Where did any attempt at civility go? Civilization survived through the "Dark Ages" into the "Age of Enlightenment". I realize that hungry nations still waged war. But lately there seems to be a sea change in peoples psyche. People are angry. So angry that they are willing to kill, maim, destroy reputations, even destroy peoples lives because they disagree on politics or religion or climate change, just about anything. Worst of all, there are those that still hate based on skin color.
Most of this was written before the terrible insane events in Charleston, South Carolina. The acts of that young man are pure proof that evil does walk among us. Such deep and diabolical hatred cannot be normal. It must be fed and nurtured through the years. To walk into a church where he was accepted by good people, spend an hour in their company, and then turn on them in the worst possible way is nothing less than Satanic.
If race is not driving your rage, it is probably religion. Religion should bring peace to people. It should bring people together to find areas of mutual understanding and comfort. Religion should not drive a blood lust. The idea that God created all mankind and would love all equally seems to be alien to that which is billed as "the religion of peace".
Today even politics is not seen as a difference of opinion. Some people have taken to acting as if any with a differing opinion, gain political influence, it will destroy their way of life. Demands have replaced negotiations. Threats are used in place of bartering. Destroy your enemy is today's watchword.
Some say the "End Times" are near. I was brought up on the King James version of the Bible. I learned to love it's language and phrasing. It takes more effort to understand than the more modern versions. It is well worth the effort in my thinking. But I also learned the meaning of the word allegory. People told stories to explain the unexplainable.
So I never was a particular fan of St. John's Book of Revelations. But it seems like, today, evil is walking forth in the land. But I will never believe that we are doomed. We can, and I pray we will, get by this. The problem is the lust for power and money. Those that try to intellectualize this greed and convince themselves as well as others that they work for the good of mankind, are the guilty parties.
When people decide , for whatever reason, that the structure of society doesn't meet their needs and they must change things by whatever means, life gets out of balance. Kind of like a "tilt" in the old time pinball machines. The only power that we have is to do good and to support others that try to do good that way we might, in time, be able to restore equilibrium. Until then. Keep your head down and watch your back. It is ugly out there.
Another great post. Thanks for writing your thoughts and posting them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think conservatives have entirely appreciated the loss of the King James language and Shakespeare's work as something comprehensible by most of society. O know the liberals don't and the libtards...lol, never mind. But Shakespeare and the Bible were the two most important sets of literature that defined our culture and provided a foundation upon which Anglo culture was based.
Now that it is largely ignored by the youth of our time, whatever you want to call popular culture in the USA today, it isn't the culture we grew up with. The culture that freed the slaves, gave us civil rights (real rights of the individual vrs the government) and a common set of ideas to communicate with other Americans, that culture is dead and gone. America has been conquered and exterminated from the inside without a single shot being fired.