. One shows greater hope, progress, and community values, while the third shows a more militant side of that.
Plethora of posts
Strident and often nasty posts on one page bashed state leaders about fraud claims or going too easy on immigrants, rejoicing that ICE really going after immigrants, chastising the ‘violent left’ for harassing ICE, reposting HodgeTwins calling voters morons who support an automatic weapons ban, the flood of undocumented criminals, thank you to ICE, attacks on mail-in voting, posting the ICE tip line, wanting more ICE raids, blaming illegals for high costs, reposting a Breitbart bash of a Somali politician. (16 posts about ICE-immigrants)
Posts on another page featured a coffee gathering for veterans, a school mass e-mail about immigrant rights, county food shelf info, community grants info, support for a congressional candidate, a quote by Dan Rather about a certain president who doesn’t really care about people, happy Hannukah greeting, story about Somalis being key to local economy, Chamber of Commerce accepting nominations for leadership awards, Grace Strobel-words do matter, community holiday celebration, CURE nature photos, county commissioner of the year award, Latino holiday celebration, Chamber job opening. (3 posts about ICE-immigrants).
The third organization Facebook page posts included: News story about local ICE arrests, children hiding in fear, ICE vehicles spotted in town, writing holiday cards for ICE detainees at the local jail, video supportive of local Somalis, caring for others over the holidays, Abrego freed from federal detention, stop ICE light vigil Dec. 19, Indiana rejects GOP map, Republicans at breaking point-Stuart Stevens, Oxford school shooter parents cited, GOP Jim Abeler comments in support of Somalis, Maya Angelou quote, GA Dem flips house seat, Twin City ICE raids, Mindful Christianity quote about Good Samaritan. (9 posts about ICE-immigrants).
Pop quiz! Before offering a little analysis of the content, see if you can guess which collection of posts can be attributed to which group: County Indivisible chapter, county Democratic Party, or county Republican Party. You already know the answer.
Tough nut to crack
Creating a list and categorizing content is easy compared with analyzing it in terms of the beliefs, values, knowledge levels and psyches of their respective followers. One major factor is the prevalence of digital media. Never before has any individual had the power to disseminate information worldwide just by hitting ‘Enter’. This enables people to remain anonymous while spewing lies and hate. Once that power is tasted, it becomes addictive.
With no constraints, such people are free to indulge in logical fallacies to argue their case. It’s this part that I find most difficult to manage. In the few cases where I’ve had some discussion with a cult devotee I try to remain rational and factual. The adversary runs rhetorical circles around me with logical fallacies such as hasty generalization, slippery slope, circular reasoning, ad hominem attacks, cherry-picking, or guilt by association.
All of these are good cover for people who really don’t know the facts or the truth, and receive most of their information from Fox, Breitbart, OAN, and other extreme right ‘news’ outlets. This could relate to another perspective on the human psyche, the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Basically, people who know the least about something believe they know the most. Conversely, those who know the most about something are less likely to admit that because they know more about complexity and nuances. As I once said to a supervisor at a job during my college years, who asked me if I was learning anything. I replied that I was learning how much I don’t know.
Tide is turning
If the political tide is turning back towards representative democracy and some measure of normalcy, we must be ready to welcome back those who are ready and willing to redeem themselves. With rejoicing and not ridicule. If this sounds condescending, it’s no more than I have felt under the mocking and arrogant looks from people of the current populist cult – what a wimpy liberal! (In truth, I am neither.)
Seeing this swagger in the ranks of ICE, it is appalling that large, burly (or just fat) men decked out in camo, ammo, and masks succumb to violence against unarmed, often innocent, immigrants. They are intoxicated by power and vastly overpaid. It would be interesting to know how many were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Maybe someday, given enough rehabilitation, some may realize what they have done.
It’s good to see you – ‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle’
Conversation at annual picnic of a small community service group heard expressions of ‘good to see you’ and ‘how are you doing’, which, in at least one case led to sharing a deeper personal story.
In recent years, upon meeting acquaintances I hadn’t seen for a while, I have finally erased the habit of saying ‘how are you?’. Instead, I have been saying ‘it’s good to see you’. With the latter greeting, no matter what their circumstances, people seem to respond warmly: ‘Good to see you, too’.
Saying ‘good to see you’ fits better with the famous quote, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” If you haven’t been updated on the person’s current welfare, asking ‘how are you’ can sometimes become embarrassing or awkward, even though it was intended sincerely with kindness.
I had always believed the conventional understanding that the ‘be kind’ quote originated with Plato or Socrates. It certainly sounds like something they would have said. A bit of research turned up the name of Rev. John Watson as the source.
A late 19th Century Scottish theologian and author, he wrote under the name of Ian Maclaren. His original wording is said to be, “Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle.” Revising that to say ‘kind’ is a good improvement.
Being a theologian, Watson’s words certainly must have been inspired by Jesus. The Gospel of John includes several passages where Jesus commands his followers to ‘love one another’. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes ‘you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another’. And they mean everyone, not just people like oneself.
