Bah humbug when politics takes over caring

Bah humbug when politics takes over caring

This is supposed to be the time of year when we honor the birth of Christ, yet we fail miserably at honoring his life. There is talk on some cable station (you know which one) claiming there is a war on Christmas and right now I really wish that were true. There should be a war on the way we “celebrate” Christmas.

I just came back from dropping off a comforter, blanket and some warm clothes because I drove by a local store with a sign asking for donations for the needy. It is a store we shop at but I never once asked them about their political views. I’ve asked about a lot of things but never really cared about who they voted for. Why? Because it really doesn’t matter since if they voted for the person I didn’t’ vote for, we’d both think the other one was wrong, yet we’d both still be in the neighborhood, trying to get by as humans. If they are asking for donations for the needy, they have to have good hearts to go along with great business practices. Isn’t that what is supposed to matter?

It also occurred to me that I don’t care who ends up with what I donated or if they hold a different political belief than I have. There is absolutely no assurance on this earth that I am right or they are. There is however great evidence that they are in need of help, have less than I do and according to Christ, we’re supposed to take care of them. I don’t want anything back from them and they will never know what I gave, have a clue who I am or be able to do any more for me than thank God a stranger cared about them.

We have seen everything reduced to politics. There was a time when people needing to see a doctor would either be able to pay for it or the doctor would work with them but those days long ago passed replaced by an insurance industry dictating who gets saved and who gets shown the door. It would have been a time when people would be ashamed to admit they didn’t want other people to be able to have insurance coverage, but now they wear their “I got mine screw you” attitude with pride much like Scrooge thought being a greedy wretch was a good thing. Some of these people are entering into the House in January and got angry when they were told they would have to wait for their own health insurance coverage to being and yes, funded by the tax payers they thought denial of their coverage was a good thing. I guess they think they are more deserving than the people they are taking an oath to serve.

We have seniors and veterans in this country who have not received a raise in two years. The $250 check to make up the difference last year and this year were voted down by Republicans yet they fought hard to make sure the rich received tax breaks. This also goes to show that being against every bill the people wanted was blocked until they got their own way for the sake of the rich.

There used to be a time when again, they would be ashamed of defending the rich to the point where the rest of us could just vanish off the face of the earth, but now they are proud of their dirty deeds. We can expect this from politicians since most of them do tend to bend the truth but when the regular people in this country take on their bad habits, we’re all in trouble.

Does a family stop being a family if they do not all vote alike? Do neighbors even know how someone thinks politically? Do kids care if their parents and their friend’s parents vote the same way? When you donate to the Salvation Army Santa do you care who gets the money and what political party they belong to? When you donate to a kid off the Angel Tree in your church, do you care anything above and beyond giving a kid without anything a gift at Christmas? When you donate blood do you think about if you will be saving the life of a Republican or Democrat, a gay man or woman, or does it matter more you will be saving a life?

When the body of a soldier returns home, do you only show up for the funeral or take off your hat as the hearse passes by only if you know how they voted and approved? Do you pray less for the family if you discover they are not in the same political party as you are?

I have great friends because we care about each other. We talk about our lives, our families but never talk about political views. None of that really matters above caring about each other as humans. When all is fair game in politics, we are all targets and nothing else matters.

So fight over if it is Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas because Santa was not in Bethlehem. Since most have forgotten what His life was supposed to mean in the first place, I doubt they really care at all anymore.