To My Beleaguered Friends
"When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless , like sheep without a shepherd" - Matthew 9:36 A friend recently posted about not posting about our contentious historical moment(s) because of our contentious historical response(s). Follow me? Yes, it was not without some irony, but good wisdom had prevailed upon him. A mutual friend of ours warned it was probably a fools errand to expect any response other than the usual extreme vacillation of praise and rebuke the internet does so, um, well these days. Would that we all have wise friends like this. Who among us hasn't wrestled with the pressure to pronounce a kind of final judgement on all the idiots bumbling about in COVID-land? I know I have -- only to be cautioned into circumspection by my loving wife, by a friend who smells of smoke from his last run-in with rage posting, and my God who is exceedingly patient to listen. Slow to anger and speak. This is what He as