Today's Grumble

As an avid reader I've recently immersed myself in historical fiction. What a reminder that the good old days weren't so good after all. Unfortunately, we haven't learned from history yet as we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. When you yearn for “the good old days” just remember that aging and/or being poor was much harder before Roosevelt and social policies such as Social Security. We rightly lament the horrible things ISSIS is doing while forgetting that Christians tortured each other in unimaginable ways during the Inquisition...pouring boiling water poured down people's throats, drawing and quartering, burning people at the stake...

I guess nothing every really changes because human nature hasn't changed. That's why the Bible is still relevant. Jesus famous quote “the poor you will have with you always” recognized that while human greed and selfishness will always be alive and well our selfishness can never be an excuse for not caring about the poor and marginalized. Nor can legislation solve the human nature problem though reasonable regulations can provide some safety checks and balances.

Walking past the waste water treatment plant here in Fairfield I am reminded daily that we are fortunate our federal government require even small municipalities like Fairfield to guarantee its citizens clean drinking water. The same with air pollution. Reading about the early industrial revolution illuminates just how much progress we've made but then John Grisham's GRAY MOUNTAIN is a disheartening reminder of just how much many modern industries such as the coal companies shamefully disregard regulations and pollute the land, water and air endangering everyone.

I am all for capitalism, but without reasonable regulations, greed and self interest will always win out. Which is tragic because in the end, we all sink or swim together. Today's profits can quickly turn into tomorrow's losses when we destroy our environment and impoverish the general public. After all, poor people are not in a position to buy all the unnecessary products mass produced today. And something is woefully wrong when a past president's response to 9'11 was “go shop.”

If I were running for political office I'd create a brand new party called “The Common Sense” party. My platform would be simple, though solutions never are. My platform would advocate setting aside hard line party ideologies in favor of working toward finding common sense solutions. Common sense regulations, common sense salary caps, common sense tax policies, common sense economic, a common sense legal system. While this would not eliminate self interest, it could provides a safe place for negotiation, cooperation, sharing power, benefits and responsibility.

When our kids were small they'd cry “that's not fair” when they couldn't get their way. Well, guess what; life isn't fair. Even so, we humans are capable of working together. It just takes effort and a willingness to actually listen to others as a way to find that much maligned middle ground. What possible good can come out of Pennsylvania's budget impass?  Shutting down the federal government? In the end such stubbornness makes our legislators look like school yard bullies.

 

Oh well.  Enough. 

 

Joyce Shutt is pastor emeritus of the Fairfield Mennonite Church.