We don't have to agree with someone to love them. Life can do just fine if people disagree, as long as it is done respectfully.
Most people have a sense that life can be better ...and that it could be better, and should be better. Part of that comes about by the mere sense of sight. We "see" people around us that have it better than we do ...but we fell they aren't any better than us, and we feel we should have what they have. This is called disparity ...and it can cause despair. This is particularly true if we feel they've advanced at our expense. The more we dwell on this, the more it stirs our emotions, and each of us react to it in our own personal way, some slowly, while others can easily be agitated and have their dander worked up.
This is "not" my intent ...to stir up your anger. My intent is to back up a bit, and to look more closely at the simple fact that we realize we could "have it better". That feeling is within each of us ...yet, it drives us differently. Thomas Edison worked tirelessly towards many experiments that he felt he could improve upon ...which in turn, would benefit most everyone. He had a goal, and an inner drive towards achieving it. As families, communities, and a nation ...we should have some common goals that we equally believe in. The more intangible or unclear the goals, the greater the chance that we can be driven by emotions ...with less understanding of what the actual goal is.
I've mentioned many times before that I worked in the field of Mental Health for over 30 years before I retired. I'd like to think that gave me invaluable experience, but I guess you are here with me now, to decide what affect it has had upon me.
Let's take a closer look at Lucy ...not the Lucy of the popularized TV show, but a much less popular Lucy. In truth, I think they chose the name from the TV show, after the ultrasound showed that they were having a girl. Much care was given towards the construction of each loving detail of her bedroom, in anticipation of her birth. Friends and relatives joined in the excitement by planning a baby shower. For the occasion of the birth, Lucy's mom brought together her close-knit group for a home birth. The men were all silent, as they felt this was women's business ...and the women should decide, as they had their own ways. There was no contesting the idea of the home birth ...it was the women's choice. Now, let's not get this wrong ...what happened next, really had nothing to do with the decision of the home birth. No facility, nor medical staff, nor Doctor could have prevented it. Sometimes things just go wrong, and it's no one's fault, and nothing could prevent it.
It is a couple years later that medical advances and knowledge is introduced that actually opens up the question. And it is precisely this long before the signs begin to surface about Lucy's condition. But, one-by-one, symptoms begin to show. No one mentions it, as the parents cling to hopes and prayers, and no friend or relative is going to suggest that Lucy is not quite right.
Now, thirty years later, Lucy is having yet another birthday. Lucy is not that much unlike a Thomas Edison in her own special way ...she has her goals, and she is determined to achieve those goals. Lucy is an insomniac. She barely sleeps, yet when she is awake, you often think she is barely awake. But no one will challenge the fact that she is awake to what is happening in her own front yard. When she first crawled into the yard, as a baby, she was fascinated by ants. As she got older, friends and relatives had to endure long descriptions of the important activities of the ants ...and the detailed lay-out of their homes (ant hills, as most of us call them).
Lucy lives in a poor neighborhood, and her family hasn't been able to afford much help in getting treatment for Lucy, but in her own world she does well. If anyone should doubt that, ask the young man who will be spending a long time in prison. Everyone agrees that he would have probably gotten away with the murder, if not for the fact that he attempted to cross Lucy's front yard. At 2:00 a.m., it was so overcast, and he was wearing dark clothes, which would make it near impossible for him to be seen, let alone be apprehended. But he got the surprise of his life that night.
Other acts of violence have taken place in Lucy's neighborhood, across the street, and even in the street ...but seemingly unnoticed by Lucy. The difference is ...they hadn't crossed her yard, committing violent destruction to all those homes ...of the ants.
Some of you may think this is comical, but I do not! Lucy actually does better than most of us. She does very well with what she believes in. Yet, we sadly have to say, Lucy could witness a horrific murder across the street ...and be unaffected by most violent acts, as long as they don't cross her yard.
With all due respect, many of you also do well with what you believe in. But we must all be cautious, not to make a mountain out of a molehill ...or an ant hill.
We may not seek to preserve all the ant hills in our yard, but perhaps we concern ourselves with "global warming", ignoring nations who attempt to build a nuclear bomb, while clearly stating goals to obliterate other nations. How much different is that than Lucy's way of thinking?
