A letter to my Mother - April 2020

Dominga is my "God send"

"Jonatha, can you help me?"   It's the typical question our recent immigrants ask when they find a road block and need some English person to help them find their way.   But this one was unusual.   His Corolla could go backwards but not forward.   It was an obvious transmission problem and his eager neighbor Sonny* was eager to help him.   That was 4 weeks ago.   After a ride to a salvage yard buying a new transmission the job stalled and patience ran out.   When Sonny asked for more money frustration mounted, words were exchanged, and the relationship was broken.   That's when I got the call.  He gave me the phone number.   So I called Sonny, wondering about the car.   Sonny was angry.  "I need 210 dollars to finish the job.  I don't like when people call me names and disrespect me.   I don't want to deal with them anymore".     "Ok", I told him, "you don't need to.  You are dealing with me now.   You finish the job and I'll pay you the $210.  When can you have it finished".   He said "tomorrow" which would be Saturday.   "Very Good, You call me when it finished".   So began my dealings with Sonny.  

    He called me Saturday around 2.   "Can you drive it?" I asked.   "I can't drive", He said.     "I wasn't asked to do that.   I was just told to replace the transmission."   I could tell Sonny was aroused and could get upset quickly.   I was worried.   When I got there, Sonny told me the car now needs a new starter.  Turning the key the starter ground against the flywheel.  Still trusting his mechanical judgments I asked what a starter costs?   He told me $120.   How long would that take?  Monday was a holiday.  He promised the starter would be fixed on Tuesday.   He needed the money to buy the part so I gave him the money and told him when it runs on Tuesday I will pay for the transmission.   He was unhappy but the guy who he called his boss who had the small garage he worked out of told him, he should do it.  

   Tuesday came and went.  My calls went unanswered,   Wednesday I stopped in and found the drunken brother to the guy Sonny called the boss came to the door.   I learned his mother was taken to the hospital and no one knew where Sonny was.   He struggled to write down my phone number and promised to have his brother call me.  

  That night, I finally got a text response, from Sonny's wife... "My husband got arrested last nite because he done a job on someone car and the person did not want too pay him so he lost his tempered and got in trouble.   So I don't know when they going too put his bail. we waiting for the judge in the morning.   So if you want someone else too put the starter on for you just get someone else too do it.   If he gets bail tomorrow he going too get in trouble again, he's very stubern".

   Totally losing faith in redeeming this situation I decided I needed to take this car to a regular shop.  Since I had a key I got five high school guys to help me push the car down the city streets to a regular shop I had confidence in.   I hoped no one would be around to ask any questions but as I approached I realized the guy Sonny called the boss was sitting on the front porch with 4 friends.   I asked him,  "Is Sonny in jail?"   "Jail?"   No one knew anything.   "Yes", I said,"I got a text from his wife".   "That's all a lie." he said, as everyone started talking.   That's when Dominga walked up.   "I can help you", he said.  "I don't think it needs a starter.   Sonny did not put the transmission on right.  He doesn't listen.   I will take it off and put it on properly by tomorrow."     "Would you?   That would be great.   We came to push the car down to the shop on Seymour street".  I said.     "Dominga is a much better mechanic", the boss said.  "He'll get it done right".  

   The next morning I got a call.   "It's done," Dominga said at the other end.   "We need to get some oil for the transmission".   When I got there an hour later Dominga showed me some other things that needed attention.  He also had fixed the broken hood clasp.   As we traveled to Autozone for oil I learned a bit about Dominga.  He's 70 years old, worked for Huber nurseries until a work accident ended that career but his back has recovered and he's now on Social Security and just does favors for anyone who calls on him.   Most of the time he's here in the alley fixing cars.   About Sonny, "he's not in jail, that's a lie.    He's a 'shooter', he just disappeared."  he said.  "He's an adict, a junkie, takes money up front, then never finishes anything.   You cannot trust him".  

  As I enjoyed watching Dominga wrapping up the project I thought about how my anxiety level changed so dramatically in last 15 hours.  Here was a guy who showed more energy at 70 then most of us have at 35.  He obviously took great delight in being able to help someone in their trouble.   His wife came up and I asked her,  Dominga says he just eats just one meal; rice and beans every evening.   Is that true?   She laughed and said,  He did not tell you how many cupcakes he eats during the day.

* "Sonny" is not his real name.   

"So who do you support for President?" Day Day

Hi Day Day, 

So you wonder why I as a very small business person would support Bernie Sanders for President.   That is a great question.   Because you are new to this country and you have never witnessed a Presidential election, I am sure you are confused.   Many of the English people you work with are staunch Republicans.   Then there are Democrats which a lot of people are critical of in our area.   And then there is Bernie who is considered a far left socialist.   I'm sure you think that must be really bad.   So, I'm sure you wonder why I,  would support a socialist?

That is really long answer.   First we have to discuss the social issues.   These are the issues that really divide the people.  The social issues are the issues politicians use as tools to destroy their opponent but aren't the real reason people vote.   Abortion is the first one.   We are all opposed to ending the life of a fetus developing in the mother's womb.   This is a tragic happening everyday in America.   Every baby deserves to be born into the world of a loving family.   For 30 years politicians have used this issue to fool the evangelical Christians into voting for them but they have never done a thing to stop it.   I would have more respect for the pro-life movement if they would give voice to supporting single moms who carry the burden of bringing an infant to term.   The least they could do is make the whole process of adoption free for the couples who welcome the unwanted child.   Bottom line is that the republican party is all about tax cuts for the wealthy, expanding our military preparation, and little more.    Reagan said he was opposed to abortion but his wife was not.   George H. Bush said he was opposed to abortion but his wife was not.   George W. Bush, maybe, was a true believer but did nothing.   Now Donald Trump says he is opposed to abortion but everyone knows he's not.   Ask his wife.   I don't want to minimize how serious the sanctity of life is to us, but the  point is abortion is not the issue they really care about so don't be fooled.  

