I read an article about Senator Bayh’s decision to leave Congress when his current term expires rather than seek reelection to a body that has become increasingly hostile and ineffective. Bayh is a centrist, someone who has worked with senators across the aisle to pass legislation during his two terms. He expressed his frustration this way: “Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people’s business is not getting done.”
He is not the only Congressperson to feel that way. Democrats and Republicans alike are opting to leave government work behind and pursue work in the private sector. Some are tired of “constant campaigning” that has taken priority over governing. Speeches become sound bytes; appearances become a chance to pull someone down in order to propel oneself forward in the polls.
If I am tired of it, I can’t imagine what such a partisan, angry environment must be like for those who are working in it, honestly trying to address problems and improve the lot of the American people and our global neighborhood. Cynics among us may say no one is trying to do good work, but I don’t believe that.
Casting aspersions at any and all who are involved in politics doesn’t help matters. Sometimes the lack of interest and involvement in politics by many young people surprises me. Then I think about what they hear from their elders: derision, hateful speech, suspicion, rejoicing over failures the opposite party, unwillingness to compromise. Who would want to become involved in such a mess?
Apparently a number of good people have decided they don’t. Such a toxic political atmosphere is a danger to all of us. Like it or not, government is a necessity. A country of 308,698,037 does not run by itself. Some are quick to say “the less government the better,” but coordinating services, paving roads, social security, and countless other services we take for granted are impossible without government.
The Church in the Modern World, #75)What happened to the honorable work of politics as voiced at Vatican II document: Let those who are suited for it, or can become so, prepare themselves for the difficult but most honorable art of politics. Let them work to exercise this art without thought of personal convenience and without benefit of bribery. Prudently and honorably let them fight against injustice and oppression, the arbitrary rule of one person or one party, and lack of tolerance. Let them devote themselves to the welfare of all sincerely and fairly, indeed with charity and political courage. (
Peace on Earth, #53)And what about the rest of us? What about our obligations as members of society? Pope John XXIII had words for us: Individual citizens and intermediate groups are obliged to make their specific contributions to the common welfare. One of the chief consequences of this is that they must bring their own interests into harmony with the needs of the community, and must contribute their goods and their services as civil authorities have prescribed, in accord with the norms of justice and within the limits of their competence. (
Our country needs people of goodwill, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, to work together to attack its many problems. The current domestic focus is on healthcare and unemployment. Internationally we are entangled in war and nuclear proliferation, and along with the international community, are responding to Haitian victims. Literally, the lives of millions hinge on the work done in our capital.
No one is inspired to do his or her best when they are constantly maligned and distrusted. On the other hand, government workers need to earn respect through their actions. According to Bayh, the mood in Washington does not permit those who want to meet today’s challenges to do so. Not only the politicians are to blame.
Let’s listen to our comments, become aware of the rhetoric that spills out of our radios and televisions, fills our computer screens and our newspapers. Let’s cultivate a climate of listening and respect. And when we have the chance to vote, let’s do it in an informed way and send a message to Congress that we are serious about reform and about the Church’s teachings on the Common Good.
Heeding Heidi: the empty gains of plastic surgery
Heidi Montag has given new meaning to the concept of one-stop shopping. The 23-year-old reality TV star – one of those who is famous for being famous – underwent 10 plastic-surgery procedures in one day, as pin pointed in People magazine and now scrutinized online.
Among the 10 procedures, a few are predictable, while others involve regions you’d never imagine a young adult would need refined: neck liposuction, chin reduction and pinning her ears back. (“For the first time,” Montag gushes to People, “I can wear updos, instead of hiding [my ears] behind my hair.”)
The twisted psychology of her extreme makeover is as easy to trace as the black marks drawn on her pre-op body. “I’m competing against the Britney Spearses of the world,” she explains, lauding “the Heidi 2010 reinvention” and promising new versions in coming years.
She’s found inspiration on the pages of Us Weekly and In Touch, stashing away her favorite images, including shots of Angelina Jolie. (“She has those really high eyebrows, and I love them.”) She’ll find new ammunition in her quest “to feel perfect” this month, when Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit edition hits newsstands.
Their sandy sirens taunt average women, whose swimsuits and sundresses are tucked in top shelves, whose love handles are safely distanced from New Year’s resolutions and warm weather.
I’m told Sports Illustrated’s spreads are considered the classier end of swimsuit modeling, if such a thing as class is possible when you’re in a string bikini. Especially troublesome is the magazine’s use of body paint in lieu of swimsuits, the paint being code for nudity.
Indeed, a heap of distractions arrive in this short month, wedged between Miss America and the Academy Awards and complicated by Valentine’s Day. At every turn we measure ourselves – on scales, in mirrors, across cubicles, between Facebook profiles. We swing from famine to feast, from relief to remorse. We balance tangled expectations with reality checks, roses with thorns.
It is the perfect time to enter into Lent, to look inward and upward. This month’s readings guide our journey, reminding us that others “are occupied with earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven.”
St. Paul writes that Jesus “will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.” That union is how we embody true beauty – not in the removal of pimples or the loss of weight. The pursuit of perfection is not only an impossible mission, it’s an undesirable one because our humanity is our lifeline to the savior. “Therefore,” St. Paul concludes, “stand firm in the Lord.”
His charge is not easy when so many cultural forces attempt to sway and bend us. But to continually bend is to become weaker and weaker, which appears to be the true impact of Heidi Montag’s surgeries. Although she praised the results in her People interview, she repeatedly described herself as “fragile” – a telling statement of her physical and emotional well being.
“I see an upgraded version of me,” she says. “It’s a new person, and I feel like almost all of the things I didn’t want to be and who I turned into kind of got chiseled away.”
The problem is Heidi is working in the wrong direction. She’s seeking inner peace from outer transformation. That canvas, of course, makes for quicker change. But the heavy lifting of Christianity, of Lent, and of life, begins inside. That’s where we do the real work and where we find the real joy.