We’ve all been there, afloat on a pristine lake, the sun’s promenade lucid on the surface of the water, attended by a soft breeze sifting through the trees along the water’s edge; when a bank of clouds roll in off the lake and everything changes.
American contemporary folk singer songwriter, Cheryl Wheeler, characterizes, “It seems so still, so safe, so serene beneath this welcome shroud of heavy cloud, with the world all gray and green …there’s enchantment in this soft and muted scene.”
While being shrouded in heavy clouds works enchantment into lyric, being shrouded in clouds when it comes to how we interpret or see things in this world, can be risky.
You’ve no doubt heard the oft used phrase, “Be careful not to allow things to cloud your judgment” …to keep you from being able to think or see things clearly.
Sometimes this muddled or distorted thinking is self-induced, allied with our emotions, allegiances and/or biases. Increasingly, however, the overcast seems to be intentionally advanced by others in attempts to “becloud” the issues.
Instead of clarifying things, too often the debate only serves to further obfuscate (obscure, confuse, make unclear, blur, muddle, jumble, complicate, garble, muddy …cloud) the points in question.
Instead of helping us to see things clearly, we are left befuddled …shrouded in heavy cloud cover (you might want to pause and reflect a moment on that word “cover”).
The Apostle Paul, who knew a thing about being clouded in his judgment–he zealously persecuted Christians before famously converting to Christianity on the dusty road to Damascus–changed his name from Saul to Paul as a result of his conversion; a response that often went hand-in-hand with a change of viewpoint.
Paul counseled the Corinthians living in the ancient city of Corinth in south-central Greece, “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”
We certainly need to see things clearly if we are going to make good decisions. To do this we will need to roll away the cloud cover and allow more “sunshine” to shed light on things.
It’s why the aptly named Sunshine Act was enacted into U.S. law in 1976. By subjecting governmental institutions to public scrutiny, sunshine laws lend credibility to institutional management processes and enhance openness in governance.
Songwriter Wheeler suggests, “With the world all green and gray, till the clouds come undone, we will hide from the sun.”
It’s time for the clouds to come undone …
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there
is pains to bring it to light.”
~George Washington
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics. At times the column is editorial in nature.
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