Three Things
My blog posts are usually written after several days of musing about a topic. They have been by no means “automatic,” until this one. This week’s series of events couldn’t be ignored, so I’ve shifted focus.
Severe tornadoes ravaged a swath of Mississippi (and, to a lesser degree, Alabama and Georgia) last Friday night (March 24). News was slow to reveal the severity at first, but by Sunday the death toll and extent of damage were widely known. On Monday I began my morning on the Samaritan’s Purse website to support the organization’s relief efforts to people whose homes and lives were devastated by the storms. I quickly made the donation and went to work, but it would not be business as usual.
Just before noon, my news alerts reported an “active shooter” situation in Nashville – in a gradeshool no less. My nerves were on edge. I have visited the city many times, have three grandchildren in grade schools and live under an hour away from (the former) Sandy Hook Elementary School.
As the nation mourned and waited for more details from Tennessee, more news came. This time, there were reports of nearly forty deaths in a migrant detention center near the southern border. I had been critical of these facilities and their horrible conditions in a recent post, but didn’t welcome this added proof.
In just a short span of time came a host of emotions … and a lot of deep searching.
Will the storm-affected people who lost homes and possessions be able to recover? Will their livelihood be lost as well? Will the nation respond generously to this low-income community?
How does someone devolve into a mentality of shooting young children? Were there warning signs? Could it have been prevented somehow?
How is it that people who leave, if not flee, home and heritage to seek new life in America wind up in what amounts to a jail, just at the outskirts of their destination? How do “officials” deem these conditions to be humane? How can they not be effectively rescued from fire?
Three things. Three events that claimed lives and, moreover, will change the lives of survivors forever.
While they are seemingly disparate, I see something of significance in each of these three things for members of the American Solidarity Party.
As Christian Democrats, we embrace the task of civil governance with a worldview shaped by faith. A pluralist society may not embrace our values broadly, but we are secure nonetheless in the belief that the human order follows from the divine order, and that nothing happens outside God’s gaze. It is our bedrock.
These three things led me to recall three more things, shared by the apostle Paul. After considering all that was lost in these tragedies, his words came rushing to mind. There were three things that, importantly, remained: “faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love” (cf 1 Cor 13:13).
As Solidarians, we have the knowledge that enduring grace sustains and inspires us. It guides us to seek the common good. It buoys us in storms. It guards us from despair. What’s more, we have concern for the welfare of our neighbors, especially those in need. That sets the ASP apart from the “duopoly” status quo.
ASP members have no option but to contend with the current divisiveness and hyper-partisanship in U.S. politics, but that does not imply they are not party to it. The ASP has principles and ideas that value all lives, an approach that values collaboration, and an outlook that can produce a better future for the USA.
Three abiding things distinguish the American Solidarity Party: faith, hope and love.