yin-yang

Well, I spent the last few hours in a bus full of middle-schoolers coming back from Philly, which my boss, whose judgement I normally respect, decided to turn into an open mic evening of torture. I actually asked him if he hated us, to which he laughed--the correct response.
Well, if that wasn't sufficiently Abu Ghirabesque, I come back home to find out from the grapevine that our God-blessed president is going to be giving the commencement address this May at the school from which I received my bachelor's degree.
There was nothing said on my friends' blogs with which I wouldn't probably concur. If any one event has pushed me closer to a truly anti-dualistic understanding of the universe, it is this one. The fact of the matter is Calvin College is just as wonderful and as corrupted by sin as any one of us or any institution. Let me give you a brief photo illustration.
George Walker Bush

Bad Calvin

Anne Lamott

Good Calvin

The point is that our bad and our good, our flesh and our spirit, our truth-telling and our lying are all so bound up with each other, that it is impossible to see where the line between the two are. The fact of the matter is, although I do not respect George W.'s politics, ideology, or casual disregard for his responsibilities, I do respect that he holds an office that has authority over me. I do respect the fact--not only because the Secret Service would send me to Guantanamo indefinitely and waterboard me liberally--that I should not wish physical harm on him or attempt to harm him myself. I also do respect the fact that he holds the highest political office my homeland affords, and in so doing he has some honor. I respect the fact that George W.'s face will be on knicknacks, in textbooks, and on cheesy pens that are sold at the Valley Forge Gift Shop for years to come.
What I am saying is perhaps quite radical. George W. is no more evil than you or I. My alma mater provided me both with a quality and thorough education, and a post-modern ennui without which I would be as lost as Kurt Cobain without Courtney. The fact that Kurt chose to put a gun to his head and end it all is the same as my blind determination, in the face of daily failure and humiliation, to continue to show up at school and church and to "educate" and to "be educated."
If this is becoming too obtuse, my point is, I can no more get mad that someone who on most days, I consider to be an evil, lying, murdering bastard is giving the commencement address at the same school where I learned the joys of middle verbs, making out in the forest preserve, and writing overly verbose self-important screeds about the nature of the universe.
To sum up--What the c---s---ing, skullf---ing, g--d---, b----a--, c---licking, hell!?!