You guys, I really want to run to the mountaintop and scream wildly with gleeful abandon about something. And since I can't do that, can I share it here? So you know that FB post I wrote? Calling out the hateful language some of my extended family have been using about Democrats and Obama?
My aunt Sharon, who is NOT someone who ever posts anti-Obama stuff, but who is a conservative fundamentalist missionary in Kenya (where she's lived since 1985), wrote me this in a private FB message:
Hello dear niece, I can understand your feelings on having to read the posts the evangelicals (whether family or friends) continually posted leading up to and right after our presidential election. I think most of the posts were unwise at the least and inflammatory at the worst.
In politics we should stick to policies though our faith and what we believe at the most basic level will always guide us as we vote. When it becomes so personal that we express ourselves in derogatory ways we show our lack of respect for others and their beliefs. We can respect someone without agreeing and if we do disagree we can do it in a constructive way. If I believe I am created in image of God then all the others are also in his image and deserve respect. Love you, Aunt Sharon
I just love my aunt Sharon so much. She mostly raised me, and despite our differences, this core of love unites us. I may be crying all day about her letters. She wrote another one after this, actually apologizing for "bigotry and zealotry" shown by others in our extended family.