The other issue is the practice that marriage is between one woman and one man.   Certainly this is what we believe.   In my job I have attended more than a thousand weddings but have never been asked to photograph a gay wedding.   I know of people who say they are gay but I don't know them well.   Is it really true they are born with these gay attractions and they cannot do anything about it?  The consensus of the scientific community seems to lean this way but I don't know.   One time I asked Ler La's brother Qwei Qwei if there are gay people in the Karen community?   He laughed and said, "you mean like a girl?  yes yes....they don't treat them very well....Sometimes they kill them".  Is this true, Day Day?   It's hard for me to imagine that could be possible.   If that is the case,  then we do need laws to protect them as we do every minority group who is abused.   Certainly as a persecuted Karen person you would support that.   The hard part is we believe the gay lifestyle is sinful.....the same way we believe the adulterous husband is sinful.   It is hard to accept and tolerate something you know is sinful.   But yet in a democratic society that is what we need to do.   So the courts have established protection for  gay people and there is nothing a politician can do to change it.   It is a constitutional right.   But the Republican party will still bring this up to rally evangelical Christians even if they can't do anything about it.  

So what are the issues that people vote for.  I'm sad to say everyone votes from their wallets.   How can I give as little as I must and at the same time make as much money as I can for myself.   Republicans have been pushing tax cuts for the wealthy since Ron Reagan era beginning in 1980.   We have always called our income tax Progressive Taxation.   In other words the more you earned, the higher percentage of your income was taxed.   In 1980, if you earned 5 to 10,000 you paid just 5 percent of your income to tax.   If you earned 30 to 40,000 you paid 18 percent.   If you earned 200,000 or more you paid 43 percent for income for federal tax.  Reagan ran for tax cuts for the wealthy and won the election.   He dropped the top rate from 43 to 28 percent.   Wealthy people were very happy with Reagan but the deficit spending far outpaced the promise of more income he promised.   George W. Bush did the same thing reducing the top income rate back down since it had slipped up again under Clinton.  Again this move contributed toward a lot of the deficit spending adding to our national debt but did not generate economic growth.  

Deficit spending is a problem.   It means the government spends more money than it takes in.   If you or I would do this we would be bankrupt the first year.   We can't spend more than our income.   But there is a big difference between you and I and the government.   First the government never dies.   It can accumulate debt and it doesn't need to pay it back.   First it pays interest to people who invest in Treasury bonds....so the government debt is an investment for others.  In other words the debt is a loan the government takes on from it's people.  One could say it is the same as a loan to yourself since the government and people are one and the same thing.      Plus the government can print money.   When they do this the value of the dollar decreases.   We paid for the Vietnam War by printing lots of money.   A house my grandpa sold in 1970 for 27,000 dollars, sold in 1976 for 54,000, now it is worth 325,000.  The economy is still perking along....the dollar one earns just doesn't buy as much.   The minimum wage in 1970 was $1.60 and now it is 7.50 I think but it should be 10 or 11 I think because of the devaluation of the dollar. 

The theory behind these Tax cuts for wealthy is that given more money the wealthy would spend it buying all kinds of things which create jobs for everyone.   It was called building the economy from the top down called trickle down to energize everyone.   One could say this was partially successful.   Reagan expanded his military spending considerably which did employ some people but most would say it is largely insignificant.   George W. Bush attempted to same thing but it too was only marginally successful.   The reason being is that wealthy people don't necessary spend their extra money

Therein lies the number one strength of the a socialistic economy.   Rich people rarely make poor people rich.   But poor people always make Rich people rich.   The reason being is that if you empower the poor they spend every dollar they have and it always ends up in the hands of those who control the production of goods and services.  In economic class we call this the velocity of money.   In other words the more money changes hands the more it blesses everyone.   

A second reason tax cuts do not necessarily stimulate the economy is that when one is in business there are all kinds of ways of minimizing one's income.   If one has a good year as a farmer, he can buy a 100,000 tractor which makes him more productive and he writes the  100,000 dollars off in one year.   A wood worker can buy better saws and bigger sanders.   If one prospers the first thing on any businessperson's mind is how they will minimize the tax they need to pay.   So high taxes encourage all kinds of good things such as business investments, giving to charities or one's church, investing in apartments providing homes for people, having children, buying one's own home where the interest is tax deductible, etc.    On the other hand if you spend money for expensive vacations you need to earn 2 dollars for every one you spend because those expenses are not tax deductible. 

So I really appreciate our system as it is or rather the way it was before President Reagan time.   I worry when I hear republicans talk about wanting a flat tax.  In my mind it is another vehicle to place a greater burden on the poor to pay for the costs of government and shield the rich who don't give to charity from needing to pay taxes supporting their lavish lifestyle.   Reagan earned 800,000 one year he was president and only gave to charity 6,000.   I think that shows you where his priorities were as president.    Progressive Taxation is the heart of a just society.   This is socialist principle. 

Another Socialist principle is that of  inheritance taxes.   Republicans call this a death tax and they call it immoral.   I don't understand  why this is an issue because one can have an estate of 5 million dollars before you are required to pay inheritance taxes by the federal government when you die.   Not very many people have estates this large so I am confused by this.   In our state Pa we still have a 4.5 percent inheritance tax when one dies, but at the federal level we have no inheritance tax unless the estate is larger than 5 million.   So why should we care about inheritance or estate taxes.  

I actually want to call this value Biblical Socialism.   There is a huge theme that runs through the whole Bible we call economic justice.   In the old testament it was called year of Jubilee.   The land belongs to God and is given to us as stewards.  Since some prosper and some have hard luck, inequity develops so this land which is God's gift needs to be redistributed at the end of every 50 years and given back to the original families it was given to at the beginning of their life in the promised land.   I suspect this commandment was rarely obeyed by Israel.  We know this because the prophets continued to cry out for justice for the poor claiming that if they don't keep the law they will be destroyed as a nation.  It was prophesied that when the Messiah came he would indeed practice the year of Jubilee.   It is so interesting that when Jesus began his ministry, the first time he stood up in the synagogue, he read that very passage from the old testament and then he said today this prophesy is fulfilled in your hearing.   Of course  they wanted to stone him right away at the time.   But Jesus ministry was all about giving dignity to the poor.   Even the Lord's prayer includes the line which asks God to forgive us our debts toward him as we forgive the debts of those who owe us something.   This translation is hard for us to  accept.  We are much more comfortable spiritualizing that line making it all about sins:  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.   But the true translation of the passage is all about money.    Jesus knew our love for money is the great idolatry of all mankind.  That's why he told the rich man if he wants to be saved he needs to sell what he has and give to the poor.   Indeed when he left this earth, sent the Holy Spirit and the Church was birthed,  they sold possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need. ...their possessions and property and distributed them to everyone, as each one had need.    This was the year of Jubilee enacted. 

