Think About It

Okay, it is time for my annual tirade about how much I dislike April Fools Day.  First of all, I am not a big fan of practical jokes; but maybe more importantly, I think a day dedicated to misrepresenting the truth is a bad idea.  I get it, it’s fun to twist the truth for a day, the problem is that this has become the norm; not something done just on April 1 st .  Maybe if we dedicated ourselves to preserving the truth the other 364 days of the year, I would be more apt to enjoy a day dedicated to fun and games, but folks, we have a continuing veracity problem.  It seems like every day has become dedicated to trying to fool other people.  Years ago, a Middle Eastern ruler named Pilate asked the age-old question, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) and we have taken the last several centuries wondering the same thing.  Unfortunately, a more pressing question has become “Who can we deceive?”.  As people around us stretch (or just outright ignore) the truth, ...

On this date in history Spain decreed that it was expelling all Jews from their county.   The Alhambra Decree appears to have come about after decades of acts of violence and antisemitism – in other words formalizing a mindset that was already in vogue.   Jews were given until the end of July to leave the country which not only resulted in personal problems, but economic pressures as well.   Now, the reason I bring this up is to highlight the date – this wasn’t last month, a few years ago or even in the 1940s under a Fascist Regime – it was in 1492.   The same year Columbus set off to investigate a new world, the Jews were sent on their own kind of pilgrimage. There is a lot of talk these days about how bad these times are.   We lament prejudice, hatred and mistreatment of one group by another.   However, this is not something new; nor is even unique to this generation.   It is not exclusive to one segment of the population.   It has been happen...