If you have never heard of John Fugelsang or listened to his daily Sirius XM  program “Tell Me Everything,” you should check him out (Insight Channel 121/noon-2:00 pm).  He is to modern culture what Leonardo di Vinci was to the Renaissance.  He is a walking Google search engine.  He converses with guests about current events such as health care and immigration one minute and then shifts to the societal value of fart jokes the next.  Parade Magazine labeled his broadcasts, “NPR with a demented sense of humor.”

My personal attraction comes not from Fugelsang’s knowledge, but from his curiosity about what he does not yet know.  It is reflected in the show’s title, “Tell Me Everything.”  It comes from a Bob Dylan interview John read in his youth.

Someone asked Bob Dylan, ‘What’s your advice to a woman on a date with you?’ and Dylan said, ‘Tell me everything.’  As a young man, that was the sexiest, most romantic thing I’d ever heard—that curiosity and that desire to hear. I wanted to create an atmosphere where my listeners who call in and my guests would feel free to over-share.

Yesterday was no exception.  The last segment of each episode is often a roundtable discussion with all the day’s guests.  He calls it, “The ADHD Hour.”  Friday was the final broadcast before a two-week holiday break, and as one would expect, Fugelsang asked his guests about their holiday traditions including Latina comedian Jenny Saldaña who shared the fact she and her family first arrived in the U.S. from Guatemala on Christmas eve.  Thus, the holidays have an even more special meaning.  So much for holiday traditions.  Fugelsang reacted as though he had been struck by a bolt of lightning and immediately pivoted to the morning news about the seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who had died while in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol.

His rant is too long to share in full, but here is the gist.  Sitting in church on Christmas eve does not make you a Christian.  Do not tell me you are celebrating the birth of the “baby Jesus” (his words) if you support a man who takes children away from their mothers, is doing everything he can to deprive 20 million Americans of their health insurance, pays hush money to porn stars and playmates, calls Nazis and white supremacists “good people” and gives cover to a dictator who tortures and dismembers a journalist.

On more than one occasion, I have shared my discomfort being constantly exposed to the now two-month celebration of Christmas.  But Fugelsang’s tirade made me think twice about an experience I had two days earlier.  I was in line to check out at the local Harris-Teeter with a full cart of groceries.  A women behind me had a basket with what appeared to be three items.  For some reason, our Harris-Teeter does not have an express lane; so I offered to let the woman go first.  After checking out, she turned to me and said, “Thank you and Merry Christmas.”  My first reaction, which my wife has rightfully reminded to keep to myself, was, “Damn it, it’s only December 12.  And Christmas has nothing to do with my actions.  Doesn’t she realize agnostics can be kind also?”

When I started to check out, the cashier said, “That was very nice of you.”  My reply.  “I only did what I hoped someone would do for me.”  Wait a minute.  Wasn’t that the “golden rule,” do unto others as you would have them do unto you?  Had I not done the Christian thing even though my exposure  to the golden rule comes from the story of Rabbi Akiba ben Yosef who was challenged to explain the Torah while standing on one foot?  [Historical Footnote: Like Jesus, Rabbi Akiba was executed by the Romans following the Bar Kokhba revolt in 136 A.D.  At least the Romans were equal opportunity executioners.]

Which brings me back to John Fugelsang.  In the age of Trump, perhaps the saddest commentary is the fact America is populated with a surprisingly large percentage of people who claim to be Christians but whose value system is contrary to the teachings of the man they consider to be their savior.  Now, I don’t know for sure the woman in line at Harris-Teeter voted for and still supports Trump.  But if she does, would not the appropriate response to her offer of season’s greetings be, “How dare you?”  But I would still have kept it myself.  Because Jesus reminded us all, even agnostics, “to turn the other cheek.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP