Thursday, November 06, 2008

Thoughts on Grace

No, not that Grace. Although she clearly had the kind of grace I'm referring to.

And not definition #1 either.
Grace

Main Entry:
1grace Listen to the pronunciation of 1grace
Pronunciation:
\ˈgrās\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin gratia favor, charm, thanks, from gratus pleasing, grateful; akin to Sanskrit gṛṇāti he praises
Date:
12th century

1 a: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification b: a virtue coming from God c: a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace

2 a: approval , favor barchaic : mercy , pardon c: a special favor : privilege d: disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency e: a temporary exemption : reprieve

3 a: a charming or attractive trait or characteristic b: a pleasing appearance or effect : charm c: ease and suppleness of movement or bearing

4—used as a title of address or reference for a duke, a duchess, or an archbishop

5: a short prayer at a meal asking a blessing or giving thanks

6plural capitalized : three sister goddesses in Greek mythology who are the givers of charm and beauty

7: a musical trill, turn, or appoggiatura

8 a: sense of propriety or right b: the quality or state of being considerate or thoughtful


synonyms see mercy


That kind of grace. A number of housefrou bloggers have shown such grace in the wake of the election, even while a few have called this a Socialist coup. I have to say, I admire the ones who have show such grace, it is a truly admirable quality.

Sadly, it's one I'm still working on. For now I have to agree with John Aravosis:
After eight years of having Republicans call me an un-American troop-hating fag-loving socialist, after months of John McCain embracing the hate to a level where his own supporters were calling out for Barack Obama to be assassinated, no one is going to be permitted to tell me with a straight face that "oh you know, both sides do it."

Your side was abominable. Your side was hateful. Your side race-baited. Your side gay-baited. Your side lied like we've never seen in recent presidential campaign history. Your side used a tax-cheat who would do better under Obama's tax proposal to be your everyman on the issue of taxes. Your side, in a veiled effort at race-baiting, said Obama doesn't put his country first. Your side had the audacity to call Obama a socialist. Your side suggested he was a Muslim. Your side suggested he was a terrorist. Your side suggested he was Osama bin Laden.

Spare me the crap about how both sides do it. You people are a disgrace, you've been a disgrace for eight long years, and all your hate and lying and venom and vitriol finally bit you in your collective fat ass.

To lying, race-bating and gay-bashing, as the list of negative traits, I have to add bilking the country out of trillions to line the coffers of churches and corporate sycophants, and elevating ignorance and illiterate stupidity to the level of virtues to aspire to. As exemplified by insisting that GW Bush and Sarah Palin, who apparently thought Africa was a country and had trouble identifying the countries in North America, were the kind of leaders you wanted, and wanted to be like. So that would be eight years of lying, race-bating, gay-bashing, swindling and embarrassing us as a nation.

All of which was not only acceptable but so preferable you wanted four more years of it, all because they claimed belief in the same mythology you hold to.

Hopefully I'll have the grace thing worked out by January. I'm trying.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sort of struggling with the grace thing myself. I do not want to behave towards others in the same way they have behaved towards me the past eight years. I don't want to have a bumper sticker that says "Obama won, get over it / stop whining", I don't want to give right back as much as I've gotten for eight years.

But, somehow, I can't help the urge to do all of the above. My entire value system has been questioned, not only over the past eight years, but certainly over the past three days.

In my real life, I can't remove myself from those that bring this out in me. Online, however, I can. And, that is what I'm doing. I am not going to engage. I refuse. Obama doesn't need me to defend him; he won by the popular vote and electoral vote. There are no questions that the man the majority want in the White House is Barack Obama.

The fear and hate mongering didn't work before the election and it will accomplish nothing now. Nothing other than continued division, which, apparently a certain portion of the population wants.

More power to 'em. Thanks for saying what I haven't had the gumption to say myself.

The Knitting Lady said...

I don't work outside of the home, so it's easy for me to avoid the subject out here. Online, well, the only choice really is to not engage at all.

My husband, however, is apparently coming home with stories tonight.