$.019 on the Kavanaugh Hearings and Dr. Blasey Ford

Christine Blasey Ford recently published a memoir. You may remember she is the one who testified in the Kavanaugh hearings, saying the nominated justice had assaulted her when they were both teenagers. At the time I mused on it for my own thinking, and reconsidered it a bit for today.

The prevailing rule in too many Supreme Court nominations certainly applies here:

There is nothing really right or wrong, but thinking makes it so.
Political power is everything.
If you interfere with my political power, you are bad, really bad.
There is no way out of this mess.

I wondered if the age-old rule, love god and neighbor, could get any air-time.

Love God – You better have something/someone larger than you that holds you to final account.

Love your neighbor, especially when they suffer.
If Dr. Ford is truthful, her pain is great.
If Kavanaugh is guilty, his pain is great.
If Dr. Ford is lying, her pain is great.
If Kavanaugh is innocent, his pain is great.

Do you know how to grade the pain or gauge the brokenness or know the truth? I don't. Lord, have mercy. How many broken people have you known who learn to masquerade, to cover, to cope? As many as have ever lived. Privilege and power on all scales mask the human reality of the soul and heart. This is true no less of Kavanaugh or Dr. Ford.

All should grieve for Dr. Ford if she were abused. All should be free to wonder about such things, because there is reason to do so.

All should grieve for the presumed innocence of the man in the chair. What culture is strong enough to guarantee "innocent until proven guilty?" It is a precious inheritance and we abandon it to our peril. One should also allow he may be guilty, and let due process run its course.

The prophet said: “Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly.”

Justly: Burn the guy. He is a lecherous offender. Or, try calmly to determine truth.

Mercy: Accept all statements at face value (except that is lunacy.) Better: be compassionate of the accuser. The alleged act may be true and have grave effects. And be compassionate of the man in the chair. He may be innocent of a grave charge, or there may be mitigating factors.

Humbly: Speak with certainty to correct injustice. Perhaps, but first pray to live quietly in this world, and weep for those who must judge such things. Look in the mirror and remember who does not.

I don't know anything else. 

Lord, have mercy.