Let-downs

I’m writing this on the day before Presidents’ Day.  That’s the day where the president comes out of the White House, and if he sees his shadow we get six more weeks of winter.  Or something.

The way we view presidents, and all public officials, seems to have changed a lot since I was young.  Or maybe it’s me who’s changed, I don’t know.  But it seems like when I was a kid, we looked up to presidents.  Any president, of any party.  We looked up to senators and congressmen and governors, too, regardless of party.  It was not just that they were powerful, important people.  They were considered good people, public servants, people who were dedicated to doing their best to make the country great.  We knew they were human beings, and we disagreed with them sometimes, but we still all believed that they were good people who had the best interests of the country at heart.

Were they, really?  I don’t know.  Probably some were and probably some weren’t.  Probably pretty much like today, really.  But it seems like we don’t see them that way any more.  More and more, we assume the worst of public officials, rather than assuming the best.

I think one of the reasons our perception of them has changed, and the reason it changes as we get older, is that we’ve been let down too many times.  We put our faith and trust in politicians only to find that they weren’t worthy of that faith and trust.  And so, eventually, we start to assume that no politician is worthy of it.  And it does not just happen with politicians.  It can happen with anyone.  It can happen with friends and family members.  It can even be that we feel let down by the church.  And sometimes, after we’ve been let down enough times, we decide that we cannot trust anyone. 

That’s sad.  It’s a hard way to go through life, believing there’s no one we can trust.  We need each other.  We need to help each other.  We need to be there for each other.  But the only way we can do that is if we allow ourselves to take the risk of being let down.  The only way we can do that is if we take a chance and trust each other.

Everyone will let us down at some point, because we’re human.  But we still need to trust each other.  We still need to reach out to each other.  I know it’s hard when we feel we’ve been let down.  But we still need to try.  Because we’re all connected to each other.  We’re all brothers and sisters.  We’re all God’s children.

Give people another chance.  And give the church another chance, too.  We’re not perfect, but we really are trying to do our best.  If we’ve let you down, we ask for your forgiveness and we ask that you give us another chance.  No one can get through life alone, not happily, anyway.  We need to be there for each other.