I once heard it said that in interpersonal conflict, we often articulate about 95 percent (the easiest 95 percent) of what would need to be said to really bring resolution. Then, preferring this partial solution to the horror of saying the most difficult 5 percent out loud, we call it a day. I wonder—for myself and the folks in my faith community and many readers of the Century—if we are only willing to look at 95 percent of ourselves when we take stock of how we’re holding up in these difficult times. And I wonder if the portion we’re refusing to behold is some real hatred that has developed.
Brandon Ambrosino grapples with this usually unseen (or at least unspoken) dynamic in his essay about the idea of Donald Trump going to heaven when he dies. Ambrosino admits he doesn’t want that to happen—then uses one of Jesus’ parables to consider what that reveals about himself. I am grateful for this reflection as someone who struggles with my own 5 percent.
“Liberalism transformed from the David doing battle with each era’s prevailing Goliath into a new Goliath—a giant that gets lampooned and harpooned by just about everyone.”
