A few weeks ago I had dinner with friends and we ended up talking politics. Though we were not really that far apart in our viewpoints, the disagreements were enough to create a true debate. These were good friends, so there was plenty of laughter and teasing. Accusations went back and forth but they were always done with a smile. Still, there were serious disagreements about policies and perspectives.
That’s going to happen a lot during this election season. Good people with informed viewpoints see things differently. That’s life. And that’s a democracy, thank God.
Of course, it can go too far, especially in Presidential politics. With the first debate coming up, we once again find ourselves in a climate of distrust during an election season. The two candidates are painted with broad brushstrokes of nastiness by the other side. It’s sad because neither one of them is as bad as their critics make them look. Truth is that both candidates are well educated, extremely bright, good husbands and fathers, successful … in many ways they represent the best of America. Sure they disagree; they have different visions of the future. But that doesn’t make them bad people.
It’s frustrating and disappointing to see all the mud slinging. Depressing, even.
But then along comes a devotional reading that catches me off guard. A previous post of mine talked about St. Wilfrid. A lot of people look back and see him causing tension and discord within the Church. He had a way about him that was caustic, and there were plenty of people put off by his ways. He would’ve been a great negative campaigner in todays politics.
St. Wilfrid on the right, St. Aidan on the left. St. Cuthbert in the middle (possibly moderating the debate?).
By contrast, St. Aiden was and remains widely loved. He was compassionate, talented, extremely bright, and persevered through difficult times. St. Aiden and St. Wilfrid were not immediate contemporaries (Aiden died before Wilfrid became a leader in the Church). But they certainly had differing opinions about church governance, theology, politics, etc.
Both were good men, both wanted the best for the Church and the society around them. They simply saw things differently.
I love how Celtic Daily Prayer shares some of the last words of St. Wilfrid. He clearly is looking back at his life with some regret. There were things he said and did that went too far. He doesn’t apologize for his opinions, but clearly seems to regret the way he presented them. It’s a strong lesson for us in todays political climate.
Please read this and ask how this impacts your view of those who see things differently.
I am an old man now, Wilfrid by name: you’ve probably heard of me. I’ve had a long, exciting and, indeed, tempestuous life. And now, soon to die, I’m going over the whole story….
Sometimes it seems only yesterday that I first went to Lindisfarne as a pageboy … Aidan was still alive then, though he died two or three years later. Yes, of course I thought he was wonderful, and I still do. But he died, and my own particular call led me to Rome; and there I fell in love with Rome — and all the wealth that Rome had to give.
I suppose two men could hardly have seemed more different than Aidan at the height of his powers and I at mine. Yet, I wonder. Yes, I have fought for power and privilege, as he never did. Yet the deepest truth about me was that I strove for the gospel as I saw it, and that was the deepest truth about him too. So, in that greater light which I am soon to enter, where Aidan already is, my hope is that we shall both be seen to have served the same God, and there will be friendship between us.