Don’t stop me even if you’ve heard this before

Op-EdI never joined a fraternity because Reed College had a rule: You can form any club you want, so long as anyone can join. I wanted to join the Black Student Union, but I demurred.Fraternities, country clubs, religions, and now, political parties. As Huck Finn would say, “I don’t have no truck with them.”Why?Because they seem based more on the question of “Who we gonna keep out?” than “Who we gonna let in?”The story goes that Groucho Marx was rejected for membership in a Beverly Hills country club because he was Jewish. And, the story goes, Groucho responded with a letter of protest: “My little boy is only half-Jewish, so can he use the wading pool?”For more than 50 human lifetimes, leaders and followers of the “three great monotheistic religions” — Judaism, Catholicism/Protestantism and Islam — have been slaughtering one another — even, and especially, members of their own tribes — millions of murders — for what?As an agnostic, I say: Fine, g’wan ahead, just leave me out of it. Do whatever y’all want, in your clubs, but don’t make me play that game.But please, White Christian Nationalists, do you try to live by the Sermon on the Mount, or not?“Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.”Got a problem with that?“As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”Or how about: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”OK, I know what you’re thinking: What do you have to be forgiven for?Think again.“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”Now ask yourself, you 535 members of Congress, and anyone in any way associated with the White House, do you really bear these precepts in mind as you go about seeking the ruin of your presumed enemies?As they used to ask us in high school: Why or why not?Am I preaching to the choir? I think not. I think I’m preaching to a vast, discordant, atonal, untuned symphony of presumed princelings.In case you haven’t recognized it, I’ve been quoting from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. I don’t think the author would mind that I cribbed from it.Now let me close with a short poem of my own.Your Fellow SufferersEvery one of them is fighting for his life.They do not know what they are doingbut that does not mean you must forgive them.They make their choices.If you think they need you,they do not know that they need you,and would be ashamed to admit it.That you need themis no consolation to you.If they act selfish,it is because they are sufferingand they have no place to go.If they are hurtingit is because they must hurt.When they love you,you blame them for itif they don’t understand youit’s because they’re not youif they try to take advantage of youthat is naturalif they resent you unjustlyit’s because they think you’re having more funif you think they envy youthink againif you question their motivesremember that motives are invisible.Polish the mirrorif you cannot see them shine.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads