History in the Making

Wow. No matter which side you are on, it has been an exciting few months culminating in a pretty emotional evening. For me, this election has really brought about some pretty fierce words/convictions. I promise to not get too political again on my son's blog, but I really would like to share this weekly reflection that our minister, John Graham, sent about two years ago. I printed it off and have it hanging in my classroom. Because I have friends and family on "both sides of the aisle", I wanted to share this reflection that, I think, puts things in context. I hope it brings clarity and perspective.
Dear Friends

Tolerance is a fragile virtue. It's especially vulnerable to assault by those who see it as a sign of weakness. These critics of tolerance say it's practiced by those who don't have the courage of their convictions. At least in some cases, the critics are right. Sometimes, "tolerance" just excuses us from paying a price for what we believe-in which case what we believe doesn't mean much.

But when we're willing to pay a price for our convictions, tolerance shows itself as a quality of strength, not weakness. Almost all of us-liberal and conservative, supporters and opponents of the Iraq War-believe that the United States is, in some sense, a "city upon a hill", a beacon to the world. But this conviction, even in its liberal iteration, invites hatred from, for instance, Muslims, whose civilization was in fact the light of the world for hundreds of years (without the efforts of Muslim scholars to conserve the heritage of the ancient world, there would have been no Thomas Aquinas, no Dante Aligheri, just to name two). We should condemn and suppress the violent expression of this hatred. But we should tolerate its existence. It's a consequence of our deeply-held and shared belief in the mission of our nation among the community of nations. We should allow this hatred to shed light on our treasured convictions and even lead us to redefine them.

Martin Luther King condemned racism, but in another sense he tolerated it. He saw the mission of black America as the redemption of racist America, even the defining of a common ground with white racists. Imagine if we could do this with respect to the Arab and Muslim masses who are now burning flags and buildings. We are an angry and insecure people, and so are they. Were God to grant us the wisdom to explore this common ground, we might find our way to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a city upon a hill, and to a truer definition of tolerance as a virtue that demonstrates strength, not weakness.

Okay, back to the silliness. We celebrated Beech Tree Elementary School's 40th Birthday. Henry was only a little freaked out by the giant beaver (our mascot). Do you not love his Timberlands? Uncle John got them for Henry.