A lot us middle-aged folks reminisce about the “good ol’ days” when we could walk across town, go to the local fair, go the store, etc., without fear of getting kidnapped, molested, shot or otherwise attacked.
And today we see and hear news all around us of people killing, attacking, harming other people in ways we would have said were impossible or at least improbable when we were kids.
“Hate like this didn’t exist back then,” I heard one man say.
Yes, it did. We may not have known the dangers, but they were there.
Let’s not be naive. Hate like this has been around since Cain took a rock to his brother’s skull in a field. Or maybe he used a hoe of some sort. Whatever it was, he “rose up against his brother and killed him.”
My heart is broken every time I read about a mother who intentionally killed her babies, about a man who sexually assaulted someone else, about a teenager who pulled the trigger and took someone else’s life.
Hate does exist on a greater scale now than it ever has before. Do you know why? It’s because there are more humans.
We as creatures are obsessed with war and personal attacks and “settling” grievances — real or perceived or wholly imagined — by taking the life of the purported offender.
It’s not the president’s fault nor that of the Republican party. It’s not the fault of the Democrats or independents. It is wholly the fault of the person who causes the harm.
Have I written this before? You bet I have. It hasn’t changed. It won’t.
If you are a Christian and have read the words of Jesus and the prophecies of the New Testament, you believe that the problem is sin, that it is inbred in us and can only be excised by Jesus’ work on the cross, that those who follow Jesus will undoubtedly suffer and that this world will remain messed up spiritually and physically until the day of Christ’s return.
But that is no reason to give up hope! That is no reason to throw up our hands and say, “It’s never going to get any better, so why try?”
No, it’s a call to greater action. It means the house is becoming engulfed by smoke and flames and we have to work harder, faster to try to get people out of danger and into safety. It’s a call to share that message of love and forgiveness that Jesus commanded his followers to share.
People’s souls are saved one at a time. Lives are changed one at a time. You and I may not be able to change the entire world. But we can change where we live, where we work, where we are.
Be the light where you are. You’re not guaranteed safe, but you will make a difference in someone’s life. And you’ll make a difference in your own, as well.
Be kind. Be proactive. Be loving. Be helpful. Be encouraging.
Do you want Newton County to be a better place? Do you want Mississippi to be a better place, the U.S., the world?
Then those who are in those places need to be actively making it better, one person at a time — those in the world, in the U.S., in Mississippi … in Newton County.
Make a difference today.
