Delinda's Gardens books and advocacy
  • Home About Delinda
  • Lies That Bind
  • M'TK Sewer Rat: End of an Empire
  • M'TK Sewer Rat: Birth of a Nation
  • Power and Circumstance
  • Something About Maudy
  • Summer Chaos
  • Janette
  • Blog
  • Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Advocacy
  • Contact Delinda
  • Enchanted Forest Florals/Calico Gardens
  • Road Trips
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Advocacy

She did it anyway By Delinda McCann

9/28/2015

2 Comments

 
The story of the county clerk who refused to do her job for religious reasons has captured the imagination of many Americans.  I keep seeing memes about this or that person doing their jobs anyway.  My favorite ones were about Han Solo and Schrodinger's Cat doing their job anyway.

Since many of the memes on this theme are based on popular stories or movies, I came to realize that the theme of whether or not you do a job you don't believe in is common in our culture. The whole popular TV series M*A*S*H was about people who didn't believe in the war doing their job anyway.  Some of the characters were obvious Conscientious Objectors who'd been drafted as doctors or medics, but they did their job anyway.

I thought back to older stories.  How many are based on the theme of people doing a job they don't believe in.  I finally got all the way back to the story of Jonah.  Jonah is a story of a man who didn't want to do the job he was called to do.  He really, really didn't want to do the job because he hated the people he was supposed to serve, and he really, really wanted them all to die a horrible death.  In the end, after he tried unsuccessfully to run away, he did the job he didn't want to do. The people he hated repented and did not die a horrible death.  He then sat down under a bush and whined about his disappointment that these people didn't die.

Jonah's story is a story about his religious belief coming into conflict with his job.  He really believed that the people of Nineveh were horrible sinners deserving of death.  Jonah's religious belief was right as far as it went.  However, God wanted grace.  This is where Johah's story meets contemporary themes.  Jonah didn't believe in the job of telling the people of Nineveh to repent, but he did it anyway and God's grace prevailed.  As I see the situation, God's grace is one of the elements the county clerk leaves out of her story.  She doesn't want to do the job she doesn't believe in, and she refuses to allow God's grace into the story.

If we leave out the issue of what God wants, the theme still resonates with all of us.  Every day we are called to do jobs we don't believe in or just plain don't want to do.  We all stifle the urge to put someone down even when they deserve it, because our jobs demand courtesy.  We pick up after others when we believe they should pick up after themselves.  We find ourselves asking, "How does this clerk think she can get away without doing the job she is paid to do?"  For some who are desperately seeking a job, the refusal of someone with a good job to do that job is especially insulting. We can even suggest that the clerk's refusal to do her job shows her lack of gratitude for a job that many, many unemployed would praise the Lord to have.  

We all struggle with the problem of needing to do things we don't want to do.  We question where the line between justifiable civil disobedience and criminal disobedience lies.  I will suggest that the guideline has to do with your contract.  If you are getting paid to do a job and you don't keep your end of the contract that is criminal disobedience.  If you quit the job because of your beliefs and then picket the place of your employment, you are acting within your civil rights.  Many people quit their jobs because of their beliefs.  Many more will not take a job that conflicts with their beliefs. The problem arose in the case of the clerk because she did not fulfill her contract.  She did not quit her job.  And on a spiritual level, she did not let God's grace into her story.  Personally, I'd like for our modern day Jonahs to allow God's grace to end the story.
​
2 Comments
Ken Dunning link
9/28/2015 10:37:35 am

I very much like the article. I do, however, more often than not find myself cringing when someone starts talking or writing about what God wants. I tend to believe however that one thing we can safely assume is that we can show God the creator honor by treating creation with love, compassion and understanding.

Reply
Melissa McCann
9/28/2015 04:15:21 pm

From the comments of the clerk in question, it seems likely that she has no experience of grace herself. Her relationship with god is one of external validation. When people tell her that god hates her or that she is going against god's love (a terrible thing to say to anyone and something she says to everyone to whom she refuses to issue a license), she feels hurt and afraid. She looks for love and assurance in obeying rules. If she follows the rules, god will love her and she will have grace.
If she can control other people and make them follow her rules, that gives her an even greater sense of safety.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Delinda McCann is a social psychologist, author, avid organic gardener and amateur musician.

    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012

    Categories

    All
    Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
    Gardening
    Politics
    Social Justice
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly