and walk a mile in others’ shoes
December 14, 2010 (Tuesday)
I have been somewhat disturbed by some of the responses to the death of Elizabeth Edwards. The most obvious reason for my being upset is the response of a church which has sent the members out to demonstrate, singing songs filled with hate and carrying placards with awful slogans portraying God as the sender of cancer as a punishment upon sin and full of hatred toward people who displease him. These kinds of people are commonly referred to as “crazies.” I suppose we must learn to expect them to continue to exercise their right of free speech in objectionable and obnoxious ways.
The people who have upset me more are those who portray themselves as responsible journalists and have chosen to use Mrs. Edward’s illness and death as an occasion to emphasize the error of her expressions of religious belief.
It is true that her published thoughts about faith and God seem to indicate serious changes in the way she viewed such matters, and were probably at odds with the way conservative Christians commonly state their beliefs. Her critics, however, need to understand how devastating several life events had been and continued to be felt by her as she experienced terminal illness at a relatively young age.
Consider what had happened to her and ask yourself how you would feel if the same things had happened in your own life. Her sixteen-year-old son was killed in an accident. That one thing alone has been the kind of happening that has resulted in loss of faith by others. Catapulted into the spotlight of public life, she found herself campaigning for her husband to become President or Vice-president. Then, if the stress of public life was not enough, he betrayed her by having an affair and fathering a child with his mistress. Then came the awful diagnosis of breast cancer, surgery and chemotherapy, thinking herself cured and then experiencing a relapse, being told by the doctors that there was no further treatment available. In light of such emotional trauma, most of us would experience some adjustment in the way we look at everything in our lives, including our faith.
For any of us to sit in judgment upon another person’s reactions to life’s trials is for us to betray our humanity, and, if we are Christians, to deny our own faith. We are followers of Jesus Christ, who extended love and compassion to everyone, bar none. Our solemn duty and privilege is to pray for others and to offer our help, always with deep and abiding love that Christ has implanted in our hearts, and to be kind and compassionate to public figures who may be suffering. As the great philosopher, Forrest Gump, said, “and that’s all I have to say about that.”