To Right the Unrightable Wright

Senator Barack Obama has been an easy target of political punditry because he happens to have nurtured years of friendship and mentorship with his church pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Finally, the senator from Illinois realized that the very winged tongue that lifted his spirit while listening to the reverend’s eloquence and scholarly sermons for a couple of decades would be the same whip that would put him under fire. The timing is very unlikely especially that Obama has a good chance to become the next US President.

I feel sorry for the senator for entrusting his faith in the hands of the unforgiving Wright. I believe that Senator Obama deserves the credit for trying to salvage the sanctity of his respect for the pastor especially that he is the same person who led him to the path to religious awakening. When the controversial sermon surfaced on YouTube, Obama weighed and waited until Wright resurfaced the headlines again with more ballistic remarks.

Whether the stakes are negligible or high, I believe that Obama did a very decisive gesture to admit that it is time to sever his ties with Wright. The pastor has been very detrimental to his run for the presidency branding him as just another politician. His words are antithetical to his campaign banner of “CHANGE” and to him as a person in general. Wait. Isn’t it that clerics and church leaders should be God’s instruments of peace?

Like Obama, most of us get blinded of flawed actions and systems around us because of our learning of institutions such as the church. There are so many things that we cannot change or do much that conventions slowly eat up our perceptions and conceptions. Obama is the victim here regardless of his political ambitions. I would not entrust my soul to someone who cannot even speak good things about me on earth.

Believe in the signs.

We are taught in church that our records here on earth would definitely matter in the files of the gatekeeper in heaven. I personally care for St. Peter’s tally boards so I try to be good. Of course, nobody’s perfect! I have done stupid things in the past but my faith in the Watchful Eyes Above has always made me strive to better myself.

In our lifetime, we purposely or unconsciously get associated to others by blood or by common experience. We may also mutually or unfairly lose and let go of these attachments instantly or after some time. We always wish good things to last forever but some relationships are not just supported by fate… not even sustained by faith.

As they say, “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” In other words, the people that we hangout with or our family (that we don’t get to choose, obviously!) can in part explain our being. But how do we really get rid of someone who is causing so much infuriation in our lives? I take the message from Obama. It’s a painful time worse than just another good-bye and things will never be the same again.

In a basket of apples, the rotten ones have to stay somewhere and be separated out to protect the rest from infective extinction. In life, someone has to go and someone has to let go when ties are damaging at the expense of very valuable trust. Let’s conserve our energies for the sake of people who really matter most.

With the grace of God, we forgive and forget and whatever happens in life, we move on.