On Ash Wednesday a group of people and I were talking about what Lent means to us and how we should observe it at our age

March 2, 2008, 4th Sunday of Lent
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On Ash Wednesday a group of people and I were talking about what Lent means to us and how we should observe it at our age. Giving up some of the things we used to doesn’t exactly make sense anymore, so we were trying to be creative. One suggestion that came up was that we make a sincere effort to say only good things about others and try to discourage getting involved in negative talk. We met a week later and several said that this was really difficult because everywhere they went they encountered situations where people involved in more than a bit of gossip were finding fault with one person or another and then there was an effort to get them involved. It was not easy to sidestep the comments that were being expressed, some of which were true but not complimentary. Also, someone mentioned that with all the negativity resulting from political campaigns, it was difficult to pursue a positive course. However, everyone concurred that it was a real challenge to find something good in everyone we meet or hear about.

All of this brought out the importance of tolerance since there is the good and the bad in each one of us. I haven’t heard too much about tolerance lately, but the gospel reading for today reminds us how intolerant some of the contemporaries of Jesus were. It surprises me so much that even the disciples of Jesus would ask, “‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither he nor his parents sinned.’” After Jesus cured the blind man, some of those in the crowd persisted and grilled the blind man who now could see, still accusing him and his parents of sinning. Finally Jesus said, “I came into the world for judgment so that those who do not see might see and those who do see might become blind.” I have always interpreted this by trying to understand the teaching of Jesus asking us to see the good in each other and be blind or not so readily see the shortcomings of others. The question is, What do we focus on and what do we highlight, what do we repeat and for what reason? Sometimes whether we like it or not the hurtful things are repeated so many times that whether we like it or not they become part of our memory. Then, I believe, it is up to us to verify for our own peace of mind and turn the page to look for something positive about the one who has been maligned.

I find The History Channel and other good documentaries very interesting and important because so often I find myself more tolerant because the lies and misrepresentations are blown away and very interesting facts surface. At present I am watching a documentary on Theodore Roosevelt. So often his adversaries have presented him as an imperialist, a warmonger and a bigot. Even though there is truth to these allegations they should not bury the great qualities of this man. When he was in the legislature in Albany, even though he was a neophyte there, he took on a judge of the state supreme court who was known for his corruption and continued his campaign to rid the political system of incompetents who were given jobs out of cronyism. He continued his campaign in New York City with the police department, outing those who thrived on kickbacks and bribes. To this day he remains the only president to receive a Nobel prize and the Congressional Medal of Honor. Like his cousin, FDR, he was very empathetic of the condition of the poor and the horrible evidence of poverty he saw in New York City. Even though I cannot accept warmongering or imperialism, my respect for him grew as I watched the documentary because of the many positive qualities that he possessed and practiced. He was the first to recruit

Charles Ramer
Over the Line Watercolors

women and Jews in the New York police department.
I would like to conclude with a portion of the gospel reading for today that gave me a lot of food for thought, “So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ‘Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.’ And he replied, ‘If he is a

sinner, I do not know. One thing I know is that I was blind and now I see.’ So they said to him, ‘What did he do to you, how did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I told you already and you do not listen. Why do you want to hear it again. Do you want to become his disciples too?’” Even though Jesus had cured the man blind from birth, those in the crowd who wanted to believe that the blind man and Jesus were sinners would not change their minds even when faced with the facts. Perhaps if we are more tolerant of the shortcomings of others we may see all the good that is in the

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