I like Facebook. I also find it annoying. But I don’t open my account looking for wisdom, so chances are it will escape me if I come across it.
A friend’s post almost did pass me by recently, but once it hit home I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
First, the context. Only minutes earlier I had been listening to CBC Radio on my way home from work when a news item started my stomach churning. An American state, North Dakota I think, was about to pass a law outlawing abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable. Before most woman realize they are pregnant, in other words.
But it isn’t abortion that is really on my mind right now. For the record, I am in favour of a women’s right to choose. Period.
Superimposed on a photograph on that Facebook post were 11 words that I think should be considered in every argument, discussion and debate we have about issues that involve public interest. The photo was a simple portrait of a stereotypical Jewish man — wire-rimmed glasses, untrimmed beard and black hat. On the photo were the words that haven’t left me since I first saw them.
“Can’t eat pork. Doesn’t try to make it illegal for everyone.”
That’s the message. “Doesn’t try to make it illegal for everyone.”
Let’s face it. Most divisive issues that face us today are coming at us as a result of the need for others to validate their own beliefs by imposing them on others. Forgive me if I go back to the abortion issue, but it’s a good example. The vast majority of people, for or against abortion, aren’t personally affected by whether they take place or not. I personally know only a small number of women whom I know to have had abortions. My life was not affected in even the slightest way by their decision. And it wouldn’t have been affected even in the slightest way had they chosen not to have abortions. My opinion of them as people wasn’t affected either.
And yet, if I am to believe the zealots on both sides of the issue, I am a bad person if I happen not to agree with them. Neither side leaves room for middle ground, so great is their need to have their beliefs validated. No abortions. Unfettered access to abortions.
And then along comes the photo of the Jewish man. “Can’t eat pork. Doesn’t try to make it illegal for everyone.”
I have long been fascinated by the Jewish faith, one that teaches believers that they are “the chosen people.” Okay, so maybe that belief can be dismissed as arrogance. But isn’t there something even a little comforting to know that there are people among us who are so confident in their beliefs that they don’t go door-to-door in their neighbourhoods, or into countries halfway around the world, to convert others? As I understand it, people not born into the faith can convert to Judaism, so it isn’t particularly exclusive. But conversion won’t be the result of other believers trying to save their own souls.
“To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them...”
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ ”
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
“We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
As a child in the ’60s, I grew up admiring Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy. I remember seeing Martin Luther King’s speech on the news. In school, we actually learned the plays of William Shakespeare. The above quotes, among others, helped shaped my thinking and how I viewed the world.
I’d like to leave my grandchildren with another quote to add to my favourites. “Can’t eat pork. Doesn’t try to make it illegal for everyone.”
Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.