Lincoln or Douglas?

 

 

The year was 1858 and the topic at hand was slavery – specifically the question of whether new states entering the United States would allow it or not. 

The topic was hotly debated in a variety of forums, but one of the most interesting of these was a series of seven debates between two of the men who would vie for the 1860 presidency.  Stephen Douglas was the candidate of the Democratic party, while Abraham Lincoln would eventually be the candidate of the newly formed Republican party.  

Stephen Douglas was of the mind that the status quo should continue, leaving the problem for another generation.  On the other hand, Lincoln, while in favor of abolition, wasn’t exactly progressive by today’s standards.  He didn’t think African Americans and whites should marry and thought the best option was to send former slaves back to Africa.

What is interesting to me is that these series of debates took three hours each.  The initial speaker was given 60 minutes to share his perspective on the subject.  This was followed by the second speaker, who was given 90 minutes to share his perspective and rebut what the first speaker said, and finally, 30 minutes was given to the first speaker to come back and clarify points further. 

Thousands of people turned out to listen to these.  I suppose attention spans were different back then, the latest iPhone hadn’t quite made it to the western frontier, and Wi-Fi was extremely slow in most parts of rural Illinois in the late 1850s.  People simply had less to do and so were willing to listen to long form debate.

It saddens me, because much of debate these days takes the form of one side setting up straw men that they can knock down, while the other side shouts soundbites.  This seems to have climaxed with the onset of memes on social media.

A meme is typically a pithy quote or pointed statement about a particular subject, posted over a silly picture (often gleaned from some movie or TV show).  They are often humorous (at least to one side of a debate).  They may take aim at conservatives or liberals, atheists or Christians, home schoolers or college graduates.  The problem is that, because of its brevity, a meme tells absolutely nothing about the subject and only reveals a bit of the heart of the person posting the meme.

It is no wonder that blogs have died and that they have been replaced by a mixture of video, memes, and click bait articles that share weird trivial facts about things you don't really care about.  Long form essays are a thing of the past.

I suppose the thing that saddens me most is the lack of ability to listen.  A conversation (even on Facebook) is not a war.  One of my favorite verses is in James 1 and says, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."  (James 1:19) We should listen to understand, not simply to identify weak areas in our opponent's armor that we can target with heat seeking missiles.  

I suppose I am just getting old, but I wish that we lived in a time when intelligent people could go out and sit quietly and listen to intelligent speakers share well thought out, if differing views on a subject.  The problem of today is not that we have too few opinions, or that we can't find sound bites and memes to support those opinions.  Rather, people have lost any desire to listen and understand the perspective of others around them who hold different views.

When Solomon had a dream in which God offered to give him anything he desired, Solomon asked for an "understanding heart."  I wonder how many of us would ask for the same and how many would rather ask for the ability to sway people to our opinion.

If we could only listen more and share just a little less, maybe, just maybe our society would be less polarized.  Even more than that, if this were to happen, it is possible that people who do not understand the love of God would see that love manifested in the lives of the people who claim to serve Him.

Dressing Up

 

“What are you doing?”  I asked my beautiful wife.  She was seated at the computer and a couple of our children were standing nearby.

“The children are having a dress up day at school,” Elaine told me.  “We are trying to figure out what they will dress up as.  I think Victoria will go as Madeline.”

“Fun,” I said.  “Maybe Vincent can go as Julius Caesar.  We are coming up on the Ides of March, you know.”

No one seemed to think my idea was all that great.  “I think Vincent should go as Dark Vader!”  Elise told me seriously.

“Dark Vader?”  I asked.  “I think I know his brother Darth.  I’m guessing he was twins?”

“No, Dad, DARK Vader!”  Elise told me firmly.  “He dresses in black because his name is DARK.”

I am not sure how Elise knows anything about Darth (or Dark) Vader.  What cannot be denied is that she was certain of her knowledge about his name.  She argued with me for a while about it and eventually I dropped it.  I may have been right about Dark Vader’s real name, but getting a four year old to believe that I knew what I was talking about was a mountain I couldn’t climb.

Mark Twain, a long time ago, wrote, “"It's not what we don't know that gets us in trouble. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.”

Of course, being in the medical field, I see this a lot.  Many of my patients know a lot more than I do and not only that, but they have access to Google.  Unfortunately, they still need someone to write them the prescriptions that they are sure that they need.

I think of Jeremiah, the prophet in the Old Testament.  He was called to speak truth to the people and tell them to turn from their wicked ways or else God would judge their land.

The problem was that there was an abundance of false prophets who prophesied peace, prosperity, and victory over the enemy nation of Babylon.  Jeremiah told the Jews, “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.” (Jeremiah 7:8 ESV)

Given a choice between Jeremiah’s words, which required life change and the false prophets’ words which promised God’s blessing with minimal effort, there was no question as to which words the people wanted to trust.  So it was that city of Jerusalem fell in 586 BC amidst great slaughter and devastation.

A huge number of opinions does not equal a fact.  Truth is not achieved simply by polling the people.

Our goal should be to find truth and, on the way, we must listen to voices that challenge our opinions and even words that make us feel uncomfortable.  Our goal is not to reinforce our beliefs, but to learn.

Otherwise, we might end up in the sad state of a four year old girl arguing with her dad about the real name of  “Dark Vader.”

The Tallest Mountain?

 

 

Everyone knows what the highest mountain in the world is.  Mt. Everest, stands 29,031 feet above sea level and is the peak that everyone wants to climb for bragging rights.  The next two highest mountains are K2 and Kangchenjunga -- both of which are actually more difficult to climb than Mt. Everest.

These peaks are amazing, the only three peaks on this planet that rise above 28,000 feet elevation.  Climbing them requires a high level of skill and for most humans, a good supply of oxygen.

There is some argument about what the highest mountain peak really is.  The reason for this is that some peaks have their bases far beneath the surface of the ocean.  By this measure, Mauna Kea, although its peak only rises 13,803 feet above sea level, has a higher rise from its base to its peak than Mt. Everest.  Mauna Kea has a difference in elevation from its base to its peak of 30,610 feet – significantly more than the distance that Mt. Everest lies above sea level.

I don’t suppose it matters much -- there are no trophies give to mountains for heights.  More than that, mountains aren’t living things and they do not really care which one of them is tallest.

It is different with people.  When we look at where someone is at today, we only see their position at this moment in time.  What we don’t see is the long journey behind them, the adversity they encountered along the way, and the times when, in the midst of the chaos of their childhood or teen years, they almost gave up.

Many people are more like Mauna Kea than Mt. Everest.  They had to climb thousands of feet just to get to sea level.  Far more important than someone’s current position and attainment is their trajectory.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, “Judge not that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1)  There are many reasons that we should not sit in judgment on others, but one of them is simply that unless we know a person's whole story, we cannot adequately assess who someone is and how far they have come.

For some of us start life at 18,000 feet elevation, while others begin their lives a mile below sea level.  The important questions really aren’t how tall you are, but rather, where have you come from and where are you heading.

For my money, Mauna Kea is more impressive than Mr. Everest, not because of its peak, but because of its roots.  The same is true of people.