July 28, 2006
Ring-a-ding
The newscasters say we’re sending bombs to Israel and medical aid to Lebanon. The president says that stem cell research is taking human life, and that killing 40,000 Iraqi citizens is promoting democracy. What are we supposed to do, smile, take up ironyng, and sing God bless America?
What, actually, does one, can one expect when asking God’s blessing? Bless the Israeli arsenal or the Beirut-bound sacks of beans, both with “Made in the USA” stamped all over them? Or bless us for writing more and more checks with less and less balance every day that passes? Do we ever wonder whether God might well prefer to bless us out rather than to bless us in? What manner of reaction do we expect of God to our incessant prayers that we hardly ever hear being made for anybody else but us and ours?
All the while, Let freedom ring! [except across the Mexican border] but don’t forget that the Liberty Bell is cracked already and thus making uncertain with the sound of one clapper clapping.