Is it 'Uptown Funk' or 'American Funk'?
Based on the message being sent from the White House, America is turning into a country led by a bunch of entertainers resembling intrepid plane passengers who calmly read magazines during extreme turbulence.
You know the type: the airplane is being bombarded with lightning, altitude is being lost, and the cabin is being violently shaken, yet rather than white-knuckle shrieking, one or two aboard carry on casually thumbing through People magazine as if everything is fine.
Science fairs and White House Easter Egg Rolls aside, in Tikrit, Iraq at Camp Speicher, mass graves crammed with what may be the remains of 1,700 Shi’ite soldiers slaughtered by ISIS militants have been unearthed at the late Saddam Hussein’s presidential compound.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., like an air traveler unaffected by turbulence, Michelle Obama, the first lady of the United States, chose to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ by taking to the stage accompanied by the So You Think You Can Dance dance troupe to strut her stuff to Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s hit song “Uptown Funk.”
I liken Michelle’s Easter dance exhibition to the unruffled air traveler at his or her finest.
Maybe I’m a bit too critical, but I adhere to the old-fashioned belief that even if our nation has been blessed by an extremely enthusiastic “hood girl” wannabe like Michelle Obama, a funkadelic/“ptown funk gon' give it to you” dance party for Resurrection Sunday lacks presidential propriety.
But even if boogying to “Uptown Funk” to commemorate Easter were acceptable, for the first lady to emphasize a #gimmefive healthy-eating celebration while Iran salivates over destroying Israel with a nuclear bomb, Christians face martyrdom worldwide, and 1,700 skeletons of ISIS victims are being unearthed sends a message that is stunning in its indifference and detachment.
Shi’ite soldiers were machine-gunned down by the thousands, Kenyan children were slaughtered while praying, and Coptic Christians were beheaded on a beach. Meanwhile, instead of showing a sincere concern for the state of a world on fire, the wife of a president more worried about children being stung by bees than aborted or infected with a deadly paralytic Enterovirus that he imported feels it’s the perfect time to flaunt her well-toned guns at a secular sideshow of an Easter Egg Roll.
Far be it from me to criticize, but taken in context and based on the partying in the midst of the international chaos currently going on, something in this voyage to nowhere is dreadfully amiss. And,not to be a Negative Nancy or anything, but no amount of distraction, dancing, or pretending it’s not happening is likely to stop it.
In the Scripture, in the 4th chapter, 8th verse of his first letter to Timothy, Paul brought up an eternal truth that, before she exerts any more energy, Mrs. Obama clearly needs to comprehend. Paul’s course-correcting advice to his young charge was that “physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
In other words, when this plane goes down – and trust me, it is going down – no amount of healthy eating, ample hydration, or fancy aerobic dance moves is going to matter in eternity. So try as the FLOTUS might to dance her way through America’s funk, her message of gross indifference and callous disregard for worldwide misery reflects a profound spiritual malaise that requires an intervention far beyond a choreographed romp to “Uptown Funk.”
Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com.