* * * * * * * * * * * *
I'm sitting here in frustration again. I'm continually thinking of what I can do to change things because frankly I just feel I'm not doing enough. Living within the church culture for as long as I did it is easy to just throw your hands to the sky and accept this defeatest "all is in God's hands" attitude but prescribe more to the "God helps those who help themselves" mentality.
This current BP situation and the judge that broke Obama's freeze on all drilling in the Gulf just has me about as angry as can be. It is funny listening to O'Reilly taking the devil's advocate role lately on his show in hopes he can relate to his mostly undereducated viewership. Even in this he takes the standard stance of violence while you can hear under his breath that he is being disingenuous. His statements of the execs being put before a firing squad is clearly very tongue in cheek. The whole thing seems rather an act whether it be politicians or pundits...just grandstanding with a crowd they clearly can't relate to but oh do they ever try.
I'm fighting taking a stance of violence. Violence is where I jump to too often and it definitely proves I'm not too far from this Neandrathal mentality that I preach so often against. As well read as I am you can't change the nature/nurture creation that I am often times so I end up fighting the very passions the reside inside. And it is so hard to fight. There is so much to be angry about, and so much of that anger leads to a typical white male reaction of something must die.
I was reading recently a story about an incident that amounted to India's 9/11. Afghan terrorists took over two of their premiere hotels, killing 169 people. The rage that came from this could easily have led to a long and messy battle on what is already shaky ground between Indians and Arab nations. Instead they decided to use this momentum to rise up as a nation and become stronger. Use this sadness and anger to become a stronger unit. I think we can learn a lot from this lesson. Despite the broken knuckle that will always remind me of 9/11 (I punched a wall and broke my hand that day) I preached stop and think. Somehow I lost this somewhere along the way.
Peace and peaceful thoughts don't make us weak. It is the exact opposite. It takes much more strength to make the right decision than the immediate one. We are a country of immediate decisions. Every news network is screaming to the rafters that Obama isn't acting quick enough to get this oil spill under control. A person cuts us off in traffic and we are quick to start yelling and administer a healthy dose of the finger. I've rambled here a lot but the realization I've came to is we can do something. We can stop and think. Healthy protest isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you have the time or money to make a difference then do it instead of just talking about it (this is as much for me as my readers). And remember...we don't have to rush to opinion and anger. A good opinion is built on slow meticulous thought and rage is rarely righteous.
Thanks all and breathe...take the time to reflect and develop opinions.
J...
No comments:
Post a Comment