Between a rock and a hard place

The meaning of the idiom in the headline concerns having to choose between two unattractive options, but I am borrowing the phrase to highlight some other points too.

In a sense it could be applied to choosing between the various political parties in the election. I believe that for many of us there isn’t a party that has it all and says it all in the way we would like, or is likely to deliver just what we want. The “Christian” parties don’t really have the clout to make a significant impact, and most of the others seem on the whole to be not dissimilar on most issues, but stand for various things that are against our Catholic beliefs.

The Southern African bishops in a statement advise us that “as the Catholic Church, we rely on the fundamental principle that democracy allows individuals the right to make their own informed choice according to their conscience. This must be free from any coercion from Church, political party or other interest group, and guided by the moral principles by which we distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, truth and falsehood.”

A group called Christian Action has analysed the policy positions of the parties from a particular Biblical perspective (which is not always consistent with the Catholic interpretation).

But back to the rock and the hard place. Apparently one of the early uses of the saying was about a miners’ strike in the US in the early 20th century. Their working conditions were harsh but their demands were considered unrealistic. The outcome was that many of the miners were deported. Some lessons for Johannesburg’s minibus taxi drivers striking to object to the new Rapid Transit Bus system here, maybe?

We can take the saying “between a rock and a hard place” and apply it to other life situations too. Two stories I came across recently concerned a mother who handed a child guilty of a crime over to the police. It must have been heart-breaking for the mother, but what a courageous choice!

Right now there is heightened awareness of youth and drugs, and so Crime Line asks anyone with information that could lead to arrests to phone in. We are assured this will be completely confidential. Some years ago I was shocked when, while teaching catechism, we were talking about drugs and the youngsters admitted they knew who was involved at their schools but did not feel an obligation to report them. Fear of betraying or losing a friend, or of having a friend busted. Surely addressing it would be in the friend’s best interests?

Between the two current momentous events, the great spiritual feast of Easter and the secular hullabaloo around the election we can even tease out a message from the saying from a spiritual angle. Who is the rock in Biblical language but God, the one who saves us, whose Son’s agonising journey which nevertheless ended in resurrection joy, has been the source that saved us? The hard place can be the world we live in, our own life, where we are day by day on our journey choosing between God’s way and the world’s way, not always easy choices as we well know.

But a favourite image that my late husband Chris and I cherished concerns marriage. “God dwells in the space between us” wrote a theologian. God forbid, but there are times when he is the rock and she the hard place. However being reminded of God’s loving and forgiving power in their marriage can break the hardness of their hearts and so “the closer we get to God, the closer we get to one another,” or vice versa.

With the April family theme “Growing towards God” in mind, do we live reflectively in our marriages and families, discussing, sharing, looking at best options and practices, considering the common good and not ourselves alone? Figuratively being between a rock and a hard place is not a comfortable place to be, but it certainly is a reality we face, because life is life, from Easter and beyond.

I wish all families the experience of Resurrection joy as they make their life-giving choices in life  —  and that includes their vote.