No Apologies

There was a bit of a scuffle on Facebook today after I posted a thought about the Bergdahl brouhaha. I suggested that a lot of people were taking strong positions based on what stance their favorite news sources were espousing. I have thought and thought about Bowe Bergdahl and what he may or may not have done and I have thought about the circumstances that now have him on U.S. soil; I have read a lot, and I still don't think I know enough to take a strong stance. Right now I'm inclined to trust the President and allow for the likelihood that there is far more to this story than the public is aware of.

My FB post yielded some comments and an email that suggested I was apparently a Liberal, and went on to say that this didn't seem to mesh with my role as a hospital chaplain.

I don't have any idea what to do with the second part of that other than to point out that a lot of intelligent people -- my seminary professors, some of them -- are fond of saying, "Jesus was a Liberal."

As to the first part, I am sorry that there was any doubt at all that led the writer to write "apparently," as though applying that label would bring some sort of shame. Because, most certainly, I am a Liberal.

For almost as long as I've had this blog, there have been two quotes either in the sidebar when I had one, or down at the bottom.  They're there because the resonate with my core values. They are almost as much a part of me as my dancing ladies.

One's from a fictional character:

“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things – every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing

The other is from a real person:

          "If, by a liberal, they mean someone who looks ahead, and not behind ...
          Someone who welcomes new ideas, without rigid reactions...
          Someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools,                 their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties...
          Someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us...
          If that is what they mean by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal." --John Fitzgerald Kennedy

I don't automatically subscribe to the Liberal viewpoint on everything. I think about the issue and decide for myself; more often than not, I find myself in the Liberal column. I respect that others have also considered the issues and come out in a different place; I have no interest in arguing viewpoints.

I believe in a woman's right to choose but I wish the death penalty would be outlawed. I think marriage equality has taken far too long to become a reality and that lack of gun control laws has given birth to way too many tragedies. 

And I believe that many Americans might wait a bit until more actual facts are known before rushing to judgment on Bowe Bergdahl and why and how he is no longer a prisoner.