It was exhilarating for a while, yelling and screaming at people. It felt so good, correcting the misguided and the misinformed, here and there, but after a while it got exhausting. When every utterance is pressed through a filter of a zealous search for offense, it limits the conversation. Plus, it gets really hard to like people. I think there is no shortage of bigotry in the world (you should hear me talk about the Mormons). I also think that most people are doing the best they can with what they’ve got and that most people mean no harm to others. This may be naïve of me, but it’s an essential, life-giving sort of naïve, and I’m sticking with it as stridently as I can.
Which is difficult when it comes to Hillary Clinton. I think it’s an outrage that at least 22 women have not been elected president of the United States. At the same time, I am thankful that she is not – thus far – the first one. I was wowed by her in the early 1990s, of course, but after listening to her explain her voting record once she got herself a seat the flame began to fade, and it’s been fading ever since. My problem is that I don’t believe a word she says. It’s one thing to think someone is a liar from the beginning; having to acknowledge that someone I once found inspiring turned out to be just as sleazy as those she purports to take on was another matter entirely. And this week I’m completely finished with her after listening to her crow about her daughter’s upcoming wedding, an occasion she’s using to express how grateful she is to live in a country where everyone is free to marry the person he or she loves. That’s impressive, even by her very slippery set of standards. In a twisted sort of way, I’m looking forward to hearing her explanation.
In related news, they’ve legalized same-sex marriage in Argentina, where, by chance, they have a president who is female, one who speaks, even through translation, in a way that’s refreshingly clear and direct. Argentina being a most Catholic country, I suppose it wouldn’t be quite proper to not quote an official or two. So here’s a good one, from the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who described the sharing of matrimonial communion wafers with the homos as “ … a move by the Father of the Lies that seeks to confuse the children of God.” When I read that in a newspaper on Saturday morning, I couldn’t summon the energy to be offended by it. Father of the Lies? Confusing the children? I’ve read, heard and watched lots of news over the past several years about child molesters that aligns perfectly with those themes. And yet there’s Jorge, wearing one of his finest gowns, spewing forth some trumped up monkey business that’s so hypocritical it’s comical. And to a world that takes the pageant seriously enough to print his words in the newspaper. I am not, by the way, drawing a comparison between child molesters and same-sex marriage. What I am doing is saying that I think it’s laughable that the Catholic church is entitled to a place on the opinion pages when it comes to anything regarding human relationships. That makes as much sense as authorizing me to hand out citations to people caught smoking cigarettes. It’s laughable, so I laughed.
And I recalled a conversation I’d had years ago with a very good friend of mine, who was also raised in a marginally Catholic way. The Catholic church may be evil, she said, but the Protestant ones are mediocre. I hate to generalize, but I tend to agree. And, given a choice, I’d much rather be evil.
