It’s a cold day in %&$^
By By Beth Chapman, Guest Columnist
It is a cold day in, well, you know where. My youngest son once referred to it as “H -E double hockey sticks.” Growing up in L.A. (not Los Angeles, Lower Alabama), I have heard that expression all of my life. But one day last month it happened. It really, honestly happened. It froze over.
So when did it happen? Why did it happen? What was so powerful that it could have possibly precipitated such a phenomenon?
Keep in mind that I am a Republican, but I was listening to the news and realized that Hillary Rodham Clinton had been terribly mistreated, discriminated against and would not be the Democrat nominee. I felt sorry for her. Then Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg authored an elections law decision with which I actually agreed. I was so proud of her I rejoiced. Then, if that wasn’t enough, along came the seriously sad news that Senator Ted Kennedy had a brain tumor. My heart sincerely ached for him and for his family.
While I share these near impossibilities with you, that day my friend was the day H*## froze over. What I never thought was possible became possible and it was sincere. This is all written tongue in cheek so to speak, so please read further.
My opposite views from the three people mentioned above are as far away as the east is to the west. It is like the old Statler Brother’s song, “When the sun comes up in the West and lays its head down in the east, when they ordain Madeline O’Hare and she becomes a priest . . .”
Sometimes you just have to take a step back and see people for what they really are - not their label, not their life choices, unwise decisions, political preferences or even their areas of disagreement with yours.
You just have to see them as people, just like you and me. Only when you do can you begin to feel a Christian responsibility and a moral obligation to love everyone regardless of your differences.
No, in all actuality the deep, dark, hot place down below us has not frozen over yet, but I sure hope Jane Fonda, Castro and Osama Bin Laden stay out of the public eye for a while.
I wouldn’t want to risk the chance of tarnishing the good track record of near impossibilities I’ve got going for me right now.