   Why is this value so important?   We believe in private property.  We believe when people have opportunity, build on that opportunity, they prosper and improve their lives and everyone around them.   This is the foundation of the capitalistic system we practice in this country.   As is natural our enterprises expand.   Up until this point capitalism is wonderful.  But where we go from here is the problem.  Where are the limits of growth that keeps a healthy society.   It's like we are all fish in a big fish bowl.  Little fish get eaten by bigger fish who then get eaten by bigger fish and eventually there is just one big fish who has to die because there are no more fish.   I suspect a biblical answer to this question is that we are limited by our own lifespan.   In addition the year of Jubilee which came every 50 years limited the strength of the big fish.   50 years is just a little less than 3 generations.   I think this is significant because in practical terms 3 generations is as long as a family business can be kept in tact.  

I am most familiar with farming.  Farming is my mindset from which I understand the world.   It is natural for some because they work hard, pay attention to detail, or the luck of good weather, to prosper beyond their neighbor.  When another farm comes up for sale they can purchase it but of course that requires more help....maybe they can take on employees, or maybe a they have a child who is now ready to farm.    This is model of farming in the life of my childhood, and the current Amish model of farming.    However, today's corporate model of business has industrialized farming as well.   We are no longer limited by our lifespan or family help.   The machine age has enabled one to expand enterprises far beyond our human limitations.  Tractors and implements are huge making it possible to farm vast sections of land.    Large chicken or dairy enterprises have grown so large that they depend on multiple farms to support their enterprises somewhat for feed but primarily for manure disposal.   The children of a farmer can bind together to run a large operation like this successfully into the second generation but it becomes a huge problem when all the cousins in the third generation want to have a part in the business.  None of the family can afford to purchase and run this mammoth operation so it needs to be sold to yet a bigger fish....some corporation buys it with public money on the stock exchange.  What we worked so hard to create, ends up in nobodies hands with a family of children upset with each other.   This road we are on has taken us to a difficult place.  Either one is lucky enough to be the child of a trust fund recipient, or you are part of the next generation with no opportunity for ownership except as a nondescript wage earner in some corporate entity.   One hears the echo of Isaiah the prophet saying "Woe to you who add house to house and field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land".  Currently in Lancaster we have a couple of farms in the corporate stage. but most are in the 2nd generation stage.   Entering the third generation stage will be the challenge in the next 30 years.   A strong socialistic government is critical for the health of our farm lifestyle but primarily for the well being of our family life together.  Breaking up these large farms will restore opportunity for individuals who want to farm.  With strong zoning laws in place farms can be valued by their potential earnings in agriculture alone.   

Fortunately we do have the Amish as our best example of Biblical socialism by their self imposed limits of their own operations.   Farms are bought and sold frequently with values based on what that individual farm by itself can produce.  Farms are limited in size to what an ordinary family can do.   Older farmers turn their farm over to their children quickly in their late 40's or early 50's.  as they move into the apartment.   In the corporate world ownership is in the hands of stockholders.  They hire managers who manage employees who do the work.  They have no vested interest in the community or neighborhood except the return they expect for their investment which they buy and sell regularly.   In the Biblical Socialized world the neighborhood, family, means just about everything.  

So the year of Jubilee is central to everything I believe about Christian faith, and politics.  I happen to talk about farming because that is what I am most familiar with.  But one could talk about restaurants, retail stores, health care providers,  etc.  it all has become different expressions of corporate structure.   I thought about this yesterday in Philadelphia where I had my sandwich in a corner deli owned and run by an older couple and their son.   It was simple, good food, unique character.   I sat down with neighbors from neighborhood who recognized me as a stranger, asked me who I was and why I was there.   I wish I would have taken a photo because I only thought about it afterward how special that experience was in contrast to sitting in a strip mall eating at Subway. 

So why socialism?   We have come to this place in our history where people don't see a way to get on the first rung of the ladder.    Many people work at Park City but no one there owns anything.   All the wealth lies in the hands of those stockholders in some corporation somewhere far away.   How can one feel a sense of ownership when that is seen as something far beyond their reach. 

Conservative Republicans tend to believe government is the problem and if government would be small,  get out of the way, tax less, then people would have money to be able to strive for their dreams.   The problem is though, Republicans have not made government smaller.   They just have redirected government toward projects they love to push, namely building up the military.   This is why conservative Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul want to be known as a libertarian because they claim those who call themselves conservative republicans aren't conservative at all.   They say most republicans will continue push military preparedness and fight wars ultimately bankrupting our country.   Interesting that Bernie Sanders as a socialist would agree with that libertarian view completely.

Ordinarily I would support Ron Paul and Rand Paul whole heartedly.  Our government has meddled in the affairs of other countries for a long long time.   Our track record of success is really bad.   We have destabilizing one country after another.  Our current problem in the Middle East is just another illustration of what we have been doing since the Spanish American War in the 19th century.   We have to recognize that wars are big business.   Vice President Cheney was an executive with Halliburton, a military contractor.   It is estimated that his company alone made almost 40 billion dollars on the Iraq war.  He really wanted that war and George W. listened to him.   Hillery Clinton pushed the Iraq war as a business opportunity.  This is grossly immoral.   So the Paul's are exactly correct in wanting to stop our country from getting involved in foreign countries affairs.

On the other hand a democratic government can play a really important role in helping limit the powers of the big fish.   I believe government has a positive role protecting weak and vulnerable from the strong and empower the poor to get a foothold in this world.  Minimum wages, safe working conditions,  food and drug regulations, social security programs, environmental protection programs, public education, public health clinics, unemployment compensation,  are all areas where government plays a role in protecting weak.   These legislative programs have always been labeled as socialistic, which sounds ungodly, but I wish they would be viewed as something God's very heart was concerned about from the very beginning.   So I am not a libertarian.   I believe big business requires government to protect the people.  In this regard they are doing the work of God.  

