Our Police Forces: the Want of Both Respect AND Accountability

It’s not this or that, one or the other, for or against, support or not support.  It is both/and.

We both respect our police forces and hold them accountable.

We respect our law enforcement officers and demand that they live up to high standards of performance.  The one goes with the other.

Finger-pointing and harsh accusatory pronouncements, as to having blood on one’s hands, are not helpful.  Supporting our police officers does not mean that we must not critique them or hold them accountable for their actions.  Respecting our police officers does not mean that we must excuse any lack of professionalism within their ranks. 

Police officers daily hold citizens accountable for their actions, respecting their driving behavior, parking behavior, market behavior, even domestic behavior.  Likewise the community at large is to hold the police force accountable.

Obviously something is awry when communities across the nation see public demonstrations of private citizens bearing witness against their local police force.  Likewise, something is amiss when police officers must protect themselves with bulletproof vests before going out to patrol the streets in the community they were hired to serve and protect.

Whose to blame, all of us, none of us, a few select individuals?  Are we not all responsible for our community and what happens within it?  Do we not all contribute to the prevailing attitudes—good, bad or indifferent—that are expressed?  If we collectively seek higher ground, a better way, and demand a higher standard, shall we not have it?  If we collectively choose the lower level along with the baser elements, will we not have that too?

Let us call for high standards all around.  We all want respect for life.  We all deserve honor and dignity of person, whether official or non-official, in uniform or out of uniform.  Let us call for mutual honor and respect, mutual support and appreciation, mutual service and protection, mutual accountability.

There should be no scapegoating, no name calling, no blanket condemnation of a whole set of people, private or professional.  We are in this together.  We are mutual citizens of the same township, borough, city, county, and state.  We are one.  If we are divided it is because we choose division rather than unity.

Yes, we have a choice: this/that or both/and.  I say we choose both/and, respect AND accountability, support AND critique, diversity among us AND unity.

Unfreezing our Relations w/Cuba: It’s about Time!

Those who decry the change that President Obama has put forward respecting our nation’s relationship with Cuba are either blinded by their grudge against the Castro brothers (admittedly a justifiable grudge) or are too politically motivated to see the sense in it—or both.

Time changes things, and it’s time for change.  It’s reasonable.  It makes sense.  The time has come.  At face value, this seems to be a good, positive and constructive direction for our nation to take in relation to Cuba.

Sure, there are no guarantees.  Not everything will go smoothly.  That’s a given.  But, it’s worth the risk.  The positive future-potential for our two nations, far outweighs the negative present status quo.  For there is much more hope for what could be, than there is for what has been or for what now is, between us.

And that is what is needed and wanted in our national politics.  Instead of being knee-jerk reactive—negative, scornful, accusatory, judgmental, arrogant, and proudly stand-offish, we need more rational, constructive, positive, and hopeful responses toward engagement.

The irony here is that the very people who espouse and defend high moral values—goodness, justice, integrity, honesty, respect for others and their rights, and so-on and so-forth, are often the first to subvert these values in favor of hatred, revenge, retribution, and the seeking of a tooth for tooth or blood for blood in hard hearted retaliation—the opposite of what Jesus Himself commands us!  Says Jesus, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”  (See Matthew 5:43-48.)

It is never a bad thing nor is it ever wrong thinking to seek to mend broken relationships, or to build bridges toward the making of more peaceful relations.  Hatred begets hatred.   Revenge begets revenge.  Spite begets spite.  An open hand, a helping hand, a forgiving and conciliatory hand refreshes, renews, and builds.  And so, yes, this is a good and positive direction for our nation to take, respecting our relationship with Cuba.

Released CIA Documents Says Who WE Are

Last Tuesday, 12 December 2014, the Senate Intelligence Committee released documents containing information about the CIA torture practices conducted under the Bush/Cheney administration just after 9/11.

The debate is on.  Was it torture?  Was it effective?  Was it not justified, given the threat to our nation?  Should these documents have been released?  And so it goes.

Consider the first question: are we talking about real torture here?  Naïve answer: No, we’re just talking about “enhanced interrogation techniques.”  Naïve response: Oh, I see, these techniques have nothing to do with actually torturing anyone; okay, I’m satisfied.  Case closed.

Consider the last question: Why not have just kept these documents sealed tight?  Why expose them?  Well, for one, these documents effectively tell us that the Bush administration misled the public, as the media puts it (why not use the word “lied”).  Do we want our government leaders to lie to us?  How do we keep them accountable?  Or should we let them do whatever they please, however they please, whenever they please—all in the name of national security?

Now, as to the question, was torture necessary; that is, did it produce the desired results—did we get useful intelligence, critical information?!  There’s the catch.  This is a utilitarian question: Did it work?  Does torture get results?  That’s seems to be the focus of the debate.  Yes!  Say those who defend the use of these “enhanced interrogation techniques.”  No, they certainly do NOT!  Cry those against the use of such techniques.

Here’s an insight: When something works, really and truly works, there’s no debate; it’s a given, it’s accepted, it’s embraced by all.  On the other hand, when something is in doubt, uncertain and questionable or seriously flawed, there are disputes, arguments, and divisions, and sides are taken.  And, more significantly, there are always undisclosed reasons as to why anyone would support or promote a questionable thing, act, or program, in the first place.

But are we not missing the point by merely focusing on the utilitarian question in this debate over the use of torture?  Is it not a moral, character, and identity question, with respect to who we are as a people; what kind of people are we?

We all so readily champion the virtues of The American Way: We are a free country with inalienable rights and liberties, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and all that.  We think ourselves superior to so many other countries around the world, seeing ourselves as being more fair and just, more free, more respectful of human rights and liberties.  But much of the world sees right through us and has a great distaste for our hypocrisy.

Over and over again we say one thing while we do another.  We esteem ourselves to be a certain kind of people; yet, when push comes to shove, we act in the same dreadful ways that we accuse so many other two-bit countries as acting, mean, ugly, unjust, oppressive, cruel, self-righteous, and self-justifying.  That is the problem.  We act and behave and respond in ways no differently than those we are fighting.  In short, we have become no better than those we have dubbed The Enemy.

Why do you Celebrate Christmas—for the Kids?

What is Christmas?  More to the point: what is a Child’s take on Christmas?

The usual answer: Christmas is about giving.  Christmas is about family.  Christmas is about helping the poor, serving the needy, feeding the hungry, giving and receiving gifts.

What goes unsaid: Christmas is about indulging, off time, party time, game time, having a good time, and getting what you want (or at least hoping that you will).

Is Christmas a spiritual thing, a commercial thing, or a social thing?  Best answer: it’s all of the above.

Whether you are religious or not, the odds are that you consider yourself spiritual.  You may not subscribe to any particular religious persuasion or denomination but you readily believe in “The Spirit” and the things of the spirit: altruism, peace, justice, goodness, love and respect, and the need to care for self as well as others.

So you play along.  You do Christmas despite the fact that you are not a Christian.  Maybe you are an agnostic, or an atheist, or perhaps tangentially self-identified with another religion altogether—Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, whatever—still you do Christmas.  Why?

Because it’s for the kids or it’s good for a family get together, and besides that, the presents are nice.  It’s nice to give.  And it teaches us to think of others, especially the less fortunate.

In short, we make Christmas what we want it to be and discard the rest.  I get that.  Even though I am a Christian and I believe that the true essence of Christmas is about Jesus, the Christ/Messiah, Son of God, born to save humanity from its self and from condemnation, I get it.  Christmas doesn’t just belong to Christians.  Maybe it never really did.  People are free to celebrate Christmas as they like and make of it what they will.

So in that light, here are a few helpful principles to keep in mind while doing Christmas—for the kids:

1.    Remember that as parents you are always “on stage” teaching your children, because you are always doing.  We teach by our actions.  We teach our children by what we practice, what we do.  You may say one thing, but they will follow your behavior more than your words.  How do you behave during the Christmas season?  What are you really teaching them about Christmas by the way you act during Christmas?

2.    However, actions must be interpreted.  Our kids are keen interpreters of our behavior.  That is, the way we do something, the attitude and spirit in which we carry out our actions, says a lot about what we’re really thinking, how we really feel or value what we’re doing.  So what are you really saying to your kids by the spirit and attitude you exude during the Christmas season?

3.    Children enjoy pretending: “Let’s make believe….”  All children love to play this game.  But kids are not dumb.  They know the difference between fable and reality.  Don’t confuse fable with reality or reality with fable.  Dare to dig deeper.  Look up the real history of “Santa Claus” (or “Father Christmas”).  Did you know that there is a real historical figure, a real St. Nicholas that is the source of our present fantasy we call Santa?  Look it up.  And remember, Jesus is also a real historical figure as well.

4.    And finally, if you believe that Christmas is for “family.”  Then realistically deal with family issues and problems, using the Christmas season as a catalyst for taking steps toward healing.  Many, if not all, family gathering events have their sore spots.  There are wounded families with open sores.  The Christmas season is a good time to take small though tentative steps in the direction of healing.  For example, forgive where forgiveness is needed or apologize where an apology is required.  Or make contact where the need to reconnect is long overdue.

The Christmas season brings social pressures, family pressures, and commercial and financial pressures, to say the least.  The tendency is to push toward excess, over indulgence, etc.  My guess is that, if you are going to make this a better Christmas than previous years, you need to focus on the spiritual aspect of Christmas and especially minimize the commercial financial aspect of Christmas.

