Be prepared to lose some connections…

I’ve been a member of a google group / email list devoted to Old Time Music for about five years. The conversation is always about music, no politics, no religion. Until this week. One of the members, an outspoken President Trump hater, decided to tell us all how much she can’t wait till Trump is out of the White House, and “hope[s] he doesn’t enact martial law on his way out!” I sent a note to the list asking to be removed.

One of my peers sent me a personal note asking me to reconsider. He asked me to ha g on till 2021 when all this “craziness” is behind us (referring to COVID). This is what I sent back.

Thanks so much for sending your note. It’s been a hard year for me on a personal level for sure. Our health has been fine, we’ve always homeschooled, and my husband has been working from home for five years, so things didn’t change a whole lot in those areas. We have a few friends we’ve been spending a lot of time with, and we were able to go camping a few times this summer which was awesome.

But it’s been hard to feel “welcome” socially since we’re not buying into the COVID panic. We certainly recognize that some people have been affected pretty dramatically by the virus, but since the recovery rate for “cases” in folks under 70 is between 94 and 99%, the fact that there are known effective treatments and preventive steps people can take that are not being used/recommended, not to mention the recent revelation that the PCR tests driving the news are completely junk, we are choosing to take our vitamins, spend time outside, and refusing to live in fear.

I’ve been trying since July to get answers from our elected officials and the health department and no one seems to know what they’re waiting for to end the state of emergency. They don’t have any data to support what they’re doing and they don’t have an idea of what normal looks like; they just want us to get vaccinated then everything will be okay. Oh wait…now we have to get the vaccine and still wear masks? Till 2022? Do masks work or not? Does the vaccine work or not? They say the vaccine doesn’t prevent infection, it only reduces the severity of a persons illness.. but most people just have the sniffles, or a fever. Most people don’t even have a severe case. I just don’t get it. We have never used masks or social distancing to mitigate a virus before because they. don’t. work. Kids are failing their classes or worse, committing suicide; child abuse, alcoholism, depression, and domestic violence is up…

XXXX’s comment just reminded me that while some folks in this group have been lovely and welcoming, I don’t really “fit in.” I’m a Christian and a conservative and I voted for President Trump. I’ve never stood up for myself because I know there are people in the group – even people I used to call friends – that think that makes me a racist, a bigot, and a homophobe. I don’t want to fake it anymore…

I discovered Aleksander Solzhenitsyn this summer and his 1974 paper, Live Not By Lies (and a recent book by Rod Dreher with the same title), is my new manifesto. 
“We are not called upon to step out onto the square and shout out the truth, to say out loud what we think – this is scary, we are not ready. But let us at least refuse to say what we do not think!”

And one example of my living not by lies is choosing to “walk out of a meeting, session, lecture, performance or film if [I] hear a speaker tell lies for purvey ideological nonsense or shameless propaganda.” So I asked XXXX to remove me from the list. I guess he followed up with XXXX; maybe it won’t be an issue again (till next time). I have to spend some time praying on this one.

Such strident loyalty to Truth and authenticity means I’m left with a very small group of sincere, loving and trustworthy family members and friends. But while that feels a bit painful sometimes, the freedom of living in truth is indescribably refreshing.

“If you abide in my Word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32

{OvO}