Overheard at... Home

“When he heard the news on the radio he began to cry.”

A friend was over and we were discussing the Supreme Court decision about the Affordable Healthcare Act.
She said a colleague who was in a taxi at the time of the decision watched as the taxi driver began to cry. The taxi driver eventually explained that it was because he was so relieved he would have insurance for his
family.

At church yesterday our priest gave a fantastic homily in preparation for the 4th of July and in response to the second reading from Corinthians (2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15) -
As it is written:
Whoever had much did not have more,
and whoever had little did not have less.

On the back of our money, he pointed out, it reads – In God We Trust. After a brief history lesson about how it came to be there, he asked us what we thought that meant…. What trust as a nation in God would look like? Would it be where we are today… the anger and fighting and extreme hatred of others who hold a different view?

Our country was formed by dissent and challenge…. And 200+ years later there are still many things we disagree about. But the premise of democracy was a huge experiment in whether listening to all voices could lead to a nation that stood together, rather than fell apart.  

In the grand scheme of things we are a rather young nation. My daughter, who loves Egypt, can only barely conceptualize what it means for a nation to last for more than 3000 years. We are only 200 years in and the experiment continues. Will we be able to listen, with trust that God will help us to be just and fair? Or, will our need to personally control things lead to such bitterness that we will implode?

We may not all agree on the right way to keep our people healthy… and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact it
may even be horribly arrogant to think there is a right way at all.

In the end, whether the Supreme Court decision made each of us want to cry in relief or in anger – if we can
dialogue in peace, we will continue to live the dream of our founding fathers and show as a nation that In God we do
Trust.