Watson-Maclaren’s books are available online at Project Gutenberg. Scroll down the page to Maclaren, Ian, 1850-1907, and 19 of his books. One of his most popular books (sold about 700,000 copies), Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, is a collection of short stories “set in the rural Scottish parish of Drumtochty, where it explores the lives and struggles of its inhabitants through the lens of community, education, and personal growth.”
‘Tis the season
Out shopping for a Christmas tree recently I encountered the garden center proprietor, a good acquaintance whom I hadn’t seen since the previous year. We have very different personalities, I am a quiet introvert, he is a gregarious extrovert. Our greetings of ‘good to see you’ were genuine and seasoned with affection.
Even if someone hasn’t experienced some obvious misfortune, asking ‘how are you’ may leave them feeling awkward. How am I? I don’t know. What should I say? The usual response is ‘Fine. How are you?’ That puts you on the spot. Both responses seem trite and shallow. If there is a tale of woe in the background, and someone cares to share it, you have the opportunity to listen and help them share the burden with someone who seems to care.
One past encounter might have gone in that direction had I said ‘good to see you’ instead of the other. Attending a business conference, I met an old professor from my college days. Still in awe of his academic prowess, I blubbered something along the lines of ‘how are you?’ He looked at me with a blank expression that caused me to wither.
In my defense, I did not know at the time that he just had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He graciously said ‘fine’ and moved along. I felt like an idiot. Had I said, ‘good to see you,’ he likely would have said the same. He seemed to show a searching look as if trying to decide if I cared or could be trusted with the whole story.
Two other encounters where that happened included both ‘how are you?’ and ‘good to see you’. They ended with expressions of hope and prayer. At a local 5k run, one of my running ‘friends’ from another city showed up, although not wearing race gear. Only later did I fully realize that he drove 70 miles early in the morning to see his old running friends as a way of saying goodbye. I don’t recall how our conversation began; it ended with him sharing the news that he recently had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
A similar encounter occurred out on a ski trail meeting a friend and his wife, who shared similar news about her husband’s fate. In both cases the stunning news left me almost speechless. I may have said ‘it’s good to see you’. I recall trying to say something sincere and meaningful, that I would pray for them. Both times it felt awkward, yet they seemed grateful.
A dash of dissonance
I confess to saying ‘good to see you’ a few times when my affection for the person is compromised by something from past experience, or a distinct personality difference. Even if you have to force the greeting, it’s still worth doing. If a little cognitive dissonance kicks in, it just might nudge your feelings in a positive direction.
The conventional psychology and behavioral pattern – cognitive-affective-conative (think-feel-act) – falls short when negative feelings get in the way of doing the right thing. Alter that sequence to begin with conative-act, saying ‘nice to see you’, and it can sometimes lead to improving, if not your feelings, at least relationships with people you don’t ‘like’.
This lesson in found in the well-known book, Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. I read the book long ago and recall the feeling of affirmation for a practical, sincere, and meaningful set of beliefs. For any further assessment here, I must yield to the ChatGPT note:
“Lewis wrote that Christian love for others is not primarily a feeling, but a steady choice of the will. He argued that you do not wait to feel affection before acting with charity. Instead, you treat others with kindness and justice, and the feelings often follow. He stressed that love in this sense means seeking the good of the other, even when you dislike their behavior. By practicing this disciplined goodwill, he believed people are gradually transformed, learning to see others as God sees them.”
This holiday season, out in public encountering people from all religious and political beliefs, all races and cultures, all conditions of wealth or poverty, saying ‘good to see you’ will be welcomed. It can lead to ‘how are you’ and generate trust that helps build bridges connecting all humankind.
That may seem hopeless in these times of intense political, religious and cultural division and disarray, but as individuals trying to make things right, it’s one of the few things we have left. Collectively, citizens must generate the power to propel our political leaders to go beyond saying ‘it’s good to see you’, and ask, ‘how are you doing?’
Note: This content was created by a human being with a soul. No use of artificial intelligence other than occasional questions to Alexa or Google-Meta about specific facts.
Column topics: 1. Words on Paper overview. 2. Literature expresses and influences society, the Great Conversation. 3. The Human Condition. 4. Story-telling: Power of the Narrative; Information is Power. 5. Aristotle and Plato: Cave to the Light. 6. Religious literature: Vedas, Bible, Quran. 7. What is Art?: Visual, drama, literary. 8. Important books that shaped and reflected America. 9. Authors, who are they? eg. Ellison, Carson. 10. Same old same old: Persistent topics. 11. Challenging challenging books, banned books. 12. Gutenberg to Zuckerberg: Digital world pros and cons. 13. Old world mass media (Newspapers, magazines, broadcast). 14. Benefits of reading vs. viewing: High and low involvement. 15. Why write fiction? Writing with a purpose. 16. Literary fiction, genres, aboutness. 17. Writing process, story structure, In the Beginning. 18. Resources, opportunities. 19. My journey as an author. 20. My novels. (As the need arises, columns on other topics may be interspersed among these.)