I've been handed more than my share of religious articles to read over the years. These inspirational pieces come to me with "read this" or "terrific" or "thought you'd enjoy" marked at the top of the page. Some articles have been more memorable than others. One such article handed to me decades ago had a message so timeless I still remember many of the details. The story goes something like this:

...and so the young man of the family appeared with his future bride at the family home. Introductions were made. A meal was served and shared. Congratulations were offered. After the meal was done, the young man's father, mother and sister visited with the two lovebirds and then everyone retired for the evening.

Once the household had quieted, the sister of the young man slipped into her parent's bedroom"

"Well, what do you think?" the sister asked, plopping down on her parents bed, hugging a pillow to her and opening the conversation for a potentially long evening of chit-chat about any number of newly gleaned details concerning this new future family member.

As I recall details of the story, I think the potential points of the conversation were the future daughter-inlaw's long, long hair, her odd attire, and her politics. It could have been so many things, almost anything perceived different or annoying or nutty.

"I think," the father said replying to his daughter's invitation to gossip and judge, "I think we are going to love her." He then proceeded to pull up the covers and turn off the light on the nightstand on his side of the bed.

What?

Can you imagine being cut off so quickly from such a rich opportunity to get down and dirty in gossip, judgment and potential fun at the expense of another?

"I think we are going to love her," quieted that need to gossip and moved the focus from judging the young lady to supporting the future married couple. It also actually created a pause, and opened up the opportunity for the family to get to know the future family member.

I thought of this particular article amidst the roar of the national rush to gossip last week when Republican Presidential candidate John Mc- Cain introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Oh my, one couldn't escape chatter and opinion, attack and lauding over subjects concerning Sarah Palin and her family, ranging from trivial to extremely personal to legitimate.

A lot of news coverage of McCain's choice of Governor Palin framed the debate in terms of this moment being a test of Sarah Palin. I think that approach begs the obvious. This event turned out to be a surprise quiz of the nation - and we flunked.

"Well, what do you think?" Somebody asked the question and everyone wanted to scream their answer aloud.

Some folks wanted to laud Palin for being so incredibly remarkable - so outstanding, this ridiculous coronation long before the supporting story or facts were known.

Other folks wanted to immediately dislike her so much, dismiss and minimize her that the "what did she ever do to you?" question seemed appropriate.

It doesn't seem that many voters want to listen these days. Instead, everyone wants his or her turn to give an opinion.

I'm not impressed.

Barack Obama says we need change.

John McCain says things are going to change.

They both promise change, forgetting that change always starts from within.

Last week the nation appeared to be millions of gossipers with nothing better to do than jabber about people rather than debate ideas.

I hope that if change is on the horizon, maybe this is one thing we might try changing.