So, Rush Limbaugh got to me again. I hate when I let him get under my skin. It's not that I listen to him... I gave that up years ago. A church member and I were talking about the news once at a Men's Breakfast from church, and when I mentioned listening to Morning Edition on NPR, he chuckled, shook his head, and said, "Steve, you ought to balance that out by listening to Rush." I also chuckled, shook my head, and admitted, "Well, I probably should balance out my news sources, but I can't listen to Rush. He's just plain mean."
And so His Meanness once again did it, and, since it has been reported so widely, I read his comments, and, as I said, I allowed him to get to me. When he called Georgetown University Law School student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" after her testimony before Congress regarding funding for contraception, I was appalled, stunned, and, yes, angry... SO angry! Didn't we all learn as children that you don't call other people names??? Of course, I guess being polite and respectful doesn't sell advertising time in the media! But still... I mean, come on, Rush!
Then on Thursday he said he wouldn't apologize for his remarks. Then he said the same thing on Friday. Something must have happened, though, because today he apologized. Well, he sort of apologized. But then he added that he hadn't meant his words as a "personal attack" on Ms. Fluke. Really??? You call a woman a slut and you didn't mean it as something personal??? And so that got me angry all over again!
Why is it that I allow someone like Limbaugh to get me so riled up? Perhaps - and, good Lord, I hate to admit this! - perhaps it's because I see so many of us, myself included, in Rush. Ouch! Oh, I succeed most often in not calling other people names... at least I succeed in not doing that out loud. Yet in my heart... well, there's the proverbial rub. In my heart I think that Limbaugh is a jerk, a misogynistic and mean-spirited bastard. And then I realize that I am no different than he. And that does, indeed, make me mad... not at Rush, but at myself, at my own failings, at my own failure to rise above the fray, at my inability to see Christ in "the other," even in Rush Limbaugh.
Rats! So now I have something else to work on within myself during Lent!
Please, Lord Jesus: help me love all of your children... even Rush... even myself. Amen.
Food for thought, indeed, Steve. Great reminder that when those of us who congratulate ourselves for being so open and tolerant close our minds against those who have a narrower or more circumspect view, we are being...you guessed it!....narrow and circumspect.
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