Cynthia Chase, Laurel, Maryland:
Thank you for explaining the meaning of this Greek word for "perfect." As a person greatly influenced by our culture with its emphasis on appearances, I have always thought that "perfect" meant "without flaw." People with a perfectionist streak (talking about the younger me, here) tend to get all wound up in their pursuit of an elusive perfection, and subject themselves to endless pain and disappointment. How much better (with less strain on one's ego) to think of perfection as a process.
Wilfred Pierce, Lakewood, Colorado:
You are pretty na�ve, my friend. What casts out fear is that which demolishes what prompted it in the first place. My generation were fearful of the Japanese between December 7, 1941, and August 6, 1945. After the atomic bomb did its work, that fear disappeared -- or as you say was "cast out."
Harvey H. Guthrie, Fillmore, California:
Beautiful essay! Thanks to you, St. John, and St. Franklin.
Jane Long, Dayton, Ohio:
"Therewith: perfect love doing its thing" -- in its truest definition.
Father Tom Jackson, Tyler, Texas:
It took me about three readings to get your "casting out fear/perfect love" into my old brain-but let me say succinctly what my equally-old heart murmured finally: You nailed it. Thanks -- and agape -- as always.
Diane Dailey-Gibson, Linden, Michigan:
As a marriage counselor, I have often felt more needs to be said about the kind of love that is "more about intention than emotion." So many people today do not see that as being "love" at all, so they go off seeking that erotic and possessive kind of love that is probably not so tough. Please give us some English words for the "intention" kind of love so we can bring it back into fashion. A word for erotic love could simply be called romantic love unless you come up with a better word. Let's get more published about this.
Fred Fenton, Concord, California:
Thank you for that moving explication of "perfect love casts out fear." Determined opposition to the forces arrayed against knowing the truth and being set free by it is what we need in our leaders. You are right that what we receive instead is "the dishonesty of pie-in-the-sky promises that will not and in any event could probably never be kept." At the recent funeral for Ben Bradlee, held at the National Cathedral, speaker after speaker insisted the man knew no fear and loved nothing more than uncovering the truth and telling it. Can democracy survive in the present world of political make believe? Will we find and support men and women who live by stubborn allegiance to the truth? Everything depends on it.
Mildred Groth, Short Hills, New Jersey:
Thank you for explaining "agape." As you said, that verse from First John is often applied as a teddy bear. Not helpful in these times.
Marion Tobias, St. Petersburg, Florida:
How often have I heard that "perfect love" quotation, but never as you explained it. I asked my pastor if she had taken Greek in the seminary. She was shocked that I asked. She did not and said she saw no reason to do so since she would preaching to English speakers. I'm thinking of turning her into my "former" pastor.
Carol Daniels, Fort Myers, Florida:
I have long been frustrated with the use of the word "awe" as translated as "fear." From that slip, we have a whole subset of lessons of one kind or another that teach us to FEAR God. AWE can also be amazement. It can be also describe being agog, stunned, breathtaking, and other verbs, nouns, and adjectives all of which mean that something awesome has occurred. To understand "awe" as "fear" limits our use of a very useful word. Had I been in Manhattan on 9/11, I would have been horrified, not awe-struck. I wasnt old enough to be horrified by Hiroshima, but was glad my brother came home from the Pacific.
John Bennison, Walnut Creek, California:
About the Boo! of which you wrote: Excellent. Would that we all took it to heart. Boo-hoo.
Charles Moore, Madison, Wisconsin:
Your theory of love without fear does not exactly fit the image of General George Patton and Ex-Vice President Dick Cheney or John McCain. I think they weren't doing much loving of the other when they were fighting for our freedoms.
Dr. Robert Causley, Roseville, Michigan:
What a great essay in this time when we can make a difference!
* * * * *
Re Special Edition Essay 11/5/14 A New Era of Governance and Belief
Blayney Colmore, Jacksonville, Vermont:
The deer -- so far as we know -- haven't yet devised clever ways to portray bad choices as good, even for those who suffer the worst consequences. Ever since the publication of Vance Packard's "Hidden Persuaders," we have known that couching a message in a way that by-passes rational thought, and appeals to some prejudice or hunger of which we are mostly unaware, can manipulate us into making choices that are not in our best interest. Now that giving money to candidates has no limits, candidates can hire Mad Men once only GM and Procter & Gamble could afford. And if they can persuade us to buy a car that guzzles gas and has an airbag that may kill us rather than protect us, they surely can persuade us that denying a woman's right to control of her own body's reproduction, or supporting tax policies that make the fabulously rich richer, or portraying health care as a commodity to be bought and sold like dish soap, is sound policy. We are living through a time in which, somehow, goodness and wealth have become synonymous, and until we recover some semblance of the common weal, I fear it may not require even terribly clever manipulating to gain popular support for policies that end up diminishing us all, rich and poor.
