A View from Nowhere

I’m rarely impressed by political news interviews.  Most of what I hear on TV or radio is full of sound bites, false promises, distortions of the truth (or even outright lies), or trashing someone else.  

Therefore I didn’t expect much when I happened to turn on the TV a couple of days ago to catch Wolf Blitzer’s interview with Paul Babeu, the conservative AZ sheriff who’s recently been ‘outed’ as being gay by his former partner.  Babeu has been in the news a number of times over the past couple of years for his very outspoken views on immigration, and he’s generally regarded as ‘right wing’ (whatever that means).  He is now running on the Republican ticket for Congress; and he’s all over the news because he’s gay, and his ex is also alleging that Babeu has threatened him in the midst of what sounds like a case of a relationship gone bad.  

My guess is that I disagree with many of Babeu’s policy stands and I doubt that I would ever vote for him.  However I found this interview to be amazing.  Instead of dodging or ducking or denying anything, Babeu responded to all of Blitzer’s questions in a completely straightforward honest way.  He answered every charge against him, not just with denials, but with a stack of papers giving evidence of his point and side of the story.

Furthermore he talked about his service and integrity on the job and the fact that his impressive career has obviously in no way been effected by the nature of his personal life.  This is someone who has commanded 700 soldiers in Iraq where his unit was awarded several honors, and he has served as sheriff with distinction receiving numerous awards and praise from his colleagues.  Basically he’s Captain America.

And he said that none of this has in any way been affected negatively by being gay.  Furthermore when he was ‘outed,’ his fellow officers supported him and had even better things to say about the quality of his work.  In short, he’s going to be a big thorn in the side of a large swath of the Republican party!

If I was to use a word to describe what impressed me so much about this interview it would be clarity.  Here was someone who was meeting a difficult situation in a straightforward way with honesty and integrity putting himself and his record on the line for anyone to assess and judge, and he was very comfortable with himself and his actions.  In this moment he was completely clear and it was remarkable in contrast to most of what we are fed by our political leaders.

At our last MICAH meeting, we read the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 7:53 - 8:11).  In our reflections we observed that the real miracle in the story was that the elders actually listened to Jesus and let the woman alone!  We all agreed that the much more normal response to his comment would be to ignore him, insist that they were correct, and probably stone both of them!  

But my guess is that somehow, Jesus spoke to them which such clarity and conviction that they had to listen.  Thus the real miracle was that their minds changed despite their preconceptions, their understanding of the law, their judgements. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if such clarity appeared more often?  Where have you experienced that sort of clarity, and how has it effected you?