Tuesday's Election

After watching parts of the former president's rally at Madison Square Garden, I was reminded of the Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Not a stretch, by the way, as I have it hanging in my home office, three feet away from me as I write this very sentence.

If you consider yourself a supporter of the former president, please do try and measure his words and actions against what we know to be the very best of what defines us, which I believe is well described in the Prayer of St. Francis.  Are we at our best when we call others "scum" or "vermin"?  Are we our best selves when we mock others for being different?  Are we at our best when we routinely use lies purely for self-gain?  Are we at our best when we revile the stranger and threaten the immigrant?

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.  (Zechariah 7:9-10)

Do we really want to give tremendous power and authority to someone who preaches hate towards others (that disagree with him) and promises "retribution" for what are his mostly personal grievances?  Is this REALLY who we are as a country?  Is this REALLY the country we want our children...and grandchildren...to inherit?

There is no middle ground here.  There is no rationalization for what he has said and promised.  In fact, give him credit for being abundantly clear.

By all means, if you can't support Vice President Harris in next Tuesday's election, well then don't vote for her.  I understand.  However, there are options other than Harris or the former president.  If you are going to vote for the former president, well then, I grieve for your lack of humanity, empathy, kindness and just plain common sense.  

My God have mercy on the United States.