SAINTS AND SINNERS

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Every Saint has a past, every sinner has a future. Thank God for small favors!

I heard a political commentator make that remark following Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's rousing acceptance speech. I guess he was referring to her. The political butchers were out and her head was on the chopping block. It seems Palin is less than perfect, who would have guessed. It seems her family is more mainstream than some can accept, why are they worried?

Palin put the zing back in the race, put women on the front lines-again. She put the issues of family and relationships and motherhood and working women and special needs children and unwed moms and Mr. moms and working class families and strong willed women, these issues and so much more, front and center, right where they belong, right where they've always been.

Five kids, a special needs child, a pregnant teen, a working mom and dad, that's life literally for countless families across our great nation. It's the real world, the reality show that so many people are starring in every single day. It's a refreshing change--from the cookie cutter version of the perfect Vice Presidential candidate. Besides the obvious - she's smart, aggressively focused, a born leader--she's passionate about the basics, her husband, their children and their steadfast faith. She brings the best of both worlds - the head and the heart. Her families story is far from the fairy tale fantasy that some would like to believe belongs in the big-- white-house. But they're the kind of people I can relate to. They've got issues and challenges, hopes and dreams, ups and downs. They're human beings with a past putting their best feet forward into the future, living life on life's terms--while letting the world know that if they can make it...we all can.

And while I have many friends who worry that Palin and her potential boss may not understand them or their life choices or their fears and phobias, let me share a personal lesson I learned in the school of hard knox. Public floggings often produce a poignantly powerful humility that translates into a deeply convicted compassion for equality and freedom and justice--for all people, for all political or personal persuasions. Because that's really what our great Nation stands for and that's really-what I believe God intended.

I think Sarah Palin's nomination is providential, picture perfect, with its imperfections; it's perfectly suited for people like me who are pushing through the pitfalls of our past, while praying for the patience and perseverance- to pull together our futures.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You're an exceptionaly gifted writer! Overcoming the challenges of life makes each of us stronger and better human beings.
September 10, 2008
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