It goes back again to the fact that we live in a world that could be better ...and we try to make it better, without a blind eye to what could be worse.
There are many jobs that require some knowledge of CPR, or some call it emergency first aid. In an emergency situation, you have to access the scene ...and act intellectually with clear thinking. If someone has been injured badly, itis not wise to move the person without any assessment ...as the person may have broken bones. But if there is a fire, without a doubt, the person has to be moved ...and any possible broken bones would have to be assessed later.
But like I said before ...some want to help, or assist in improving upon our lives. Others have to be instructed (not by Lucy-type thinking); and others just seem disinterested, and rebuke instruction ...there are variable reasons, and some are just too angry, focusing constantly on what they view as injustices.
The latter group has many good reasons for believing injustices exist ...yet, it is more critical how they perceive those injustices should be fairly dealt with. There are occasions to be angry, for sure. Yet, most anger builds because of individuals who don't understand, or individuals who follow other angry individuals ...sharing emotion neither fully understands.
I believe it's built within us ...to want a better world. The world can always be better ...yet, there will always be that aspect that thrives to make the world "not" better. That is driven mostly through ignorance, or deception ...that nasty root being nothing more than pure evil. It does not have to appear evil ...it can appear good, but that which can blind us from the greater good at the expense of a commitment to another good, is often doing the bidding of evil. That makes me mad ...to think I could join a cause that is actually a distraction. Yet, I will control my anger ...because I understand.
While I worked in the Mental Health prison, I saw many variable cases of depression. All are sad to see, and though the most disturbing cases are those who don't value their own life ...I've been able to successfully work with those people. The ones who are the most difficult to work with are the depressed types facilitated by a condition of frustration over an unwillingness to give in to the authority which attempts to curb their unceasing and habitual delinquent or criminal behavior. Sadly, there are those who are as persistent as a Thomas Edison, yet striving for the wrong means. We don't call that inspiration, we call it stubbornness.
Our world has good and evil ...I think that's clear. The root of evil persists, with an incessant anger ...and I can see and feel this increasing at a disturbing rate. Yet, there is much good in this world ...and there are many who strive to be good. Yet again, if those who strive to be good can just be distracted, then the good can be minimized. Those distractions don't often need to be extreme, and we don't call them evil ...they are nonetheless distractions.
If a mouse gets caught in a trap, the mouse was distracted by something it felt it wanted ...and the mouse became a victim. The cheese is not evil ...it is good, if not used as bait. The trap itself can be called cruel, but the whole thing hinges upon who set the trap.
We feel some traps don't injure us, they just capture us ...and continue to feed us, with the appearance of kindness. Soon we may not even try to escape ...and I'm not talking about advertising, or things like baseball fever.
A 4-year old girl was kidnapped. She was missing for 16 years. many in the media asked why she later didn't try to escape ...she had opportunities. I worked in the Mental Institution where many wanted to escape. They were not kidnapped, their parents brought them there. One boy had been sexually abused. He had a "gay" uncle who befriended him. He didn't try to escape either, though he had many opportunities as he got older.
Of course, many of you think that's not so bad ...you are often supporting "gay" rights, and you twitter, blog, and post things on Facebook as if you have a full understanding of it. You don't see, nor understand the young child locked within ...you just see the confident consenting adult. They become what they were brought up to be. It's not as consequential, but how different is the process than those who are raised as children to hate others ...and to hate groups of others, or even nations. Perhaps you've been aware that there are nations that hate the U.S.A..
I hate cancer, strokes, and heart attacks ...yes, there is realness to hate, but most hate is really a distraction from correctly viewing how something really is. All of our energies and focus can be distracted, by deliberate diversions. I'm not talking about conspiracy theories. It's a fact that if true satisfaction is to be had in deceiving, it only brings it to the one whose intent it is to deceive ...and it is not done truly, but by hiding the truth. And the fact is, it is only an evil satisfaction ...which is not satisfaction at all, but angry wickedness.
Yet, among all these contrary conditions is yet another fact ...and that is, that God wins. But, you win too ...if you accept the fact ...the fact of what you read in God's Word.
It only becomes a problem if you don't believe God's Word ...and the root of that problem is in how you answer the question of: "Whose word do you believe?"
