Saturday, November 10, 2007

Love your enemies as your brother? Thanks for the lesson Michael!

I watched Sicko by Michael Moore this past week. I wanted to see it kind of, like I knew it had information that I was interested in but sometimes Michael Moore rubs me the wrong way. I also didn't want to have another thing to worry about, and his movies always educate me about something. This knowledge is hard most of the time because what can I do about the violence in schools, this countries' obcession with guns or 9/11 and the possible cover ups? The answer here should be, I can pray - I can pray for justice and for people to turn their lives over to God. But my faith inspires works, I want to do more and I want to see results. I am off on a tangent, so anyway I watched Sicko.

Like ten minutes into it, I asked Marquis to turn it off because I wasn't in the mood to be depressed and upset. He wordlessly picked up the DVD box and pointed to a review on the front that hailed this movie as "Michael Moore's funniest work yet!" I sighed and sat back to wait for the funny parts. They didn't come, but I enjoyed the movie anyway and witnessed something miraculous. I am not on the Michael Moore love train, nor have I joined the hate groups dedicated to shutting the man up. I simply recognize that this man is passionate about injustice in America and is voraciously dedicated to showing America another side of our system and its inequities. Emotional appeals are inherent in his work, but the man is effective and I appreciate action on injustice. That being said, towards the end of the movie on lack of decent and affordable health care in America was an amazing story. Moore is concerned for all Americans and their battles to acquire life saving health care. He is bold in his assertions that America only cares for those at the top of the socioeconomic ladder, those that can pay. That is a belief I have had since my childhood. The amazing, wondrous part of this movie was when Moore wrote a twelve thousand dollar check anonymously to one of his most embittered and hateful critics. The man, who regularly posts a blog concerning Michael Moore's latest doings with a harsh critique, was shutting down his blog because he needed to work more to pay for hefty insurance increases that accompanied his wife's diagnosis of cancer. The blog I believe was called MooreWatch and trumpeted the fact that they basically stalked Michael Moore and documented all his so called ridiculousness. Moore did not disclose alot of the material on the blog, but it's fair to say they are not in his fan club (called him a sad, pandering ignoramus etc). Moore recognized this man's pain as he read his blog and knowing the man would probaly be in a tough spot having to choose to accept money from his sworn public enemy to save his wife's life, he donated the money as a "Guardian Angel." The man wrote a blog detailing this happening and publicly thanking his guardian angel for now he could keep the blog up and running. It was slightly amusing that Moore was concerned about protecting the rights and abilities of his harshest critic so much he would donate money to help him. That was my first reaction, happiness and amusement. The more I pondered this action, the more affected I became. Here, is truly a kingdom sign, a work of grace and love no doubt inspired by Jesus. Moore acted as Jesus taught us to, he loved his enemies as his brother. He acted out and showed love when he was faced with hate. I am not responsible for judging and if anyone in my family reads this I will get lots of strongly worded emails decrying my public support of Moore, but I was inspired by his actions. He did it anonymously, and perhaps included it in his movie to let the man know who gave the money or perhaps to let everyone know he really did care about everyone's right to health care. Everyone, even his enemies. I began to think, Do I love my enemies? Those that speak out against me and judge me harshly, do I turn to them with love and giving selflessly? I laughed today as I realized Michael Moore taught me an important lesson about loving my enemies. I wonder if he is a Christian? I wonder if he realized Jesus was using him in the midst of his documentary to show a biblical example of love to the world? Moore, perhaps, was not aware of God's agenda. It just shows HIS will be done, even while we are out doing our own thing you know? Breaking into Guatanamo Bay prison to get health care for 9/11 rescue workers or whatever.

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