Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Love your neighbor as yourself!

That’s an admonition from the Bible, which is worth nothing today.

So I do, with this introduction.

I am a member of what’s called a “Links Study Group” at Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club where I play in Salem, Oregon.

The group meets weekly to share perspectives about how we can live for God in our world.

Most of us in the group – which is open to anyone – play golf, which draws us together, thus the use of the word “links.”  Our group is patterned after Links Players International, a national non-profit headquartered in Palm Springs, California, that sets out to develop “fellowship” groups at golf clubs around the country.

The lesson this week was patterned after this Bible verse in Galatians 5:14:  “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:  Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Just think about this admonition for a moment.  If all of us patterned our lives after those words – “love your neighbor as yourself” – the world would be a better place.

And, permit this political thought just for a moment.  We wouldn’t have to listen any more to notions from one Donald Trump that immigrants are enemies, worth deporting or even killing.  They are neighbors, so we should love them.

Here are more quotes from the Links lesson on loving your neighbor.

“Without a doubt, Arnold Palmer was one of the most beloved golfers of all time.  Of course, Arnie was a great golfer, with 62 PGA victories and seven majors.  But he was much more than that.

“Arnie transformed the game with his personality, charisma, and ‘go for broke’ style of golf.  He reached his peak just as television was there to capture it, captivating his fans.  The public adored him and showed up in droves to follow him around the course.  Arnie’s nickname may have been The King, but he was a man of the people, a hero for everyday folks who comprised ‘Arnie’s Army.’

“The fans loved Arnie because he loved them.  He bent over backward to please them, acknowledging their cheers with a big smile, giving them his famous ‘thumbs up’ gesture, and always signing autographs – very carefully so people would recognize his signature.

“When fans wrote to him requesting an autograph, Arnie always responded and paid the return postage himself.  The 2014 Golf Channel documentary on Arnie reported that his expenses for that act of kindness amounted to over $100,000 annually.  Men and women, young and old, Arnie showed kindness and compassion to all of them.  

“Two thousand years earlier, Jesus set the standard for kindness and compassion.  In particular, Jesus specialized in showing love to the last, the least, and the lost, which annoyed the Jewish leaders.

“Note these verses from Matthew 9:11-12: ‘When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.’

“Jesus made a point to reach out to those that society rejected.  He met and healed the demon-possessed, touched those with leprosy, and allowed prostitutes to touch him.”

So, I say, follow both Arnie and Jesus, not to compare the two, but just to emphasize their “love your neighbor” ethic as worth emulating.