Two cents
This is not intended to be a can of worms. I work through things by writing, apparently, and it just seems time for me to try and sort out what is going on in the world. How I feel, where I stand, opinions, yadda yadda. Because even though it is a great comfort and probably the only way any sane person will be able to survive through November, this covering my ears and humming every time politics comes up is getting rather old.
My precious America is painfully broken. I have no fathomable clue how anyone could reason therwise.
Just shy of my thirty-fifth birthday, how life is done around here has changed so drastically from my childhood. From a national atmosphere of trust and hard work and togetherness, to paranoia and entitlement and waking hours spent staring at a tiny computer.
America was once not so long ago a powerful leader among nations, respected for its ingenuity, opportunity, and stability. And we were that way because our founders and those who followed after found what worked. They found what worked, built on what worked, and the citizens for the most part bought into it. Supported it. Lived by it. Because they were just plain grateful to be free.
It worked.
It wasn't perfect, of course. But it was enough that every generation could believe with expectation that their children's lives would be better than theirs.
But now.
Conformity has completely reversed, and organizations have to bend over backwards and forsake what and who they stand for at the whim of a single person.
There is so much hate. Stemming from comparison, defensiveness, hard-heartedness, competition, desperation, anger. Every negative emotion, every difference of opinion has us placing blame somewhere, and in quick fashion that blame is churning itself into hate.
We have become, in my opinion, a laughingstock to the world. Here we are, the brightest and wealthiest and most visible society on the planet, arguing amongst ourselves like a bunch of spoiled, whiny teenagers. We've lost it. Whatever admiration we once had from our enemies and allies is gone, and we've become this whole Lord of the Flies thing where we are destroying ourselves.
And that's not a figure of speech. We are actually killing ourselves. Those we fear, those we hate, those we don't agree with, those who get in our way, those who don't look at us right. Those who protect us. Those growing in bellies who will never take a breath. Every day, we are dying. The flags at half mast for, what, two months now? They say it all.
This place that I love so much is imploding. We can no longer have reasonable hope in this nation that our children's lives will be better than ours. I've said it before and I'll say it again. How I fear what the boys will witness in their lifetimes.
One thing that stings so harshly in this is that, in my brief thirty-five years here, I have seen what we could be. I was twenty when the planes hit the towers. I remember vividly, vividly, the national reaction. The shock, the unrest, the deep mourning. Pleas from media and the government for all to pray. The feeling of brotherhood with everyone you came into contact with for months thereafter.
Driving somewhere in the city very soon after 9/11, I'll never forget coming upon a parking lot beside the road, where firefighters and police officers were standing and waving a giant American flag, arms raised in solidarity next to that bustling street. I slowed to a near crawl, both because I wanted to watch and because the mere sight of it threw me into the ugly cry. Every car that passed honked, with raised fist out the window.
Because we were Americans. And it meant something. The tragedy was unthinkable, but oh, the beauty of unity. I've seen it.
It is no more. Our daily tragedies serve only to deepen the divide as we scramble to place blame.
I have never known division like this. Certainly there have always been people taking sides, but until now American-ness has always surmounted opinion. Honestly I think we're split enough that one party in this nation could make a decision to secede, and the other side would volunteer to help them pack. And honestly, part of me has lost so much hope in this nation that I almost wish we could do that. Just to see what would happen.
How sad, how very sad it is. How the mighty have fallen.
And just keeping it real, I am sickened by the presidential race. Sickened by the mudslinging, sickened by the bickering and hate, and sickened that those two people are what we have been reduced to. Sick. Outraged, appalled, repulsed, nauseated. Sick, I tell you.
No matter what happens, in a couple of months my America will willingly bow its knee to an unstable tyrant. No matter what, there will be more hate, protests, riots, and murder. There will be truckloads of blame thrown into laps, there will be even less respect from the outside world, and freedom as we know it will be buried piece by piece.