The business community almost universally rejects these programs because they see it as cutting into their profit margins, but experience has proved otherwise.   When Henry Ford doubled the wages of his workers he enabled them to buy his cars.  Today he is given credit for stimulating the middle class in our country.   In my own small business of renting apartments at least one third are persons who rely social security to pay their monthly rent.   I often think that indirectly I am the one who relies on the government check or what some would call welfare.   The whole agricultural industry is blessed by the food stamp program.   Everyone who employs anyone for less than 16 dollars an hour and one who has a family is blessed by the income tax credits.   This is a program initiated by President Reagan called work welfare.   In a sense it is subsidy to small business supporting them with employees who raise their families on marginal incomes.   I was excited when our first family of four was able to pay rent and living expenses on his $9.00 hour income, buying food with food stamps, and save his income tax credit check.  After 4 years he had accumulated 22,000 in savings.  When he moved with his family to Minnesota he was able to purchase a house with his savings as his down payment.   Since that time I was disappointed when Republican Gov. Corbett said if a family has more than $5500 in saving they cannot get food stamps.   This took away any incentive anyone had in saving to buy a home.   Now our people are inclined to spend money on cars rather than lose the food stamp check.   But the point is still strong, whenever we empower the people to have a vision of what they can become it turns around to bless the people who support that empowerment many times over.     

The biggest reason to support socialism is in the area of health care costs.  When I was in business we paid the insurance premiums for our employees.  Costs were very high.   One was reluctant to hire more people primarily because of medical insurance.   When I take someone for a job interview today and the employer asks me, "Does he have a family?"  I know exactly what he is thinking.   A single guy costs far less to employ than a worker with a family.    On the other hand, if a person has a job and really wants to change their job,  many times they are locked in because they can't interrupt their health care.   Health care is expensive primarily because the inefficiency at the bill collection end.   If I go to the doctor, he writes up a bill 3 times higher than he expects to receive, the insurance company rewrites the bill according to what they believe is fair and reimburses the doctor, then the bill comes to me because I have not yet accumulated expenses to match my $5000 deductible.   For this effort each doctor's office needs to employ extra staff, the insurance company needs to pay staff, advertising, and the CEO of insurance company apparently earns 2 million a year.   For the past 30 years I dreamed of a single paying provider with a non profit motive....which of course would be a government health care system.  I wondered why should providing health care be the responsibility of the employer?   In the past 8 years I have sat many many hours in our public health clinics in Lancaster with our immigrant community.   The public health providers are wonderful people. I would be happy to patronize them.   Many of our doctors including my personal family Catholic doctor also would dream of a simpler system so they could just focus on health care.   The Private health care system is destroying our business community.   I plead for everyone to help adopt a one payer socialized system of health care.   It's so upsetting going through all the different medical cards and have the receptionist say we take this card but not that one.   Please make it one card.   Sadly Obama tried but in the end the medical care insurance providers just expanded the base with a sliding scale payment system based on income, which is an improvement.  20 million more people have coverage, but the inefficiencies continue.

Another issue, Day Day, I am sad to say is a historic issue our country has had with Race.   There is a large segment of our population feel so much hatred toward Obama just because he is black.  I know this is true primarily because I listen to people talk on Amateur radio from the south and I hear all the racist things they say.   Donald Troop has become their hero.  He can say the most racist statement and they actually love him for it.   He also ridicules Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio and gets away with it also.   I believe that he ridicules them and people enjoy it because they are also a bit brown.   The reason the establishment republicans are so upset is because they have spent a lot of energy trying to court Spanish and Black votes and now Donald Troop is redefining the Republican party as a white, Racist party.   We knew this element was part of the party since Nixon's time but never has it become so blatantly obvious.    My comfort here is that Donald may be able to use this racism to get the nomination but hopefully will not give him the national election.   You must know Day Day, as an Asian you are considered white.   All nationalities who come to this country have a hard time assimilating into this country in the first generation.   By the second generation every immigrant nationality has been absorbed and accepted as equals except our Afro-Americans.   When Asian people get beat up by blacks you must know that the blacks know in one generation your children will prosper and be successful here in America but the blacks will remain the last hired and first fired.   Sadly this is true.   Bernie Sanders is a most unusual person because as an American Jew he marched with Blacks for Civil Rights in the 60's when the South was still enforcing segregation.   Blacks have not supported Bernie really well for reasons I don't understand.  There is not one of us who does not have racist attitudes.    Our Karen people are keenly aware of their own race because they have been the victim race based genocide.   You were born into a people group exactly like Jesus under Roman occupation.   It will be a miracle of God if you can help your people embrace all people as equally loved by God including your enemies.  

Bernie Sanders will take some criticism for his commitment to a minimum wage of $15.00 and hour.   I agree with Bernie that $15.00 is the minimum livable wage.   You will be surprised that I actually like our status quo.  There seems to be little difference in lifestyle between our families where the bread winner earns $11.00 an hour and those who earn $16.00.   The point is that the bread winner who earns $11.00 gets cheaper health care, more food stamps, and plus income tax credit.   As long as they are working they are golden.   Raising the minimum wage to $15.00 for everyone would reduce almost everyone's benefits to zero.  That would please the Republican Party really well, but the small business owner would be really upset because they really appreciate the subsidy the government gives their employees.   Not all businesses could absorb that kind of increase and survive.   So I think the most socialistic practice would be to keep the status quo as it is.  

Bernie also takes a lot of criticism for his promise to provide free collage education for every young person in America.  It's not a fair criticism from those who wanted to go to war in Iraq because Bernie's promise to young people would represent only a percentage of what we spend in fighting our multiple wars every year.   It is a noble goal and I'm sure you would appreciate this gift but I would raise some questions.   I believe a guarantee of education though high school is important for socialization of every young person.   So our public schools are extremely important and should be free.   I view collage as an investment in a career track.   People value greater and work harder if they need to pay for something.  We have trouble enough with the party lifestyle of students in collage away from family, I suspect if we made it free it could get even worse.   I remember being in collage and feeling that I was prolonging my adolescence as I compared myself to my friends who were in the work world  making money, even getting married and here I was poor as a pauper studying in the library.    Collage education does not necessary open job opportunities to someone so one needs to have a goal to pursue a collage degree.  But clearly a collage education does open doors that ordinarily would not be open to someone, so Bernie is right, young people need to be encouraged to go collage.   The least we could do is have a given amount necessary for any public collage as an interest fee loan promised for everyone who wants to go to collage anywhere.     Bernie's proposal here scares me because I support our Church colleges.   I wonder how they would survive if the State supported collages were free.  

