Forgetting Who We Are

I love Disneyland.  I also love Disney World.  But of the two resorts, I think Disneyland by far delivers the better “bang for the buck.”  I have a whole host of reasons for my preference, and if you ask me, I’ll be happy to inundate you with them.  I have a son-in-law who prefers Disney World to Disneyland.  I think the world of him (no pun intended—not really), but I don’t agree with him.  In fact, I strongly disagree with him.  But even though we differ STRONGLY on this extremely VITAL issue, we can discuss it without coming to blows.  (Shooting NERF darts at each other is still perfectly acceptable.  Take that, you silly Disney World preferrer/English kuh-nig-get!)

While on one of my MANY pilgrimages to Disneyland, we rode on the Silly Symphony Swings (ne Orange Zinger) at Disney’s California Adventure.  It’s not a popular attraction.  In fact, on that occasion, we were the ONLY riders.  As soon as we were securely in our swings, a cast member approached me.  I thought he was coming to check on my safety bar—and perhaps that was one of his purposes—but the most important reason surprised me.

“Who is the best captain?”

Now, I am a pretty perceptive guy—stop laughing, Cindy—seriously, quit it—you’ll strain something—but I stared at the cast member as if I were Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land and he were a quadratic equation.  Apparently sensing my incomprehension, he pointed to my t-shirt.  The shirt in question had an image of Mr. Spock making Vulcan salutes with both hands and a caption which read, “Trek yourself before you wreck yourself.”

And understanding unfolded in my mind like Chernobog awaking on Bald Mountain.  (Okay, that image is a little dark, but I’m a horror writer after all, and I’m trying to stick to Disney references… for the moment…)  So I responded, “Kirk.  Although, lately, I am leaning a bit toward Archer.”  (Remember, this was a Star Trek question, not a Disney question.)

He smiled.  “Good answer.”  Then he handed me a fistful of Fastpasses for any ride in either park.

As the ride started up, I thought to myself, Good thing he wasn’t a Picard fan.

However, even if he had been a fan of Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I had known him to be so pathetically deluded, I would not have changed my answer—not even for Fastpasses.

Captain James T. Kirk is FAR superior to Picard—for a host of reasons that I won’t go into right now.  And perhaps, Jonathan Archer may be superior to both.  (Benjamin Lafayette Sisko and Kathryn Janeway don’t even RATE in this particular discussion, and if you don’t get those references, you are most definitely geek-challenged, and I pity you.)  Let it suffice to say that I have my reasons, my own deeply held beliefs on this matter.  And if you are of a different (i.e., WRONG) persuasion on this essential point, I will enthusiastically debate with you if you like.  I doubt I will convince you, and you will NOT convince me, but I’m certain there are good points to be made on either side.

Now, if you want to debate on Kirk vs. Archer, there is a possibility of me changing my mind, because my views on this life-altering topic have matured over the decades.  (But you will never turn me to the Picard-side.  Ooh, that almost sounds like a Star Wars reference…) Now, if you want to compare Kirk or Archer to Captain John J. Sheridan, well that is a debate for another time (and Sheridan wins hands-down).

And if we were to get into such a debate, I would not resort to name-calling or accusations of lying or spreading false or misleading information.  I would not call you a traitor or an immoral person.  I wouldn’t call you hateful or bigoted.  I would not accuse you of aiding or even unintentionally abetting the destruction of the universe.  I would recognize that you simply have a different opinion (however delusional it might be), and we can and should still be friends.  Why then, when it comes to politics, do otherwise loving, Christian people, resort to name-calling and nasty accusations?  I have been accused of ALL the above and worse.

Why? Because I have a different opinion?  Please.  If you don’t know my character, who are you to sit in judgement on me?  If you DO know my character, why am I suddenly such an odious villain?  Why do you accuse me of things that should get me kicked out of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and have me tried for my membership in the Church?  (Think I’m being dramatic?  I’m not.  Not all such accusations are made in public.)

Oh, but the question of best starship captain pales in comparison to the future of our country.  I get it.  You have your reasons for supporting your candidate.  SO DO I.  You are passionate about your reasons for supporting your chosen candidate.  SO AM I.  And my reasons are probably very similar to yours in many, many ways.  However, I see a different path to saving our beloved country.

I laid my life on the line many, many times to protect this nation that I love so dearly.  I would die to save her and to protect the Constitutional principles I so passionately espouse.  I believe we stand on a very dangerous precipice and I refuse to go over that cliff with anyone else.   But that is my dearly, strongly, zealously held opinion.  I am as much entitled to my opinion as you are to yours.  I will fight and die for your right to vehemently disagree with me.

So, please, stop with the very personal attacks on my character and on the character of those who disagree with you.  It seems as if some people put on a digital mask of semi-anonymity and allow their personal Mr. Hyde to emerge when they are online, saying things they would never say in church or to my face.  And if you are of the same persuasion as I, be doubly sure you do not return in kind.  Don’t return railing for railing.  Turn the other cheek.  Go with him twain.  Stand firm in your principles, but don’t resort to the very tactics you despise.  As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

So just for the record, I am not a liar, a gossip-monger, a traitor, or an immoral person.  I am not hateful.  I am not bigoted.  I seek the preservation of the Constitution and our beloved country as much as you do.  And YOU probably KNOW that already.  Election season (or any debate about any issue) is not an excuse to forget who we are and He whom we are all striving to emulate, each in our own imperfect way.

So even if I disagree with you, I still love you and respect you.

Even if you have gone over to the Picard-side.

And so I say, God bless America, because He is not done with us yet.