OPINION:
In my previous column, I made a mistake about the date of last year’s Transgender Day of Visibility. I’m sorry about that; factual accuracy is important. The Washington Times issued a correction, and onward we sail.
There are two things worth noting about this experience. First, the error did not alter the inescapable conclusions about the issue in question. President Biden, who spends a lot of energy projecting an image as the last practicing Catholic in the Democratic Party, still values the annual transgender festival more than Easter. When required to choose between the two, he clearly favored and spent more emotional energy on the transgender festival.
Again, that’s completely his choice. But the rest of us should have no illusions about on which side of the cultural divide Mr. Biden can be found. Nor should anyone be confused about which of the religions he professes is real and which is for show.
The second thing worth reflecting on is that human nature is riven with fallibility. We all make mistakes, some trivial and accidental, others purposeful and grave. Given that ubiquity, it is remarkable that some of the most difficult moments in life involve acknowledging one’s mistakes and forgiving the mistakes and transgressions of others.
One of the most terrifying prayers in Christendom is the Our Father. In it, we ask God to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We specifically ask to be given the same leniency and shown the same mercy as we have shown people who have wronged us. Given that most of us are better at holding grudges than at cheerfully forgiving, that seems like a reckless and dangerous request.
Or as a tax collector wrote a couple of thousand years ago: “Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why do you see the mote that is in thy brother’s eye; and sees not the beam that is in thy own eye?”
Overlooking and letting go of the errors of others is especially difficult in the desiccated and barren world of modern American politics, which is drenched in propaganda and where no one can ever admit a mistake. Who can remember the last president to acknowledge and personally own a mistake? Even the great Ronald Reagan was reduced to the painful passive voice phrasing of “mistakes were made” when referring to the Iran-Contra unpleasantness.
Finally, even psychologists, modern medicine men, and shamans of the unchurched are clear about the essential nature of forgiveness. Accepting your own fallibility — very difficult in a world that is all about ego — and forgiving people and letting go of your grievances against them is the only true path to happiness. Holding on to grudges and slights, real or imagined, only makes you unhappy; it doesn’t affect the object of the resentment.
It turns out that your parents and religious folks have been right all along — a little humility is good for you. Keep that in mind the next time you make a mistake, or someone asks for forgiveness.
• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times and a co-host of the podcast “The Unregulated.” He is very fallible.
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