Hopeful

Wednesday morning in "Red Cup" and enjoying a red cup filled with a caramel latte alongside a "mighty o" donut, with some Pandora induced Springsteen in my headphones. It's two weeks and a day since my gall bladder was invited to exit my body and, even though I just celebrated turning a year older a few days ago, I actually feel a year or two younger...so no complaints here. While I am nearly within site of my real home sweet home and my office across the street, I am far enough away that, with headphones on, I can ignore some of the pressing demands that scream for my attention day after day and dream of things more suitable for dreaming on. I'm not so sure that this is always a good thing, but today it certainly is. This morning I woke up to a mixture of news reminding us that all is still not right with the world alongside commercials from politicians trying to convince us that if we would just elect them, this would all change. One in particular, running for governor in the great state of Washington, tells us,in each and every commercial, that he wrote a book a bunch of years back in which all of the answers can be found. I'm pretty sure if that were true, he wouldn't be needing to sell it as part of his election bid. I think it's a bit more likely that he just wants it taken off the dollar shelves in the local used bookstores. I say this with all love and respect as someone who aspires to write a book someday. In fact, my main hesitation in ever trying to get a book published one day is the bargain shelf at Powells. I don't know that I would ever be able to bear the inevitable site of my life's work selling 2 for a dollar. Let's be honest...the point for me would not be to write a book, or even publish a book...it's going to be to sell a book, many books in fact, well beyond the scope of my family and friends. It is the selling of a book that validates that you have something worth saying. Anything else is just delusion. So, here I am, trying to dream without being delusional. On September 12, 2012, through a latte induced haze I have a dream: ... That politicians everywhere would realize that spending limits on their campaigns alone could go to provide clean water to a significant amount of the world without it Or eliminate the national debt Or balance the budgets of each and every public school district in the US so we could once again teach our children that 2 plus 2 does in fact equal 4 ...that Christians everywhere would once again actually follow Jesus in loving and serving rather than judging and accumulating ...that politicians who are Christians would drop their delusion that Jesus was a member of their party, thereby validating their platforms ...that politicians who are not Christians would understand that not all who claim the name of Christ actually follow him, so we shouldn't all be feared...some of us actually want to love and serve, no agenda required ...that people who are neither politician nor Christian could see Jesus through the clouded lens of the Church and that the Church could commit to cleaning that lens often so that people could clearly see the real Jesus ... That someday I'd wake up to find out that both left and right had disappeared, leaving only those who long to live together in the middle ... Delusional? Perhaps, but I'd prefer to think its hopeful.