News flash: Trending:

“a human being was a complex mix of wonderful traits and achievements but also a frail, fallen person with some shameful aspects of their lives.”

Someone, please stop the presses! (insert eye roll emoji here).

Sorry to start with sarcasm, but I feel like this is something that all humans should be aware of.  There has only ever been one sinless human, and we killed Him.

What are we to do?  We are in the midst of several cultural revolutions simultaneously in the US, and to some degree, in the West.

One of them has to do with the changing of names of institutions, removing statues, honoring new people, taking down portraits, etc… based on some aspects of these people’s story that involves something we do not approve of… and want to make abundantly clear that we DO NOT approve of them.

This is still happening every day. Warnings, cancellations, firings, books removed… I am not saying that all of these are the same thing – they are not. I am equating one thing about them – we are trying to figure out how to communicate what we approve of and what we want people to know we do NOT approve of. Efforts have been made about a lot of things:

Today, March 3, 2021, it is publicized that in the crosshairs is Dr, Seuss... right after The Muppets.

Last week it was a research book about transgender issues.

A few weeks ago it was schools in San Francisco.

In the last few years, books, statues, street names, football teams and the list continues. Again, I am not saying these are the same things or motivated in the same ways. Some I agree with and some I don’t; some I sympathize with and some I am totally flummoxed by. I would never want to be that unsophisticated about something this hard. However, I don’t think we have a plan or a path.

So, how are we to navigate this kind of thing moving forward? 

Honestly, it is probably too late to make an adjustment to the trajectory. I think the intolerance of the new worldview storm may not be capable of actually trying to find a solution or willing to accept one. The ability to cancel is just too powerful a tool to settle with.

I know I am probably spitting in the wind, but I want to offer a way of thinking that may help us.  As a Christian leader and with training in people, I want to try to help us get through these waters.  

In my mind, we have a first decision to make:

Do we want to honor anyone at all?  It may just be too confusing, complex and divisive for our current culture to be able to honor anyone at all – past or present.

If we do, then I think we have to make this decision about people in the present and especially in the past:

Do we Remember them or Honor them?

Should this person go into the “Honor” file or the “Remember”  file?

I want to guide a conversation along this line. Can we honor anyone in the US anymore, or is everyone just too flawed? Can we at least remember the flawed ones and learn more about them, even if we do not honor them.

More coming on Monday in Part 2.