No matter what happens, Americans will lose rights that were the sole purpose of the creation of this nation to begin with. Our government, established 240 years ago to escape persecution, will persecute us.
Not just religious rights are in question, but I'll stop there since faith is such an integral part of my life. If one side wins, the religious rights of Muslims will be stripped away. If the other side wins, the religious rights of Christians will continue to be stripped away.
Brandon and I both have jobs, and work hard at them both because we love what we do, and to be self-sufficient. We pay our taxes. We live in a home just big enough for what we need. We work the land and vote every Election Day. We save for our retirement and college for our boys. We volunteer. A lot. We participate in community events. We are friends with soldiers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, and their families. We are trying to raise our boys to be responsible, respectful, and good citizens. We honor the flag during the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. We abide by laws and have no criminal record. We give to charities. We are trying our best to live and be our best, with an attitude of gratitude. We do make mistakes every day, and plenty of them. Far, so very far, from who we should be. But we're trying.
Everyone has their own reasons for how they live. Our reason is that we love Jesus. We believe we have been blessed by God to live in America, to enjoy the comfort and prosperity it offers. And we believe we should be good stewards of those blessings, and to try to live by God's Word in the Bible.
And because of that alone, if one side wins, we become the enemy of our own nation. Never mind good citizenship. Never mind that we're not protesting funerals or standing on street corners shouting that everyone is going to hell. No one will care. Christian has become a dirty word. It's unfathomable to me.
And even unfathomable for the other side. In no way do I agree with what they believe, but I know there are Muslim families just like ours, here in the US, trying to live and be their best. If one side wins, they become the enemy.
This is typically as far as I can go in thinking about these things. My brain starts shutting down and I call myself a hypocrite and start googling small houses with a view in oh, I don't know, New Zealand? Sounds good to me.
It's just so sad, where we have found ourselves. Not only from a standpoint of faith, but on every side. I know that change is inevitable, and that sometimes change has the side effect of hurting people. But it seems lately that, and I can only predict how this will continue either way, we are being forced into change with the purpose of hurting people.
I dread November. And all the days leading up to it. Because there is no right answer. If I've learned anything over the difficulties of this past year, it is the misery of living with no right answer. In multiple areas of my life right now, I face situations where it is literally impossible for me to make a right choice, because there isn't one. I believe the word is hopelessness.
And if it wasn't for my faith, hopeless is where I'd be setting up camp. Actually, I'd have set up camp there a while back, and at this point I'd probably burn my tents and drift into despondency.
I don't know what will happen this November. Truly, while it matters right now, in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't. Things are going to get worse for those who love God, and they'll get worse regardless of who moves into the White House. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." I never thought that kind of hate would come in my lifetime. And yet.
But beyond the hate, covered by the blood of Jesus I have the promise of eternity in my future. Rest and peace and joy forever in His presence in heaven. Nothing that happens here can shake that. The government cannot put Jesus back in that tomb.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I will not lose heart. I will run the race with endurance. I will continue to live as respectfully as possible toward my country. I will still cry at the national anthem. I will help wherever I can. I will try hard to love people like Jesus loves them. I will not give in to despair, but will put every ounce of my hope in God alone. Because everything else will fail. He never will.
So there is my two cents on America. It's grim, but I believe with all my heart that God will not abandon those who love Him. And that He has purpose in all things. And that He still so loves this world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.
Grander earth has quaked before
Moved by the sound of His voice
Seas that are shaken and stirred
Can be calmed and broken for my regard
And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And through it all, through it all
It is well
Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And it is well with me
Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can't see
And this mountain that's in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea
And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And through it all, through it all
It is well
Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And it is well with me
So let go my soul and trust in Him
The waves and wind still know His name
My precious America is painfully broken. I have no fathomable clue how anyone could reason therwise.
Just shy of my thirty-fifth birthday, how life is done around here has changed so drastically from my childhood. From a national atmosphere of trust and hard work and togetherness, to paranoia and entitlement and waking hours spent staring at a tiny computer.
