Longing for Beauty

Longing for Beauty

I woke up this morning longing for beauty. I have been surrounded by a political world that specializes in ugliness, in vindictiveness, in violence for long enough. The gross language, the trashing of people, the petty power plays, the war mongering, the corruption, the lying, the destruction of democracy to advance the obscene fortunes of a few, it all must change. It is fouling the air we breathe. Literally and figuratively. We need loveliness.

I came down with a virus a few days ago that stopped me in my tracks and gave me time to think because I was too sick and tired to do anything else. It was then that I realized that I was soul sick as well as physically sick. It was then that I knew that the ugliness had gotten to me. I need beauty.

I am sick of politics and economics that gamble with life as if it was disposable. Sick and tired of a President who says he is, acts as if he is, and whose minions treat him as if he is the most powerful men in the world who can do anything he wants and is above the law. Though a few other autocratic heads of government seem to hold some cards.

What I am longing for is the beauty of morality and human caring, of plain, simple morality that does not accept corruption as normal, that values human life and human dignity and treasures integrity, that knows what justice is. I want to believe; I do believe that love and law that saves life matters. I am not naïve. I am awake to the cost of amoral and immoral behavior.

I am feeling a soul sickness in myself and our society. The time when we could pretend that what is going on in government and the billionaire class is an entertaining drama is over. The drama is dangerous. This is real life. The cast of characters in leadership who look so perfect on the outside and whose insides are in distress are real people not characters in a show.

I am beginning to find the Press reporting or displaying how those people look and what they wear, and how they move totally insulting to our intelligence. Though I did like the Vice-President’s wife’s white dress in the family photo after the birth of their fourth child, quite nice. Though the birth of their healthy baby boy seemed more important.

And frankly, I don’t care if our President fell asleep at a funeral. He did have a busy day. But I do care how many people have been killed by his bombing of Iran. No one is reporting on that. I care about how many lives have been destroyed by being illegally detained though they are legal immigrants. I care about those who no longer have health care. The list goes on.

As a Christian, I want the Press to acknowledge that there exists in our nation a Christianity that is not on board with the racist, sexist, homophobic, militaristic, supremacist, classist turn our government has taken. Even if Diversity Equite and Inclusion is not allowed to be pursued in our culture, it is still supported and advocated in most mainstream churches. Christianity can be life giving and beautiful.

Well, so much for my longing for beauty. I have spent this whole essay on my grievances. But like my virus, I need those grievances out of my system so I can be well. The ugliness has to go.

We know that many people are finding ways to be well, do good, and see and be beauty in the world, and they find those ways even when they are dealing with very difficult challenges in their own lives. They care about the state of society and the world. Resistance to evil is strong. We just need to get the virus that is making us sick out of our corporate body.

Let’s pursue beauty in all of its forms. And out of beauty hope will emerge.