I’ve been extremely lax posting on this blog. Atticus’ third birthday came and went without comment. So many other precious moments have drifted away like a handful of sand through my fingers. Mike’s become the family’s resident blog expert; he put me to shame within a month of starting his.
Also, I’ve wanted to totally revamp this blog and start over in a sense, so that it could be about more than just motherhood and memories. Today is a good day to start.
This morning I received an email from a former classmate; we’ve known each other since middle school and while we were never close, we were always warm and friendly with each other, even into adulthood. I last saw and spoke to her at our high school reunion over three years go.
So it was with surprise when I saw she had forwarded to me and about 100 others a pro-McCain email entitled “MUST SEE PHOTOS” — a highly slanted selection of positive McCain photos and photos of Obama intended to scare people. Pictures of him with Rev. Wright, in a native costume, with Al Sharpton and so on, with snide captions.
The email was so disgusting, mean and racist, I was blind with outrage, ready to rip someone a new one and pound my fists in disgust. Mike fired me up with several zinger rebuttal statements I could make, and I fumed as my feet slammed into the treadmill at the gym.
This woman and I went to the same Christian schools where we learned values completely counter to what that email represented. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized it would accomplish nothing and create even more frustration for me if I tried to engage in a partisan argument via email. Plus, I wanted to respond to everyone she wrote to, in an effort to influence any undecided voters, so the tone had to be right.
Here’s exactly what I wrote:
After reading the email your forwarded, I couldn’t help but remember our time in high school. Teachers talked about being afraid of the day that our religious freedoms would be taken away, when Sunday law would take effect and Adventists would be persecuted for believing differently from ruling religious authority. There were moments after church when I’d dissect with our friends what was taught in Sabbath school or in the sermon, in an effort to for us to make sense of things for ourselves.We also spent a lot of time, at school and in church, discussing how judgmental acts and faith by works isn’t the way to heaven, but how identifying and using our spiritual gifts in service to others is truly living up to Jesus’ example. Most of all, I remember how amazingly diverse our school was. I remember the handicapped kid who was transferred to our school because he was so poorly treated at his public school. The vibrant mix of skin tones and accents in our hallways made for a lively exchange of experiences and perspectives.
That’s why I’m shocked that you forwarded this divisive, racist and inflammatory email. It implies that you share and support the fear mongering, hatred and alienation that is spreading like a cancer across this country, and I don’t believe that’s who you are deep down inside.
My immediate reaction was white-hot anger and outrage. I wanted to counter this email with a laundry list of rebuttals and links. To be sure, no one on this earth is blameless, the least of all politicians. But that gets us into judging the real and perceived and/or manufactured sins and decisions of others, and furthermore, into this no man’s land of rating one person’s actions/weaknesses/transgressions to be worse than the other’s. We’ve all had our moments of acting like a Pharisee and I don’t want this to be one of mine.
Because when I train the eye of the person who created this hateful email on myself, who do I see? Pictures of me with gay and lesbian friends, friends who’ve done drugs, friends who’ve shoplifted. There’s certainly a picture of me drinking underage. I also see pictures of me with people who have sinned more publicly than most, like my college classmate who turned out to be a major drug dealer and insurance scammer. And the close friend who was investigated by the FBI and jailed for medical fraud.
What about the pictures of me and my dad, who was a Buddhist? I’ve been to a Buddhist temple with my Catholic mother, to honor my dead grandfather. I’ve worn her gorgeous hand-embroidered silk wedding dress, which represents the artisan gifts of what some would characterize as a godless culture.
Need I go on? I’m no candidate for anything, at least in the eyes of some.
I’m just a working mom and wife, with a three-year-old kid and a mortgage. I worry about what kind of world my innocent boy will inherit from us. I want him to grow up in a secure and stable world, ripe with opportunity for him to pursue his budding talents. I don’t want to worry about common minor ailments rendering him ineligible for health insurance. I want the air he breathes when he’s my age to be as clean and sweet as it was when I was a child. I want him to to have the freedom and means to pursue his dreams. I never want his half-Chinese heritage to be viewed as a liability or an excuse to treat him with disrespect or God forbid, violence.
On those issues, I’m voting for Barack Obama.
Just over a year ago, my husband and I waited a couple of hours to see Barack Obama speak in Portland. We were both lucky enough to shake his hand. Enough said.
None of this is intended to sway anyone’s mind. Let’s just agree to disagree. And, please, don’t forward these kinds of emails to me again.
I hit “SEND” and got blissfully caught up in Halloween activities for a few hours. When I finally checked my email a little while ago, I had received four responses from people who were on the distribution list — one negative, and three positive, including this one:
Thank you for sharing your email. It was very kind and a loving rebuke of your friend. I don’t know if we know each other, but you are someone that I would like to express my gratitude of thanks. I too would like not to receive any more negative divisive rhetoric from my friends who disagree with my choice of Obama as well. I am passing your loving rebuke on to my friends. Thank you again for sharing.
Even if I don’t change a single person’s mind, it’s gratifying to hear back from these Obama supporters. Who live in FLORIDA.
