Waking my youngest son up each morning requires a certain combination of skills in advanced mediation and a tactically strong strategic offense. It is not for the faint of heart. The thought of getting up in a dark, cold room is virtually paralyzing to him, but warmth and light are not welcome alternatives. The longer he lays still, the more frustrated his parents become. One solution we employ is to remind him of every single thing he needs to do in order to be ready to leave for school, with tones conveying a certain…well, we’ll just say a certain sense of urgency.
Too much input leads to an inevitable shutdown, cycling us back around to early morning paralysis. He is completely numb to our requests to kick things into high gear, as my mother might say.
As the news swirls around and around right now, the most frightening things to watch is not the sensationalized, biased way we approach these moments with anger and vindictiveness. Instead, the most frightening thing to watch is the collective numbness of so many participants in this great democracy.
Unfortunately, in a time in which you cannot possibly wrap your head around one political move before another headline is released, it is easy to become numb and shut down.
(I mean, in an attempt to understand just the timeline of events in Ukraine leading to the election of President Zelensky, our family listened to a podcast, printed out and studied a timeline, and practiced our collective note-taking skills. And that was just to understand the background to this story.)
Early this week, we learned (mostly via Twitter), that President Trump had decided to withdraw US Troops from the border of Syria and Turkey, leading to almost immediate military action by Turkey towards Syrian Kurds. As of the evening of October 11, at least 16 civilians have been killed, including a 9 month old infant. In the hours following this announcement, many national leaders began to speak out against this action of the President, including South Carolinians Lindsey Graham and Nikki Haley. Preemptive Love, a coalition of aid workers on the ground in Iraq, Syria and beyond, has explained what’s happening this way: “Turkey has begun an invasion of Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria, following the withdrawal of US troops from the border. More than 100,000 people are on the run now. Another 3 million refugees could be displaced again, into the middle of a war zone where few aid groups can reach.”
Based on the reactions of politicians on both sides of the proverbial aisle, it seems this decision was made fairly unilaterally by President Trump, who justified the decision by touting his “great and unmatched wisdom” on social media.
With that assertion, my numbness began to fully give way.
My responsibility to American democracy and international human rights did not end at a ballot box. It never will. My responsibility to my family, my faith and my country requires me to pay attention to what is happening around me. This is not about a political party or even a political ideology. It is about understanding that the rights and privileges afforded to me cost something.
Tonight, they cost me some time and vulnerability. It seems a small price to pay when I consider the totality of what is happening around me.
Tonight, I have reached out to the officials elected to represent me, regardless of whether my vote was cast to place them there. Tomorrow, I will call or email again. I will call, email, write, message and meet again and again, because it matters to me that our country is in crisis.
It matters to me that my elected officials know that, for me:
- It is not okay for the President of the United States to make foreign policy decisions from a personal belief of “great and unmatched wisdom.” That is counter to what is true about a democratically elected leader, and, importantly for me, counter to what scripture teaches. (Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:7 ESV)
- It is not okay for the President of the United States to ask foreign governments to interfere in US elections. I’m not here to argue whether or not this happened on the July 25 phone call. I’m saying that is outside of what I believe to be best and right for American democracy for this to happen – in the past or the future.
- It is not okay for the President of the United States to make significant military and foreign policy decisions that knowingly endanger lives without the insight and collaboration with pertinent foreign policy and national intelligence officials.
- It is not okay for the President of the United States to call names, belittle and mock the people he was elected to represent on Social Media. (It’s not okay to call names, belittle or mock people outside of the United States either, for that matter.
- And it’s not okay for me to sit on my couch, or in my car or on the phone and complain about what is happening without acting. It is not okay for me to sit silently, afraid that you might disagree with me or think less of me somehow. It is not okay for me to allow myself to be numb any longer.
Sarah Stweart Holland and Beth Silvers say it this way in their book I Think You’re Wrong But I’m Listening, “Whether you believe our country’s problem is generational, geographical, or partisan, the most important thing to know about the polarization in American politics today is that we are choosing it. We are choosing division. We are choosing conflict. We are choosing to turn our civic sphere into a circus. We are choosing all of this, and we can choose otherwise.”
We can choose otherwise, but what we cannot choose any longer is nothing.
We can no longer choose to be numb.
lessons in lingering 