CHRIST IN WINTER:
Reflections on Faith and Life for the Years of Winter…
A couple of years ago,
Bert, an old high school acquaintance, came across my email address via another
high school acquaintance. He sends out group emails. He added me to the group.
He was a year ahead of me
in school. I did not know him well. We did not hang around together. But in a
small school, you’re always in some of the same activities, and you get
acquainted that way. I remember him as a nice kid, just a regular kid, like all
the rest of us.
I do not recall him being
especially religious then, but he is now. Every day I got several emails from
him quoting Bible verses, most of them having to do with love and forgiveness
and the peace that comes with knowing God.
Also every day he sent
several irrational emails with scurrilous messages that exhibit the exact
opposite traits of his Bible quotes, about how “Obama is a socialist moslim
devil” and “you can tell michelle obama hates America because she holds her
hand wrong during the national anthem” and “the Obama daughters are ugly and
dress like sluts” and “the supreme court is taking away our freedom” and “the
gay agenda is all about taking over and putting straights in concentration
camps.” There are more, but you can get the drift.
My only replies were to
the Bible quotes about love and forgiveness. I told him I appreciated those. I
encouraged him to send more of them. I didn’t say a thing about the racist
irrationalities. I thought maybe my encouragement of love messages and ignoring
of hate messages would lead to a deeper discussion. But it didn’t. I finally
gave up. I asked him to stop sending me anything at all.
He’s older even than I am.
He’ll die before long. Then maybe he can find the peace that has so eluded him
in this life.
JRMcF
johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com
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