Yes, let the kids have their Christmas.  But don’t let them indulge in self-pity, moaning and groaning because they did not get everything they wanted for Christmas.   Move it up a notch.  Enjoy the spiritual side of your Christmas celebration.  Give simply and inexpensively, and with reflection and consideration as to what and why you are participating in this Holiday Celebration at all.  Yes, you can “do” Christmas and do it well—without you or your kids necessarily falling into the de-facto commercialism of it all.

Are You Aging Well?

The end of 2014 is just around the corner.  Soon it’ll be New Year’s Day, 2015.

How are you holding up, age wise?  Feeling your age?

I recently rediscovered a little article entitled “How to Age Well” from my college Alma Mater’s publication, Biola Magazine (fall, 2013).  (Fitting, since I myself am pushing sixty.)  It delineated 10 things to do, if you want to age well: (1) Love yourself enough to take care of self.  (2) Get information about everything.  (3) Laugh.  That’s a good one to practice.

The list made sense.  All good and reasonable things to do: #4 exercise and keep mobile, #5 eat well.  Common sense things to take care of self: be mindful of one’s needs and conditions: #5 feed yourself well, #6 Get your rest, #7 floss your teeth (I thought that was an interesting one that the author, Di Patterson, thought needed highlighting).

Number 8 was interesting too: “Fight Depression.”  I suppose the older we get the easier it is to fall into depression, given the body’s aging process and its somewhat debilitating effect, among other things.  The nice thing I found about this particular point made is the assumption that one can actually fight depression.  How?  The author suggests volunteering (to avoid loneliness or perhaps feelings of insignificance).  In other words, stay connected.  I would add, have a cause or purpose that fills you with passion.

“De-clutter your space” was 9th on the list.  Yes, being organized, minimizing the messes in one’s life helps too.  But it wasn’t until we got to the final item on the list that our spiritual state was highlighted: #10 was “worship God.”  You know, I think the first item on the list could not happen without the 10th one.

The Apostle Paul in effect says that though our bodies are wasting away (dying from old age), our spirits, i.e. our inner beings, are being daily renewed and strengthened.  (See 2 Corinthians 4:16.)  Now that’s the key to aging well!  Renew a right spirit within me, I pray.  Let me have a spiritual awakening and gain ongoing spiritual enlightenment—in Christ, by means of the power of the Holy Spirit, by the Grace of God.

Sure we need to do what we can to keep the body in as good as shape as possible.  But it is the mind, heart, soul, and spirit that really count.  If we are not nurturing the wellbeing of our inner life, the mind and heart, for example, we are losing a lot more in old age than mere muscle strength, or visual acuity, or hearing capability, we are losing our very selves, our souls.

So what does it look like to nurture one’s soul or inner being?  The following is a list of characteristics that give evidence one’s soul is indeed being nurtured:

1. Being able to hear and recognize, listen to and respond to, God’s nudging, realizing God’s active presence in one’s life.
2. Being able to accept and receive God’s grace and forgiveness for the wrong one has done in one’s life—which presumes a confessional and repentant spirit & attitude.
3. Being able to be gracious and forgiving toward others for the wrong they’ve done to you, in the same spirit that God forgives you your wrongs.
4. Positively living in a way that blesses others—bringing peace, goodness, gentleness, and loving-kindness to them.
5. Being able to accept one’s mortality gracefully; that is, being ready to die, i.e., to enter into the presence of the Lord when the time comes, leaving behind a legacy of blessing others—family, friends, and acquaintances—which is a true witness to the Lord’s grace in one’s own life.

 Now that to me sums up what it means to age well.

Thanksgiving, Who Exactly Are You Thanking?

Thanks to whom: Mother Nature, the Universe, evolution, friends, family, neighbors, the nation, our government, ourselves?

Thanksgiving is hollow and/or self-serving, if God is left out of the equation.  In a universe without God, there is no one to thank, but ourselves; and to thank ourselves?  Well, that seems misguided or just flat out wrong.

And for what exactly are we giving thanks:  Life, liberty, prosperity, good health, family?  But what if these things are falling apart, or have never truly been had, or are just not coming through for us, as we had hoped or expected; what then?  Shall we curse rather than thank?

What’s amazing is that I have seen people in the worst of circumstances, people who could be justifiably angry and bitter, given their lot in life, on the contrary have the greatest appreciation for Life and the deepest faith in God; yet, those who seemingly have everything going for them and then more, are often full of fear, resentment, and can be on the verge of despair.  What gives?

Partly it’s a matter of who is perceived to be in control.  The one with the appreciative grateful heart realizes and accepts that there are things bigger, much larger in life that one cannot control.  Believing that God is the only ONE who can and should have final control over all things and trusting in God’s ultimate goodness and mercy, his/her faith is firmly placed in God.  However, those who disdain the very idea of God are on their own, fending for him or herself.  For there is no ONE “up there” looking after him or her.  For him or her, life is one long struggle, a battle of wits and skill, a battle to make it to the top, to get the best, to be the best, to have it all, or at least to get as much out of this life as one possibly can.  But, when one finally makes it to the top, to whom should he or she give thanks, one’s self?

And when one does finally make it, finds him/herself at the top, one soon discovers how very fragile that position is.  It doesn’t take much to bring it all crashing down, does it?  An accident, a sudden illness, a son or daughter’s addiction to drugs, or perhaps an unexpected death, may ruin it all.  Yes, life can be fragile.  In that sense, it’s so very, very hard to keep control of things, isn’t it?

So, this Thanksgiving season might we give thanks to God and give God the credit where credit is due?  God has given a promise.  Ultimately things will be made right.  Evil will be condemned and goodness will finally prevail.  And even those of us who are guilty of contributing to the bad that prevails upon this earth, even we can find forgiveness and be given a “second chance” as it were—in Christ.   I’m talking about redemption, salvation, something for which we can most dearly be thankful.  Unless, of course, you are perfect in every way and have no need of grace from God.

The American Dream, Christianity, and the Promise Land

Christians have a bad reputation.

More often than not, Christians, especially conservative Evangelical Christians, are viewed as narrow-minded, mean-spirited, angry and defensive holier-than-thou types, whose political power must be curbed in order to prevent the imposition of a Christian agenda upon everyone else.  On the other hand, Christians are also readily dismissed as naïve and out of touch, and therefore as irrelevant and insignificant in terms of today’s real world issues.  Why is this?

Perhaps we Christians are much to blame for our bad reputation.  If so, where did we go wrong?

Might it be because we have confused the American Dream with the Biblical “Promise Land,” as if we Americans are the real Chosen People of God and North America is the actual Promised Land?

From its inception America has seen itself as a kind of Biblical Promise Land, a sweet place of plenty brimming with milk and honey, a land of prosperity and happiness.   We are even constitutionally “guaranteed” that America is the place where we can freely pursue happiness.

And, until fairly recently, America has seen itself as a “Christian” nation, unapologetically embracing a Judeo-Christian heritage and ethos.  For many this is changing, indeed already has changed.   As a collective people, we can no longer assume a Judeo-Christian ethos or heritage or set of values for all Americans.  Some might argue that this was never the case anyway.  If so, it is now more so, than at any other time in our history.

And here’s where it gets ugly.  Seeing the weakening of Christian power, the dilution of Christian influence, and the retreat of assumed rights and privileges for the Christian faith, Christians have responded with a declaration of war: We are to fight against heathenish secularism, battle against humanistic paganism, and give a call to arms against heretical religious pluralism!  This is in line with the spirit of the Old Testament when God’s chosen were led into the Promise Land and were told to take it over with a call to arms.

How should a foreign people live in a foreign land?  What rights and privileges do a foreign people have in a land that is not theirs?  What kind of power and influence should a foreign people have while living under foreign rule?  This is what American Christians need to ask themselves—if, that is, they are to take their own faith and theology seriously.  “MY Kingdom is NOT of this world,” says Christianity’s Lord and King, Jesus the Messiah—the Anointed One of God.

Peter writes to fellow Believers saying, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world…” (my emphasis).   He calls us “aliens and strangers” or as other translations put it, “aliens and exiles,” or “temporary residents and foreigners.”  We are not at home.  This is not our homeland; for we are a people on The Way to a greater homeland, the Kingdom of God.  That being said, it requires us to have a very different kind of attitude and response toward the people of this earthly land with whom we live, while we are passing through.

Proactively embracing our sojourner status, are we ready to deal with the fact that this present land, along with its government and the value system by which it is ruled, is a foreign rule to us who have given our allegiance to Christ and His Kingdom?

If so, we need to be more interested in inviting the natives of this earthly land, as we once were ourselves, to join us in our journey to the real Promise Land, than in trying to get them to run the place as if it were already Heaven’s land.  That being the case, we also then need to refuse to take up arms against our hosts, those in power, and rather seek and pray for their welfare, peace, and salvation: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7).

In short we need a completely different attitude and a different premise from which to address our new situation.  America is not a Christian nation.  And Christianity is losing the privileged status it once had in America.  Traditional Judea-Christian principles and values are no longer the guiding norms for many of this nation’s people.

That may be bad for America but good for Christianity within America, meaning that Christianity in American can get back to Kingdom work, Kingdom witness, and Kingdom living and journeying.  That is, there is much good and much love, and grace, and peace that we Christians can still bring to this nation.

