This Sunday, my family (that is Mrs. Droogie and the 3-month-old Droogie Jr.) went to our first church service as a real family. We went to a Unitarian Universalist church, and it was a great experience.
The message was on moral outrage, and it was a sermon that perhaps some of us here could have stood to listen to today, as many of us are consumed with anger over a cartoon.
The point is this -- what makes you angry reveals who you are, and what your values are. If you are angry about a cartoon, what does that say about you?
Me, personally, I laughed at the cartoon because it was funny.
I remember years ago when Dave Chappelle did his sketch on Howard Dean. I was rolling on the floor laughing at my parent's house.
My mom, who knew I had supported Howard Dean's bid for the presidency, asked me why I was laughing. Didn't I like Dean?
Well, yeah, I said. Of course I like him. But I can laugh at the politicians that I like. I'm not afraid to do so. After all, I'm not a Republican.
I've said this before: When we lose our senses of humor, we lose our way.
The speaker at the church last Sunday talked about the things that made her angry, and asked us what made us angry.
She was angry that children are starving while we build bombs.
She was angry that couples like herself and her partner were unable to adopt children.
She was angry that we were still at war.
She was angry that the environment was being hurt by a system that many of us are complicit in.
She was angry that there are millions of Americans who couldn't see a doctor.
These are the things that are worthy of our anger. I'm not saying that a cartoon isn't worthy of our anger. I'm just asking you to reexamine whether it is or not.
There is a time to laugh and a time to cry, and there is a time to be angry and a time to be happy. We can't do one or the other all the time.
Today, I'd like you to do what I did. Think about what makes you angry, and identify why it makes you angry. The things that make the anger rise in you reveal much about what kind of a person you are.
Spend a little time today thinking about that.