Those Who Make People Feel Guilty Should Feel Guilt

My father liked the painting of Jesus and his flock.  You probably have seen it somewhere in a home, a store, or a church.  It is the picture of Jesus holding a lamb in his arms and surrounding him is a flock of sheep.  One of those sheep is black.  I never noticed that black sheep until one day my father pointed to the picture of Jesus and the sheep and said to me, "See that black sheep?  That is me."  He was serious.  I don't know what I said to him.  I know I was filled with sorrow.  How could a man come to the idea that he was the black sheep in a painting?   Where did the idea come from that told him he was such a bad person he did not fit in with other people?   One was the teaching of the church he attended.  The church told him and told the entire congregation that everyone was "worms" and under the judgment of God for their evil doings.  Added to the church was the people in that church and their message to my father.  Their was an unspoken belief that if you were poor it meant you were lazy.  And more than being lazy if you were poor it meant that you were such a sinner that God did not bestow good fortune on you.  In other words because you are such a sinner God is punishing you with living in poverty.  My dad's family was poor.  He told me one time that the Christmas candy he got was the candy chips and powder left in the bottom of the box when all the whole candy was sold. 

It is not only the church that gives the message that someone is no good and lays the mantle of guilt on a person.  Listen closely to what the politicians are saying.  If I were a Hispanic and came here legally or was born here I would feel like I was a "wetback" and living off the tax dollars of others.  The same could be said if I were a Muslim, or Jew, and even I was in all seriousness called a "river jumper" because in eastern South Dakota many of the Dutch in western Iowa are buying the rich land in eastern South Dakota for their children. 

I have read enough e-mail forwards to know how many of those forwards are racist hate mongering drivel.  Too many people still think it is a crime to be poor, or homeless, to get public assistance for their children.   Mention food stamps or Wic which is for children and they would say, "Its not our problem we did not tell them to get pregnant.  They would deny food for children by God! 

I think we all need to look at ourselves and count our blessings because I have been blessed by the help of others who have made it possible for me to live in comfort.  I think we need to ask ourselves how perfect we are?  And we just plain need to have compassion for others because we are all human beings. 

Think of the pain caused by the guilt, the unnecessary guilt, so many people carry around.  What can we do?  Be aware of what others say.  Be aware of what the politicians say.  If someone spouts some flim flam about religion or race or political views or sexual orientation or any other of the many ways guilt is spewed out we need to say something or at leasr walk away.  I also write the politicians who spout drivel about the poor other "hot" topics.  One last thought I always keep in mind when I hear people speak words that are supposed to be "true" and a solution to the ills of this world, it is this saying that, :Evil masquerades as being good."  Enough written.