Another huge issue has raised it's ugly head in this campaign is an effort block immigration.   Strange that our Mexican neighbors have borne the brunt of this criticism in a time when net immigration vs. emigration is currently near zero from our southern neighbor.  Most of our current illegal immigrants come from Asia where students stay longer than their student visas allow.   However it has been our Spanish populations which historically have swelled the ranks of our undocumented immigrants.   We need to remember that our industries have depended on labor from our southern neighbor for generations.   Our border was porous and people traveled back and forth freely as jobs required.   Families are made up with 2 or 3 children born in the states as US citizens and others born in Mexico.   Spouses are often citizens of two different countries.   All of sudden immigration became politically explosive, walls were built, work visas became almost impossible to acquire, and green card requests denied beyond reason and families are caught, unable to visit relatives or unite families.   You must know as an Asian refugee you have come to America with a golden parachute.   You have legal residency from day one, with 3 months free rent, caseworker support, and a path to citizenship.   My own ancestors were German who came to this English colony of Pennsylvania without documents.   Ben Franklin wrote frequently of his displeasure of these hordes of Germans coming to Pennsylvania who would change the culture of his beloved colony.   So since both of us have immigrant past, myself as an child of illegal immigrants, and yourself as a privileged refugee immigrant, I believe Jesus is watching how we respond to others less privileged.

Ultimately our very society is dependent economically on our immigrant base.   Germany has absorbed a million Syrian immigrants nobly, it's true.   But more important is the fact  that they needed them economically.   Their populations has been aging just like our congregation at Habecker Mennonite and they drastically need a labor support going forward.   One retirement home executive told me he looking at a future of a growing population of older people with drastic reduction in the labor force required to support his community.   The immigrant population provides us with the most necessary support for our entire society.   Here in Lancaster our houses are full, and our economy is thriving primarily because of first generation immigrants to our community.  Those who oppose our national welcome toward our immigrant communities are inviting our own financial demise.   It is a socialistic principle that every individual has equal dignity and respect.   As Christians we believe that God loves all people.   We believe that when we show love and care toward people of need whoever that may be, we demonstrate the love of God.  God does not respect or see borders or legal residency documents.  He only sees human beings created in his likeness.  

Climate change concern, energy conservation, environment protection, renewal energy resources are all issues we support as people who inhabit this planet called Earth.   We believe the planet is God's gift to us and we need to care for it.   As an Asian you claim your heritage from Mongolia.  Your ancient cousins were the first people who called America home.   They had a saying, "The great spirit is our Father, and the earth is our mother".    I think they were saying the same thing we want to say as Christians.   This too is a strong socialistic value.  

Ultimately we need to remember, when one votes for president of the United States they are voting for the commander in chief of the military.  Presidents can take our country to war.   President Obama promised to take us out of war in Iraq and expand the war in Afghanistan.    He did exactly what he said he would do, but Iraq situation went into disarray with the rise of ISIS  so now our war in Iraq is continuing into it's 14th year.  I voted for the first time in my life when I voted for Obama.  I believed the Iraq war was such a massive tragedy,  I registered as a democrat so I could vote for Obama against Hillary in the primaries.   Hillary has a record of being quick to wage war, and I believed Obama needed to be rewarded for his vote against waging war.   However, war continues to rage, and now we have this horrific problem of 60 million refugees world wide.  I can take comfort that Obama has been a bit of a reluctant warrior  in that we are not fighting Russia in Ukraine, nor did we invade Syria supporting Islamic groups against Assad as McCain wanted to. 

So will I vote in the 2016 elections?   If I have an opportunity to vote for Bernie I will as an award for voting against the Iraq war as did Obama.   Will I vote for Hillary in the general election?   Probably not.  A funny thing happens to a person when one votes for a person.   Unconsciously their decisions become your decisions.   Unconsciously you feel you need to defend your man because of your vote.   The same thing will happen to you when you take the oath of allegiance to this country.   You will start to defend your country in your thoughts if not your words.   It happens to every soldier when they take their oath to live and die for their country.  Allegiance to one's person or one's country can easily become an exercise of idolatry.   Hillary's track record for military intervention has not been good.  She supported the war in Iraq.   Democrats may speak for peace more frequently but when it comes to waging war, both parties are equally quick to use military force.   We need to remember as Christians that our King and highest allegiance is Jesus and not Caesar.    

We Love You Pop

We all know that my Dad lived his life to the beat of a different drummer.  He grew up on the farm next to farm his father grew up which was next to the farm where his grandfather grew up.   He raised his family across the road on an adjoining farm where he grew up.  He went to school on the corner of the farm where his uncle farmed next to their farm.  He may have been person rooted to the soil but much more rooted to faith in God, loyalty to family and service for others in community.    

Farming for my father was primarily the way he knew how to raise a family and not a business.  I'm really not sure I was ever aware that farming was a business.  We never talked about money growing up.   We just milked the cows, gathered the eggs, and worked the garden.  Did the farm make any money?   I don't really know.   As children we never felt in lack of anything but we never spent very much either.   We never felt any anxiousness about the farm, it's just where we were planted I guess.  Maybe the farm did make some money after all?   Almost seems silly to think about that.  He always said "We farm as comes naturally".

We had a lot of fun on the farm growing up.  We all knew what we had to do.  Pop would wake me up by tickling the bottom of feet.   I washed the cows udders and Pop minded the milkers.   I talked a lot and Pop would listen.   If I asked too many questions he would say, He had book for me.   My favorite job on the farm was driving tractor.  We were really young when Pop first put us on the tractor working ground to seed corn.  Making hay, Pop drove the John Deere B with the sickle mower and I would follow driving the Massy Harris with the crimper.   

