ASH WEDNESDAY AND GEORGE WASHINGTON

George Washington’s birthday anniversary falls on Ash Wednesday this year. Washington was an Episcopalian and was a rather casual member of that Church. Ash Wednesday is the great Christian Day of Repentance for Christians, Yom Kippur is a Day of Atonement for Jews and Ramadan is a month of fasting for Muslims. All ask people to look back over our lives; repent for evil we have done and promise to live a better life.

George Washington had regrets about being slaveholder, killing Indians and rebelling against England. Our country needs to repent of its allowing the rich to dominate the poor and weak, of going into needless wars and preferring force to negotiations. The murder of Bin Laden, the use of unmanned drone bombers and failure to remove land mines show us a people of violence rather than peace.

Ash Wednesday and George Washington’s birthday make us think.