But first we must re-embrace our sojourner status and Christ’s call for us to be a light to the world and the salt of the earth.  We must see ourselves as strangers and aliens living in a foreign land whose allegiance is to a greater Kingdom and a greater ruler—a people of love, grace, and mercy, a people of loving kindness, gentleness, goodness, peace, patience, and integrity, nothing more and nothing less.

In short, we don’t own the place.  And so, we should not be interested in controlling the place.  We are simply passing through.  For, we are heading to a better place.  What we do need to be concerned about is being a loving and redeeming presence while we are passing through, and hopefully we can bring along as many with us as we possibly can as we approach the true Promise Land.

Can You See Obama and McConnell Working Together?

The big politicians on both sides, most notably Obama and McConnell, say that they have to work together and get things done.  They say that they know that this is what the American people want.  Things have to change.  We can’t continue in a perpetual sate of conflict.  They both seem to be saying.  Will they do it?  We, the American people, have our doubts.

Take one issue: Obama Care:  Here, “working together” should mean neither trashing it all together nor giving it carte blanche support.  “Working together,” with respect to Obama Care, for example, first of all means respecting its best intentions while at the same time accepting that it needs a great amount of tweaking and correction to make it work properly.  It means not losing sight of its purpose—to ensure that Americans, who have heretofore failed to benefit from proper healthcare coverage, can do so and in a way that is equitable for all Americans.  Hence, working together means, both parties will work at ensuring that the Affordable Care Act really does become an effective, just, and appropriate policy that positively impacts American citizens as whole.

Or take the question of the Keystone Pipeline.  This refers to the oil pipeline system between Canada and the U.S. that runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (Alberta, Canada) to refineries in the U.S., as in Steele City, Nebraska.  Must it be a question of no oil versus ecological protection?  Can’t we have both?  Does it not make sense to BOTH protect our environment AND allow appropriate means of transporting oil?  Yes, it probably costs more to be environmentally protective while drilling or transporting oil; but, that kind of cost is far cheaper than carelessly destroying our lands and contaminating our water resources.  Hence, “working together,” means being environmentally protective AND applying dependable and credible safe ways for transporting oil.  Such an approach can’t be that difficult or impossible, can it?

“Working together” means actually listening to, hearing, and respecting the other party’s values and concerns, in order to find common ground and workable solutions so that win-win solutions may be had.  That’s it!  “Working together” means deliberately and purposefully searching for win-win solutions.  It means steering clear of extremely polarized “all or nothing,” all of this and none of that, “I win you lose,” positioning and posturing.  But, sorry to say, that’s exactly what most Americans don’t see happening, despite all this so-called new talk about “getting things done” and working together.

It is possible that the political system itself is broken.  If our two-party system can no longer find ways to literally and realistically come up with win-win solutions, then the system itself needs to be fixed.  If the political system ends up actively working against balance and subverts the moderate, middle ground, cooperative win-win approach, the system is the problem.  And if that is the case, nothing will work right until the system itself is corrected.

Fear versus Science: Kaci Hickox and the Ebola Threat

Maine’s governor, Paul LePage believes that Nurse Kaci Hickox should be quarantined, kept isolated in her home until the gestation period for her possibly coming down with Ebola ends.  That would be 21 days.  Nurse Kaci refuses and vows to fight for her “civil rights.”  Who is right?

Nurse Kaci recently returned from Sierra Leone, West Africa, where she served as an aid worker with Doctors Without Borders, helping to fight the Ebola outbreak there.  That makes her a kind of humanitarian hero.  She risked her own health and wellbeing to save others in a foreign country.  Hats off to her for that!

However, upon her return home to the States, she now balks at what some may call taking reasonable steps to protect the residents of her own country.  Some question, are they really “reasonable” steps?  Others are wondering, is she not concerned for the safety of her own home community?  Legal battles are on the horizon, Maine’s governor versus nurse Kaci.  Is this how it should be?

Hickox arrived in New Jersey on October 24th; there Governor Chris Christie quarantined her for four days.  Apparently she showed signs of a fever, but it was not due to Ebola.  Proving to be asymptomatic in terms of Ebola, Governor Christie eventually released her to travel on to her home state of Maine.  Nurse Kacie criticized Christie for detaining her.

Once she arrived in Maine…, well, by now you know the story.  Nurse Kaci, in an interview says that she is “appalled by these home quarantine policies that have been forced upon me,” asserting that she continues to be in “perfectly good health,” “feels perfectly strong,” and has been “completely symptom free” thus far.

Thus, Nurse Kacie resents and resists the idea of enforced quarantine, virtually being locked-up in her own home until November 10th (which apparently marks the required 21-day period for assuring that she is Ebola free).  Doctors Without Borders sympathizes with her, having put out a statement which “strongly disagrees with blanket forced quarantine for health care workers returning from Ebola affected countries.”

“I’m not going to sit around and be bullied by politicians to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public,” she says.  “When someone is asymptomatic, there is no risk for transmitting the infection, so to imprison me in my house for three weeks when you don’t know ahead of time whether I will develop the disease … I’m not willing to stand here and let my civil rights be violated when it’s not science-based.”

She’s got a point.  Rational heads must prevail.  Policies and decisions should be based on solid scientific evidence.  I’ll give her that much.  However, I’d also add that public fears and lack of trust also need serious consideration and respect.  One does not allay another’s fear by in effect saying, “Hold on, you don’t know what you are talking about!  I DO.  So, I’m going to do what I will, regardless of your fears.  Deal with it!”  Did she say that?  No, she did not.  But her attitude and actions come across as much.

Nurse Kaci is resisting her Governor’s civic authority to keep her at home.  Dismissing the Governor’s authority to keep her at home, she plays up her own authority as a scientific medical nurse.  In short, it’s become a power struggle; two different kinds of authorities butting heads, governing authority based on fear versus personal rights based on scientific authority, as Nurse Kaci is inclined to depict it.

Nurse Kaci calls her treatment by the Governor a form of “stigmatization, not based on science or evidence.”  Well, okay.  But even if her treatment is based on reactionary fear that is not based on science, these fears are real and must be addressed as such.  Fearful people require real assurances with cooperative, positive, concrete action, so that those fears are alleviated.

Now, it is safe to say that the average American has a great amount of respect for the voice of science.  Some even treat Science as the new god on the block and scientists as its High Priests.  Nevertheless, the average American also knows that scientists are not perfect.  Miscalculations are made from time to time.  Science and the scientific method are not error free.

So there is a kind of artificial or false dichotomy that gets raised when one quickly pits scientific knowledge and know-how against social public fears.  This is true of any subject where science has a say over against public fears and doubts, be it about fracking, global warming, or the spreading of a life-killing virus, for example.  Bottom line: One does not alleviate fear simply by stating scientific facts and figures to logically prove how silly one’s fears are.

Science is interpretive and requires judgment even educated guesses at times.  All scientists, including doctors and nurses, make mistakes, get things wrong, and make bad judgment calls.  Hence, the need for the scientific community, or in this case the medical community, to develop and sustain public trust and to show some respect for the peoples’ fears each step of the way—no matter how irrational or unscientific those fears may be.

As I understand it, Federal guidelines say that a person in her situation may engage in “non-congregate public activities” like jogging in a park, as long as a 3-foot distance from others is maintained, for example.  That tells me that there can be a middle ground for the Governor of Maine and Nurse Kaci to find. 

The Governor is making a mistake by apparently demanding total isolation of said nurse while the nurse seems to be making the mistake of appearing preoccupied with self.  Both the Governor and Nurse Kaci need to think of what’s best for the public.  For example, Nurse Kaci could allow herself to become a test case to concretely verify and validate what science already knows about the Ebola virus and how it spreads.  She could allow herself to become a case-study by submitting to a bit more restrictive set of rules, so as to eventually confirm that the present Federal guidelines actually work.  By so doing, she could bring more confidence to a frightened public and provide practical reassurances to a doubting and fearful people.  But to do this, both Nurse Kaci and Governor LePage need to work cooperatively.  They must avoid allowing this to become an issue solely about one person’s individual civic rights.

Election Day, Nov 2014, Are You Voting?

November 4th is Election Day.  Pennsylvanians will elect a new governor, or keep the old one.  Of course, if we are to believe the attack ads, neither candidate is worthy of said office.  Bad, bad, bad, says the one about the other.  Nothing is good or right or fair or respectable or just or reasonable or adequate about the opposing candidate.

In our present polarized society, all we hear is extreme talk, extreme one-sided posturing.  Candidates make it sound as if it’s a choice between absolute good and absolute evil or guaranteed utopia verses sure destruction: “My opponent offers nothing, absolutely nothing that is good or beneficial; if elected he/she will totally ruin us.”

It’s difficult for a voter to trust any candidate on any side with anything that’s said.  And when you can no longer trust what a political ad is saying, when you can no longer believe in the political process, on what basis does one make a reasoned decision as to who is best for the office?

Many eligible voters simply opt-out and refuse to vote altogether.  Other voters simply consolidate their personal prejudices and vote their political bias—as in assuming that all Democrats are tax-and-spend people or that all Republicans are obstructionist nay-sayers only interested in protecting the extremely wealthy—without any further consideration.

Perhaps this is exactly what candidates and political parties bet on: Hoping that the majority of eligible voters opt out of the voting process, while the remaining handful of actual voters simply vote with their emotions based on their prejudices rather than with reasoned intelligence and real information.

