I want to talk, today, about what it is like to be without those you love, and how this affects any community, no matter who it is, what they wear, what prayers they say, or who they say they hate.
It might surprise you to know that those you have painted as worthy of a hate brush - your hate brush - do not hate you, wish you harm, wish you death, or wish you anything harmful at all: just freedom, safety, and mutual respect.
I want to talk about thinking for yourself, apart from the fashionable, the misunderstood, the misinformed, and the misrepresented in society.
I want to talk about how real political representation recognizes goodness no matter where it is, hatred of the innocent for what it is - abusive and exploitative, even when someone is doing this to YOU (and it is always made easy, like many defenseless targets caught in the grip and fervour and rage of war) - and the idea of Love and Hope amidst conflict.
I want to talk about possibility, and the Angels of our better natures, and the light and dreams and hopes of our youths, undiminished and shining brightly in our hearts, even now.
I want to talk about Belief.
I want to talk about what envy does to a life of hard work and struggle, crushed in a moment of rage and jealousy, theft and destruction. I want to talk calmly, about the ten commandments:
1. You shalt have NO OTHER GODS before Me.
2. You shalt NOT worship an idol.
3. Do not take the Lord's name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not commit murder.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not STEAL.
9. Thou shalt NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS. (LIE OR MISREPRESENT ANOTHER PERSON, OR FALSE TESTIMONY ABOUT THEM, THEIR CHARACTER, OR THEIR PERSON)
10. Thou shalt not COVET.
(COVET - one of the most difficult of the commandments during difficult times, and requiring tremendous self restraint, selflessness, and thought for others - is what one does when one is jealous of another's life, home, wealth, goods, family, children, wife, husband, income, life, country, perceived prosperity, and way of life, especially to the extent that you commit a sin against #8. In rage, when venting against another, and against perceived injustice, regarding the goods and property, life and prosperity of another that you feel YOU should have, COVETOUSNESS is used by all that is evil to convince you that your NOT having something is justification for you to destroy, steal, ruin, or deny access to someone else's.
It is pervasive in society today, along with a sense of entitlement, a lack of respect for other human beings, and a lack of understanding about what someone has gone through, in their lives, to achieve even a modest measure of success and comfort for themselves and their families.
We may never know what someone else has gone through, but victimizing and revictimizing people, even as they receive some measure of comfort from the first victimization, is spiritually excruciating, and not only repeats the offense, but mocks the idea that even some small comfort to help the person victimized should be free from those who prey upon the grieving, the damaged, the injured, the afflicted, and the anguished in what can only be described as a deeply savage attitude towards grief and loss.
Revictimizing people is simply soul destroying, and justifying further exploitation of those already damaged can only be characterized as a breach of trust in everything that is decent and good about Men, when they attempt to offer at least a semblance of compassion and comfort after loss. This is particularly terrible when it occurs towards the aging, the widowed, the injured, and children in society, and indicates a deep sickness towards the helpless and in need of support and safety in a decent and civil society. This avarice, lack of caring and concern, and disdain for those perceived to be "weaker and open to be exploited" speaks volumes about a perverted, decaying, and immoral society, and its effects upon the moral character of its members.
Hitler's government used jealousy of the goods and perceived prosperity of the industrious Jewish population to fuel rage, theft, destruction and confiscation of their goods, property, and very lives, instead of correcting the government's incompetence in providing programs, services, and incentives to promote industriousness, growth, and prosperity in society, choosing instead to direct their dissatisfaction, rage and anger at government incompetence and unconcern with the plight of the people at a targeted group of people whose work ethic, prosperity, and opportunity provided a convenient diversionary target.
After some quiet thought....how many of you have actually learned the TEN COMMANDMENTS for the very first time, understood the challenge and impact of them on your own lives, and with that understanding, how a personal decision to incorporate them in one's own life changes it, instantly, along with the lives of those around you?
Who reading this has wished joy for another person, celebrated another's accomplishment, wished unrestrained joy to another human being, and felt joy at another's happiness, totally apart from any effect or gain to one's own life, other than this sense of happiness? Can you remember what that felt like, and how it awakened hope in you for a better world, and a better way of life for all?
How many clearly understand the impact, helplessness, and frustration which is exploited by terrorists, in order to do further damage to the people they say they represent - while killing them, instead of "representing and giving determined voice" to them? It is terrible enough to be betrayed, but to betrayed by one's Savior is to be crucified without Hope, eternally. Terrorism is truly Satanic darkness, realized.
