Kimberly Emerson

So much going on in the world right now!  In my tradition, it’s Holy Week, the period leading up to Easter.  In the Jewish faith, it’s the week of Pesach, or Passover.   Oh, and according to one calendar I saw, Monday was International Waffle Day.

I look forward to celebrating Easter.  I rejoice with all my friends celebrating Pesach.  I’m kind of bummed that I missed International Waffle Day.  Fortunately, I am going to visit my family soon, and my father will usually make waffles for breakfast if I ask him nicely.  I can keep the spirit of International Waffle Day in my heart.

Waffles…sorry, what were we talking about?

There were, of course, many other newsworthy happenings this week, both good and bad.  The Supreme Court heard two cases that may allow marriages between any two people, gay or straight, to be recognized by the State – one debating California’s Proposition 8 and one deciding the Constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.  President Obama appointed Julia Pierson as the new Director of the Secret Service, making her the first woman to hold the post.  Congress passed an agricultural appropriations act, which includes protection for biotech engineer Monsanto, just in case any of their genetically modified seeds cause problems later.

Different as the issues involved are, they generated a similar response, albeit from different portions of society: fear.  The idea struck me as particularly relevant this Holy Week.  As a person of faith, I am not called to live in fear.  The Bible specifically says on many different occasions, “Fear not.”

I’m not sure why people are afraid of the first one.  Marriage between two people of the same sex seems like it’s only an issue if you wish to marry someone of your own sex.  Personally, I say if you’re lucky enough to love someone who loves you back, let’s celebrate it.  The gender of your beloved is your business, not mine.  Even if I didn’t feel this way, though, this law wouldn’t affect my life personally.  People will practice the sexual habits that they wish, no matter how I feel about it or what legal status they can obtain.  This law has more to do with whether someone can be admitted to a hospital room when admittance is restricted to Family Only.

*Side note – I don’t feel like marrying anyone in particular right now, but I’d very much like to make a list of who my “family” is, so that I can post it on the door of any hospital room I might be admitted to.  Zoë will be first on the list.   (Yes, she’s a cat.  If you say that makes her unsanitary, I will be forced to show you the list of people I know who are more unsanitary than my cat.  It’s long.  Let’s not.)  My parents and brothers and sister-in-law and nephews will all be on the list.  So will many of my friends.  These are the people whose judgment I trust when I can’t speak for myself.  Whose hands I want to hold when I need comfort.  (Or paws, as the case may be.)  These are the ones who will help me to heal.  I want any hospital that treats me to understand that.

Women in the Secret Service?  What next?

Back on track.  The idea that a woman will be the head of the Secret Service is such a non-issue that I can’t believe anyone has actually brought it up.  If you’re into gender stereotypes, you should embrace this.  The department head decides strategy.  She won’t have to beat thugs in hand to hand combat (although I’d bet money she could).  All chauvinists freely admit that women are brilliant when it comes to manipulation and deceit.  We’ve had to be.  When you can’t ask for or demand what you want from whichever male controls your life, you fall back on trickery.  Why not have a woman as the head of this department?  Who better to understand the devious minds of potential assassins?  If on the other hand you ‘re not living in the Dark Ages and you think that people have all kinds of gifts and talents, regardless of gender, you come back to the point that this is a non-issue.

The last item is where my faith is tested, because unlike the other two, the Monsanto deal really does scare me.  Monsanto, for those unfamiliar, is a giant agricultural corporation.  The company is one of the two largest seed companies in the U.S., and produces the leading weedkiller.  (Round-up, brought to you by the people that created DDT and Agent Orange.  Fun folks.)  They’re also the primary developers of genetically modified plants.  (Also known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.)  If you live in California, you probably remember Proposition 37, which would have required labeling of all food containing GMOs.  Monsanto was one of the many food companies that dropped a big wad of cash to make sure Prop. 37 died.  If I stop to think about it, it makes me queasy that a company can fiddle with the genetics of the seeds used to grow most everything, and has now been promised that they won’t be held responsible for it if problems arise from the resulting food.  Or perhaps I should say phood.

If I let it, Big Agriculture will terrify me.  But in this season of Easter, I have to remember, I am not called to be a person of fear.  I believe in an all-knowing, all-loving Deity, and I have to remind myself, that great God is in control.  I either believe that, or I may as well give up now and spend my life cowering under the bed.  If I have to make sure everything comes out okay, we’re going down, so there’s no hope.  But if God has a handle on it, then all I have to do is play my small part, and trust that all will be well.

This is the glory of Easter, folks.  Love triumphs over all, even death.  God came to earth and let humanity do its worst, just to prove that God would still love us.  That’s my Christian understanding, but I think all faiths teach the same reality at their core.  We are loved.  Unendingly, absolutely, irrationally loved.   Who the neighbors sleep with or which job went co-ed or what problems may develop with our food can’t change that.  Once you accept that, the world can no longer be a scary place.

Go forth in boldness, my friends, and fear not.  You are loved.

Kimberly wishes everyone a happy Easter, a blessed Pesach, and a blissful belated International Waffle Day.

Tags: Agent Orange, DDT, Defense of Marriage Act, Easter, fear, GMO, Holy Week, International Waffle Day, Julia Pierson, love, marriage equality, Monsanto, Pesach, Proposition 8, Round-up, Secret Service, waffles