It is an irony that, while living in the information age, we voters can be so misinformed and/or uninformed about the real facts and underlying truths regarding a candidate’s position or actions.  This is partly so because even non-partisan, independent fact-checking websites have been copied and mimicked by biased agenda-driven sites so that a voter can still be misguided.

What is our defense?  Our first and primary means of defense is the vote itself.  We must not so easily relinquish this right and must exercise its power.  We must vote.  The more voters that turn out, the more seriously will candidates and parties take all people/voters into account, as opposed to only catering to the chosen-few determined voters that they know they can always depend upon—the extremes.

Speaking of extremes, it is safe to say that extreme political positions of any kind are usually unhelpful and are often dangerous and unhealthy for a community.  Thus, a second line of defense for the voter is to vote out extreme positions.  This takes us back to our first line of defense—the more voters that turn out the less chance there is for extreme positions to take hold and/or take control.

The bottom line is this: As bad as the political process seems to be—money, money, and more money, and the power that comes with it, being the name of the game—we voters are our worst enemies.  Why?  We simply fail to get out and vote.

Over the years I’ve heard many friends, relatives, and casual acquaintances all virtually say the same thing about voting, whether young or old: “My vote won’t make a difference anyway.”  In short, they’ve excused themselves from the voting process with a wave of indifferent disbelief.  And so, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Yes!  Of course your vote won’t make a difference!  For you have already excluded yourself from the action by opting out altogether!

We voters don’t seem to believe in ourselves.  We don’t believe in the power of our vote.  We think our little voice won’t be heard.  So we falsely assume that we have no real “say-so.”

As long as the extreme and only the extreme take advantage of the power of the vote, we will have nothing but extreme results.  Let’s bring balance back to our system.  Let us ALL get out and vote.

Daily We Increase in Knowledge. But Where Is It Taking Us?

“Knowledge puffs up,” says the Bible; and the one “who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:1).

This is an age-old truth for humanity, generally forgotten, dismissed, or simply ignored, yet still powerfully true.  The more we think we know, the more ignorant we become.

The truly Learned and Wise see that, as their knowledge increases, so does their ignorance—the more they know, the more they realize that they do not know much and fail to understand even less.  What an irony, considering how much information is now at our finger tips.

Just how much do we know?  It’s old hat to say that we now live in an “information age.”  Input, data, tons of information is now at our fingertips 24/7, 365.  How many gigabytes of storage does your computer’s disc-drive hold?  One gigabyte of storage can hold 894,784 pages of plain text or 4,473 books or 640 web pages, etc.  That is just one gigabyte.  The average HDD now has 590 GB in capacity.  What are we doing with all this information?  Where are we going with it?

Data has to be interpreted.  Facts signify nothing without connecting the dots to give them meaning.  And meaning has to do with intent or purpose, i.e., direction, which also touches upon the question, “why.”

There is utilitarian knowledge, knowing how to get something done, work something out, how to design, or how to make, build, and fix things.  But then there is the overarching, big-picture, or worldview knowledge—knowing why we do what we do, beyond the immediate reward.  That is, there is knowing where or how we fit into the big scheme of things, the meaning and purpose of life question.

King Solomon, the Wise, had this to say about learning: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body” (Ecclesiastes 12:11).  That being the case, we should ask, to what end should we spend so much time seeking knowledge?  Answer: “To make life better, to live easier, become more prosperous, to become better masters of our own destiny!”  Thus, said the generation of the Age of Enlightenment, as well as that of the age of the Industrial Revolution.  And so do we say, the generation of the Information Age.

Now consider the plight of humanity in the last century, 1901 to 2000, and on into the beginning of this new 21st century.  And let us ask.  Has our scientific, industrial revolutionary technological knowledge and development succeeded in making humanity’s life here on earth much easier, more prosperous, and enjoyable?  Have we truly now become masters of our own destiny?  Think carefully and consider the big picture of all of humanity here on earth, before you quickly say, “Yes, of course it has!”

As a whole, is humanity experiencing more peace than ever before?  Are we more serene of heart?  Do we have more peace of mind, more tranquil spirits?  Are we flourishing in both body and soul?  In terms of all of humanity, is there now less suffering going on in the world?  Has humanity become more equitable?  Are we now that much closer to preventing evil, to stopping all wars, and bringing an end to all poverty?  Can this generation, or the next, or even the next one after that, guarantee all future generations that they will leave earth in a much better condition than it was before its own time?

I’ve already noted what King Solomon, the Wise, had to say about learning.  But I didn’t finish his thought.  He then adds these words, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is one’s whole duty.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (See Ecclesiastes 12:9-14.)

One more thing, in terms of knowledge, the Bible also tells us that, “The fool says in his heart, there is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

The Ebola Epidemic and the Want of Life

Why?  Why God, why?

If there is a God, why does God let this happen?  This is a typical question that Believers are asked by atheists, agnostics, and skeptics alike, in the face of natural disasters or deathly plagues that take hundreds if not thousands of lives, desolating whole communities.  And it’s a good one.

First, let’s look at the same question from the other side.  If there is no God, what is death but a return to emptiness, a black hole of nothingness, the total loss of all contrived-meaning that humans have striven to put into their lives.

Death is invasive and intrusive.  It is unwelcome and uninvited.  Death is painful, ripping our hearts by snatching away our loved ones.  Death is inevitable.  We are powerless to prevent it.  We may postpone it, slow it down, but we can’t stop it.  Death is shrouded in mystery.  Death is personal and individual.  Every single human being must cross the threshold of death, “alone.”  And death is final.  There is no coming back.

It is because we want to live that the idea of death is so repugnant to us.  What we are saying is this: “Death ought not to be!  Death is wrong.  Death is bad.  Life is right.  Life is good.  Thus, if God is, and God is right and good, then God should prevent death.  God should be a God of life, not death.”  And that is exactly what the Bible says God is.

At the time of Jesus, there was a group of religious leaders, called the Sadducees, who had no belief in the resurrection of the dead.  They challenged Jesus, using Old Testament Law and tradition to try to entangle him in contradictory assertions.  Here’s how Jesus responded: “You are mistaken because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.  …As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,’ He is God not of the dead but of the living.”  (See Matthew 22:23-33.)

Shakespeare’s Macbeth holds the opposite view to that of Jesus: “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.  It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  Nothing indeed!  Alas, ‘tis true, if there be no God!

We cringe at the thought of annihilation.  We long for immortality.  “Whence this secret dread, and inward horror of falling into naught?  Why shrinks the soul back on herself, and startles at destruction?  ‘Tis the divinity that stirs within us; ‘Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, and intimates eternity to man.  Eternity!  Thou pleasing, dreadful thought!”  (Cato, Act V Scene1 by Joseph Addison).  God Himself has put the sense of immortality in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

A woman lost her fifteen-year-old son in an auto accident.  She was afraid that he would soon be forgotten by most of his friends.  She wrote frantically.  She was going to ensure his memory would be kept alive.  And then she realized.  Her son was still alive.  He was not in the realm of nothingness, un-Being, annihilated.  He was alive with Christ.  How did she know?  Because of Christ and His resurrection power, her son too was alive.

Someone made the following observation:
We can give medicine when sickness comes,
Food when hunger comes,
Help when weakness comes,
Love when loneliness comes.
But when death comes, we can give
Only sympathy, only compassion,
Never the gift of life.
Only God can do that.

Jesus turns the experience of death upside down:

• Instead of being powerless before death, Jesus proves to have power over death.
• In Jesus, death is no longer viewed as final.  By demonstrating that He is more powerful than death itself, Jesus also demonstrated that death is neither an end nor a completion but rather an entryway to a whole new beginning.
• Jesus has ripped open the curtain of death and therefore has removed its mystery.  Jesus Himself died, came back from death and will lead us through death into Life.
• Because of Jesus, death no longer holds the power of endless grief or painful abandonment.  There is a promise we will see loved ones again.
• In the face of Jesus’ own death and resurrection, Jesus validates our own specific and personal individuality.  We do not lose ourselves or our identities on the other side of death.

This is the Christian answer to the question with which we started.  If there is a God, why does He allow natural disasters and plagues and other terrible things to happen to human beings?  God loves us and would not have us annihilated into nothingness.  God IS a God of life, the Life Giver, who has provided a true means of salvation and redemption to escape final condemnation.  An answer is given.  And one that is not difficult to understand, if it is given serious consideration, respecting the human condition and human nature.

Open up the New Testament.  See what Jesus has to say about life, death, pain and suffering.  Read the Gospel according to John, for example.  Check it out for yourself.  Consider Jesus and what he had to say about such things.  You may be surprised by what you discover.

Your Life, Your Work, & Your Legacy

You can’t take it with you—money, cars, homes, savings, investments, antiques, paintings, jewels, all meaningless and useless to us—when we die.  We all know this.  Yet somehow we still manage to live as if it’s stuff that counts most, things rather than…, rather than what?

When you’re gone, what will you have left behind; and what, if anything, is taken with you?

Most of our time is spent working—making a living.  But what is the point of “making a living.”  What is the point of living at all?  What will your life have meant?  Who have you become over the years?  What is your life’s direction, purpose, goal, end game?

Your personhood is incomparably worth far more than any costly clothing and jewelry you may adorn it with.  In truth, it is not what you have or how you adorn yourself that counts, it is who you are.  So, what kind of person are you becoming?

Contrary to popular opinion, your assets are not what make you important.  Your significance runs deeper than any of the products you buy, sell, produce, distribute, or save.  But, if your life is far more valuable than any investment or riches that you may amass over time, and the substance of your soul determines your actual worth, what is the true measure of your personal significance? 

