I’ve found myself shaking my head more times than I would like this week regarding the Rob Ford saga. Clearly he’s made extremely poor choices but honestly, I wasn’t shaking my head at those choices. I knew he smoked crack when the Gawker video story surfaced this past summer. It’s not surprising to me to hear that this happened. What surprised me and had me shaking my head was the reaction of my friends, a great many of them Christian with regards to his confession and clear problem with substance abuse.
Tell me this, if someone says to you they have ‘drunken stupors’ are you not concerned with this statement? The plural ‘drunken stupors’ seems to imply that he drinks quite regularly, to the point of excess and it happens enough that the time he decided to try crack he can’t quite pin down. To me this is sad. It may be a complete lie, he might know exactly when and where he smoked up but that too is sad to me. His life is clearly not what it could be. He’s making choices that hurt not just himself but also the city he governs. He has gone down some dark roads, made really poor choices and like him or not, he needs help.
I have to wonder what Jesus would be doing if he were here, right now with us. I suspect instead of making snide comments, or spewing hate on Facebook and Twitter that he would be knocking on Rob Ford’s door saying you’re not living right and I’m here to help with that. Now none of us are Jesus. I’m not suggesting any of us head on over to Mr. Ford’s house, we’d likely be arrested for trespassing. I am however wondering where our compassion is and why we think it’s ok to berate, judge and condemn people.
I’m not against stating the obvious nor do I support Rob Ford. I never did for what it’s worth. I feel he should resign. He should’t have lied. He really needs to think things through. I know that’s not looking promising but I wonder how helpful it is for any of us to be throwing hate out into the world. I feel like Rob Ford’s confession is bringing out the worst in people and that makes me sad. Clearly this man needs help in many ways. As Christians there should be some part of us that responds to that need and wishes against all odds that he would get that help, shouldn’t there? This whole thing has left me unsettled and sad. I may not support Rob Ford but I see that he is a man who is in clear need of help, guidance and the light if ever there was one.
