REFLECTIONS BY THEOLOGIAN-ACTIVIST CHARLES BAYER

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Recovering

When I was in my early thirties I came down with a nasty infection that resulted in having my gall bladder surgically removed. I was hospitalized for almost a week. These days one goes home in a few hours following such a procedure.

As a pastor I have been with scores of people facing far more critical medical issues. Recovering from a serious heart attack may take months of rehab treatments, a disciplined exercise regime and a restrictive diet. Given enough time, most patients are eventually back to normal—or at least almost.

For many with lingering serious illnesses, however, there is a gradual depletion of energy. As I plow through the start of my tenth decade it is becoming increasingly clear that I will never recover the physical stamina I once enjoyed. My struggle is to hold on to what is left, realizing I am slowly losing the battle, and that everything is gradually grinding to a halt. As Bette Davis said: Old age is not for sissies.”

Then there are those who may be aware that remnants of the disease still inhibit their daily activities. The more devastating the attack, the more difficult the recovery. While the immediate crisis may have passed and life is slowly returning to normal, there may still lie dormant the bacteria or the virus that initially caused the onslaught. So while the disease may be held in abeyance, it may come roaring back at any moment.

The United States has recently recovered from the most devastating internal attack since the Civil War. The basis of our democracy, the right of the people to elect our leaders, was called into question by a one-man would-be dictator, whose vitriol poisoned the minds of millions of the nation’s citizens. America overcame the onslaught, using the vote of the people as the appropriate surgical remedy. Having believed we had thwarted the worst of the disease, we settled down assured we had conquered the beast. But we had not. It was not to be deterred by our reliance on the democratic remedy, and it erupted when the original instigator rallied thousands of his troops to attack the seat of our democracy, occupying and trashing the nation’s Capitol, including parading the Confederate battle flag through the building.

While we quickly regained our footing, having identified and arrested many of the fascist’s foot soldiers, we may not have rid our national body of the disease. It has only been held in abeyance. We do not know when and under what circumstances it will launch another attack. How can we prepare for that eventuality? It would be easier if the enemy were another nation or foreign ideology. But the disease is in our national bloodstream and even in the nation’s bones. Racism has not been eliminated by an election.

The leader of the insurrection may have been defeated in an election, impeached and exiled, but he has vowed to return. The Proud Boys are even now remobilizing under cover. Racism is not dead! Scores of other extreme white nationalists have not just gone away and disbanded. What is more, at root the disease still infects the American corpus. Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and the rest of Fox News continue to rally the white nationalists who are seeking avenues by which they plan to resume the attack on our democracy. Right wing talk shows still dominate the AM radio dial. What for some of us is most disturbing is the infection still generated under the banner of religion—right wing evangelicalism. “Christians” including Franklin Graham who has disgraced his father’s name, still rally the super-religious under the cross and a Bible held upside down outside a Washington church.

We must perpetually tend the fires of democracy, aware that the angry forces of a radical rightwing are ready to attack the moment we allow the conflagration of racism or super-nationalism to go unchallenged.

Mark these words often attributed to Thomas Jefferson:
“Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”

No comments:

Post a Comment