For thousands of years, Easter has been a symbol of hope, a day of joy, a time to gather together to celebrate the miracle of rebirth.

The Good Book, no matter which version sits upon your bookshelf, first chronicled the arrest, passion and crucifixion of Jesus. Then, a few pages later, it turns to Easter, proclaiming “He has risen.”

For believers around the world, it is a time to celebrate, a time to sing, to express joy.

That is, unless you listened to the messages coming from Washington, D.C.

Instead of trying to lift us up, to speak words of hope, our nation’s leader pivoted from the traditional message of hope and snarled at the leaders of a fourth-rate Middle Eastern dictatorship. To top it off, he dropped the “F-bomb.”


For the record, I am not making this stuff up.

In a strange, off-the-wall post on his Truth Social account, the president of the United States posted this message:

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—— n Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

That is right. He not only threatened death and destruction, but he emphasized it in a rude and crude way by dropping the F-bomb.

Now that my mother is turning over in her grave, getting ready to wash my mouth out with soap after I dared reference that obscene word in print, the president used the dark hours of Easter morning to promise terror and death to the citizens of another nation.

I guess it is all part of his strategy to bring Iran to its knees.

Meanwhile, over at the Pentagon, according to various news services, the Secretary of Defense chimed in at an official Pentagon religious service, seeking divine help for the president’s war effort.

“Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” he said, calling for “justice to be delivered without remorse.”

“We ask these things in bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ,” he concluded.

Halfway around the world, the American-born Pope had a contrasting message. He called for peace.

“Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” the pope said.

In his Palm Sunday homily, the pontiff spoke to the world, explicitly rejecting Hegseth’s prayer.

"Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war," Pope Leo said. "He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: 'Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood,'" he said.

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem’s old city, the traditional Christian Easter, the Jewish Passover and the Muslim Ramadan observances were limited by wartime restrictions. 

What should the ordinary guy or gal make of these seemingly conflicting messages from our political and religious leaders? What are we to make of the opposing calls for peace and war? What are we to make of Mr. Trump’s war on Iran? He has given us different reasons for starting it. Is it because we fear Iran’s regime and seek to change it? Is it because they are working on atom bombs? Is it because they threaten our homeland?

Now, we find out this little pipsqueak nation has some big clout after all. They control the Strait of Hormuz, blocking passage of 20% of the world’s oil supply by just threatening to sink a tanker or two. And those actions, by us and that pipsqueak nation, sent the world into an economic tizzy, skyrocketing the price of crude oil, gasoline and, soon, the rest of the goods and services that we, and the rest of the world, depend upon every day.

Soon, we will see the effect of the decisions made by both nations trickle down to our local markets as they hike the price we pay to put food on our tables.

As the war sets the oil production infrastructure in the Gulf states ablaze, you can bet getting back to normal will take a long, long time.

Hang on, dear friends. This situation is not normal and is likely to get worse.

Happy Easter to all.