So what if I told you that I am an Obama supporter who is praying today for Sarah Palin?
I know, I'm setting myself up for a stoning here. So I better be clear: I am voting for Barack. I am a long-time progressive. I think McCain is ridiculous on all counts. I think Palin is a scary choice for VP, and unthinkable as President.
So why the hell am I praying for Sarah?
Because I am reading Thich Nhat Hanh's most astounding book, Peace is Every Step, and I am taking it very seriously. I am realizing that what I liked about Obama to begin with (in The Audacity of Hope) was his astonishing willingness to reach across the aisle to try to mend wounds, wounds which have scarred this nation since the era of the Vietnam War.
I know first-hand about those wounds. I have had more vicious arguments with my dad -- some might call him an arch conservative (he voted for Goldwater) -- than I care to remember. Many family meals, including one notorious Thanksgiving Dinner -- the year Anita Hill faced Clarence Thomas -- have been destroyed by political arguments. We've fought over every imaginable political issue, most notably Vietnam, and Iraq.
But now, that same dad is 82 years-old, and honestly, I decided a few months ago that I just don't want to fight with him anymore. I especially don't want to fight at dinner, when my 82 year-old mother lays out feasts that would fit a king's table.
So what does all this have to do with Sarah Palin?
Part of Obama's appeal has always been his peaceful manner. He looks like a priest to me. A priest of politics. A man of peace who preaches to us about the need to put aside differences, the need to see beyond black and white. The need to embrace oppositions.
He is himself a man who combines oppositions. Black father. White mother. This combination gives Obama great wisdom at a very young age. This combination makes him a supremely effective candidate, especially at this time in history when we must, as a nation, move through gridlock. When we must unite a nation that has been staunchly locked into a red and blue puzzle for too long.
Thich Nhat Hanh, himself a Buddhist priest, also calls for us to put aside oppositions. He fought valiantly for peace during the Vietnam War. He believed then, and believes now. that we cannot achieve peace unless we are peace. We cannot achieve anything meaningful unless we see, really really see, the opposition. Take away the duality, Thich Nhat Hanh says. To see the roots of war, he says, look deeply into the situation. "We cannot just blame one side or the other. We have to transcend the tendency to take sides."
I.E., love your enemies. Hmmm, someone else said that I think.
So I am praying for Sarah Palin. That's not to say that I want her to be VP. Or to win the debate (and I hardly expect her to!) But that's not the point. Unlike so many of the people I encounter these days (so many friends, so many family members) I refuse to hate Sarah Palin. I open my mind to what she says, and like Thich Nhat Hanh preaches, I think. Just let her be.
I heard an evangelical minister on NPR Sunday morning say that he wasn't yet sure who he was voting for. While most ministers of his persuasion were probably going to vote for McCain, he wasn't sure. He said that McCain is such a warrior. He said that Obama, being a peacemaker at heart, was really the ideal candidate for evangelicals.
I marveled at this minister's open-mindedness. Wow, I thought, here is someone who is breaking the mold.
And that's why I think Obama, on a very deep level, appeals to us. Because he is not a politician as usual. He too is breaking the mold. And God knows, with this country at this perilous time in history, we desperately need as a leader someone who is going to break the mold.
And so for now, I am trying to hold the space in which I do not hate McCain or Sarah Palin.
I am going to watch the debate tonight without rancor. Indeed, I am going to pray.
That this world. And this nation. Find peace.