A SABBATH DAY MESSAGE

The Democratic Convention isn’t happening until late August. That means that if Hillary and her minions can just shut up, the rest of us will have a lot of time to sit back and enjoy life post-civil war. We can call it the “Reconstruction Era,” and use the time to get to know each other again and reconstruct our old alliances. I’m looking forward to being just another Democrat, not one who is characterized by my race, age, or income level. But candidly, I’m looking forward even more to taking time away from Presidential politics. Call it taking time to enjoy a Sabbath day – or in this case, a Sabbath season. Call it taking time to enjoy some fresh air.

While the Party elders will be knee deep in reconstruction, I plan on returning to my own pursuits. My second novel is coming out shortly before the Convention. It is entitled “Moses the Heretic” and it deals primarily with religion generally and Judaism in particular. But it also relates a lot to politics, including issues of contemporary political significance. Perhaps, then, if I wish to enjoy some truly fresh air, I need to put my own writing aside and read the thoughts of someone else – a person who wrote in a distant time and place, where the political disputes had little to do with our own. I think I have found just the person. Lately, I’ve been ruminating about the ideas of Confucius. He may have been one of the first Empathic Rationalists in recorded history and in many ways reminds me of modern Reconstructionist Jews. Confucius, you see, combined an ethic based on compassion for one’s fellow human beings and the silent awe of the transcendent, with the appreciation for the value of traditional rituals. He was humanistic without being affirmatively “atheistic.” He was, from all indications, a mensch.

My interest in Confucius involves trying to tease out a coherent philosophy that ties together the various strands of his thought. But to most of us, Confucius is known primarily though a series of seemingly unrelated quotations. These quotations have come to be seen as the pinnacle of wisdom for literally thousands of years; their relevance never dims, let alone ceases.

Accordingly, I would like to share one of these quotations. It has special relevance for those Democrats who are supporting the losing candidate in any of the primary elections, Presidential, Senatorial, or Congressional. I am thinking in particular about the 20 to 30 percent of the Clinton voters in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana who claim that they would consider voting for McCain instead of Obama. You’ve probably heard this adage before, but it bears repeating, because time and time again, human beings refuse to heed this advice:

Confucius says, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”