Given how old I am, it is amazing that I continue to have my naiveness exploded. I can recall how strongly I believed in Christianity as I found it in the Catholic Church. There was a time when I was convinced that the Church was the source of absolute truth. There was no question that the truth was there!
My first experience that this notion was possibly not quite right occurred while I was in the seminary. After Pope John was elected, our education changed rather dramatically. What was taught in prior years was now explained differently. It did not take me long to conclude that I could not depend on what I was taught; I had to learn as much as I could on my own to be sure that I was not being mislead. At the time, I still believed that the truth was there; the issue was uncovering it. It took years to know that truth, per se, may never be known. What we needed to do is continue the search for truth and be satisfied that the search was enough!
Similarly, there was a time when I thought that USA was the greatest nation in the world. It was not until the Vietnam War before I concluded that the nation was engaged in an immoral action! I became an advocate for a revolution. Ultimately, the lesson for me is that I could not trust the government.
Yet, I occasionally saw reasons to love the government. I even worked for the federal government and felt proud of our work. But, the Iraq invasion devastated me. My anger against the President and those leading the war was as strong as I could ever recall. I was livid.
Watching the "Pat Tillman Story" was devastating. It is horrendous that the military lied, mislead, cover up, and distorted the real story behind the killing of Pat Tillman. While I knew the story, watching this film was still overwhelming!
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