Civility is at an all-time low. . .

I have written about this topic before.  And I will likely write about it again. It’s really shameful and even embarrassing to read on line and in the news magazines, what the various political figures say about each other on a daily basis.  Whether it’s on the cable channels or the networks, the “news” is filled with the most recent venom that one party or one person has slung at another.  In some cases the so-called reporters are slinging the venom themselves.  And the American people, the men and women like you and I, are left in the lurch, wondering when our needs will be addressed.  If ever.

We elect our officials to represent us.  We have chosen them to do a job that’s in the best interests of the men and women they serve.  And they fight among themselves, instead; protecting their turf, jockeying to be in the right position to be reelected at the next election.  I have heard it said that every congressman or woman has to raise thousands of dollars daily if they want to be positioned to run again.

If that’s true, and I don’t doubt it, that’s criminal.  No wonder the work we elect them to do waits idly on their desks. They are doing what they consider to be the more pressing work of glad-handing potential donors and lobbyists, thus ensuring their own job security while the unemployment rate for the rest of us rises.  May I repeat: in my view this is criminal. Millions of Americans are hungry and praying for work, and the very people who could make a difference in their lives have created a stalemate in order to please the lobbyists.

I have never intended for this blog to be a political diatribe.  I am not representing either party and no one individual.  I think both parties and most of the elected officials are to blame for a situation that is abominable.

There are so many times that I wonder whether there is any thing any one of us can do, short of voting folks out of office.  That takes time, of course.  But the one thing that always comes to me is prayer.  We can do that right now and daily too.  Next, I realize that I may not be able to affect an immediate change in the big picture but I can offer the hand of hope and friendship to all those individuals in my immediate surroundings.

We are part of one another’s lives for a reason.  Lending a helping hand, even a small gesture of support, is a God-send to some one who is hurting.  Let’s all make an effort to ease the path of some one else today.  It will enhance “our path” too.