Lies….The Stuff of Life?

Lies….The Stuff of Life

Do we really lie to ourselves? It seems as if we always have a positive spin on what we do or what we say. It seems as though people do not really have a "mirror" to look at when evaluating themselves, or, if they do, the mirror is so distorted that what they see looks acceptable.

This past week I was astonished at the eulogies that were heaped upon Ted Kennedy. It seemed as if nobody wanted to really talk about what was obvious. Ted was talked about, by both sides of the aisle, as a man who fought hard for the downtrodden, for those who were less fortunate, for those who were "helpless." He was talked about as a man of faith, as one we could and should emulate.

Really?

Do we really believe this or is it just normal and acceptable rhetoric that we often verbalize after someone dies? Isn't this the same man who fought to have innocent babies killed through abortions? Weren't these babies the "least of these," the innocent, the helpless? He did not help them. In fact, he did what he could to make certain that our nation could destroy innocent life. He pandered to the visible living at the expense of the invisible. He lived a life of luxury, position, and power, and did not use his position to help the most innocent and needy.

If Saddam Husain and Adolf Hitler had understood how to make murder politically acceptable, perhaps we would be honoring their memories instead of remembering them with disgust.

Ted Kennedy will never have to answer to me, but he will give an account of his life to God. We/I can believe whatever we/I want to believe, and say whatever we want at his or any funeral, and the truth will be unchanged and the Judge will judge.

Perhaps we talk about figures like Ted Kennedy with glowing remembrances because we want to believe the best, because we want to trust those who were and are in leadership, or because we are hoping that it might have been better than it was. Perhaps we understand that we are not the ultimate Judge and that after one's death, it does no good to speak ill of him/her.

Or, perhaps we actually believe that one who fought so against his church doctrine and against the unborn is a man of "deep faith" and "a champion of the helpless," so he deserves an honored burial place and the honor of an eternal flame.

Sometimes I just wonder what is really going on….