I’m sending this week’s column to press while voting is still under way in the U.S. presidential election. But the identity of the winning candidate is secondary to what I have to say.
My concern here is over ways things could go following the vote. Cheers or tears? Celebration or humiliation? Reconciliation or alienation?
What I’ve witnessed in the prelude to the election has left me less than optimistic. Will truth and humility be sacrificed at the altar of falsehood and ego? Will losers cry out for revenge on victors? Will civil unrest replace peaceful partying? Such possibilities reveal a poverty of spirit: the triumph of self-interest over the common good.
Is there a better way? Absolutely! And I’m basing my answer on a passage of sacred wisdom originally addressed to a first-century church plagued by rivalries, jealousies and divisions.
But I’ll let you decide for yourselves on its relevance for today. Have a look at Chapter 13 of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.
© 2020 Warren Harbeck
