Month: April 2018

Tuesday I purchased a weed trimmer with a lawn edger attachment. Later, with shovel in hand, I was digging around where I knew the curb had last been seen, uncovering a few places in preparation to start edging the lawn. Lola, our friendly neighborhood chatterbox, wandered by and asked, “What’cha doin’?”

“I’m uncovering the edge of the lawn where it meets the sidewalk,” I told her.

“Why?” I knew the question was coming before she asked it. I paused briefly, wondering how what I was doing could make any sense to a 6-year-old.

“To make it look prettier,” I answered.

“Did Kay ask you to do this?” (The neighbor kids call my wife “Kay”. It’s easier to pronounce than Kiyoko.)

“No,” I replied absently. “I just decided to myself”. Then I asked, “Don’t you like things to look prettier?”

“I like things just the way they are,” she stated matter-of-factly. Then she hurried off.

I looked at my yard.

We live on a corner lot with lots of edges where sidewalk meets lawn. As far as I can remember, I have not edged my lawn in the 15 plus years I have lived here. No one has ever complained about the overgrowth along the curbs. Now I had just spent $200 on fancy trimming equipment and face hours of work to make it all look “pretty”, and with a single simple statement, a child has just given me pause to wonder why am I doing this.

My thoughts turned to all the time, money, and energy we spend on making our yards, our homes, and ourselves look pretty. I wondered what the rest of the world thinks of Americans. When they see our lifestyles in articles and movies, on YouTube and the internet, how does all this come across to outsiders? Do they see selfishness and conceit? Recalling the animated movie, The Breadwinner, gave perspective to my thoughts. When outsiders see our privileged lives and then witness our petty quarrels over inconsequential things, is it any wonder there is increasing anger and resentment of what some call “white privilege”?

I looked down at the grass hanging over the curb. I determined to finish the job I started, and don’t intend to feel guilty about improving the appearance of my yard. But I hope to do it with a better perspective of gratitude for my blessed circumstances. I hope that I will recognize and embrace the opportunities to serve when and where I can to contribute to making this world a better place. It needs it.

This is relatively old news by now, but if you are unfamiliar with Lindsay Shepherd and the episode at Wilfrid Laurier University, you may want to read up on it to better grasp the context of my remarks in this post.

She recorded an interview that went viral that you can listen to here. A few months after this Lindsay recorded this short video (below) stating “what I want to get across is that I, in no way, want to be associated with what the left has become.”

Goodbye to the Left – Lindsay Shepherd

At about the 1:22 mark she begins making a list of what defines a “Leftist”.
They are pro censorship.
They are victimhood culture.
They are all about moral righteousness.
They’re taught that claiming to be offended results in a moral victory. There’s a victimhood mentality.
They don’t believe in personal responsibility.
They are completely intolerant of diversity of thought.
They are humorless people. They want to make society boring, and they want to make it so that no one can do so much as make a joke.
If you are not on their side one hundred percent they will slander you mercilessly.

As I listened to this list I thought how each of these accusations could just as easily apply to the “Right”.

I believe the focus on “Left” or “Right” misses the real point. Labels tend to categorize and thereby create division, putting people in classes of “us” vs “them”. The polarization itself is the real enemy. When the name calling begins, no matter what side of the invisible fence you think you are sitting, intelligent and open discussion is closed.

We must allow people to say things we disapprove of, disagree with, resent and wish were never said. Tolerance has no meaning if we only permit things we like to be done, said or thought. The meaning of “tolerance” is to permit what I absolutely disagree with to be “tolerated.” I don’t have to love it, nor do I have to approve it. I only need to “tolerate” it.

I appreciate Lindsay’s remark at the 3:20 mark: “I want to talk about those ideas neutrally. I don’t have an agenda to push when it comes to that”

This, I would agree, is a healthy position to take.