One Brick at a Time

Things don't change.  People's opinions don't shift.  Facts don't matter, persuasion is irrelevant.  I put out my lantern, like Diogenes, trying to figure out what the conservative alternative to "Obamacare" is, and received deafening silence.  Nothing I post seems to get anyone to think -everyone just goes to their ideological corners.

Or so it seems.

Our church was recently discussing the proposed (since passed) blessing of same-sex couples.  Given that we are a "blessings" church that blesses people, pets and inanimate objects, it seems like a reasonable thing to do.  But in our discussion, it became clear that people had solid opinions one way or another.  There was little movement  on either side, and there was some concern that it might be an issue that could split us apart.  I gave my opinion in favor of it firmly and without compromise or fudging.  When I was finished, I felt like I had made no impression, and may have contributed to the divide.  We also had a loving, same-sex couple, who had been together for over twenty years, speak out eloquently and movingly (at least it was to me and fellow supporters).  As the discussion went on, I quietly despaired that all I was accomplishing was driving people further in their camps.

After the meeting was over, a very nice but very conservative couple  came up to me.  They said that they came into the meeting opposed, but that what I had said and what the couple had said had moved them, and they were now open to the blessing.  My heart soared.  So it wasn't a mass movement, it wasn't a great swelling of change.  But it was a couple of bricks.  And that was something.  Change happening one brick at a time.

And then it feels like all the chattering done by myself and others regarding the Affordable Care Act is not penetrating, that it is doing no good.  My call goes out and if I get anything back it's foaming filled with hatred of the government, cries of socialism, fear that you will have to more pay while deadbeats skate for free.  It saddens me and I don't know what to do.  The Affordable Care Act, like any legislation, is far from perfect, but it is a brick, an important and vital brick, towards building a better system.  But nothing we say is getting through.

Or so it seems.

I have received private messages from a few people, indicating their support for Obamacare, people who are not normally political, people that have given me heart.  Yes, my conservative friends, at least here where we live, your wind and roar is fierce, too fierce for everyone to speak out, but they exist.  And they're growing in number. The bricks are falling into place.  One brick at a time.

So, the winds, they are a-changing.  You may not be able to feel it yet, but it's coming.  One brick, one breath, one soul at a time.