Anti-Hero Worship

Lori Strawn

Colton Harris-Moore was recently arrested in the Bahamas. Never heard of him? He's a 19-year-old punk who, for two years, had been on the run from the police. His life of crime started early, and over the years he's pilfered cars, speedboats, even airplanes (which he proceeded to crash-land, having no real flight training himself). To many, Colt's a hero. He's got a fan club, dozens of followers on Facebook. His face appears on T-shirts, above the "aw shucks" motto: "Momma tried."

We've got a long history of bad boy hero worship in America, and I, for one, just don't get it. To me, it reeks of hypocrisy. Because of course, of its juxtaposition with the claim that America is a "Christian" country.

In reality, there's been little common ground on religion dating back to the country's foundations. How many states were founded by people who were banished from early settlements for their religious beliefs? At least three, off the top of my head (New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut). We never got along on this issue, and to claim there's hegemony now is ridiculous. And the founding fathers? Thomas Jefferson, for one, was a Deist, but not a Christian. Not by a long shot. And he wrote the Constitution, the basis of all our laws.

So what is it about America that makes us simultaneously insist on our prim, snowy white Christianity while meanwhile worshipping thugs like Jesse James, John Dillinger or Colton Harris-Moore? What the heck is wrong with us? Is there any other country that more painfully feels the tug of rich versus poor, education versus proud ignorance, and fierce independence versus "we're all in this together" camaraderie? Probably not.

America is a study in opposites. What can possibly bring us together? I suggest prayer — not necessarily to a Christian God, but to whatever higher power each wildly disparate individual believes in. Maybe understanding and commonality are things we ought to embrace ... instead of miscreants and labels that never did fit.

Politics as Usual

Everybody's mad these days.
Even tea parties are no longer genteel.
I can't stand the shouting.
So I turn to You
for answers, oracles.
From all I know of You,
You are all about love.
It is time for You
to step in.
Please let love
re-animate the body politic.
Teach Your children to use
their "indoor" voices
to reason, not accuse.
Tutor us in civility,
for without it,
there is no dialogue.
Open ears
on both sides of the aisle,
so that we
may go forward
as one.