We don’t live long, as time goes.  But it’s the quality not the quantity of life that counts, isn’t it?  I suppose that’s easy to say, not very easy to live.  For one, no one likes the idea of facing the inevitable end.  Most of us always want to stretch it, just a little bit longer.  But it begs the question.  What does a significant, well-lived, quality life look like?  What does it mean?

“Though outwardly we are wasting away,” writes the Apostle Paul, “yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).  In short, even as our bodies age, growing older and weaker eventually leading to death, our spirits on the other hand, that is, the soul, our inner being, should be expanding, waxing stronger and stronger, and becoming more alive and more full of vitality, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all,” Says Paul (see v.17).

“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it,” Paul also says (to Timothy).  “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  … But you… pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  … Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”  (See I Timothy 6:3-19.)

What will your legacy be what will your life have meant, when you die?

Why God’s Grace is Needed in this World

Are you overwrought with the responsibilities of life?  Is there just too much to take care of, too much to watch-out for, too much to worry about?  Are you carrying the world’s cares and concerns upon your narrow shoulders?  How’s it going?

The world is a dangerous place, threats lurking at every turn.  Anything may happen.  So, we lock our doors, install high-tech security systems, read all warning labels, and apply all precautionary steps.  Our families, our children must be protected.  We can never do enough to be safe enough.  We are vulnerable, helpless in the face of the unexpected.  Even insurance coverage provides limited guarantees—read the fine print.  You are overwhelmed with safety and security concerns in the face of life’s dangers.

Make one major mistake and the world will disown you in a minute.  The world is cold and exacting in its demands of you.  You are only valued for what you can do, what you can bring to the table, not for who you are.  When you begin to fall short and can no longer perform well, making and producing, let’s say because of a debilitating accident or illness or just the creeping-up of old age, for example, you may be suddenly discarded, no longer valued.  You have become a burden rather than an asset.  The world is intolerant of weakness and neediness, frowns upon helplessness and want.  You are overwhelmed with making yourself valuable and significant.

The world is impatient with faults, failures, and imperfections.  Error once, it may be forgiven, error twice and you are suspect and put on notice.  Error three times and you are out—forever a failure and deemed worthless.  You have very little wiggle room, little time and little space to change and transform for the better.  While the world loves great achievers and so-called overnight successes, it reserves contempt for late-bloomers and the average Jane or Joe steady-worker and hard laborer.  You are overwhelmed by your glaring imperfections and hidden faults.  You will never be perfect enough.

The world praises the shrewd and powerful, though he/she is cruel and arrogant, while it dismisses the lowly and humble, though he/she is wise and exhibits much depth of character.  You want to be good, kind, generous; but too many take advantage of such kindness and see such character as weakness rather than strength.  You are overwhelmed by constantly having to defend yourself against users and abusers and those who would ridicule your good intentions.

The world wants instant and immediate gratification.  It is unwilling to wait, to make hard choices, to sacrifice the good thing for the better or best.  There is no longer long-range thinking, with patient long-term investment of time, talent, skills, resources and money toward future rewards and delayed positive outcomes.  You are overwhelmed with the constant call to satisfy the immediate and the urgent, to meet the incessant demand of the right-here and right-now.

The world wants no authority over it.  It wants what it wants, however, whenever and wherever it wants, without submitting to any higher authority as to its rightness, goodness, or actual benefit.  The world wants no accountability, accepts no consequences for its wrongs, refuses self-discipline or self-imposed hardships in order to make things right.  You are overwhelmed by the “every man for himself” attitude that companies and corporations and individuals seem to have by the way they function—despite what they say.  To speak of a higher calling and a higher standard, a higher way of living and being, is now laughable.

The world ridicules and laughs at faith in God.  But compared to what the world offers humanity, God’s promises and assurances and ever present mercies of grace in our lives far outshines anything the world provides.  God is our refuge in the face of danger.  God truly values us—as evidenced by our redemption in Christ, a costly one in terms of the cross he endured.  In Christ, God renews and transforms us in the face of our faults, failures, and weaknesses.  God exalts the humble and casts down the proud.  Our salvation is sure and is near.  God’s goodness will prevail.

Adrian Peterson and the Question of Child Abuse

I have no doubt that Adrian Peterson (NFL star running back for the Minnesota Vikings) is being utterly sincere.  He truly does not see himself as a Child Abuser.  In his own mind and heart he was not abusing his son.  And he really is sorry for any harm he may have caused by that last beating he gave to his four year old son, using a switch (a twig from a tree or bush?).  Sorrowfully, he may also be sincerely wrong, wrong about what he thought he was doing.

All of us believe in the principle of using disciplinary measures.  So it is not a question as to whether or not any disciplinary measure should have been used.  It is a question of type or form and its severity.  As the saying goes, “The punishment must fit the crime.”  Though some cultures or societies will say that any kind of corporal punishment is abusive, other societies will say corporal punishment is quite permissible and even necessary—within reason. 

What do we say?  I’m sure whatever it is we do say, we do not agree with each other—not in our multi-cultural, diverse and pluralistic society.

By using a wooden switch to spank his four year old son, Adrian Peterson apparently caused unspecified injuries to him.  Perhaps this is where most of us can find agreement—that causing injury is going over the top, is abusive.

Even so, Peterson sees himself as a good father and believes that he was exercising his just right as a father to discipline his son for his son’s own good—no injury or bodily harm was intended.  Says, Peterson, “My goal is always to teach my son right from wrong and that’s what I tried to do that day.”

In a public statement, Peterson categorically rejects the label “Child Abuser.”  He says, “I am not a perfect son.  I am not a perfect husband.  I am not a perfect parent, but I am without a doubt, not a child abuser [my emphasis].”  I would agree.  So, let’s not label Peterson a child abuser.  Still, was the deed itself abusive—the specific whipping of the boy with a switch that led to unspecified injury?   Yes, I believe it was.

Peterson hit it on the nose when he said, “I also understand after meeting with a psychologist that there are other alternative ways of disciplining a child that may be more appropriate.”  In other words, because of this incident (and its exposure to public scrutiny), the proverbial light bulb went on.  It has become a teaching moment.  As if to say: “Oh, you mean there are actually better and more effective means of disciplining my child so as to instill in him a healthy respect for right and wrong?”  Yes, there are.

Adrian Peterson simply behaved as his father behaved before him and perhaps as his father behaved before him, on down the generations.  We do what we’ve lived.  And, of course, everybody knows the oft quoted Biblical passage that has itself become a justification for much abusive behavior—often misquoted as “spare the rod, spoil the child.”  For the actual quote see Proverbs 13:24 and 22:15.  These two proverbial passages do uphold the principle of appropriate discipline while not justifying abusive corporal punishment.  Point being, it is safe to say that Peterson is now in the process of changing his mind.  He is perhaps rethinking what he has learned and experienced, about discipline and the use of corporal punishment.  It is possible that he is coming to a new and better understanding as to what constitutes “appropriate disciplinary action.”

Perhaps this is something all of us should be doing.  Rethinking, reconsidering, and reframing a new mindset as to what constitutes appropriate discipline or punishment—at all levels.  For example, our nation imprisons more of its population than any other nation in the world.  Perhaps as a society we are being abusive in our overuse of prisons and prison-sentencing within our judicial system.

Is it possible that there are various aspects of our American culture that lends itself toward abusive behavior among our men, husbands, and fathers—resulting in various levels or forms of child abuse, sexual abuse, spousal abuse, and battered women, and so-on and so-forth?  Perhaps we need to collectively take a hard look at ourselves and ask ourselves, why do so many men, husbands, fathers, and sons, commit abusive acts—even when they confess and admit that they never meant to cause any harm when doing so?

Ray Rice and the Question of Spousal Abuse

The video speaks for itself.  Ray Rice, NFL football player for the Baltimore Ravens, knocks out his future wife (they marry a month after the incident) while in a casino elevator in Atlantic City.  It’s caught on tape.  There are consequences.  Ray is fired.  Is his professional football career over?

In response to this video exposure, Janay, the wife, seemingly blames herself, and the media, but not her husband.

There are many issues here, and many questions.  Should the video have been made public?  Were the consequences too harsh?  Has he really changed (if it happened once, has it happened before, will it happen again)?  Is this no one’s business but their own, a completely private matter?

Good question: should this incident have remained private?  Well, the incident did happen in a public setting and they are a kind of “public” couple, having a semi-celebrity status.  But, more to the point, the fact is—this kind of incident is already of public/community interest by its very nature.  Why?  We are stakeholders.  We have an interest in the welfare of women, children, and men that make up homes within our communities.  That is, our communities have an interest in minimizing and preventing spousal abuse as much as we have an interest in reducing and preventing child abuse or bullying in our schools.

That being said, should Ray Rice now be labeled for life as “Ray Rice the wife-beater!”?  Is he now human scum, lost forever?  Should he be deemed a continual threat to wife and family?  In other words, is there no possibility for redemption?  Can he change?  If so, will he?  Can they both change, Janay and Ray?  What are their prospects for a long-lasting and happy marriage, given this rocky start?  Well, it all depends.

