This past week has been very interesting in our home. For my non-facebook readers, my husband appeared on the Bill O'Reilly show on Monday and debated the existence of Hell with Bill himself. The aftermath of that show has brought interesting moments of sadness, anger, joy and surprise. Almost immediately after the show aired, Jack's email began to fill with notes of outrage, urges to become saved, warnings of "heretical behavior", accusations of being "the face of evil", and my favorite - revelations of "I can tell you are a gay man looking for a loophole". Uh-oh, that was news to me!
I am currently reading Jane Smiley's The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. Lidie has moved to the west with other settlers to develop Kansas territory. She and her husband are arguing about how to conduct themselves and whether they should acknowledge that they are abolitionists or just try to "get along with everyone else". Lidie is scared that she and her husband will be killed and is urging him to just get along. This is part of her speech,
"Husband, you are in the West now, not in Boston. Don't you realize the westerners hate abolitionists? Abolitionists are people who...who...who keep turning over rocks and making everyone else look at what's under there or, worse, smell it and touch it. Abolitionists won't let anyone alone. Westerners hate that."
This is what my husband does, he keeps turning over rocks and urging us to look under them, touch it, smell it, so that then, we may not turn a blind eye. He will not let society alone. He will continue turning over rocks and championing those whose voices aren't heard until all rocks have been overturned. He is my hero. Thank you Jack, for continuing to turn over rocks with me and teaching me as we go.
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