Rev. Dr. Robin Meyers, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma:
Nice column. This is the day that money in politics hath made. Let us NOT rejoice and be glad in it.
Tom Hall, Foster, Rhode Island:
Gorgeous riposte to the Greedy Oppressors of the Poor who assail the Defenders of EveryMan.
Nicholas Molinari, Brick, New Jersey:
The winning party has a wrap on the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives and now the Senate. Relentless attacks on President Obama will continue and intensify until he returns to Chicago. The strategy worked well, but to the harm of the people. By deception, voter disenfranchisement, fear mongering, kissing up to religious fundamentalism, prioritizing money in elections, countless rightwing talking heads, continual denunciations of Obama's administration, the Party of Billionaire Entitlement conned a majority of voters to repudiate rationality and common sense. What exactly has the Republican Party done for the common people? Nothing. What has President Obama done for the common people? Plenty. As for those many couch Democrats who watched passively, shame on you! Posthumous congratulations to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America!
Edwin Rowe, Detroit, Michigan:
I am not sure the truth is helping my depression but to your essay: AMEN AND AMEN.
Maryann Gallina, Troy, Michigan:
Unfortunately, the government has taken over for caring for one third of our society instead of family taking care of it's own. Yes, I agree there need to be programs for people who fall through the cracks and on hard times, but not for those who can pull up their bootstraps and help themselves. Laziness is too prevalent in our society. Why wouldn't children take care of their elderly. They do a better job! More than likely not much will change. What continues to baffle me is why would a politician spend $2 million of his own money to get a job that pays $80,000!
Rusty Hancock, Madison Heights, Michigan:
To those who think both parties and all politicians are basically alike, so why bother voting, I beg to differ. On almost every issue, you find one party that is more inclusive, more humane, and also more attentive to the actual facts. Their motto could be "all for one and one for all," or perhaps "we're all in this together, none of us are getting out alive, so let's try to be nice to each other." The other side divides us up into makers and takers, worthy and unworthy, sinners and chosen, and while purporting to believe in the Christian Bible, conveniently forget the verse about not judging. Their motto is "hurray for me and forget you." (You will note I cleaned that up a bit.) These attitudes are reflected in their party platforms and their public policies (insofar as they can be said to have any). No matter what kind of words they use to gloss over their basic attitude, just dig a little bit and you'll find this underneath. The part I don't understand is the part about how it's okay for government to have social programs as long as they only benefit certain people and not others. I guess it's that sense of entitlement that applies only to one's own family, clan, and perhaps race. You couldn't get any closer to a caveman attitude than that, because back in those days, you really didn't know who or what that guy was who just appeared on the horizon. You only knew the people who grew up across the cave from you. Or maybe stretch it to "the valley." We'll never grow as human beings, or grow up as a country, until we get past this Neanderthal mentality. WAY past it.
Carol Bendure, Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan:
Your essay was the balm for my wounds this morning.
Ralph Bennington, Des Moines, Iowa:
Your lamentation is so typically drippy. You accuse the new Republican senators -- elected by the people of their states -- of social crimes they have not yet committed and probably have no thought of committing. Give them a chance, for god's sake! In any event, your argument is with the president of "hope and change."
Blair Monahan, Austin, Texas:
Having felt your rage in earlier columns, I was surprised and pleased by your longer-look approach to yesterday's electoral disaster. At least you have two Democratic senators. I have Ted Cruz. Kyrie, eleison.
Carolyn Lowe, Farmington Hills, Michigan:
Everything you wrote -- although much more eloquent than I -- I have been telling my political and regular friends for a while. We are in a delayed transition into the twenty-first century. Delayed by the Bush years. This would not have happened with Al Gore!!! Since change is frightening to most people, they opt for anyone or thing that will quell their anxiety quickly. Hello: Tea and Republican Parties! Or as I have come to see them: they say and do anything, regardless of reality Parties. Overused, but still applicable are the comparisons to Hitler's takeover of Germany and the inclusion of slavery into American history. Both ended, but after so much destruction we are still dealing with their legacies! My anxiety regarding the election is over. However, it has been replaced by a larger fear for my country!
