Never have we heard such nasty rhetoric as we did in the past presidential campaign. From “Lock Her Up” to now, “Not My President,” we cringe at the toxicity of what this means and wish we could cover the ears of our innocent children. Whether you may have mouthed either one of these chants even silently in your heart or not, we must say that both the “her” and the “President” are referring to a real human being.
My mother who immigrated to America after World War II when my father earned his US citizenship after serving as a corporal in the US Army in Germany used to warn me that once you say the words whatever they might be, you can never ever take them back. This particularly happened when I was an activist in college in the late 60s during civil rights and Vietnam War times.
Now that the President-Elect is preparing for his transition to DC, many are hoping that he won’t do what he said he’s going to do during the campaign. We are still scared because my mother said, “One can never ever take your words back.” If the new President turns out to be more reasonable than we thought, we would be angry that he used such disgusting words to whip up fear and hate in America just to win the White House. Hate speech is now on the rise.
Words do hurt but we also know that just the right appropriate words spoken at a funeral can console and bring peaceful closure. Words can divide us when “Lock Her Up” and “Not My President” demarcate red from blue. Just the wrong words can cause a war; just the right words can bring peace.
As Christians and all ethical people, we live our lives as consistently as possible with words that come out of our mouths that we live by, day in and day out. We don’t say words only to retract them afterward. While I hope and pray that what happens in the next 4 years may reflect a different President from the one during the campaign, I am willing to give him a pass. I won’t hold him in being consistent because it’s the only hope we have.
Only a simple preacher, I know that God created the beautiful world and all the wonderful and amazing creatures that inhabit it simply by using words. God declares it to be so. In Genesis 1:26, 31, we read, God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness… God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” God spoke and made the “her” and the “President.”
May the words that we live by are hopeful rather than discouraging; uniting rather than divisive; challenging and strong on the side of justice rather than giving up and weak on the side of apathy. I can’t speak for the President-Elect, but I know that the words I live by are the same words I say in public. My mother taught me that I can never ever take them back!
Many of us preachers often pray these words before we preach: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm19:14). We live by our words.