Thank God for McMaster
“Thank God for Governor McMaster!”
Governor McMaster is the Republican Governor of South Carolina. “Thank God for Governor McMaster” is what I texted my friend yesterday afternoon.
That is not a statement that I ever, in a million years, thought would come out of my mouth. Or off of my fingers. Because while I understand that human beings are complex creatures, and that we all contain multitudes—the truth of the matter is that I don’t like the guy.
I’ve actually been sitting here all morning thinking of reasons why, before yesterday, I would Thank God for Governor McMaster.
If he personally got out of his car and stopped Jaimie from being hit by a mountain bike.
2. If he secretly had a 102 mile an hour fastball. Got signed by the Cubs, and saves Game Six of the World Series that secures us a 4-2 win over the New York Yankees.
3. Before the season, I bet $100 on one million to one odds that the Cubs would beat the Yankees in six games to win the 2020 World Series.
That’s it! That’s the list!
_________
These feelings, however, are against my religion. Not that I have to like everyone, but I do call myself a Christian, and as a Christian I am called on to love my enemies. To pray for them. Jesus is serious about this. I know because unlike abortion, this is actually something he talks about. What good is it if I simply love another bleeding heart liberal like myself? Even the tax collectors do that. Not that there is anything wrong tax collectors. How else do we pay for our military, or teachers, or fire department, or any of those things we depend upon daily.
No. In order to fully emulate my Lord and Savior I have to find a way to love Glenn Beck as much as I do Nancy Pelosi. Or Governor McMaster as much as my little baby nephew.
So what on earth prompted this change of heart?
Because late last week, Gov. MacMaster decided to do the right thing. He acted like a human being. He followed the science and he closed the schools for the rest of the year.
I was shocked. My teacher friends were expecting this decision. Not me. I was like, “How is he going to open the beaches and the TJ Maxx and then close third grade until August?”
But no! There he was, closing everything down. I was happy AF! And I love nothing more than to be happy and wrong than to be sad and right.
Especially after reading CNN yesterday. There at the top of the page there was an article about Trump urging governors to open up the schools! And by governors, he meant southern governors. Jay Inslee and Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo aren’t taking their marching orders from Mr. 45. But Gov. Kemp sure would to love to. Ron DeSantis from Florida sure would love to.
McMaster sure would have loved to.
This was the quote from Trump on CNN:
"Some of you might start thinking about school openings, because a lot of people are wanting to have school openings. It's not a big subject, young children have done very well in this disaster that we've all gone through.”
If McMaster had reopened the schools here in SC, I would have faced a hard decision. I’ve had a positive response to the treatment in my lungs, but I’m still battling, and I don’t feel comfortable going back to work. Especially when I can teach from home. In the past six months I’ve seen Jaimie, my parents through a mask 10 feet away from me, and people at the grocery store, also through a mask and ten feet away. Except, of course, for those people dry humping me. Am I supposed to put myself at risk? Am I supposed to put Jaimie at risk? Especially considering that no one has been tested. All because Trump wants to appear strong, and these sycophant governors care more about his approval than they do the health of people like me?
So thank God for McMaster! Thank God he made that decision a few days too early than a minute too late. Now I just pray that these other governors make the same decision. And that some liberal in Tulsa has rare opportunity to say friend, “Thank God for Governor Stitt” and find that they actually mean it.