The alfalfa flowers were full bees and butterflies,  The red wing blackbirds were plentiful flying around as we mowed the alfalfa.   We were always watching out for pheasant nests.   We had so many pheasants back then.   It would be easy to run into a nest with the mower.    I remember when I was 12 or 13 I took Pop's single shot 12 gauge shotgun for a walk.  The season opened at 9:00 and I was walking up the back lane.   I saw some hunters walking in from the Donerville Rd. scare up some pheasants and they were flying my way.   I got one, put it by the fence row, than ran down to the crick where the other landed.   It flew up straight away from me across Elmer Sensenig's farm.   I remember it was not yet 9:30 when I brought my limit to mother who helped me clean them.  

We liked the Massy because it had an electric start but the problem was the PTO shaft was tied to the Clutch.   If the Sickle mower would back up to clear the blade it would pile up hay.   With the Massy you had no choice, you just needed to run right through it.   If you stopped with the clutch the crimper would stop.   If you ran right through it the hay could wrap around the rollers.   So Pop bought a Cockshot.   A Cockshot.....what kind of a tractor is that.  Actually it was a Cockshutt, everyone just called it a Cockshot.   Only Pop would buy a Cockshot.   But the Cockshot was good because it had a live PTO .....now I could go real slow and just nimble at the pile until it all got through without wrapping the roller.  

I never remember Pop as a teacher.   He never was much for words.   He just kinda asked us to do stuff assuming we had watched him long enough we probably know how to do it.   But he did believe in us.   I always think of him as person who enabled us.   I suspect my siblings feel the same way I do.   I feel like he encouraged us to do most everything we wanted to do.   I certainly don't think Pop ever discouraged us children from anything we wanted to do.  He just wasn't a heavy handed kind of guy.  He did encourage us all to go to school.  Probably the only thing he pushed was he thought I should go to Auction school.   He liked Auctions....that was understatement.   He lined up Leroy Zook for me to apprentice with and put me on the bus headed for DeMoines, Iowa.   I just needed to work it out.   Fairness wasn't in Pop's vocabulary.....He always said, "I don't know how to be fair", but we all felt equally cared for and loved.     

He loved to learn.  If he had free time he was reading.   Christ Charles had his Bible reading incentive.  Everyone who read the Bible in the past two years got their name in his book.   Pop got more fulfillment from that accomplishment than a bonus on the milk check every two years.  He particularly liked taking evening courses with Paul Zehr in his Adult Evening Education courses down at LMH.   I think he took every course he could.   In the past number of years when he discovered what a google search engine could do he discovered a whole new world.   It's like he was just gifted the world's biggest library.   Every conversation, every sermon, every newspaper article would generation some question or word he could google.  

We all knew Pop had his qwerks socially.   Many times in social gatherings it was hard for him to feel like he was one of the bunch.   He tended to be quiet and off by himself many times.  About 40 years ago he read Abe Schmidt's book,  "Brilliant Idiot".  It was Abe's story of his own journey with Dyslexia.  Reading that book was a real eye opener for my Dad.  His experience resonated with my Dad who also felt like a brilliant idiot in many ways.   He felt fully competent in many ways but unable to express it in others.   He soon became a disciple of Abe Schmidt's taking classes and doing counseling sessions with him.   I think it made him feel like he wasn't alone with his difficulties.   As adult children I'm not sure we took these studies too seriously.  We felt fine with Pop just as he was, although we did wish Pop would expand his one liner's into paragraphs.   He would ruminate in his thoughts for hours, deliver his one liner, leaving us trying to figure out the riddle of his thoughts.  Maybe he was just doing his  "Most for the least effort!"

 

What he lived for was the Church.  As long as I can remember he was involved in Sunday school teaching, song leading, trustee of church and the Manor Mennonite School.   As children I think we simply absorbed his involvements as normal things people do.  Today we see our parents sacrificial modeling of values prioritizing church as gifts from God.  Our father graduated from High School in the middle of our countries involvements in WW2.  He never saw much of a political divide between political parties other then a divide between capital and labor.   But he saw a large divide between the State and Church.   He felt his experience in high school was prep course for the ambitions of the state.   It was out of this experience he felt a strong desire to nurture Church school serving the mission of the Church.   Not that he talked much about this much, but he certainly led the way in practice sacrificing much toward that end.     

Living out one's mission of the church was a strong teaching of befriending and supporting the stranger and alien in your midst.   After WW2 Pop took an interest in hosting several families from Ukraine.  We had a summer house attached to the farm house where they lived for 6 months or a year before they moved on the steel mills or Coal mines.   In the 60's that house became a home for several people coming out of prison on parole.   After the Vietnam war our congregation supported several Vietnamese families.  In the past 6 years our congregation sponsored one Karen speaking family displaced from Burma.   This family invited other families and today our congregation is largely Karen speaking people.   This has been the greatest surprise and most wonderful gift to us as a people.   They have given us energy, life, and purpose as a people.   Our older people are respected above all people by our Karen speaking brothers and sisters.   It is a great gift.   Just as I described my Dad as not a teacher but an enabler.....I believe the gift of presence of all our new congregants has enabled and renewed life among us in indescribable ways.   Certainly my father nurtured these values of supporting those in need all his life.   We are so grateful these displaced people from Burma came to us in our hour of need and gave life to him.  I'm glad Pop has lived to see all those prayers for others return to be such a blessing for him.  

Love was not a sexy word for Pop.  For him I believe it was defined as being available to anyone who needed him for whatever reason.   I never heard him say no to anyone.   If he had something someone else needed it was available.  Granted it wasn't very fancy.   His fleet of public auction cars, (He always said, "he kept 5 to keep 3 running!") was his eager contribution to anyone who would call.  He took pride in the most humble service when he felt he could help someone.   Scheid's produce was the world's greatest gift to him these past 25 years.   They made him feel necessary and valuable in ways we can't thank them enough.  Every day, if he could, he would go down there and "maintain his box office", which means he would salvage old cardboard boxes making them usable for one more round of service.  

