WHAT IF...
What if our intemperate and irate Arizona alum baited a trap and we
fell into it just as he had planned all along . . .
What if his charges that we in NW Iowa live in an intolerant bubble
were proven at least partly right by our own intemperate and irate
response . . .
What if protest is really sometimes just as patriotic as flag-waving
compliance, especially if we really are going down a wrong path . . .
What if his black flag communicated mourning as well as protest, just
as did the black armbands of our MOC-Floyd Valley high school youth
after an election whose results they didn't like back in the
90's . . .
What if the task of respecting our flag and guarding the freedoms she
stands for is a task that requires the efforts of all of us, not just
our battle-scarred veterans . . .
What if American troops and occupiers are no longer viewed as
liberators in the Muslim world today as were the heroic liberators on
Normandy's bloody beaches in the Europe of WWII . . .
What if that Muslim world today sees American troops as yet another
wave of would-be "Christian crusaders" out to kill them and take
their land and resources, rightly or wrongly . . .
What if our bipartisan one-sided support for Israel and equally
bipartisan neglect of the need for justice for long-displaced
Palestinians has added insult to injury in the eyes of that Muslim
world, which is capable, yes, quite capable, of causing more
9/11's . . .
What if our bipartisan gunboat diplomacy really does create more
terrorists than it neutralizes or kills, miring us even more deeply
in a hole we are digging even deeper . . .
What if we have sometimes merged one national flag and Christ's non-
national cross in an unholy alliance not intended by the
Almighty . . .
What if our coins and bills would more accurately read "In arms we
trust" rather than "in God we trust" . . .
What if, after all this, we no longer have eyes open to seeing and
ears open to hearing because we have slammed shut the windows and
gates of our minds in our own intemperate reaction to the admittedly
intemperate words of one irate alum . . .
What if . . .
- Prof. Mike Yoder
fell into it just as he had planned all along . . .
What if his charges that we in NW Iowa live in an intolerant bubble
were proven at least partly right by our own intemperate and irate
response . . .
What if protest is really sometimes just as patriotic as flag-waving
compliance, especially if we really are going down a wrong path . . .
What if his black flag communicated mourning as well as protest, just
as did the black armbands of our MOC-Floyd Valley high school youth
after an election whose results they didn't like back in the
90's . . .
What if the task of respecting our flag and guarding the freedoms she
stands for is a task that requires the efforts of all of us, not just
our battle-scarred veterans . . .
What if American troops and occupiers are no longer viewed as
liberators in the Muslim world today as were the heroic liberators on
Normandy's bloody beaches in the Europe of WWII . . .
What if that Muslim world today sees American troops as yet another
wave of would-be "Christian crusaders" out to kill them and take
their land and resources, rightly or wrongly . . .
What if our bipartisan one-sided support for Israel and equally
bipartisan neglect of the need for justice for long-displaced
Palestinians has added insult to injury in the eyes of that Muslim
world, which is capable, yes, quite capable, of causing more
9/11's . . .
What if our bipartisan gunboat diplomacy really does create more
terrorists than it neutralizes or kills, miring us even more deeply
in a hole we are digging even deeper . . .
What if we have sometimes merged one national flag and Christ's non-
national cross in an unholy alliance not intended by the
Almighty . . .
What if our coins and bills would more accurately read "In arms we
trust" rather than "in God we trust" . . .
What if, after all this, we no longer have eyes open to seeing and
ears open to hearing because we have slammed shut the windows and
gates of our minds in our own intemperate reaction to the admittedly
intemperate words of one irate alum . . .
What if . . .
- Prof. Mike Yoder
posted by Rev. Dr. Karen Wacome at 9:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home