Public Servants

 Over the past several years, I've made it my intention to reach out to various state and local officials, office holders, etc.  I've mainly done so with people who represent me or with whom I may have some kind of direct dealing.  I've tried to be both polite and knowledgeable in my efforts, and those efforts have largely paid off.  Many have returned my overtures, and we have developed some sort of relationship to a greater or lesser extent.

I also have had lunch with some of these folks, attended public informational meetings, and communicated on the phone or by email or social media.  I've come to know several well enough that they have told me things they might never say in front of a camera.  Over the years, I've come to a conclusion that one might miss if one hears only ten-second sound bytes or sees a one minute piece in a local news show.  Someone could easily get the wrong idea about most of these people with that limited input.

In my opinion, the great majority of these local and state public servants, and yes, even those in federal service are just people who are trying to do the best they can do, given the situation they are in, the office they hold, the resources they have, and the rules, bureaucracy, laws, and court decisions which constrain them.  They don't have the magic answer for many of the issues we face such as homelessness, gun violence, medical autonomy, public education shortfalls, teacher/social worker/physician/other vocations shortages, and other societal and environmental issues that are part of life and living in today's world.  Furthermore, they know they don't have the magic answer, and they also know that their colleagues don't have the answer either.  They just do the best they can.

One other thing.  Most problems and issues are incredibly more complicated than most of the public believes.  In many cases, there is a plethora of laws, regulations, and court decisions, to say nothing of financial resource availability, time constraints, human resource availability, public pushback, and other constraints and issues which make solving the issue at hand, or even making substantial progress on it problematic at best.

These folks become just as frustrated, just as stymied, and just as yes, even angry at the lack of progress as all the rest of us.  They have families.  They have friends.  They have life to live.  And by and large they must live that life with the same problems and issues dogging them as those issues do the rest of us.

So, maybe we the public…us ordinary folks…need to understand that we don't have the answers either.  It's easy to parrot some platitude about the homeless man just needing to get a job rather than beg for food.  It's nice to say that teachers need to teach, not be social workers.  It's good to say that everyone deserves health care.  And it's noble to speak for the unborn.  But each of those issues, and hundreds more, are complex mazes of settled law, ideological bent, environmental factors, resource availability, and a host of other  complicating factors that make many of these issues a kind of mushy soup that our elected and appointed representatives and officials must work with, make sense out of, and formulate some kind of way forward.

Maybe we need to give some grace to the people who serve us in some public capacity.  And if we do communicate with them, offer constructive, problem-solving comments rather than crass, vitriolic or harsh ones.  At a minimum, we should treat them as we would want to be treated.  Maybe if we did that, the world might be a more gentle place.

Yes, I realize that politics, extreme ideology, and the thirst for power, wealth, and control often get in the way of the Golden Rule.  But I also realize that unless we step up with a change in heart and attitude, demonstrating a better way, the morass of vitriol and hate will just perpetuate.  We cannot admit defeat and just go along with the crowd.  For those of us who believe that Jesus offers a better way, it is up to us to demonstrate that better way…to live it out in our everyday.  The better ways of Jesus have changed the world order in the last two thousand or so years.  Those ways will continue to change the world order for as long as we who are Christ-followers will continue to show those better ways to a lost and dying world.