Love also was defined in that relationship are forever.   Mother had a motto on her kitchen sink that "Being kind is more important than being right".   Pushing "rightness" often breaks relationships but Love brings people together.   One classic modeling early on was his desire to stop raising tobacco when he started farming.   Grandpa did not know if that would work financially so he was not exactly in favor but he supported Pop....even loaned him the money to convert the big tobacco barn into a chicken house....but he did not want Pop to rub his convictions in the face of those in the church who still raised tobacco.  I'm sure Pop never did.  He even volunteered me as a helper for our good neighbor in the tobacco harvest when I was 13.   I believe this was Pop's way of embracing everyone.   He seemed totally secure in the path he walked, he felt no pressure to change to fit the mold anyone else took, yet he would not judge or criticize anyone else either.  He often said "the guy who argues the most is the most unsure."   Another quotable quote, "I'm probably in a rut,  but there's a lot of security in a rut".

    I love the little story that happened in church one Sunday.   Twelve years ago we had a lot of young people here at church.   We had what could be called a Contemporary worship band to lead worship.   Obviously this music was foreign to my Dad's experience but he never raised objection.    One Sunday as the band was playing I was sitting beside my Dad,  he leaned over to me and said,   "I hope they introduce me to heaven slowly!"   I understood his statement immediately.   He wasn't criticizing or condemning.   Actually he was embracing everyone expecting everyone to be in heaven with him, but he thought it might take a little time for him to get used to it.   I thought that was really funny.   For him New Wine skins are skins that stretch and never break.   When I think of the spiritual roller coaster that spanned my Dad's lifetime in the church, content with himself,  embracing all, he demonstrated a model to us all of what it means to be new wine skins.  

  Love, in his mind also means you walk with your brother/sister.   I remember him saying one time "Don't go where your brother cannot follow!"   This was primarily related to the way we celebrate our weddings and such like.   It's interesting now our Karen speaking people from Burma are now our brothers and sisters and are the largest part of our congregation at Church.   One Karen person told me one time.  "We know how to have a baby in America, we know how to get married in America, but we don't know how to die in America".   This is an enormously big question.   In the Buddhist tradition the body is burned.   In the Karen Christian tradition the body is buried.   Can we can give dignity to the body in a way our Karen brothers and sisters need not be fearful of dying?   We asked this question as a family?   In reading the plans of our parents wrote years ago, we realize once again their wishes are directly in line with a tradition our Karen brothers and sisters can easily follow.  

It was the flu/pneumonia four weeks ago which put Pop in the hospital.  He recovered from the flu but his digestive system never opened up again.   After two weeks the Doctor told him the sad news that their treatments were not working and they would need to take the next step of surgery to remove the blockage.   Without much hesitation Pop told the doctor,  "We've done enough for this body, It's time to focus on the next generation".   He was grateful for the 90 years he lived and now was the time to lay down his life.   He never complained, expressed disappointment, only gratefulness for all the support so many brought to his bedside at home.   He made it so easy for us, his children, even though it was difficult to see him growing weaker and weaker.    His two daughters gave constant nursing care 24/7.  Us guys took turns standing by as we could.   We met almost daily singing around his bedside.   His mind was conscious and even verbal except the last three days.   Today, Wednesday, April 1, 2015 Pop finished his earthly journey and is now in the presence of God.   As a family we gathered around to care for his earthen vessel.   As we laid him in the casket Mother took the lead and said she wanted to cover him.  Cover him she did, caressing his body one more time, she asked for the coconut oil to anoint his body for the resurrection, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   We love you Pop.   We are so grateful to call you our father.      

Thoughts on the 4th

It was the 4th of July, 2014; Rhoda and I left some friends off at the BWI airport.   Deciding to make it a vacation day, we took 695 to the east instead of the west to explore coast line of the Chesapeake Bay.  Crossing a bridge we turned right into a small community called Edgemore and then onto North Point State Park.  We enjoyed our picnic lunch among many minority groups who have come to celebrate this holiday of their recent country of choice.   As we hiked the beach we saw so many people in white shirts several hundred feet off the shore line.   When we heard their singing we soon realized this was a baptism class for a Spanish Pentecostal congregation from Baltimore.  The large Trolley station which had supported a popular amusement park from 1920 to 1940 was closed years ago and now it became the site of several cooks grilling corn, sausage, and hamburger patties preparing for their fellowship meal following this baptism service.  

After a hike around the park we ended up in the visitor’s museum.   We soon learned we were on another site of our country’s war riddled history.   Two months shy of 200 years this was a site where more than 4000 British soldiers landed on route to take Baltimore as they had taken Washington DC a few months before.   This time however the Royal forces ran into Continental snipers who shot their famous General Ross on horseback.  While the English may have prevailed in the battle they were demoralized and retreated.   The War of 1812 soon sputtered to an end with the Independent Colonies still intact.   

This little visit along with so many verbal statements of thanksgiving for a country where “we can worship as we please”, brought to my mind again the difficulties we have as a church committed to the way of peace and political nonalignment.   We are bombarded by continual references to quotations from our founding fathers that would lead one to believe that if we had not fought these so many wars we would be ruled by some bigoted despot who would have all Christians living in fear of the midnight knock on the door taking us all off to jail.  

Thankfully we have our neighbor to the north as a reference point to give us an honest comparison of a country which did not fight a revolutionary war, a war of 1812, a civil war, Mexican wars, Indian wars, or a Spanish American war.   Yet they are every bit as free and independent as we are in this country.   I often wonder, if we would not have fought the revolutionary war, certainly we would not have fought the War of 1812 as that was kind of a repeat, then as part of the British Empire our slaves would have been freed in 1830 instead 1864 which means the Civil war would not have been fought either.    Maybe we would have had more favorable relations with our indigenous people; both the Native Americans and the Mexicans.   Our borders would be much more porous and friendly.   Would WW1 have been fought?  I don’t know.   Canada was drawn into WW1 because of their alliance with Great Britain before US, so my “what if’s” do break down here a bit.     But the point remains that Canadian character has been shaped by a history that is far less militant, even resisting our involvements in Vietnam in the 60’s, Central America in the 80's,  Iraq and Afganistan since 2001.   We could fly from Canada to Cuba and Vietnam though out these past many years we called the Cold War.