Obviously, if their marriage is to last, they have some hard work ahead of them.  Still, it is not impossible.  People do change.  But transformative change does not just happen, willy-nilly.  Not without determined effort, along with the supporting help of a social network of family, friends, and wise counselors or mentors.    Change must be sought after with intention and purpose.  And, change does not happen by withdrawing into the privacy of one’s own world and keeping close significant others at a distance.  In that sense, it is not a private matter.  It requires a real community having a real interest in the couple’s success as a couple.  Here is where the couple needs to embrace a certain amount of openness and vulnerability in order to constructively move forward.

However, for the most part, we the public, the National viewers of this video, are simply engaging in voyeurism, satisfying our lust for a good scandal, having very little care for what’s best for this couple in seeing that their needs are being met—their true relational, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs.  And that is what is at stake here.  Do they have a close knit community of supportive and caring people that will help them move toward redemptive transformation?  This kind of positive and supportive community purpose or end goal for a troubled couple is what the media often generally ignores in a scandal of this kind.  And here too is where we, the National audience, also show a lack of interest.  We fail to be positively supportive and redemptively engaged where it really matters.

They do need a certain amount of healthy and respectable privacy.  They need space.  But they also need to be held accountable by caring stakeholders who are concerned for their welfare, who will hold them accountable in the right way with the right aim in mind—healing and wholeness and transformative renewal.

There are many women who are battered by their husbands in our communities.  They need our attention.  The men need hope for change—without fearing they will lose everything if they should admit to battering their wives.  The women need hope for empowerment and security.  Our communities need to provide that hope in tangible ways while avoiding simplistic kneejerk reactionary or condemnatory rejection of victim or offender.

Privatizing our Justice System for Profit? Danger! Danger!! Not Good!!!

You’re out of work.   Money is tight.  To make things worse you get pulled over and receive a ticket, resulting in a fine—for not wearing you’re seatbelt.  It is forty-dollars.

But forty dollars is way too much for your empty pocketbook.  And so, for not paying the fine, you are put on probation.  You are now handed over to a 3rd party, for-profit, privately owned, Probation Service Company.  This private probation service company charges you a monthly fee for its services to the community’s court system—thirty-five dollars a month. 

You already could not pay a forty-dollar fee.  How are you now going to pay a thirty-five dollar monthly fee to a privately owned, for-profit, Probation Service company?  You get deeper and deeper into debt that you are unable to payoff immediately.

Oh yea!  Did I mention this: If you don’t pay-up, you go straight to jail and do time, and for what?  For not being able to pay the initial forty-dollar fine resulting from failing to wear your seat-belt while driving.  (Do you remember the old concept of “debtors’ prison”?)  So, you either go to jail, or you get deeper and deeper into debt, or both—and your life spirals uncontrollably downward because of a simple forty-dollar fine AND because of a court system that has hired a for-profit, privately-owned, Probation Services Company thinking that it will save tax-payer money (which is very doubtful).

This is a quintessential example of injustice.  It is transforming justice into a business commodity handing it over to third party businesses with pure profit motives, resulting in an absolute conflict of interest as to the due-process and end-goal of real justice.  And this travesty of justice is actually happening now here in America!  This is an outrage!

Get on the computer and google the phrase “Probation for Profit.”  Look up the info and find out for yourself.  We can’t allow this to continue.  It must be nipped in the bud now.  (Although as far as I can tell, it is far beyond the “budding” stage.)

If you have any sense of justice you’d have to agree that this is wrong?

Oh yes, what is also wrong, having the same conflict-of-interest effect, and therefore having the same damaging effect on our justice system, is the whole idea of privately run and privately owned for-profit prisons.  This too is happening in America.  And it is wrong.

We are selling-out justice to the highest bidder.  This forebodes ill for America.  We are corrupting our system—imperfect as it already is, we’re only making it worse.  The majority of us may not feel its ill effect here and now.  But we will feel it, down the road.  Just give it a little time.  And when we, the many, finally do, much damage will have already been done, and it will be all the more difficult to stop it and reverse it.  Yet I fear that no one much cares, until or unless it hits us, personally—when it will be too late to do something about it.

Back to School! Questions about Educational Expectations

Our kids are going back to school.  So, what are they learning?  We nurture our kids from pre-school to the University.  What is it that we expect from a twelve to sixteen year process (from high school to college) of formal education?  Obviously the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic.  But it doesn’t take sixteen years to teach the basics.  So what else is our educational system teaching our children, given all those years in the classroom?

Well, among other things, we want our kids to be introduced to social values, the principles and practices of proper behavior—social etiquette, good manners, personal accountability and responsibility, to develop a good work ethic, to learn self-respect and respect for others, to develop self-discipline, self-knowledge, to move toward self-actualization, to learn the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, ethics and morality.  But is this also an educational system’s responsibility?

If so, which values, whose morality, what standards of right and wrong should be taught?  For many, religion is taboo, the Bible is out, and moral authority, of any kind, is suspect—to be questioned and challenged at every turn.  Pluralism, relativism, multi-culturalism is the norm.  That is to say: All opinions are to be considered valuable and all values to be respected.  This is especially true when it comes to religion: all varieties of faiths and beliefs are to have equal status—which usually means little or no status at all.

In fact, when it comes to values, there is always a discriminatory Authority at work, arrogating to itself the right to determine good input from bad input.  This Authority, whatever its ideological source—science, religion, economics, culture—begins with the assumption that it and it alone has the correct and fundamental vantage point from which to decide such things.  Take the simple question of God’s existence.  There are those who begin with an authoritative claim that there is no God and those who begin with the opposing but equally authoritative claim that God is.  In the end, both sides rest their case on the simple assertion that their starting point is fundamental truth and therefore authoritative.

Therein is the rub.  Exercising values presumes authority, the right to judge and discern between competing perspectives and authorities as to what is acceptable or unacceptable.  It de facto assumes that it has the correct standard by which all else is to be measured and judged as to good or bad, correct or incorrect, safe or dangerous, positive or negative, helpful or unhelpful for human consumption, application, and growth and development.  The irony is that no system, educational or otherwise, can remain intact without such a presumptive authority to make such choices.

For example, a justice system presumes that it already knows and understands the nature of true justice.  An economic system presumes it understands the fundamental principles of good economics (and all societies are to agree that it is Capitalism, right!?).  So what does an educational system presume—that it too knows the purpose of knowledge, what it is, and that it understands knowledge-attainment, the best and most effective means to conduct knowledge-transference (the right kind of knowledge)—how to educate the present and future generations.

What are our assumptions respecting our educational system?  Where are we heading?  From pre-school to the University, what are our expectations?  What new paradigms might we need to implement?  What doesn’t work anymore?  And here is my concern: How is the “business” model of education helping and/or hindering (or perhaps possibly even harming) the whole educational process?  Here I’m thinking of the many “for-profit” educational institutions of higher learning whose fundamental motivation for being in the business of education is the making of money—such a motivation cannot really be good for education, can it?

So, as you send your children back to school, give it a thought.  What are you expecting from your school district, regarding your child’s education?  What do you expect of the University for which you are paying dearly in tuition costs?  Are you getting your money’s worth?  How would you even know?  What does it even mean to be properly educated?  And who is to say?

Well, at least this much is still true: a good education begins right at home.  And, it is far better to be wise, though formally uneducated, than to be highly educated yet remain ignorant in the things that really count in life.

Take Back Your Time & Slow Down Your Life

Pause.  Wait.  Be silent.  Hold it…, hold it…, wait….  Wait a little more.  Don’t move.  Don’t talk.  But don’t hold your breath.  Go ahead and breathe—in and out, slowly, slowly.  Relax.  Stop!  You’re moving.  Don’t move.  Just BE.

Don’t have time to stop.  You can’t relax.  You can’t slow down for nothing, no one, no how.  Too much to do, falling behind are ye?

What’s your pace of life like?  Are you in control of your time or does time control you?

Is there a secret to managing one’s time?

Time is rhythmic.  It runs in cycles.  Notice the clock’s hands.  They go round and round, cyclically.  Notice the seasons of the year, same thing—round and round: Summer is winding down, fall is just around the corner; yet, we have no doubt that summer will come around once again.

Catch your own rhythm.  Do things in small rhythmic ways—daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally.  Learn to cycle your must-do activities within the larger rhythm of nature’s recurring time piece.  Learn from nature’s own life-cycles.

But, time is also linear.  We are born and we grow, from childhood to adulthood.  We grow old.  Then we die.  There is a beginning and there is an ending to life, our particular life.  And there is no returning.  This is the linear aspect of time.  Time has a trajectory.

Thus, time is both cyclical and linear.  The cyclical aspect of time allows us to pace ourselves, to catch a rhythm, to hold off from doing everything at once, to wait in order to return to, and then continue where we’ve left off.  The linear aspect of life requires us to set goals, establish deadlines, to measure progress and mark our advancement, to avoid going round and round in circles accomplishing very little.

We are finite creatures.  When we move from space to space, we must expend time to do so.  When we stay put and spend our time in one place, doing one thing, we lose the experience of being elsewhere, doing other things.  A simple truth: we cannot be in two places at one time.  We are limited by our bodies in space and time.

Thus, one who controls his/her time is one who learns to work within one’s space/time limitations.  When he/she says “yes” to one thing, it means an automatic “no” to another.  I choose to be here and not there, at this time.  I choose to do this and not that with the time I have.  I accept the fact that I cannot do both.

Advertisers would have us believe that we can have it all and do it all.  We can’t.  That’s Reality.  We must make choices and accept our limitations.  It’s simply a matter of being aware, being in touch, being mindful of Reality, and then being responsible, accepting the responsibility of having to make tough choices, having to prioritize, and having to plan accordingly.

