Miriam, just one of the problems of ‘going public’. Richard
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 1, 2018, at 7:10 PM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm not sure why this was posted or what Peter thought that our response
might be, but I was rather disturbed by this portion of the interpretation
of the biblical quote.
The scene is historically rich and theologically complex. Its richness
comes in the realization that the first recorded instance in which Jesus is
referred to publicly as being divine comes out of the mouth of a blind man.
The complexity is the fulfillment of Jesus' own prophecy, as well as the
resolution of His natural human impatience with His disciples' haughtiness
as they recognize for the first time that the truth will not come
exclusively out of their mouths or even the mouths of the well-tutored but
often will come out of the mouths of babes, so to speak.
So what this is saying is that the blind are akin to "babes" or "the
untutored". I know that isn't the point of the piece and maybe after 81
years, I should stop taking this sort of thing personally. But I'm really
tired of receiving this message day after day and having to continually
fortify myself against it.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of peter altschul
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2018 7:31 PM
To: Blind Democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Presidential Vision and Self-Restraint
Presidential Vision and Self-Restraint
Judge Andrew Napolitano Nov 01, 2018 12:01 AM Townhall.com
I was sitting at Mass last Sunday in a cavernous Catholic church on
Manhattan's Upper West Side near Lincoln Center, praying and thinking about
the horrible events in America last week.
A white supremacist who lived in a truck covered with images of Donald
Trump and his political adversaries terrorized the neighborhood in which I
live and much of the country by sending pipe bombs to former presidents and
other prominent Democrats and to CNN through the Postal Service. A virulent
hater of foreign-born people and Jewish people killed 11 innocent Jewish
worshippers using a lawfully owned semiautomatic rifle in a Pittsburgh
synagogue.
And the president of the United States lamented publicly that these events
might serve to halt what he called momentum toward Republican candidates in
the nationwide voting next week because the news media - of which I am a
tiny part - might dwell on these human tragedies and thus not pay sufficient
attention to him and his message between now and Election Day.
These events shook me deeply, as they did many Americans. Yet as the Mass
on Sunday proceeded, the Gospel reading brought me some small understanding.
A blind beggar named Bartimaeus learns that Jesus is about to walk near
him, so he shouts over the noise of the crowd surrounding Him: "Jesus, son
of David, have pity on me." When no one responds, he shouts it again - and
then again and again, until eventually Jesus hears him and shouts back,
"What do you want of me?"
Bartimaeus replies: "O Lord, that I might see." Jesus responds by restoring
the blind man's sight.
The scene is historically rich and theologically complex. Its richness
comes in the realization that the first recorded instance in which Jesus is
referred to publicly as being divine comes out of the mouth of a blind man.
The complexity is the fulfillment of Jesus' own prophecy, as well as the
resolution of His natural human impatience with His disciples' haughtiness
as they recognize for the first time that the truth will not come
exclusively out of their mouths or even the mouths of the well-tutored but
often will come out of the mouths of babes, so to speak.
This biblical scene is a metaphor for our own age. Most of us can see
with our eyes (we have the gift of biological sight), but we lack full
understanding - the mental ability to "see" into the hearts and minds of
evil ones around us.
The world is not so happily arranged that our understanding can discern the
evil in people who choose darkness over light - hence the need for
leadership that liberates and heals rather than stifle and wound.
President Trump - like all his modern predecessors - has a buIly pulpit
available to him. He has the means through which to mold the hearts and
minds of people to do good and to avoid evil, and he has the means through
which, as well, to intimidate them into fear of challenging him.
And that bully pulpit must be exercised within the confines of the
Constitution, because it - and it alone - is both the source of and the
restraint on presidential power.
Should tragedies of terror and horror be exploited for political purposes?
Should presidents lament unforeseeable fear and bloodshed because they
divert our eyes and ears from the presidential political message or because
real innocent human beings have suffered horrifically and irreversibly and
those who have survived yearn for the balm that only a true leader who has
genuine empathetic understanding can bring? Should the president's bully
pulpit be used to divide and polarize or to unify and uplift?
If you are reading this column in the ordinary way, you already have the
gift that Bartimaeus begged for and received. Yet each of us is a
modern-day Bartimaeus - seeking that other sight, the one we call
understanding. We hope to see it and its cousins - self-restraint and human
compassion - in the presidential heart.
I do not see them in this president.
They are not there when Democrats - of whom I have never been one - are
branded as evildoers. They are not there when the often articulate words of
public presidential critics - of which I am not usually one - are
characterized as fake or treasonous or even the enemy of the people.
They are not there when this president appears to see every tragedy and
embrace every event in terms of himself and his short-term political needs
rather than defend the Constitution, which he has sworn to uphold. They are
not there when he claims he can amend the Constitution on his own and deny
birthright citizenship to babies born in America to undocumented parents.
And they are not there when large and deep segments of the American populace
are presidentially ridiculed and alienated rather than embraced and invited
in.
What to do about this? The Donald Trump I have known personally for 30
years is warm, gregarious and bighearted. The Donald Trump I have seen this
election season is angry, reckless and lacking in understanding.
His words have given comfort to the worst among us.
To be a successful president, he needs externally what he lacks internally
- restraint. Restraint produces introspection and understanding and respect
for the opinions of those who disagree.
In our constitutional system, exterior restraint on the president can come
only from Congress. That means that Democrats - with whom I agree on next
to nothing - if they win the House of Representatives, may actually save
Donald Trump from himself because he will be constitutionally compelled to
respect and understand and work with them.
A politically divided federal government is often frustrating and slow.
Neither side gets all it wants. But like the persistence of the sightless
beggar Bartimaeus, a divided federal government just might produce more
understanding for more people
- and perhaps some presidential self-restraint - and then the binding of
many wounds.