It may seem almost heretical to grieve our war of independence as firework’s are bursting in the air and we listen to leaders honor “those who gave their lives for our freedom”.   We need to remember the convictions of so many who did not share in the rebellion of those tax resisters of the 1770’s.   It was a scary time for our ancestors from the Historic Peace Churches here in Pennsylvania.  I am told more than 500 families from our Lancaster area fled to Canada during this time to remain under the Queen.   The Queen had been very good to us, allowing William Penn opportunity to invite the persecuted pacifist people to settle this land.   They did not trust the tempers of those willing, even eager, to go to war with their own motherland over what seemed to them as a proper obligation of “giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and giving to God what is God’s”.   

But grieving the revolution I must, particularly because I walk with more than 150 displaced refugees from Burma in our congregation at Habecker Mennonite Church.   Their people have fought a revolution for 60 years seeking independence from the dominate people of Burma.   Their struggle has not been successful.  Thousands have died, more than a million displaced, so many villages have been burned, and the battle continues in their minds even as they settle in this country to start life again.   If I encourage them to give up their war for independence, I certainly cannot celebrate our own.

So as I walked this park at North Point 200 years after 80 people lost their lives, 500 wounded on this small patch of land seeking to maintain who would dominate this peaceful countryside, it is nice to celebrate the present rather than the past; Two hundred recent immigrants gathered together to celebrate their commitment to the Prince of Peace and Lord of Lords.  

Scrapbook pages

The story of our congregation has been such a wonderful "God Story" I felt I need to put a scrapbook together this fall.   I uploaded the pages to flickr so they could be seen in high resolution.   The Blue pages are a bit of the Karen history, the Green pages are the happenings at our church, the red pages are theological lessons to be learned from the experience, and the black pages are unanswered questions which we will continue to wrestle with.  With your arrow keys you can toggle through the pages.  I welcome your feedback.   Contact me at Jcharlesstudio@gmail.com
Here is the link:
     http://www.flickr.com/photos/43013139@N04/11406661645/in/set-72157638740114523/

Please skip over the ADs Flickr throws in....they can be confusing.   

Remembering Abe

My memory of Abe Charles will always live in my mind.  Almost one thousand people came to share their grief with the family of Abe in his passing.    All of us will miss Abe’s kind and gentle spirit among us and at the same time be inspired by the life he modeled for us.  

Everyone knew Abe loved to build stuff.   I remember clearly as a small child the first time we took our bushels of peas to his farm for pea shelling.   He had just finished this new machine and was clearly happy to put it to work.   We loaded our peas into the wire mesh hopper which rotated dropping the peas onto another beater going the opposite direction.  As the pods fell apart the peas fell out of the wire mesh onto this bouncing tray shaking the debris from the peas as they bounced toward the dishpan capturing all our wonderful peas.   Even as a child I admired this man’s contagious enthusiasm in creating something good with his own hands.   Beyond the creation it was the opportunity to use his creations to bless his neighbors which gave him the most satisfaction.   I remember my Uncle Ivan boasting how Abe’s homemade snow plow was successful bailing him out after a particularly big snow storm.  

I would have been 9 years old when Abe was ordained as pastor at Millersville Mennonite Church.   This was a pretty big deal because I never remember an ordination before this time.   I was in third grade at Manor Mennonite School, a two room church school in our neighborhood.   We had 4 grades in each room with about 8 to 12 students in each class.   Our teacher listed all the names of people nominated on the blackboard and we prayed for this process where the pastor would be chosen by casting lots.   When the lot fell on Abe I remember my mother expressing pleasure that she knew Abe loves the Lord.   I remembered this line when Abe was later called to be bishop of our district. 

I was probably 13 or so when I first drove the tractor baling straw for Abe.  Abe and his brother Roy had this big wire tie New Holland 77 baler.  This particular day the knotter started to act up and bales were not tying well.   It was frustrating for Abe and Roy getting that machine to work that day but it eventually was adjusted properly and we were able to finish the job.   It was good for me as a child to see other people besides my Dad had problems with their equipment, and that with persistent hard work things can be fixed in good humor.   It was also good I could see the man who came to church as visiting speaker in a proper suit could also be very real in overalls struggling with all the problems of the day.  

Abe loved the church.  Even as farmer he spoke with high admiration for the scholars of the church and leaders of the extended church body.   He was happy to take courses as he could, and appreciated connections with others in the extended church body.   He also loved the local church.   When things did not go well he was not quick to judge or condemn but always worked for reconciliation in his gentle way.   The value of community cohesion was of greater value then bringing judgment and perfection.   So it was easy for him to embrace other people, even those different from himself.   He quickly gave leadership responsibilities to those far different from himself, even those from different backgrounds and religious traditions from his own.  One always knew he was rooting for their success especially when there were misunderstandings.    

I remember how he was encouraging a church plant within our district.   He would call, raising money to support this project.   His greatest interest was to extend the testimony of our faith beyond the boundaries that our culture and personal connections could touch.  While he himself sometimes felt his own giftedness was limited in connecting cross culturally, He always expressed admiration for church planter personalities who were good doing this and supported their work whole heartedly.  

How does one embrace all God’s children and also embrace one’s own people?   This is so hard for the perfectionist or ambitious as we strive to create or relate to the world we believe would inspire us, many times rejecting even our own people.   Abe included us all.   No one cared more about his family or his extended family.   Even last year as a person with very little strength he stood up as he did every 5 years at family reunions and told stories of Charles history.   He also walked in step with people at his local congregation and extended church with all our imperfections and claimed them for his own.   When the immigrant Kenyan mother with her family, who drove from Michigan to come to Abe’s funeral, stood up to call Abe and Ruth, Mamma and Poppa,  I knew he included everyone in his family.   Seeing his entire family walk in step with him in the life of the church is a blessing beyond description.

I never heard Abe complain about his suffering.   I can’t imagine the suffering he endured as the cancer weakened his body.  Consistent with the model of his whole life he trusted God for each day.   Four months before his death our church group was Christmas caroling for neighbors.   We knocked on Abe’s door and he invited us into his house to sing.   We could have sung outside.  Why did he invite us into his house?   I never thought about it until after we left.   He was in treatment.  His immune system was very weak.  But he invited us into his house.  Of course he did.   That's what he would always do.  He gave his life for everyone.