My Personal Modern Lamentations
Oh sure, these are generalities and stereotypes ... not everyone is
like this. But there are trends....
- Oh why, America, why ... are you so eager to promote profit
making when your foundations are (as you are proud to point out)
theoretically based on the teachings of Christ? When did Jesus
ever stress the importance of making money over caring for others?
- Why, ye millions, billions of consumers, in this nation and
others, why ... why do you accept heartless and mindless products and
movies and shows ... why do you let pure excitement be your only
measuring stick ... why do you let adrenaline and eroticism control
your nation's entertainment and thus affect the whole world?
Half-disrobed women splattered across websites and TVs, explosions
adorning your favorite movies, kicks and punches and gun blasts and
blood.... Is this what we want the world to be driven by? Is this
what you want your children to aspire toward? Is this what you want
to leave behind as your legacy?
- Oh why, corporations, why ... do you chew up your workers' hearts
and spirits and minds under the auspices of "productivity" and
"the bottom line"?
- Oh why, ye managers and leaders of business, why ... why do you
feel you must lord it over your underlings, be listened to without
listening, be followed without serving, be given high salaries beyond
compare, and humble all others when you are not humble yourself?
- Why, ye managers and directors, why ... why can you not see
that when your project is devoid of heart and soul, that it is killing
the spirits of all who come in contact with it?
- Why, oh ye newspaper and magazine people, why ... do you give
headlines to the richest and most famous, the mansions that hardly
anyone can afford, the foods and wines that most will never taste
... in the name of making money and sales .... And why does the
public always clamor for what it cannot afford and does not need? For
if the public did not wish it so, it would not be....
- Why, oh conservatives, why ... are you so quick to save the unborn,
yet eager to execute criminals whose souls are just as precious and
in need of rescue... preferably before death?
- Oh Society, oh Media, why ... why is it we focus so much attention
on the few spectacular tragedies, when daily preventable tragedies
could be addressed ... domestic violence, drunken driving, the dangers
of smoking ... preventable deaths, occurring in numbers to dwarf the
sensational statistics...?
- Why, oh ye Christians, why ... are you prone to turn your backs
on AIDS victims "who brought it on themselves" ... when surely if they
did do so their souls are in need of great love and healing?
For Jesus came to save the lost....
- Why, oh rich, why ... are you so eager to accumulate yet more
wealth, when you can hardly spend all that you have already?
- Why, oh my soul, why ... are you paralyzed by fear and afraid to
act?
By the way ... I think the answer to many of these is "fear"
"insecurity" "lack of direction" "lack of knowledge of love"
"ignorance" and "ignorance of a loving God." And alas; it is easy to
point out flaws ... it is easy to rage against the system ... it is
harder to be a real light of change. And we each hold the measuring
stick by which we will ourselves be judged!
Spirituality