Jan 19th, 2021: Living in Truth is Messy

 Kansas City Catholic Women's Conference - Overland Park, KS

Should we ask a university to cancel some people's degrees because they happen to have different political views? Or demand to strip the gold medals of Olympic athletes because they supposedly commit a crime? Is it right for us to think that we have the right to eliminate people because we believe that we are right? In a democracy, people have the right to engage in discourses that sometimes show disagreements. People also need to have their day in court to defend their actions. 


Somehow we as a society can't live with tensions that exist among ourselves. Looking for utopia is a fallacy by itself. Believing that humanity can create our own sense of utopia might be the worst assumption about who we are and what we can do. Righteousness does not rest with us.


We don't call for the cancellation of TV shows that we don't appreciate. We don't go about abolishing music that doesn't reflect our beliefs and morality. We don't condemn cuisines that use spices that are hard for us to digest. By the end, we still have to choose to watch, eat, or listen to whatever we enjoy or not.


We should stop asking for the cancellation of others when we disagree with them. We are now dealing with a new expression of cultural fascism. Living rightly is a messy business. It doesn't need regulations. It demands self-awareness so that we can learn how to appreciate others. I am amazed by how we insist on appreciating diversity in some contexts and then ask for its termination in others. Human hypocrisy never fails.


Psalm 86: 11

"Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name."

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