Apocryphal Scripture of the Week: (see Doctrine and Covenants 91)
***
“Success gained over one’s kindred is the greatest failure.”
(2 Maccabees 5:6)
***
Here’s the context of this quote in brief: The city of Jerusalem is currently under the control of the Seleucid King Antiochus, who does not respect Jewish religion or traditions. This guy named Jason takes a thousand men and rushes to take back Jerusalem for the Jews.
However, when he gets there, his enemies have already fled the city. But because he and his army are in such a passionate battle rage, they go in and kill a bunch of their own people instead. Jason is later exiled and goes down as “an apostate from the laws, and abhorred as the butcher of his country and fellow-citizens” (5:8).
In the current political climate, how quick are we to see our own countrymen as enemies? There is certainly a place for righteous indignation against discrimination, corruption, and other terrible trends that may plague the country. But if we’re not careful in how we act on injustice, we merely replace one injustice with another. For example, peaceful protests are an essential right of U.S. citizens. But because of a violent minority—both among rioters and some incensed police officers—how many more lives have been lost on both sides in pursuit of justice for other lost lives?
Though we may disagree on policies, in all cases compassion and caution are essential. We can’t compare one group’s best to the other group’s worst. We can’t make sweeping generalities that unfairly label good people. And we can’t descend into a toxic “Us versus Them” mentality by making assumptions about the other side’s motives or dismissing the validity of their emotions. That’s the kind of thinking that led to a Civil War that cost us over 600,000 lives—more American casualties than any other war in our history.
Don’t let the polarizing effect of the 2-party system cause us to lose sight of the fact that ultimately we’re all on the same side. We often use the same words to mean completely different things and then view the other side as unreasonable as a result.
So, yes—Have arguments; disagree passionately on issues; protest for positive change; speak out to protect the good parts of our heritage. These are all part of our incredible freedom of speech that can be aggravating and annoying at times, but ultimately even at its most contentious, it is a wonderful, wonderful freedom.
And rather than rushing in to conquer our rhetorical Jerusalems with all guns blazing, first take a step back and try to see things from the other person’s point of view. In many cases, the ideas and people we think we need to attack are actually the ones we need to defend.
The Commonplace Notebook 