Our soul is sick

   America, your soul is sick... very very sick.

   This blog is directed at those "low-level IRS employees" who put people who belong to the Tea Party through a virtual hell.  The question for you is, "What were you thinking?".   Doesn't anyone use the Golden Rule anymore and....

      Do unto others as YOU would have THEM do unto YOU?

I can just imagine the snickers and belly-laughs that must have had the workers in the IRS rolling on the floor as they made request upon request from these people.  In one case, the group had a book-club and the IRS requested them to list ALL the books they had reviewed and .... wait for this.... write a book report covering all of them.

   Really?

   That was a serious request made by the IRS?

    We have crossed a line somewhere in our country.  Politics now runs everything we do and say today and we see each other as democrat or republican and not as "American".  You are either friend or foe to this administration and that dissection has made its way down to us ... we the people.   I feel very sad not only for the Tea Party people who endured this oppression but also for those who inflicted it upon them for they too are casualties of this silent (and sometimes not too silent) war that has captivated our country.   So fixated on political ideology, they have lost sight of the fact that we are ALL Americans.   When we stop seeing others as humans who deserve honor and respect we become no better than the Nazi concentration camp guards who viewed the Jews as dogs that had over-populated and needed extermination. You may even call it a "Political Apartheid" where instead of it being black-vs-white it's red-vs-blue and each side keeps score on the other and anything "we" do (whoever "we" is) to the other is fine because it's payback for some offense done years ago.   I witness this all the time on the talk shows where for every problem Obama does, some past sin by Bush  (or Nixon) is drummed up and spit back at the person making the point. 

Nelson Mandela

    Maybe the cure for our sickness is to take a lesson from the former leader of South Africa Nelson Mandela who needed to heal the division and hatred that had so long been in his country from Apartheid.   His answer was simple.  He oversaw the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" to investigate crimes by BOTH sides, the government and the ANC (African National Congress).  He brought together both sides: the offender and the offended. Stories of rape, murder, arson, torture and bombings were brought out and amnesty was granted to all who confessed their crimes and owned up to their involvement. In some cases, even forgiveness was offered in response by the offended party.  His efforts helped to unite all of South Africa, black and white, as one people again.

    Imagine if we brought the Tea Party leaders into the same room as the "low-level-IRS agents" and what that would do.   Both sides would see a "face" and a "person" instead of a mindless "5013c form" or "response letter".   Maybe reconciliation will occur.  Maybe we would start to see each other again as "WE THE PEOPLE" and put aside our political views that so infect our lives.

   Maybe then we again live by the Golden Rule to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

   Maybe then our soul would begin to heal.