Christspeak, Rx

Many news organizations and bloggers love to condemn political leaders as liars, murderers, theives, adulterers... the list goes on. It is a grand example of being infected by the virus of politics. It seems to be the nature of competition in politics to excoriate leaders, often for transgressions most everyone of us commit on a frequent, or at least common basis.

Setting aside the news reporting of a transgression, why is it necessary to condemn a man or woman, for example, as a liar when something they believed to be true- and acted on- turned out not to be so? Worse, what kind of people, outside of politics, make it their mission to denounce and slander a political leader for even one transgression or blunder, intentional or not?

I came across this quote from CS Lewis, which seems appropriate for Christians who follow politics.

Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word we have said about them needs to be unsaid. But it does want us to hate them in the same way we hate things in our selves: being sorry the man should have done such things, and hoping, if it is any way possible, that somehow, sometime, somewhere, he can be cured and made human again.
Mere Christianity, Chapter 7- para. 6

My abstinence from politics and debate continues, and though I struggle mightily with my old habits and demons through many of these wet, wintry days, I can say -without reservation- that my forbearance remains blissful.

Last night I watched American Idol and - for the first time- one of the best movies of all time... A Man For All Seasons. It is the Oscar winning, (6 Oscars- best film of 1966, best actor- Paul Scofield , best director- Fred Zinnemann, best screenplay- Robert Bolt, best costume, best cinematography), portrayal of the character and demise of Sir Thomas More, considered in the legal community as the lawyer of the millenium.

Often when I watch a film of such renown, I am so absorbed in the story it is hard for me grasp the value of key elements like costume and cinematography. The script is clever and deep, the kind of provoking dialouge that makes you feel privileged to have heard. Though it was made in 1966, it has the authentic look and feel I notice in modern historic films, which, I suppose, is what they meant by best cinematography. The costumes were remarkable and certainly worthy of their award.

A Man For All Seasons did not make my top 100 list, I'd never seen it when I created it, but it should be on everyone's list. It is colorful, entertaining, intriguing, and engaging. Best of all, in the end, this film inspired me.