Jesus and the magic wand of bipartisanship

Tonight I caught part of the text rolling across the screen as images of Hillary Clinton played on the TV at my job. Here's what I caught.

"You can't just wave a magic wand and expect things to change. It doesn't happen like that. You can't just wish that things will get done and say some nice words and voila - ..." OK, so that isn't exactly what she said. I've heard her argument before. She is putting Obama and his minions in their place. It is Hillary's mantra "No You Can't".

Really, that's what it amounts to - She spouts reality, right? Be realistic. The status quo is here to stay. Nothing will change. You're just being naive to think that the American political scene can be any different. She squashes the movement of hope that believes Obama can change the political modus operandi in Washington.

Fools, you who believe. She seems to say - there is no hope for change. What is needed is not something new, just something louder, better, smarter, stronger. She says, forget about revolution. It can't be done. Just sign up for me - because I can do more of the same and get different results. That is one definition of insanity.

She reminds me of a parent grounding a misbehaving child for 2 weeks, then 2 months, then 2 years - pile it on - be strong, louder, you'll get what you know is best by playing the same game - only you'll do it MORE - work harder. For some reason what never worked before will work this time.

Don't get me wrong now, I'm going to say something which can easily be misunderstood. Obama rolls with Messianic words of a revolution. He sounds like Jesus, who entered onto the stage in a stalemate of religious-political factions. He realized the solution was not more of the same of any existing vein, but a new set of rules, a new way of understanding the situation, no new wine in old wine skins - this was a fundamentally different way of looking at things. This was revolution. Out with the status quo - in with hope, vision, and renewed spirits that say Yes, let it be so!

A teacher/mentor once told me that the key to working with difficult students is to take your sail out of their wind. In counseling theories, we talk about the need to step outside of systems, to do something different in order to disrupt the balance.

Our country does not need more of the same. It won't fix the problems we have created. We need something much more radical. We need a person who doesn't expect to come in and win the game, but who expects to come in and illuminate the futility of the game and offer an alternate activity.

This is redemption.

Sometimes Titus and I get locked into a power struggle. The more I push him, the more determined he is to maintain his strength - he cannot give in. And I want the power. I'm the mom after all. So I push harder. Talk louder. Make my nostrils flare. Flex my muscle and remind him who is boss. And he feels threatened and small and powerless. And, thank GOD, he does not back down. He gets louder too.

And then, in a moment of sanity, I make a joke. And he smiles. And I smile. And we laugh. And I tell him once again, why I need him to get into the shopping cart right now - or whatever the immediate need is at the time.

The point is that I had to take my sail out of his wind. I wanted power so badly. I wanted to be big and in control. I wanted him to know his place as child, small, dependent, powerless. Yet those aren't the assets I want him to develop. I want him to be confident, independent, strong, capable, cooperative, assertive, respectful.

So often the wrong means lead only to the wrong ends. We have the right end in mind - safe, healthy kids, a strong national educational system, religion that blesses and heals people. But we become embroiled in power struggles - we fight to maintain our turf and gain headway into new territory - the land of our enemy. Fighting and dominating are the means to get to the end. But the end result carries with it effects of our means to that end we seek. The unintended ends we now face.

Jesus, teach me peace. Teach me strength through weakness -