It's Complicated

It's Complicated.

You know that Facebook status "it's complicated" is actually true about life and human nature.  When I think about everything happening in our world today, I think to myself that it really is quite complicated.  It seems there are two poles or extremes and the voices we hear are never in the middle, which is where I suspect many of us may be.  Somehow being a moderate, an independent, a person who sees both sides, seems suddenly to be a negative thing, when in reality, moderation, as Socrates and Plato said, should be a virtue.  After all, it is "moderates" who are architects of compromise and mediation, and try not to hang out on either pole.  

As it pertains to recent events, I think it is perfectly reasonable to be able to hold seemingly competing ideas in tension with one another.  One can simultaneously think that what happened to George Floyd was horrible and a terrible act of inhumanity, while at the same time thinking that having a police force is a generally good thing, provided that they are well-trained, compassionate, and not militaristic.  One can simultaneously think that racism still exists while still believing that most people are fundamentally good even if not perfect in every thought, belief and deed.  One can simultaneously think that President Trump is an ass, and that he botched the Covid-19 crisis and yet also think that Democrats don't have it exactly right, and that Governor Cuomo too botched things up and cost lives when he forced nursing homes to take recovering Covid-19 patients.  One can simultaneously think that the Republicans get it wrong on many issues, like lack of support for single mothers, immigration, the environment, while acknowledging Democrats get it wrong on things like abortion, completely defunding the police, and reparations.  One can simultaneously think the Confederate flag is akin to a swastika while also believing that statues of historical figures deserve context and explanation and not sent to the ash heap of history.  

Look, in this world of imperfect and fallible humans, we will always be let down if we place our faith in other humans.  Humans will inevitably make mistakes, and sometimes hold, upon reflection years later, views today we deem incompatible with our ideals and with our current view of what constitutes human decency.  It's interesting to note that as society becomes less Judeo-Christian, a new kind of orthodoxy fills that vacuum.  That orthodoxy will be more demanding in many ways than Christianity, because Christianity contains within it the possibility of forgiveness and redemption, even when one's moral failures, which are nearly inevitable for us all, happen repeatedly.  With this new orthodoxy, there is no forgiveness.  Views that were once an accepted norm  (even if objectively wrong) make historical figures unacceptable.  Much of the history surrounding those figures isn't even known by those set upon destroying their statues.  Views deemed to be wrong or unacceptable are met with a Scarlet letter, and a Maoist confessional, where no redemption is possible. Only through Christ are we redeemed as sinners each time we inevitably make a mistake and fail to love our neighbor and our God as we love ourselves.   

Maybe part of the problem is that we have embraced wealth as a societal good instead of kindness, compassion, education and true virtue.  We have strayed away from reading and studying classic human stories as old as time about the struggles of humanity that teach us what it means to be human and the inevitable hubris that comes with thinking we know everything and have all the answers.  The bottom line is that there is no way to create a heaven or utopia here on earth.  We are here to make the best of this life; to live, as  Cicero said, "the good life", but not one of unending frivolity or a "Peter Pan-like" perpetual childhood, but instead, we are called to live a life devoted to a higher purpose in which that perfect rest is attainable only in an after life where the foibles of the human condition no longer exist.  St. Augustine wrote a famous book entitled "City of God".  In that book, he drew comparisons between the City of Man and the City of God.  Only in a celestial city can we find the peace, joy, and perfect love that will always and inevitably elude us here on earth.   Life on earth will never be fair, equal, perfect or even happy.  

There are no guarantees in life and life is inherently full of suffering because of who we are as humans, both individually and collectively.  We are obligated as humans to love our neighbor as ourselves while still recognizing we are not God and cannot heal all wounds or fix all problems.  Yes, life is complicated indeed.  There is no balm for that realization but the love of Christ which teaches us that all people are beloved children of God, from the worst among us, to the very best.  We don't have to be saints to be loved; we don't even have to be good.  We are loved because we are human with all of our faults, warts, failings and ugliness.  Maybe what is actually amiss is the fact that so many don't know they are loved unconditionally.  Perhaps THAT is the message that needs to be shared, and so I will say it: YOU ARE LOVED.