WWJD?

By Ellen Ratner
Cindy Sheehan has been camped outside the president’s vacation locale longer than her son was in Iraq before he was killed in action. Ms. Sheehan has one request. She wants the president to personally hear what it is like to lose a child and the impact the war has had on families. It seems like a simple request of the man who gave the order to invade Iraq – a war of choice. The president has chosen not to meet with her. His reasoning is that he has considered her position and believes it is wrong.

I find this position to be an abomination coming from a man who arguably professes his faith more than any president in the history of this nation. George Bush openly claims that he is a born-again Christian, which means he is born again through Christ and that his charter in life is to emulate Christ in daily life as best he can. I wonder what Jesus would have done, or to use a popular acronynm "WWJD?" – What Would Jesus Do? – if Ms. Sheehan would have wanted to meet with him?

For starters, I doubt Jesus would have whizzed by Ms. Sheehan yesterday in order to attend a political fund-raiser. This fund-raiser was not for the poor or hungry or for the least among us. Nope, this fund-raiser was for those who had collected over six figures for George Bush’s political coffers. The president collected approximately $2 million in donations yesterday – a sum that would make even the money changers blush.

I am beginning to think that the president is listening to his advisers more than his Christ-like heart. The advisers would tell him not to give any protester the satisfaction of a meeting. They would argue that he met with Ms. Sheehan once before and that was more than he had to do. I doubt Christ would have rejected Ms. Sheehan because he had already met with her and she seemed fine then. Perhaps Christ would have intuitively known that when people experience a great loss, they may go through many stages of grief to include shock, denial and anger before they reach resolution. Ms. Sheehan met the president about two months after Casey was killed. She was in shock.

Ms. Sheehan believes that the president has wronged her and wronged her son and wronged a nation. Worst of all, she believes that her son died in vain. She is the embodiment of the anger that is starting to take hold of a nation that waking up to the fact that it was told we had to go to war to get the weapons of mass destruction and there were no weapons, and told this war would make us safer and we feel more vulnerable than ever, and told the war would be quick and we are embedded in a quagmire with no end in sight.

What would Christ say if his neighbor believed he had committed an offense against them? In addition to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," Christ says to go to you your neighbor first and seek reconciliation when there is a disagreement between you.

Perhaps the most compelling reason of all that Mr. Bush should skip a bike ride or fund-raiser and sit with Ms. Sheehan is because to share with someone in pain is the very embodiment of the life of Christ. The name for Christ, "Emmanuel," means "God is with us." Christians believe that God may not shield them from all harm or pain or loss. But they believe that Christ was sent to the world so that they do not walk through life’s burdens alone.

I am on record hundreds of times criticizing this president for saying one thing and doing another – for being a hypocrite. Like most issues, there are always two sides to a story. But in this case, there is only one issue: human decency. Ms. Sheehan has lost her son and separated from her husband in the wake of war. She has a unique perspective to share with the president.

I know from my work with the homeless in Washington, D.C., that compassion opens the mind to new ideas and greater understanding. And it has always been my experience in life that it is more blessed to give than to receive.