Thomas Doyle, South Bend, Indiana:
I drove all the way up to Grand Haven [Michigan] the other Sunday to hear you talk about the very subject you wrote about today -- belief and believing. I much appreciated what you had to say in your talk, and I understand the implications of what you said even more now after what happened in the election. It gives the term "nonbeliever" new relevance. Knowledge, data, whatever you want to call it is what decisions great and small must be made on. God help us now.
Rabbi Larry Maher, Parrish, Florida:
You asked why the deer 'gets it' and we don't. The answer is simple. The deer was raised by a Mom that taught what she knew. The deer fit in perfectly, and lived its life as it was bred to.
Douglas Chestnut, Spring Lake, Michigan:
I would never question the titles you assign for your essays because they are always thoughtful and quite on point. However, the title "A New Era of Governance" might well have been "Back To The Future" or "1685 Revisited." Sadly, the inmates seem to have taken over the mental institution, and we're facing at least two years -- and who knows how many more -- of a twisted version of Lincoln's "government of the people, by the people, for the people..." Insert the modifier to make it "government of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%," and so forth. Sadly still, this is no longer the nation for which I put a uniform on for several decades ago and swore the officer's oath to "protect and defend the Constitution." It would appear that in the view of the legislative branch and the judicial branch of America's government, the Constitution is little more than something to line the bottom of the parakeet's cage with.
Tracey Martin, Southfield, Michigan:
One of the anomalies of Election 2014 is an group of electees speeding to Washington angry and vengeful candidates like Joni Ernst while simultaneously rushing off the Republican plantation to help the poor by raising the minimum wage (in four solid red states) and lolling in the "weed" gardens of individual determination by supporting legalization of marijuana. Add to that the rush to embrace same/sane-sex marriage. Will the "new" Congress recognize this (perhaps incipient) liberalization of morality or persist in its rigidity in matters of manners and morals? How will these "new" Republicans work with the Obama the electorate decided to hate? Do they think, e.g. that they have a mandate to repeal the Affordable Care Act? Ted Cruz isn't becoming conciliatory. Is their concept of compromise still capitulation? How enthusiastically will they actually continue to relish their celebrity bullies like Chris Christie? And how will Obama react to this second mid-term repudiation? Why did the electorate decide that he was responsible for the entrenched gridlock?
Richard M. Schrader, Jacksonville, Florida:
"The Darkest Hour is just before The Dawn." The technological advances of the past 20 years will in time foreshadow the medical advances of our early adulthood in the 50s and 60s ... the elimination of polio and its resulting boost to our robust aging; the pill causing great behavioral changes within our family structure; stents, artificial limbs, and pills to control our internal and external behavior extending our average life 20 years, These advances have already changed our society. The new Congress will have 101 women; The War on Drugs is fading, while uncovering many dark episodes of government misbehavior. We are becoming aware that we are an aging society with those over 80 years of age becoming the fastest growing segment of the population worldwide. This afternoon, my wife and I will be attending an Osher Lifelong Learning Class on "The Future of the Mind," in which, we will discuss the most recent revelation of the studies of the brain. The eventual outcome is to learn more about the government's investment in "The Mapping of the Brain." Meanwhile changes are taking place. California is cleaning out its overstocked prisons, providing the possibility that the many young people so incarcerated may start having purposeful lives contributing to the strengthening of Society; The price of crude oil is dropping causing changes in the world's power structure at the same time causing gasoline to be cheaper in the U.S. Increased use of solar and wind Power worldwide causing economic shifting; and many more. Thus, the outlook is not all doom. The Quaker saying "Proceed as the way opens" is very valid advice.
Hannah Provence Donigan Commerce, Michigan:
As to your ideas about the what and why of the November 4 elections, I add: fear about the economy since 2008; fear of terrorism; rapid changes in all aspects of life; money from the Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity; Supreme Court's Citizens United; voter suppression; disgust plus apathy resulting is small voter turnout. I think another main reason is racism. Unfortunately, some U.S. citizens did not and cannot accept the leadership of a president who is half black. I doubt much will be accomplished to benefit the average American or to improve international affairs in the next two years. But we must work harder and keep hope alive.
