Life

"To err and not reform, this may indeed be called error." Confucius

Yesterday was Life Day in the Catholic churches around the world. In his sermon our Pastor reflected on life and the treatment of life in our society. He spoke about treating all life with dignity. I am currently trying to type around two pounds of mischievous life in the form of Pixie who is fascinated by the computer and keeps stepping on the keyboard and trying to catch the "mouse" cursor on the screen..

Father Steve had mentioned politics and the name calling and behavior on both sides of any question. It brings up some serious questions about man and our behavior. At what point do we become what we condemn?

Take the Congressman who sent explicit emails to a teenaged Page for example. If the leadership of his party knew about it for months why didn't they do something to stop him and remove him from a position to be able to harass children? Is his seat so important that they were justified in supporting him by their silence? Wouldn't it had been better to force him to resign and get someone else to run in his place?

One of the things we prayed for was the treatment of prisoners. There has been a lot of talk about the Geneva Convention. This is what it is all about. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm

Their are people in our government who want to ignore this agreement in their "war on terror." Colin Powell is a man that I respect and he argues that we must keep this convention. It can be argued that the other side does not keep the rules set down by Geneva. Does this justify our not keeping it? If we behave in the manner that breaks the agreement aren't we just as guilty of inhumanity towards our fellow man as the other side? If we act in the same manner they do don't we become them?

At some point politicians and commentators of both sides of the political situation are going to have to stop and realize that they have to uphold standards of decency that apply to all men. The mud slinging, name calling, cover ups of immoral actions, lies and deception have got to stop. As the study by Intelligence has shown we are now more vulnerable to terrorists attacks then we have ever been. Isn't it time we took a real good look at what we are doing and change our behavior so that we are not hated and reviled? How can we expect moderate Muslim leaders to come to our defense if we don't act in a civilized manner towards all?

We need to respect life, all life, even our enemies lives. If we can't act with respect ourselves then we can't demand that others respect us. We need to lead by example. That is what I am looking for in the upcoming election. The candidates who want my vote better be prepared to respect life and show me by how they speak and lead their lives that they have the respect for life that I am looking for. They will have to earn my vote.

The picture is called "Meeting of the Minds." Many years ago the late Steve Allen had a show with that name where he brought in actors who portrayed various historical or literary figures discussing modern topics. You would have Genghis Khan and Emily Dickinson together for example. The picture is a tribute to that fascinating show.