Hitting the Glass

There are some things you just can't do. The other day I had gotten to the church building early and went into my office. I turned on my laptop and sat down as it was loading up. All of a sudden, I heard the loudest sound. It came from the front entry way.

I had no idea what it was. It sounded kind of like a rock or large object being thrown against the front glass doors. When I got to the front doors nothing was there. No glass was broken. But just outside the door on the ground lay a Robin.

Apparently this bird thought he could fly full-speed into our entry way but was abruptly stopped by the glass wall.

This past week, there was a whole lot of hub-bub over Don Imus and his remarks about the women's basketball team at Rutgers University. All of it ultimately resulted in MSNBC dropping the broadcast of his radio show and then CBS followed suit and dropped him altogether.

Some of the loudest voices calling for his resignation were the "Reverend" Al Sharpton and the "Reverend" Jesse Jackson. Two of the most reputable and integrous men in America...NOT.

I found it kind of funny when I thought about it. Their credibility is about as abrupt as that Robin running into the glass. On the outside, it appears they can ask for Don Imus' resignation...but reality is a hard, impenetrable force. And a closer examination would show that both those "men" (Sharpton and Jackson) have no footing whatsoever.

They are as racist or even more so than the worst that Don Imus could dish out on a bad day. And you need to know, that I am no Don Imus fan. What Imus did was wrong and stupid. I just find it humorous that it drew out some of society's biggest hypocrites.

And an even closer examination would show that I really don't even have that much credibility on the issue of race. I have harbored racist thoughts in my heart many, many times. I have commented on the way someone walks and made assumptions about that person because of the color of their skin.

I have had bad things happen to me by someone of another race and felt quite justified in my superior attitudes because I am not like one of "them." I think there haven't been many races that I haven't had something against at one point or another.

I have disliked blacks and Mexicans and Jews and orientals and Europeans...and even here in Des Moines, I have had opportunities to harbor racist feelings against Bosnians (Des Moines is home to many Bosnian immigrants). So I am an equal opportunity racist, I guess.

I am no different than Don Imus. I may not have had a microphone as big as his. But I have felt and thought things about other human beings that is just as reprehensible as what he said. I guess I am just like Jackson and Sharpton too because I am a hypocrite too.

I wish that I would begin to see people like Christ does...his children in need of a lasting relationship with him.