As For Me And My House — By John Reed

As For Me And My House
This wonderful scripture in Joshua chapter 24 comes in the middle of a longer passage about choices. Well worth a read, even in modern editions…the King James Version, translation errors aside, is still my preference.
I thought of this phrase after getting into a flame war online. I’m embarrassed to admit I was baited into responding when someone I didn’t know and had no connection to anyone I ever knew decided to deride a local social media account. His comments were antithetical to the group’s philosophy, and annoyed me enough to reply.
Over the course of several exchanges it became clear he was from Brooklyn, had never spent any time here, and had clear opinions about what he thought about small town Southerners. I spent more effort than I should have trying to engage him in a civil discourse, to no avail. He was absolutely convinced he had the moral high ground.
When I pointed out the differences between our crime rate, Covid deaths, and business climate, he just got louder. When I mentioned his governor’s sex scandals, he didn’t want to hear it. We were still the ignorant deplorables. He really didn’t want to talk about the bigotry, racism, hatred, and violence so obviously present in his city’s streets every day. We may not be perfect, but I guarantee our town is much more blended than his will ever be.
Fine. His opinions, however unbased in reality they might have been, are his own. Clearly there some 70 million-plus people who share them, as well as another 70 million-plus who don’t. Of the many divisions in our country, I think rural vs urban may best reflect the Left vs Right. A quick glance of electoral maps over the last several cycles will confirm that the vast majority of the country’s geography trends conservative while the big cities on the coasts and certain interior areas are liberal.
So there are some places where:
-Killing a child before it’s born is considered a good thing.
-Criminal activity is tolerated, even encouraged.
-“Citizen” no longer has any meaning.
-Bias and racism are ok if it benefits a chosen group.
-Financial independence, the dignity of work, and pride of ownership are unknown concepts.
Not in my house. Not in my town. And not in my country, as long as I can still vote.