Finneran: More Love, Less Judgement

Finneran: More Love, Less Judgement

I stole the above thought. I stole it from one of my parish priests. I’ve thought about it every week since he used the phrase at a New Year’s Day Mass. More love, less judgement. To which I say “Amen."

Isn’t our nation in desperate need of less judgement? Isn’t our world in desperate need of more patience, more love, more kindness, more respect, and more tolerance? The cruel slaughter of people continues unabated as man’s many hatreds surface even in the midst of great global advances. Extreme poverty shrinks. Improved health care advances. Global hunger wanes. Clean water arrives. Daily life is eased and improved. Educational and economic opportunities increase. And yet hatreds surge and multiply.

I’ll admit that I cannot comprehend religious hatreds. No religious leader worthy of the mantle can urge violence against non-practitioners. No religious leader worthy of the mantle can counsel or condone enslavement, rape, torture, and murder as responses to the “apostasy” of non-believers. Yet the daily headlines describe a vicious human savagery that eclipses nature’s call of the wild and survival of the fittest. Such hatreds, such savagery are far beyond my intellectual league, far beyond my comprehension.

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The world has always had its share of barbaric evil people. And rather than succumb to John Lennon’s dreamy and dangerous make-believe world of “Imagine”, I much prefer to confront evil in its lair. I can listen patiently, make every effort to understand a particular perspective, and try to find a live-and-let-live accommodation. But at some level, as individuals and as a nation, we must arm and act to stifle evil. The phrase “thou shalt not……” must be infused with meaning and consequence if the world’s innocents are to be protected from the world’s evil men. Yes Father, I understand the need for more love and less judgement. But I also understand the need for hot steel when children are raped and people are burned to death in cages. Call it my struggle with the heavenly command.

I think that I can catalogue most of America’s sins and shortcomings. Many college professors and editorialists have raised that cataloguing practice to a tenured art form, creating a class of very loud and self-assured folks who are in a constant state of rage about America’s sins. How about a little more love and less judgement? And if those pampered sorts cannot provide love, might they consider mere tolerance. Or perspective. Their vituperation about America’s ills exceeds all bounds. Perhaps they should try a few semesters in Tehran or the Ukraine. Or a class outing in Nigeria or Yemen, with visiting lecturers from Boko Haram. They could even bring their family members for the joy of a full immersion in those societies.

Consider the cultural spawn of these academic harangues about America the Great Evil---newspaper comment sections patrolled by mobs in full-throated roar about “privilege," “micro-aggression," “racism," and “wars on women” at a time when the country offers up a bounty of opportunity to every historically oppressed group. How about the speech police who find criminality in certain words, phrases, and thoughts, notwithstanding the clear language of the First Amendment? It seems as if America has turned into a bunch of always-offended crybabies.

So here’s a tip in the spirit of more love, less judgement---drop the victim mentality, demonstrate some tolerance, listen closely, and show a respect for others. And appreciate the fact that America has been a force for more good for more people in more countries than any nation in the history of the world. We’re far from perfect but we’re pretty darn good.

We may have miles to go before we sleep but the journey is won with more love, less judgement.

Happy Easter.

Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.