Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

When I first sat down to write this week, I was all prepared to discuss the events of the day and most specifically the debate now taking place concerning the use, display and marketing of the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia better known as the Confederate flag displayed on the roof of the General Lee in the television show Dukes of Hazard. There are many in this country who are now calling for the complete eradication of this flag after a horrible and tragic church shooting by a white supremist in South Carolina.

Unfortunately what was once the symbol of a common bond that young men went to war under and shed their blood for and for years since has been a symbol of southern pride, has now turned into a symbol of struggle and Jim Crowe and bigotry which causes those who swear that they themselves have been wronged by society to demand its removal from this country.

There is another symbol that interestingly enough has become another of the “standards” of the white supremacy or “Skin-head” movement that was once used by a country where they were attached to flags that young men went to war under and shed blood for. This symbol, once used on many things including the famous Williams Farm silo north of Earlham, began as a native American symbol for prosperity and harvest, yet over time the swastika became associated with evil and hate and is rarely seen today.

We are asked to remove both because to some it makes them feel uneasy and they feel discriminated against because of the mere symbolic nature of them. It is hard for me to say that it is alright for one to wave a confederate flag and on the other hand say that all Nazi flags should be banned. Shouldn’t both be understood for what they were? The symbols of failed attempts and yet should be given proper cause to be used in conjunction with those men who lie in graves who fought valiantly below those flags. It is a very fine line to walk and even harder to attempt to make any kind of valid argument for or against their use.

While we were all mulling this over we awaken to learn that the supreme court has legalized gay marriage in this country. Now, I for one am not going to go into this again, so let me just say this. My place is not to judge, but the one who does judge will do so in His own time.

What bothers me the most about all of these issues is that for most of us they aren’t the things we spend the majority of our time dealing with. We want to go through life doing our own thing and living our lives, however the squeaky wheels who are using the court system and playing on the sympathies of people after tragedy to push their own agendas aren’t willing to give us the same respect that they seem to have been screaming about not having for so many years.

At what point did I give up the right to disagree with someone’s point of view? And when did disagreeing with someone suddenly become an offense against the law? I prayed for each life affected in the shooting in the Carolinas’ but those who stand up acting as though slavery was just abolished yesterday and that they themselves have been held in captivity never once stop to thank me for the efforts of my ancestors who shed their blood on battlefields to support and defend freedom of all men. As far as the “rainbow” community is concerned, what you do is your own choice, but at the same time you should also understand that it is my right to believe and do what I want. Just because I disagree doesn’t mean that I don’t have compassion for you, or that I am a bigot or homophobic. Simply I’m the Son of God who is waiting for him to come again. I just want to be able to be treated with the same respect that you feel that you have now earned.

Maybe just maybe if we tried to live our lives respecting each others differences instead of trying to tear them down and make them into something wrong we all might find that we get along much better in the end. See you next week…Remember, We’re all in this together.