What Really Matters

While I have been busy preparing for and attending my niece's wedding and my brother's anniversary party, things haven't changed much in the world. Hate and idiocy still abound.

There was the flap about Pat Robertson's suggestion that assassinating Venezuela's Hugo Chavez might not be such a bad thing. Then, predictably, came the hysterical reaction from the collective wailers and gnashers of teeth in our world. Who? Why, the haters of Christianity of course, the largely atheist liberal left and Islamic organizations like CAIR.

I don't have much use for Robertson personally. I am not qualified to state unequivocally whether he is a 'good' Christian or not. Does it really matter? He shouldn't have said what he said. How is it though, that while atheists can malign Christians at will and Muslims everywhere can rail about and blow up infidels (that's all of the rest of us, folks) with seeming impunity, no comment critical of Muslims or Islam is allowed. Robertson's comment included the accusation that Chavez was turning Venezuela into a "launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent," adding "if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it." Is there the same reaction from the left or by Islamic lobby groups when someone suggests that George W. Bush be retired with extreme prejudice? I don't think so.

Hate is bad, whether it comes from atheists, Christians or Muslims. Killing is bad, whether at the hands of John Smith or Abdul Aleem Mohammed. Hypocrisy, anyone?

At least Hurricane Katrina is politically and religiously neutral. My heart is with everyone who is dealing with this most recent savagery of nature.

My niece married on Saturday. Her parents, my brother and his wife, celebrated 25 years of marriage on Sunday. Much food was consumed. Many conversations took place. There were reminiscences of times both good and bad. All of us were all reminded of how quickly time goes by and how precious life is. Still, while we were joyful and grateful for our lives and relationships, many others, elsewhere, were fostering hate and bitterness.

Shame on them.