Two things first . . . did you know "Whup" is an actual word in the dictionary? I found that out when I looked it up because I was going to spell it "whoop ass," which is another thing altogether. Also, please excuse the language, but there is just no better way to say what I mean.
There is a lot of whup ass talk going around these days. Our presidential candidates revel in verbal ass whuppin'. Reality TV would have one think that snarky, hateful, F-bomb dropping resulting in an actual ass whuppin' is the norm. FB posters are forever ass whuppin' somebody.
We have lost all civility as we go about setting up the "thems and usses." Oh, wait, maybe that is the problem! Why do we have to go about causing division?
I am no psychologist, but I believe fear is our main motivator. We are afraid of refugees and immigrants and those with a different sexual orientation than ours and those with a different religious belief and those who struggle with addictions and those who have been in jail and those who are a different color and those with a different accent, and on and on it goes. Yes, there are some scary people in this world . . . there are. Evil is real, but some of us have begun to label "different" as evil, and we are all about letting those different people know they are in for a good ol' ass whuppin' if they mess with us.
Now, I am about to get real personal, because a lot of those threatening to whup somebody's ass are proclaiming to be Jesus people. I want to be a Jesus person. I try. I am deeply disturbed by a lot of what I see and hear. Oh, and some Jesus people don't only fear and bad-mouth the list of folks above, they often threaten, in all their righteous indignation, that The Lord will come down and give you a good ass whuppin' if you don't straighten up your nasty ways. You know, those nasty things like having a piano in "the house of worship", or no formal church on Sunday nights, or a kitchen in the church building, or, heaven forbid, a printed bulletin. Don't even mention that maybe we could accept and embrace the thems in the world instead of just hanging with the usses.
So, come on, kind people. Let's stop whuppin' up on folks. Please!
For today, I wish you love, and joy, and kindness, and I wish you
Blessings
