Where’s Joe Friday?

“Just the facts, lady!” Yea, you gotta’ be older to remember Sgt. Joe Friday of “Badge 714” and “Dragnet.” If you know the character, you know he didn’t want to fool around with sorting through all the opinions, feelings, rantings, and foolishness that now fully occupy the “press” (or “media” if you like) and is the order of the present.

I know it has been like this before in our Country, maybe it is always like this in our Country, but it seems the speed with which we are moving toward “the end” is accelerating dramatically.

This OWS business is getting out of hand – yes, I remember the Viet Nam protests. The politics of personal destruction is epidemic – and yes, I remember when JFK was spurned by Baptists for being a Roman Catholic, for Heaven’s sake. Presidential  candidates are not the only people knocked down because they are “uppity,” a “fool,” or “just not ready” (Who the Sam Hill is ready for being “leader of the Free World”). I’m not sure anyone has a plan capable of resolving our economic woes (in fact I am pretty sure no one does), but the focus by news-makers is almost always on something other than solutions, especially if one can be criticized for being a fool, a crook, a lecher, or a tool in the hand of others.

So, in my humble opinion, we need Joe Friday. Just get me the facts. I don’t need help in interpreting them. I don’t need pundits to explain what they mean. I am perfectly capable of using the facts to make intelligent decisions.

I do that every Sunday when our Preacher proclaims the Truth. I get the facts, plain and simple. I understand the facts (thanks to God’s Spirit residing within me), and I make a decision. Usually (believe it or not), it is the right one. One thing for sure, I know that God lloves me, infinitely, perfectly, eternally, and always has my best interest at heart. I wish I could find some of that certainty in relationship to all the other actions, protests, politics, plans and programs ( or, better said: stuff) going on around  us.