So allow me to humbly offer a few more words…
What I appreciate in the current #MeToo moment is the breakthrough of speaking truth to power, giving women an honored voice where for too long there has been a consistent none.
What concerns me in this moment is the breakdown of some key societal norms that have long been considered wise, such as being innocent until proven guilty and truth not discerned via gender, ethnicity, or other demographic.
Unfortunately, I feel we’ve lost our way somewhat. Our emotions have clouded our perspective.
How we feel is dictating our truth.
We have become biased. And most of us can’t see it in ourselves — only in others.
Every accuser deserves to be heard, friends. But every accuser does not deserve to be believed.
Again, allow me to reiterate my desire to humbly address this heartache; this is indeed a tough, multi-faceted subject. For those I’ve walked with who have severely struggled to recover from such trauma, I have grieved and cried with them… too often, gut-wrenchingly for years.
I have also walked and grieved and cried with numerous others — with no judgment whatsoever — who have lied.
I’m not really comfortable with the word “lied” in that sentence; sorry — it actually pains me to post it. In my experience, it hasn’t always been a boldface lie, but more a distortion of truth. Some women and men do distort truth… often sincerely, albeit knowingly or unknowingly. Having experienced that multiple times, it affects my current perspective.
The reality is that we often gauge our perception on whether a specific accuser is telling the truth based on our own experience.
Friends, with all due respect, that is an inaccurate gauge.
We can’t tell whether Dr. Ford or Judge Kavanaugh is telling the truth based on their gender or our experience. We can’t tell without any sworn testimony or collaborating evidence. I am sorry we can’t immediately tell; no doubt that is currently a most inconvenient truth for a watching nation with far too constant, breaking news. But what we know is not enough. We don’t know enough to base a belief on fact; we only know enough to base a belief on bias.
What we also know — that also greatly disheartens me — is that many of our elect are politically motivated. That’s on the left and right, friends. And if Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh are each sincere in their perspective — which is quite possible — our elected politicians are doing a disservice not only to us, but also, greatly to them. I am highly disappointed with the political motivations that are obviously in play… and also, by our narrow vision that only allows us to see those unscrupulous motivations on one side…
Of course, the Democrats want to delay this.
Of course, the Republicans want to be done with it.
Both parties are clearly, politically motivated.
And so I find myself not trying to find compromise, so-to-speak, but rather, attempting to best discern what here is good and right and true.
That’s hard. Really hard.
I get tempted to base my perception of truth on how I feel…
… on my own experience…
… on my political leanings…
… on my sobering frustration with the entire Senate Judiciary Committee…
But that is not enough to discern truth.
Hence, with this situation seemingly only feeding the divisiveness that partisans on both sides continue to fuel, the only wise thing I know is for each of us to pause, humble ourselves, and pray. Pray for truth to be revealed.
Join me.
Will you?
Respectfully…
AR