3-27-20 Where are the Statesmen?

Daily Jot: Where are the statesmen? - Bill Wilson -
 
Everywhere you look on the TV screen or in the news, there is this sarcastic, in-your-face, highly opinionated discourse on almost every issue. There is no agreement. The first action is to push back-usually very hard. It's like the school yard bullies yelling and shouting at one another, and they have been doing it so long that they can't even remember why they are angry. And that, in of itself, makes them even more angry. Never before in America's history have we had a President that is so shockingly frank and undiplomatic. And never before in America's recent history have we had opposition that is so violent, visceral, and hate-filled. We need someone to rise up and make some sense. Where are the statesmen?
 
All the rhetoric stirs the political bases of the extremes. It gets everybody all fired up and ready to fight. The recent shootings in El Paso and Dayton are proof positive. Drug laced, mentally ill people listening to the rhetoric on both the right and the left finally had more than their little characters could handle and they just took it upon themselves to relieve their angst-by killing innocent people. Doesn't this have any impact on anyone? No. The left keeps calling for disarming the public. And the right keeps digging in that any attempt to fix the situation is an afront to the Constitution. What about common sense? Can't we find ways to discuss issues with an eye toward problem solving? Where are the statesmen?
 
There is no one stepping up as a statesman. The President and his fierce opposition are engaged in a social media, 24-7 news cycle competition to see who can out-wit the other in 200 characters, or who can shout the loudest. The American people, for the most part, are lining up behind the ones who they believe most represent their own sentiments, irrespective of their motives and character, and the fight in the school yard is on. We have left in the classroom, or maybe in a messy closet at home, any thought of working out the problem and finding a solution. But, hey, we are lined up against one another, pointing fingers, shouting, shoving and throwing stones. Yes, one side is more right than the other. But reasoning together might bring some resolution. Where are the statesmen?
 
Proverbs 17:9 says, "He that covers a transgression seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates friends." Proverbs 10:12 says, "Hatred stirs up strife; but love covers all sins." 1 Peter 4:8 says, "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins."Christ said in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." I've heard Christians say that those verses are just for those who are believers in Christ. Shame on them. We cannot live in a civil society without civility. Problems can't be solved without a starting point. Speaking the truth in love, treating others justly and with honor. Where are the statesmen?

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