There is much to celebrate in America. Yes, that I know, and for all the good and all the great, I give thanks.
Some would call attention only to the good and to the great, but that's not enough for emotional or political health. We have to face the stark realities of a mixed story, filled with sorrow, blood, violence and death.
We have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to free ourselves from the current divide pulling us apart, and giving rise to instincts and behavior originating, not in the heart of a human being, but in what's left of our reptilian brain.
We are:
A land of genocide and slavery.
A land of lynchings and Jim Crow.
A land of Trails of Tears.
A land of internments and prisons.
A land fraught with fear of the other,
A land of Sacco and Vanzetti, and Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, and Joe McCarthy.
A land of manic religion and self-righteousness, full of Jesus-talk and devoid of his Spirit.
A land of military might and industrial power.
A land ripping to shreds the earth, fouling air and water, and grabbing the money.
A land where politicians are bought and sold with ease by the NRA.
A land where a president (in name only) has a child's mind and a vindictive personality disorder, and 36 percent of the population think he's terrific.
Until America can face these realties, the divide will continue to grow, and the cancer eating away at our soul will intensify, because a land cannot long survive on half-truths and lies; a nation that cannot tell the truth about itself will not stand the test of time.
The Lord of History is kind and patient, but not endlessly so. The annals of time are replete with failed histories, great and storied nations that ran aground and sunk on the rocks of falsehood and dissimulation.
It hurts to tell the truth, but it's a hurt unto humility and healing and hope.
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