First and foremost, pace yourself.  How?  Whether you’re estimating commuting time or the time it’ll take to complete a task, avoid underestimating the time you think you’ll need.   Stop getting yourself all worked-up in a tizzy because you’ve “suddenly” run out of time by learning to be consistently realistic about actual time parameters and begin to pace yourself accordingly.  Always overestimate, never underestimate the time you think it will take… to go somewhere, to do a job, to complete a task, etc. 

Secondly, stop making empty promises respecting time commitments.  Quit right now.  Reality check: You know very well whether you really can “get there” on time, or finish a job within a requested time period, or complete a task according to the allotted minutes given for it (which you yourself most likely set).  Take the stress off yourself (and others) by being straightforward about unrealistic time expectations.  It is easier on your nerves, on your working relationship with others, and on your own sense of integrity and self-esteem, to say, up front, what the actual realistic time expectation will be, than to constantly be apologizing and trying to save-face with lame excuses as to why you failed to meet the supposedly agreed upon time expectations—yet again.

Thirdly, protect your significant special times (with family, spouse, kids, hobby, self, or whatever) with a simple but straightforward “no” to those who would encroach upon those precious times.  You need not explain or defend or justify your “no” with little more than a simple, “Sorry, I can’t join you then, because I have another commitment at that time—a commitment I cannot break.”  Note: If you do break it, know that it is because you yourself willingly chose (and therefore wanted) to do so.

Finally, positively remember that you are finite.  Never will you have the time to do everything you’ve always wanted to do.  An immature person, a child, may think so.  A mature person knows better.  Therefore, pick and choose accordingly.  You cannot do everything, but you can and will choose to do certain things.  You cannot go everywhere, but you can and will choose to be somewhere.  That is, become conscious about your use of time.  You are a finite person living within the constraints of this space/time continuum on earth.  Take note and intentionally live and plan your life and time accordingly.

One more thing: don’t forget to prepare for Eternity (see Hebrews 9:27-28 and John 17:3).

Why Pray?

I suppose there are several reasons we could give as to why we need not pray.  For one, we could assume that God already knows what’s best, and therefore requires no human urging to encourage Him to do what He should already be-about-doing to save humanity and the world from its ills.

Another reason that can be given as to why we need not pray is that we humans tend to be frivolous and selfish in our prayers, praying for things of which God has little concern.  If I am a quarterback for my high school football team, is God really concerned about my plea to win the game—even if I say it is for His honor?  By the same token, will God answer a young woman’s plea for clear skies and no rain on a particular Saturday in June, so that her outdoor wedding plans can go off without a hitch?

Is prayer then useless and empty, all in vain?

There is the argument that prayer is communion with God.  It is not about the asking for and the getting of—it is about relating to and connecting with.  And that is a good start in understanding what prayer is.  But, does that mean that the ideal prayer never asks God for a thing—unless of course it has to do with one’s relationship with God, “O God, I pray to have more love for you”?  That is, is it a waste of time to pray that one gets the job that one has just interviewed for and so desperately needs and wants, or is that going too far with God in the exercise of our prayerful communal relationship with Him?

We work.  We organize, plan, and do—to make things happen.  For example, we want shelter so we build.  We want clothing so we weave.  We want food so we plant crops.  Simple truth: We do not, and we cannot afford to just sit-around waiting for things to fall into our laps without applying ourselves to the matter, to meet a need.

But neither can we do these things without the help and participation of others, requesting and inviting their help and participation—be it the help of friends, family, or neighbors and beyond.  That is, it takes a cooperative family, tribe, village, and society to make things work in the world—everything from the production of food, water, and shelter, to the development of the arts and sciences.

Thus, think of prayer as a form of work, an extension of what we do to get things done.  And, think of God as a key player/participant/helper in aiding us to accomplish the work we are doing to obtain the goal(s) that we’re aiming for.  Furthermore, let us assume that we are in fact lining up our goals and desires with God’s higher will and purposes.  Prayer now becomes a dynamic interplay between humans and their Creator, wherein God and humans are engaged in creative accomplishment—the doing, the making, the meeting of needs and wants and dreams and desires, here on earth and beyond.

So, why pray?

We pray to relate, to connect and to commune with God.  It is an act of spiritual intimacy, an expression of devotion and love for and from God.

We pray in order to become co-creators with God.  We, the human race, participate in the writing of our story by writing-in whole paragraphs, as it were, within the chapters of God’s book of life on earth, as it unfolds in this world.  That is, prayer is an act of engagement with God in causality.  In an act of causality, we pray, “O Lord, give us our daily bread,” then we plow the ground as co-creators with God, to put food on the table.

We humans change or modify nature all the time.  Why should it be so strange to think that God could or would do the same, only at a higher level?  Still, it goes without saying that God must use His discretionary power in response to our prayers.  As it is, God has given us extraordinary power over nature, in our capacity to work, which has had both very good and very bad results.  We have learned how to harness nuclear power, for example, for both good and ill.  So, imagine the sad state we’d be in if God literally “granted” every request we’ve ever prayed for.  Let us pray, but let us also be wise and mindful of what we’re really asking of God when we do pray.

(Note: I am indebted to C. S. Lewis’s thoughts for the core idea of the efficacy of prayer here: See God in the Dock, the chapter called “Work and Prayer”.)

Businesses Want Return Customers? Just be Nice!

It was time for my semi-annual doctor’s check-up and the accompanying annual blood tests that goes with it.  However, my doctor’s office switched to a different lab for doing the tests.  I had to go online, find its location in my area, call to see if an appointment was necessary (thank goodness not so) and make my way to the lab for the routine blood test.  New lab, new office-location, and a new set of office people (receptionists, file clerks, lab-technicians, etc.) to deal with; I was nervous…, why?

Every business office has its routine expectations and demands for receiving new clients—especially medical offices—sign-in sheets, first time entry forms required by the receptionist, including membership card id’s, and so-on and so-forth.  The particular details of an office’s expectations as to steps and procedures can sometimes be a bit staggering if not befuddling to new clients.

Thus, how one is received by the office-people makes a huge difference to a client.  Their attitude, posture, manner of greeting, and welcoming spirit (or lack thereof) will say a lot about the business.

I have often gone into medical offices (to continue picking on this particular business genre) where the reception is cool or indifferent if not down-right rude.  Everything from being ignored for minutes on-end, from when you first walk in the door, to short, curt, and impatient answers to your questions, by an irritated receptionist who seems annoyed by the fact that you even have a question to ask.

Thus, I was greatly and pleasantly surprised when, upon entering this new blood-testing lab, I was not only greeted with a pleasant and positive spirit, I was immediately asked if this was my first visit, and upon clarifying that it was, I was promptly told what I needed to do with kind, polite, and gentle clarity.  But here’s the clincher: as it turned out, my doctor’s office failed to provide me with the appropriate paper-work, the lab-test order, describing what kind of testing was required.  I half expected the receptionist to say, “Sorry, you don’t have the appropriate forms.  We can’t help you.  Go back to your doctor’s office and get the necessary paper-work.  We will help you then…, NEXT!”

That’s not what happened.  I politely asked, “Can you call the doctor’s office and get what you need.”  The receptionist said, “Sure I can.”  She called.  She was put on hold.  After a few minutes, she told me, “Mr. Meneses, I called your doctor’s office.  They’ve put me on hold, I’m still waiting.”  She said this to reassure me that she was indeed following up on getting the necessary paper-work that I needed to get my lab test done—a reassurance I greatly welcomed as I was actually sitting in the waiting room wondering, “Will she call, will she get through, am I wasting my time waiting here?”  I relaxed and was grateful for her reassurance.  She did get through and they did provide her with the necessary paper-work, via fax.

Only a few short minutes later, the same receptionist called me, “Mr. Meneses, you’re next.  Please follow me, please step through here and wait in this room, the lab technician will be with you shortly.”  It turned out to be an overall pleasant experience—notwithstanding the needle piercing my arm to fill three tubes with my blood.

Pleasantness, being welcoming and polite and courteous, and especially being willing to assist, to fix a problem, to make it all work out in the end, that is what makes all the world of a difference.  Businesses, if you want happy customers who will return again and again, train your employees to be pleasant, courteous, considerate, and helpful—no matter what the disposition of your clients may be.  If you do, I have no doubt that your business, of whatever type, will shine and will thrive.

Central American Kids Emigrating to the U. S. w/out their Parents—an Insider’s Perspective

Barbara Rowe is a Missionary in El Salvador.  Below is a letter (dated July 28, 2014) that she has written to her supporting churches and her fellow Christian Brothers and Sisters here in the U. S., giving us an “insider’s” perspective as to why many children and teens are leaving their families and homeland and escaping to north America, without their parents, only to become despised and unwanted “illegal aliens” here in the U. S.

The content describes an actual account as it has played out in El Salvador.  This true story is the kind of truth and reality-check that we need to keep in mind as we debate and determine how we Americans ought to respond.  (Note: Barbara Rowe has given me permission to publish this letter.  However, before my publishing of her letter in this blog, Barb Rowe did remove some “identifying details” changing some names in order to ensure the safety and protection of individuals mentioned in the letter.)

The Letter:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I realize that the situation of teen immigration from Central America has been much in the public eye there in the U.S.  The issues are complex, highly politicized and there are no easy answers.  I have written this letter to share from a different perspective.  In my view, these teens are very similar to war refugees, only the war is not between nations but rather between highly organized gang organizations.

