Amidst the wanton corruption and falsehoods that have been shaping the American consciousness for some time now, I continue to think on what it means to be a follower of “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
• How do we engage with others for whom truth is so malleable?
• How do we be in relationship with people who only give facts weight when they serve a particular agenda?
• How do we influence public discourse when the arguments others present are disingenuous and readily abandoned when they no longer reinforce superiority?
An example — easy to share because of its distance from me, personally: the man who started the media frenzy claiming James Talarico sought mental health treatment in Ohio. In all likelihood, he violated several HIPAA laws in the process of attempting to obtain the information he did. He claimed he had recordings proving his accusation, but they only exposed how corruptly he pursued the information and how deeply he twisted the responses of the receptionists. Talarico, for his part, has never even been in Ohio. And his accuser’s response to accusations that he lied has been that he “never lied, I just doubled down on the wrong information.”
I don’t know about you, but “I never lied; I just doubled down on the wrong information” sounds like the kind of nonsense that should go down in infamy along with “I smoked but I didn’t inhale.” And: it didn’t blow up, it underwent a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
But beyond the abject falsehood, lack of accountability, or even care about being caught in the lie, what bothers me still about that particular story is the way it plays mental health against wellbeing.
Right now, living in this world is a lot. For many of us, we are remarkably well insulated from the worst consequences of this government’s horrors because of the realities of economics and skin color and ethnicity. But even for us it is a lot. Even we are exhausted. Even we are struggling with health — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual — because simply living in this world takes more and more of us.
The real shame to me is that pursuing health for one’s mental health needs remains something that can be weaponized…… that even the suggestion or accusation of it can be a weapon.
I dream of a world where obtaining care for our mental health is as ordinary as going to the doctor when we get sick, or going to the emergency room when we break an arm, or seeing a specialist to help us manage our heart condition. I dream of a world where our eyes and ears and teeth are not somehow partitioned off from our bodies when it comes to healthcare. I dream of a world where those who need a doctor can see a doctor, those who need medicine can obtain it, those who need treatments can receive them — and “affordability” doesn’t enter into the question. It seems to me that living shouldn’t be the privilege of the wealthy.
But I don’t know how to talk about any of this with those whose arguments change from one to another the moment you disprove the first. I don’t know how to advocate for these things to others who say children should die because their parents made certain mistakes. I don’t know how to be in relationship with people who aggressively argue against other people receiving the benefits that they themselves benefited from.
I’m trying to learn — with God’s help — where to set boundaries, where to engage, and where to walk away. I’ve been trying to learn that for several years now. I suspect some of you all have as well. Maybe that’s part of what makes us right for each other in this season of life together in Community.
Remember, we’re all in this together,
Pastor Michael