Surprised. Not Surprised: Post-Mortem 2024

My memory about how and when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the United States is still as clear as if it happened yesterday. In late 2019 and early 2020, I had been reading about the virus in China, fretting about its potential migration to other countries and hopeful that migration to the U.S. was not inevitable.  But, on the eve of flying back to Washington in early 2020, the first COVID-19 case in the United States was announced on the national news.  Patient Zero was in Everett, Washington -- near SeaTac airport where I would land the following day.  

When I heard this, I felt everything in my life go still.  Still. Quiet.  Dark.  

As the United States reacted, as businesses and services of all kinds shut down, as people panicked, as face masks were optional, then required, then demonized -- I had no doubt in my mind that my fellow Christians would step up and do whatever was necessary to protect those around them from infection and the serious harm posed by COVID-19.  I assumed that I would return to church on Sunday after lockdowns were lifted and my fellow Christians would be gladly donning face masks without complaint.  I assumed that they would be more than happy to shine a light in a dark place and chose mask over freedom.  I assumed that wearing a face mask was a small inconvenience -- a minor irritation necessary  to protect the healthy from oppressive illness and the vulnerable from dying.   

The joke was on me, of course. Surprise!  Instead of observing my fellow churchgoers honoring the laws of the land (Romans 13:1-2), I saw pushback.  I saw hostility. I saw dismissiveness. I saw overt refusal to obey public health guidelines.  

Four years later, I am now shocked at myself rather than at my fellow Christians.  It is shocking to me that I was surprised by the results of the November 2024 election.  Really?  How could I possibly be surprised by the outcome?  How could I possibly think that things are different now, in 2024, compared to 2020 and 2016?

Many of my fellow Christians have dismissed or downplayed rape, felonies, assault, racism, xenophobia, and a vast array of hate-filled remarks to vote for the president-elect.  It's one thing to vote for that candidate's policies/positions on issues while admitting and admitting frequently that much of his behavior is anything but Christian. It's another thing entirely to gloat, boast, defend, or remain silent about the behaviors that have shocked America, and should be shocking Christians.  

Whether or not I am surprised or not surprised, I am sure to be dismissed as a demon-filled Democrat, even before anyone thinks to ask or care what my political party affiliation has been over my many decades of voting as an American citizen.   You might be Surprised.

​​​​​​​I so badly wish we could just choose love over anger, faith over frustration, humility over boasting, gratitude over greed, speaking out kindly over remaining silent -- and a myriad of other choices that could get us to a better place as a country without all this chaos, hostility, and divisiveness.      

Surprised. Not Surprised. 

Every day it's a Surprise to me which of the two will win out.

No Fruit, Minimal Fruit, Inconsistent Fruit, Spoiled Fruit = NO Vote

(This blog was written the day before Election Day 2024 and was edited several days after)

Except for my inner circle, I've kept largely quiet about the presidential campaign.   Too much anger. Too much chaos. Too much talking. Too many statements lacking facts and evidence. Too much bias. Too little listening.  And so on.   

I was relatively quiet until the day before the election when the extent of my speaking out ventured beyond my head but remained confined to this blog which should have made me feel a tad better, should have relieved some of my election angst (which as it turns out, was warranted), and be read by at most two persons who likely already know how I feel and what I'm thinking (still true).  

Oops! That was an impressive attempt at talking myself out of writing.  Unfortunately, without writing (and doing so abundantly), I will just succumb to the anger and divisiveness that the majority of voters appear to be indulging.  Trying again now...

My whole attitude can be summed up in two pictures.  While I expected a lot of fruit in the presidential campaign:

It appears a bunch of nuts emerged instead:

Some examples:

• Fruit:  "I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they voted for."
• Nut: "Any African American or Hispanic ... that votes for [the opposing candidate], you've got to have your head examined. They are really screwing you."

• Fruit: "Well, I'm not -- but I'm not finished. I'm not finished. May I finish -- may I finish responding, please?”
• Nut: Interviewer chronically interrupting [the candidate]

• Fruit: The opposing candidate does not understand women’s “agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives..."
• Nut: "Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not. I am going to protect them."

• Fruit: The opposing candidate  “is a fascist” because he has praised Adolf Hitler and put personal loyalty above the Constitution.
• Nut: The opposing candidate is “lazy as hell”, “slow”, a "stupid person", and has a “low IQ.” "Does she drink?  Is she on drugs?"

And last but not least, the closing comments of the two campaigns diverged about as much and as widely as I can imagine.   One candidate offered a democracy operating with grace, kindness, and on occasion, joy (her words, not mine).   The other candidate vowed to take revenge on anyone who defies him.  

In all these comments/statements and many, many more that I have heard over and over again in 2024, I've come to the conclusion that although I try to consider all the complex issues on the table without introducing my own bias, I am, after all, a simple-minded voter. Perhaps I also have a low IQ.  Perhaps not.  But with whatever IQ points I have to work with, I can confirm, without reservation, that any candidate who cannot at least try to exhibit the fruits of the spirit (kindness, patience, self-control, joy, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, peace, and love) and do so frequently and sincerely  -- can not have my vote, no matter how much I agree with that individual's stand on any issue. No fruit, no vote.

And, please don't misunderstand me.  I don't mean the use of the word "nut" to say or imply that one candidate is necessarily crazy, but the behavior often seems that way.  My amateur, untrained opinion is simply that something is amiss with one of our candidates (now President-elect). And no matter how much I might agree or disagree with his policies, goals, or strategies, I can't imagine that he will rise above what is fundamentally and essentially "amiss" to enact policy and provide leadership that is consistent with what any country truly needs from a President.  I want to be wrong on this.   

In the closing days of the election, the candidate (now President-elect) accused anyone voting for the opposing party or registered in that party of being possessed by demons.  I am indeed obsessed with and possessed by nine demons, all fruitful.   But to be sure that I am not truly possessed by demons of a more sinister nature, I have turned to prayer and scripture.   If I am wrong, I have fervently asked for eyes to see and ears to hear.   I ask God daily to redirect my mind and my heart if I have it let it run astray.  But, my mind and heart just keep coming back to the same point -- I just can't get away from those crazy fruits (Galatians 5: 22-23).  

Fruits are an essential part of the leadership diet.   Nuts are not.   

Vegetables?... well, that's another blog altogether.