As a missionary, I attend a local church, and am on their pastoral team.  We now find ourselves in a somewhat precarious position and are in need of your prayers.  Let me explain.  The church operates a school that provides a Christian education to children from kindergarten through high school.  On July 9, one of the 9th grade students, named Jose, disappeared on his way home from school and is now presumed dead.  We have been able to determine that Jose’s brother is in one of the gangs, and Jose himself was beginning to get involved.  They live in one gang’s territory, and our school is located in the territory of the opposing gang.  It is a commonly known fact that any teen boy caught in the opposing gang’s territory is a target and may be murdered.

Jose’s family, in their pain and sorrow, have falsely accused one of our very active church youth group members, Julio, of being responsible simply because he was the last one to see Jose.  Ironically, Julio had befriended this student because of his own faith commitment and a desire to share God’s love. Though the accusation is completely unfounded, we know that the rule of the gangs is vengeance.  In the gang culture, “someone will have to pay,” and they do not necessarily care if that someone is innocent.  They came to the church looking for him, and accused Pastor Miguel of protecting him.  They also posted men outside the school, waiting for Julio to return to classes.  Knowing that he was in danger, Julio hid until a safe plan could [be] made for him to leave the neighborhood, and the country.

I spent some time with him before he fled the country, praying with him and assuring him that God is our protector and provider.  I read Psalm 27 to him, and encouraged him to read it over and over.   Julio was scared, and in a state of shock over these events.  Overnight his whole life had changed.  He could not go to the youth center to say goodbye to his friends.  He has had to leave behind his studies and hopes for a professional career, as future studies may not be possible.  He was not able to attend the church he loves so much, to say goodbye to his beloved church family.  Most of all, he wept at having to leave his mother and brothers, from whom he has never been separated.  Fleeing from danger, into danger, the best we could do is to assure him that we would be praying for him, and that God will be protecting him as he seeks refuge elsewhere.

Julio is just one of the kids that has had to flee for their lives this past year.  Five Christian kids participating in another youth center left the country late last year under similar conditions.  That neighborhood is known to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the San Salvador metropolitan area.  Recently a teen was killed there because he fell asleep on the bus and got off past his normal bus stop in opposing gang territory.

Your prayers are much needed at this time, not just for the safety of the youth and those of us who are working with them, but for the continued courage and faithfulness of the church and missionaries amidst the pressure cooker of this situation.

As I mentioned before, the issue is complex, involving not only recent events but the history of the Salvadoran civil war and U.S. involvement in the war.  The Salvadoran gang phenomenon itself is considered to have originated in Los Angeles, and exported to El Salvador in the 1990’s, when the United States government began mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, including teens who were members of gangs.  More recently, these gangs have become linked to the Mexican drug cartels, making them even more powerful and violent.

In closing, I want to emphasize that amid all of the media banter about what to do, we need to remember that first and foremost we are Citizens of God’s Kingdom.  We need to consider what Christ would have us do in this complicated situation rather than blindly falling in line with one or another political camp. Would He ask us to turn these children away to face a dangerous and uncertain journey back home?  In the Old Testament, the Jews were instructed to accept and take in foreigners in their land (Deuteronomy 10:19), and in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus says that "whatever you do for the least of these, you do it for me" (Matthew 25:40). 

Finding the right Christian response is not easy.  This is where we can seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit to determine what we should do to live out our Christian values.  Maybe it would be good for churches to visit these children and youth where they are being detained, as a way to get to know them and share God's love with them.  It's a start, anyway.

Love in Christ,

Barbara Rowe

ISIS and the Islamic Threat to the West

According to Samuel Huntington, in his book, The Clash of Civilizations, Some Westerners…, have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremist.”  Huntington is quick to add: “Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrates otherwise” [my emphasis].  Huntington makes a good point.  Huntington goes on to say, “The twentieth-century conflict between liberal democracy and Marxist-Leninism is only a fleeting and superficial historical phenomenon compared to the continuing and deeply conflictual relation between Islam and Christianity.”

Do we get it?  A core dynamic within the Islamic faith is the spirit of jihad, which gives rise to Islamic activist such as ISIS.  Viewed as yet one more minority party of radical Islamic extremists, we may overlook the real potential threat that ISIS represents.  If one considers the fourteen hundred years of conflictual history between Islam and the West, as Huntington suggests, one should not be surprised by the rise of militant Islamic groups such as ISIS, seeking to reestablish a hegemonic Islamic rule in the Middle East and beyond—to regain their old glory days.  There is a consistent pattern here.

Islamic states and parties are often very quick to remind Christians of the Crusades that took place in the 11th and 12th centuries, to make Christians feel guilty and become apologetic for attacking and forging into Islamic territory, cruelly killing and plundering along the way.  What is never mentioned is the Islamic jihad that took place in the reverse direction some five hundred years before the Crusades during the 6th and 7th centuries.  And later, in the 15th century, Islamic forces conquered Byzantium (when Constantinople became Istanbul).

ISIS wants to reconquer the old territories that the great Islamic Ottoman Empire once held.  (For example, there was a day when the Ottoman Empire was powerful enough to besiege the Austrian city of Vienna smack in the middle of Europe, back in 1683.)  Whether ISIS, as ISIS, succeeds or not, in this lofty goal of recreating an Islamic Empire, is not the issue.  The issue is that ISIS is acting on a consistent understanding of an Islamic worldview: The historical and ideal Muslim worldview for Islam is that Islam should be a transcendent all-encompassing social-political-religious and earthly power ruling over all others, where sharia law is the law for all.

That is, in answer to the question, “who is to rule,” their answer is: “Muslims are to rule!”  Or, put another way, “who is to define right and wrong, good and bad, in effect who is to define reality?”  Their answer: Islam!  Hence, there will always be an ISIS kind of movement within present day Islamic territories—somewhere, and in some form or other, by whatever name—as long as the Islamic vision and worldview is upheld by staunch fundamentalist Islamic believers.  And whenever they believe that they have enough power and the means to possibly succeed in that endeavor, they will take action and become active militants toward that end.  Thus, it should not really be surprising that, in the midst of Iraq’s instability, a group like ISIS has taken a foothold in the area and is taking militant action to realize such a vision.

This is why it has been and continues to be extremely difficult, if not next to impossible, to establish peace and stability in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the Middle East in general.  As Samuel Huntington has already pointed out so well in his 1996 book, we are facing a clash of civilizations—a conflict arising out of opposing worldviews, contradictory visions for human society, and a clash between core-faith values and principles.  It is a battle for the very definition of government, society, and culture—for its ownership and control.

I sometimes wonder whether we in the West really grasp the depth of this truth.  Note: In Iraq, in areas where ISIS is in control, ISIS jihadists have given three options to Christians and other non-Muslim people groups: (1) convert at gunpoint (2) leave your home and all your belongings and flee the country, or (3) stay, be executed and die.  This is historical Islamic jihad at its worst.

On Suing the President: US versus US

We have plenty of critical issues on the table as it is: immigration, a crumbling infrastructure, a severe drought in the Southwest, a potentially explosive international crisis in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Israel/Palestine.  And what!  Instead of rolling up their sleeves to cooperatively work towards finding positive solutions in the face of these challenges, the big people in congress are busy trying to work up enough steam and momentum to sue the President.  This is our government hard at work!?

Suing President Obama is NOT a political move, says Boehner.  How about those calling for the impeachment of Obama?  Are we to believe that the call to impeach Obama is also neutral, unbiased, and objective—a nonpolitical move as well?  Really!  Are we idiots?  Is that what our political leaders think of the American people?

We have a lot of politics with little substance, much posturing with little real work getting done.  Aren’t you tired of this?  I am.  How is it that we cannot seem to decide what is best for America in the face of the many local and global crises that confront us?

What will unite us?  Do we have a common purpose?  Is there a common cause we can rally around?  Do we no longer share a common vision or destiny?  If we do, what is it?  Where exactly are we heading?  And, wherever it is, do we see ourselves getting there together… in one piece?

We’re splitting apart at the seams.  What is the big picture here, the overarching vision that holds us together as a people?  We are fracturing: Red States, Blue States, North and South, the Haves and the Have-nots, Black and White!  We are divided by varying cultural values (hence the term “culture wars”), divided by race, social-economic class, religious faith (or lack thereof), and ideology—to name a few obvious dividing lines.

So, what unifies us?  Well, we all seem to have the same materialistic goal: obtaining the American dream—the Almighty Dollar!  That is what brings, and has brought, immigrants from all over the world to America—the promise of economic prosperity.

However, the desire for prosperity, the Almighty Dollar, is actually our greatest divider.  How so?  Because, at the national level, we are immediately divided by questions of who shall control the national coffers, by how and who shall be taxed, by how it is to be distributed, by who gets to keep most of it, by how and where it is to be spent, and by how it is to be sourced and resourced.  All special-interest groups want the biggest and best piece of the American pie, while at the same time no special-interest group wants to pay for the rest of America’s needs or interests at the national level.

We have become a nation of personal self-interest, seeking to satisfy personal wants and desires.  As a nation we no longer seem to have a collective interest, seeking to do what is best for the whole, the collective US—so we are fracturing and dividing and fighting among ourselves.  And we are forgetting that a house divided against its self will not stand.  These are old wise words, now a cliché, but still truer than ever.