Humanness revisited
I was driving back from an appointment in Pittsburgh today listening to a rebroadcast of the September 10, 2017 interview of Hilary Clinton with “Sunday Morning” anchor Jane Pauley. There is much that I admire about Mrs. Clinton or anyone who has the courage and the stamina to open themselves and all they say and do to the scrutiny of the public. It is enough that I publish a daily blog for an audience which is miniscule compared to that of a presidential candidate or any other politician. Anytime anyone says that they have read my blog, I hold my breath wondering if I will again be forced to defend or apologize for something I wrote or for something someone inferred from what they thought I implied.
I certainly do not think badly of Mrs. Clinton for having said or done some things during the presidential campaign which may have been more lovingly, succinctly and empathically expressed.
For example, Mrs. Paulely asked Mrs. Clinton about her comment that
“You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.”
During the conversation with Ms. Pauley the only concession that Mrs. Clinton seems to make is “I am sorry I gave him a political gift of any kind.” She does not directly apologize for calling one half of Trump’s supporters deplorables. She does go on to say that she “thought Trump was behaving in a deplorable manner. I thought a lot of his appeals to voters were deplorable.”
She also seems, during this interview, to continue to downplay her deception about her use of a personal email account. She does say that the use of the personal account was one of her biggest mistakes. Yet, it is difficult to determine from what she says whether she regrets not being more forthright about the emails after it was first raised or she regrets others found out she was dishonest.
I do not think that Mrs. Clinton is noticeably different that President Trump, many other politicians or the rest of us. We all seem to find it difficult to admit that we have made many mistakes and often do not seem:
“… heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.” (Catholic prayer of contrition)
If a political person such as a recent president dares to suggest that perhaps the United States as a country has made some serious errors of judgment and behavior, they are criticized as being disloyal or un-American.
I am very sad that many seem willing to overlook and/or tolerate some of the mean and unkind things which our current President as said. I am very sad that he seems to be able to divide people into the good and deserving people and the bad and undeserving people (my paraphrase). I am equally sad that Mrs. Clinton seems to be able to view a segment of people who are in pain – who want to be counted as deserving – as deplorables. I do not think that they are deplorable any more than I think Hilary or Donald are deplorable. I do think that they mirror they difficulty many, if not most of we humans, have in saying we are sorry – that we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep.
Although my experience of some religious leaders has left me feeling as if I am such a bad person – such a terrible sinner – that I am undeserving of love – my understanding is that most religious or spiritual philosophies teach that we are only free to move toward being our best when we admit we made a mistake or have been hurtful to ourselves or others. I do not believe that it is beneficial to obsess about our propensity to make mistakes, but I do think that there is freedom from being accountable – from saying: “I was wrong or bad or inappropriate. I am sorry. I am going to do my best not to repeat that behavior. Let’s now move on.”
Apparently, we all need to model contrition in hopes that even our politicians can be more accepting of their own humanness – of their own vulnerability – of their mistakes. Albert Einstein is often credited as saying: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Perhaps it would behoove each of use to ponder this possible truth. Perhaps even our esteemed political “leaders” could ponder this possible truth.
Written September 11, 2017
I was driving back from an appointment in Pittsburgh today listening to a rebroadcast of the September 10, 2017 interview of Hilary Clinton with “Sunday Morning” anchor Jane Pauley. There is much that I admire about Mrs. Clinton or anyone who has the courage and the stamina to open themselves and all they say and do to the scrutiny of the public. It is enough that I publish a daily blog for an audience which is miniscule compared to that of a presidential candidate or any other politician. Anytime anyone says that they have read my blog, I hold my breath wondering if I will again be forced to defend or apologize for something I wrote or for something someone inferred from what they thought I implied.
I certainly do not think badly of Mrs. Clinton for having said or done some things during the presidential campaign which may have been more lovingly, succinctly and empathically expressed.
For example, Mrs. Paulely asked Mrs. Clinton about her comment that
“You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.”
During the conversation with Ms. Pauley the only concession that Mrs. Clinton seems to make is “I am sorry I gave him a political gift of any kind.” She does not directly apologize for calling one half of Trump’s supporters deplorables. She does go on to say that she “thought Trump was behaving in a deplorable manner. I thought a lot of his appeals to voters were deplorable.”
She also seems, during this interview, to continue to downplay her deception about her use of a personal email account. She does say that the use of the personal account was one of her biggest mistakes. Yet, it is difficult to determine from what she says whether she regrets not being more forthright about the emails after it was first raised or she regrets others found out she was dishonest.
I do not think that Mrs. Clinton is noticeably different that President Trump, many other politicians or the rest of us. We all seem to find it difficult to admit that we have made many mistakes and often do not seem:
“… heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.” (Catholic prayer of contrition)
If a political person such as a recent president dares to suggest that perhaps the United States as a country has made some serious errors of judgment and behavior, they are criticized as being disloyal or un-American.
I am very sad that many seem willing to overlook and/or tolerate some of the mean and unkind things which our current President as said. I am very sad that he seems to be able to divide people into the good and deserving people and the bad and undeserving people (my paraphrase). I am equally sad that Mrs. Clinton seems to be able to view a segment of people who are in pain – who want to be counted as deserving – as deplorables. I do not think that they are deplorable any more than I think Hilary or Donald are deplorable. I do think that they mirror they difficulty many, if not most of we humans, have in saying we are sorry – that we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep.
Although my experience of some religious leaders has left me feeling as if I am such a bad person – such a terrible sinner – that I am undeserving of love – my understanding is that most religious or spiritual philosophies teach that we are only free to move toward being our best when we admit we made a mistake or have been hurtful to ourselves or others. I do not believe that it is beneficial to obsess about our propensity to make mistakes, but I do think that there is freedom from being accountable – from saying: “I was wrong or bad or inappropriate. I am sorry. I am going to do my best not to repeat that behavior. Let’s now move on.”
Apparently, we all need to model contrition in hopes that even our politicians can be more accepting of their own humanness – of their own vulnerability – of their mistakes. Albert Einstein is often credited as saying: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Perhaps it would behoove each of use to ponder this possible truth. Perhaps even our esteemed political “leaders” could ponder this possible truth.
Written September 11, 2017
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