“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”It will be a short lesson today, children, as the point that I want to make is either self-evident or one that you will never understand.
Matthew 7:6 (KJV)
Discussion overheard at a coffee shop this week:
Person 1: “…no fair. I told you which of your party’s candidates I would vote for.”It went on a lot longer than that, and I may have edited for content (it is amazing how many f-bombs the religious right can drop when they get passionate) and length. But if you want to argue my editorial rights, feel free. So, what is the point that I am trying to make!? Simple: having such a vociferous argument at a crowded Starbucks is just plain rude! You're not in a pulpit, you're in public!
Person 2: “But on your side of the election my choices are limited to a racist, an evil Canadian, and an unknown who has no chance of being nominated.”
Person 1: “I’ll give you that Trump says a lot of racist things, and that Kasich is unlikely to be nominated. I’ll even cede that you don’t agree with Cruz’ ideology, but Evil!?”
Person 2: “He wants to take healthcare away from millions of Americans, he thinks women have no rights to abortion under any circumstances, his thinking is medieval, and wants to shut down immigration to the US by Muslims AND monitor the movements and neighborhoods of those already here.”
Person 1: “That’s not evil. He has religious convictions how is that evil?”
Person 2: “He wants to establish a theocracy.”
Person 1: “No he doesn’t he is trying to prevent this country from being run by Muslims. They want us to enforce Sharia Law. That’s evil. None of us want that.”
Person 2: “Muslims might…”
Person 1: “That’s the point. It’s their religion. Christianity is our religion.”
Person 2: “I’m Jewish. America is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. Yet Cruz wants to enforce his religious views as law. THAT is evil by your own definition.”
Why am I not turning this into an in your face moral lesson? What good would it do? As Heinlein put it so eloquently in Time Enough For Love:
“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”Wherever you are today, I hope you learned your lesson and moderate your volume level at in public.
Robert A Heinlein
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