By Rev. Lainie Dowell
Dedicated to Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones
Death came suddenly and took her in the midst of the battle
CHRISTIANS DO NOT FEAR TO PRAY AND SPEAK FAITH EVEN WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING!
THOSE WHO ARE PRETENDERS TO THE FAITH WON'T UNDERSTAND.
Yes, I am a Republican and Representative Tubbs-Jones lived and died a Democrat. She did not know me and I never had the privilege of meeting her, but her spirit was very much people-oriented. As I watched her work in the midst of so much rancor and confusion before, after, and during this election period, I noticed her radiant smile that came all the way from her heart.
She had a desire to be of service with a willingness to serve. With her, you sensed that regardless of any situation, there was a respite.
Barack Obama and the leadership of the Democratic Party failed to take note, because their rhetoric speaks death and hopelessness from which there is no return -- to let them tell it. And, with them, there is the uneasy feeling that nothing anybody did would ever be good enough. There would always be a moving back of the "mark," which had to be hit. And our nation is better than that. This nation deserves better than that!!! Let Obama and his naysayers go their way and let the people use common sense and pray that he will not be anywhere near the finish line on Election Day 2008.
What a difference in Representative Tubbs-Jones. Her smile as she went about her work left no one with the after thought that she may have been trying to get over on you. She had a trusting spirit about her that let you know she would be sincere in her dealings with you. She instilled hope in this onlooker and, I am sure, others, too.
She served faithfully to the end, even being stricken while driving along, no doubt, while on the way to another opportunity to be of help to somebody else. And, now, her life has come and gone. The celebration of her life and death were attended by so many people -- many of whom she worked alongside. Still, I cannot help but wonder?
Why has not her sacrifice and that of so many others past and present not made a difference in how we treat one another?
What does it take for people to make a change in how they treat one another? Has this nation reverted so far back into being savages that the "kill or be killed" mentality has made a come back? Or did that nature ever die? We kill with our biting tongues and, when that doesn't do the job, we take out our pent up anger on the innocent, unsuspecting, victims whose only crime was that they wanted to live in peace.
How can it be that Americans readily tout the academic prowess of tyrants and so easily cast aside the common sense of the common man, woman, and child? Has too much education brought us, as a nation, to the brink of insanity? For, if higher education was all it took for this nation to realize change, then there would not be the need to promise it but to just act on it and get it done.
What kind of an environment do we want to live in is the question? And, how many generations will it take for us to achieve it is the dilemma?
Because of the nature of mankind, change is far removed from their capacity to bring about the kind of change which will make this world a better place for all mankind. The more we look to the past and cannot recall the difficulties it took to reach the future, the more we are bound to stay in the past.
Change is the request.
The willingness to change is the requirement.
Though we have come a long way to get to this point in time, the dialogue we hear today makes it seem as if we have not made any progress. Nevertheless, we have indeed come a long way. Therefore, we ought to know that, as Americans, we are obligated to help make this a better world and a safer place in which to live.
If there remain those who are not satisfied with this country, then the next boat is waiting at the dock. The next plane is waiting at the terminal and the bus can take you to the border where an automobile can drive you across on the other side.
There are many more people who want to live a quality life than there are those who refuse to fight for that right as well.
The times of change are here and now. Most people talk about change but they never move towards the change. In fact, whenever they fail to enact steps to make their much-talked-about change --- change, nevertheless, does occur. So, when we stop to think about the kind of changes that would be made if acted upon at the time of conception, we would be in a far better condition than ever before and so would those who are yet to be born in years to come.
For example, many of this nation's leaders have worked hard over centuries to bring about change for the better; but, if we stopped to think about it, we would realize not too many have ever stopped to tell the American people just what kind they intended their change to be and clearly delineate how they were going to bring it to fruition.
Legislators have a way of getting their way with their constituents, but I suppose when one or two people are elected to take care of hundreds of thousands in their region, there is bound to be a left out faction who will never be pacified.
The world has a way of bringing things into perspective. Grandiose promises made and out of scale visions pronounced are more than the mind can ever comprehend much less than the pocketbook can support. But, in the meantime, politicians still try to sell it to the nation that we can carry on in the time of lack just the same as we had been doing in the time of plenty.
After their election, the moment they step foot in the House of Representatives or in the Senate whether on the local level or the national level, they begin to get the sense that the only thing that will change will be themselves. However, they don't bother to tell the people who sent them there to make a change in their condition. And I daresay they quite possibly don't even realize they need to make a change in themselves first.
So, after the Election 2008 is over and the votes have all been counted up, and the newly elected candidates have been notified along with the rest of the citizens, the change has already begun to take shape. All we have to do, as citizens, is to step up and ensure that they live up to the promises they made to get the people to put them into office.
The bottom line?!
Change comes when the people recognize the difference between doing something to bring about the desired positive change and doing nothing to keep change from being progressive.
Change of mind can create the very best things when people can make up their minds to get together and be of one mind.
Rest in Peace, Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones.
You are not alone. And your labor was not in vain in the Lord. It is only lost on the minds of those who seek their own vainglory from man.
Editor's Note: About two weeks before Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones' sudden and tragic death, I phoned her office and spoke with an assistant there. I felt she was the only one I could trust with my concerns that the Obama plan was dangerous to America. It was the weekend and I did not follow through to fax documentation. However, I am so glad I felt her spirit was open and trustworthy while she was alive.
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