No Sooner Had I Written This Blog Than…
I’m starting to think it’s dangerous for me to write glowing blogs. No sooner has the ink dried on the page than I feel like retracting whatever I’ve just written.
Take my blog in December about “Why I Love the Holidays.” A few days after I posted it, my mom died. Suddenly, in the midst of coping with grief and loss, I found all that holiday hoopla grating rather than delightful.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog based on a talk I’d given at my church extolling the virtues of my chosen faith, Unitarian-Universalism. Once again, all my positive feelings took a hike when the leadership of my church did an absolutely dastardly thing. They “restructured” the music program so as to get rid of the music director, a world class musician and composer, whose music had inspired countless church members and been a huge draw for our church. Not only was this a decision made without consulting members involved in the music program, but their timing was astonishing. The director had recently lost both his marriage and his home. Talk about kicking someone who’s down.
How did it happen? A long standing church member with powerful connections didn’t like him and literally spent years bullying, lying about, and undermining this poor guy as she plotted to get rid of him. And by God, she succeeded.
To say that her behavior and the behavior of the church’s leadership is in stark contrast to the ideals and values that Unitarians are supposed to stand for is the understatement of the year. So much for practicing the Golden Rule.
And so much for my glowing blogs. I’ve decided I need to become a more cynical, skeptical person, so stuff like this won’t surprise and pain me so much. And I won’t have to keep saying, “You know that last blog I wrote? Well, here’s the thing…”