JUST A THOUGHT: On the dawn of the New Year

By Juanita Bratcher 

The Year 2009 was a tumultous year for many Americans, much of it due to a tough economy – job loss and all the other downs that come along with it. And we haven’t gotten there yet – recovery from this lagging economy – and there are many still suffering because of it. What will the Year 2010 bring? That’s a tough question that perhaps no one can answer just yet, other than by mere speculation; and speculation doesn’t amount to much and it’s certainly not reality.

One of the most troublesome things that bothered me in 2009 was all the mean-spiritedness – this wide-array of hatemongering and ignorance that raised its “ugly head” after America elected its first African-American President Barack Obama. Many of us are aware of these blistering attacks coming from the mouths of some politicians and other public figures who want to see this Administration fail – even one wishing that health care reform would be Obama’s “waterloo.” Some have even prayed for failure, as in the likes of U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Coburn, on the Senate floor, prior to the healthcare reform vote for cloture, which would ward-off a filibuster by Republicans, asked that Americans pray that somebody (a senator) wouldn’t “make the vote tonight…that’s what they ought to pray.”

Some felt that he was referring to U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (West Virginia) who has had recent bouts with illness. However, the 92-year-old Byrd made the roll call, helping to rein in the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster.

U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), while expressing shock over Coburn’s prayer, said it crossed the line to ask people to pray so that senators wouldn’t be able to answer roll call.

There have been other incidences in Year 2009 where individuals prayed for negative outcomes surrounding President Obama and some of his initiatives, especially healthcare reform. One wonders why they would “pray for evil” to happen. That’s certainly not the Godly way. God is love! And it should never become the American way of doing things!