{"id":2885,"date":"2015-10-02T18:22:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T18:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/?p=2885"},"modified":"2020-04-03T13:52:09","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T19:52:09","slug":"how-i-finally-admitted-to-being-a-communist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2015\/10\/02\/how-i-finally-admitted-to-being-a-communist\/","title":{"rendered":"How I finally admitted to being a communist"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may come as a surprise to many that I\u2019m a communist. Actually, given my left leanings as of recent, some people may not be that surprised.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s already too late, but before you start prejudging me, you may want to realize that you probably misunderstand what communism is, and subsequently, you probably misunderstand what it means when I say that I\u2019m a communist.<\/p>\n

It all started about 4 years ago.<\/p>\n

A close friend of mine perpetrated a violent act\u2014an explicitly violent act\u2014that resulted in the death of four people. I was numb. So were a lot of others I knew who were close to him. I had known him for about a decade and was shocked that he had done something like this. Every word I heard him say and every act I saw him do was antithetical to what he did this time.<\/p>\n

As a result, in the period immediately following this event, I became repulsed by the portrayal of violence in the media\u2014the news, television shows, film, video games, and so on. I grew sick inside every time I saw someone killing someone else on the screen.<\/p>\n

In addition to fostering a sense of abhorrence toward violence within me, it convinced me that we, the public, are too quick to judge a person based on a single act of theirs.<\/p>\n

If the news reports someone having committed theft, we label him a thief. If the news reports someone having lied, we label him a liar. If the news reports someone having killed, we label him a killer.<\/p>\n

Pigeonholing people allows us to forget a person\u2019s history, goals, family, personality, talents, accomplishments, and a host of other aspects that go into what makes a person. Reducing someone to a superficial representation makes it easier to judge the person and makes it easier to distance ourselves from the reality of how close we<\/em> are to being able to commit wrongful acts.<\/p>\n

Those two ideas\u2014our culture’s obsession with violence and its tendency to judge others\u2014began to influence my worldview over the next four years.<\/p>\n

About a year later, I became a seminary teacher, a position I filled for two school years. A year after I finished teaching seminary, I became a Sunday school teacher. These two positions presented me with great opportunities, as part of the curriculum I was to teach, to study the life and teachings of Jesus.<\/p>\n

What became clear to me is that Jesus clearly taught us to abhor violence and to not judge others. He admonished us to love everyone, no matter who they were or what they had done.<\/p>\n

Take Matthew 5\u2014the opening of the Sermon on the Mount\u2014for example:<\/p>\n

\u201cYe have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:\u00a0But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment . . .\u00a0Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:\u00a0But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. . . . Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.\u00a0But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you\u201d (vv. 21\u201322, 38\u201339, 43\u201344)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or his response to the Pharisees when asked what the greatest commandment was:<\/p>\n

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.\u00a0This is the first and great commandment.\u00a0And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matt 22:37\u201339)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or the new commandment he gave to his apostles during the last supper to love one another as he has loved us (see John 13:34).<\/p>\n

These teaching experiences underscored the feelings I had been experiencing, and I found myself drawn toward pacifism. I grew more disgusted with war, racism, and sexism. I had become convinced that as a Christian, I was duty bound to embrace love and equality and reject anything in opposition to that.<\/p>\n

As an extension of this conversion to pacifism, I underwent another moral change. Sometime early last year, I noticed an emerging emotion. I began feeling guilt\u2014and ultimately remorse\u2014every time I ate meat, particularly meat that more closely resembled the animal from which it came (roasted poultry, baked whole fish, etc). As the months wore on, the feelings of guilt and remorse intensified, and ultimately culminated in my becoming vegetarian last October, primarily as a result of my opposition to the intentional killing of other people coming to include animals.<\/p>\n

Now onto politics.<\/p>\n

My feelings toward the importance of increasing our love toward others and decreasing our hatred toward others had continued to grow. As it did, I became disenchanted with the partisanship of the political parties in this year’s provincial and federal elections.<\/p>\n

I have long considered myself a non-partisan voter, not finding a party I could closely identify with. As candidates became more partisan this election \u00a0and bitterness and rhetoric intensified, I began distancing myself even more from the main parties. So I began researching some of the lesser known parties.<\/p>\n

One party I came across\u2014and I don’t recall the circumstances that inspired me to investigate it specifically\u2014was the Communist Party of Canada. As I reviewed their platform, I was surprised at how much of it resonated with me, far more than the platforms of any other party ever had.<\/p>\n

Here is\u00a0a non-exhaustive list of some things that stood out to me:<\/p>\n