America was once not so long ago a powerful leader among nations, respected for its ingenuity, opportunity, and stability. And we were that way because our founders and those who followed after found what worked. They found what worked, built on what worked, and the citizens for the most part bought into it. Supported it. Lived by it. Because they were just plain grateful to be free.
It worked.
It wasn't perfect, of course. But it was enough that every generation could believe with expectation that their children's lives would be better than theirs.
But now.
Conformity has completely reversed, and organizations have to bend over backwards and forsake what and who they stand for at the whim of a single person.
There is so much hate. Stemming from comparison, defensiveness, hard-heartedness, competition, desperation, anger. Every negative emotion, every difference of opinion has us placing blame somewhere, and in quick fashion that blame is churning itself into hate.
We have become, in my opinion, a laughingstock to the world. Here we are, the brightest and wealthiest and most visible society on the planet, arguing amongst ourselves like a bunch of spoiled, whiny teenagers. We've lost it. Whatever admiration we once had from our enemies and allies is gone, and we've become this whole Lord of the Flies thing where we are destroying ourselves.
And that's not a figure of speech. We are actually killing ourselves. Those we fear, those we hate, those we don't agree with, those who get in our way, those who don't look at us right. Those who protect us. Those growing in bellies who will never take a breath. Every day, we are dying. The flags at half mast for, what, two months now? They say it all.
This place that I love so much is imploding. We can no longer have reasonable hope in this nation that our children's lives will be better than ours. I've said it before and I'll say it again. How I fear what the boys will witness in their lifetimes.
One thing that stings so harshly in this is that, in my brief thirty-five years here, I have seen what we could be. I was twenty when the planes hit the towers. I remember vividly, vividly, the national reaction. The shock, the unrest, the deep mourning. Pleas from media and the government for all to pray. The feeling of brotherhood with everyone you came into contact with for months thereafter.
Driving somewhere in the city very soon after 9/11, I'll never forget coming upon a parking lot beside the road, where firefighters and police officers were standing and waving a giant American flag, arms raised in solidarity next to that bustling street. I slowed to a near crawl, both because I wanted to watch and because the mere sight of it threw me into the ugly cry. Every car that passed honked, with raised fist out the window.
Because we were Americans. And it meant something. The tragedy was unthinkable, but oh, the beauty of unity. I've seen it.
It is no more. Our daily tragedies serve only to deepen the divide as we scramble to place blame.
I have never known division like this. Certainly there have always been people taking sides, but until now American-ness has always surmounted opinion. Honestly I think we're split enough that one party in this nation could make a decision to secede, and the other side would volunteer to help them pack. And honestly, part of me has lost so much hope in this nation that I almost wish we could do that. Just to see what would happen.
How sad, how very sad it is. How the mighty have fallen.
And just keeping it real, I am sickened by the presidential race. Sickened by the mudslinging, sickened by the bickering and hate, and sickened that those two people are what we have been reduced to. Sick. Outraged, appalled, repulsed, nauseated. Sick, I tell you.
No matter what happens, in a couple of months my America will willingly bow its knee to an unstable tyrant. No matter what, there will be more hate, protests, riots, and murder. There will be truckloads of blame thrown into laps, there will be even less respect from the outside world, and freedom as we know it will be buried piece by piece.
No matter what happens, Americans will lose rights that were the sole purpose of the creation of this nation to begin with. Our government, established 240 years ago to escape persecution, will persecute us.
Not just religious rights are in question, but I'll stop there since faith is such an integral part of my life. If one side wins, the religious rights of Muslims will be stripped away. If the other side wins, the religious rights of Christians will continue to be stripped away.
Brandon and I both have jobs, and work hard at them both because we love what we do, and to be self-sufficient. We pay our taxes. We live in a home just big enough for what we need. We work the land and vote every Election Day. We save for our retirement and college for our boys. We volunteer. A lot. We participate in community events. We are friends with soldiers, law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, and their families. We are trying to raise our boys to be responsible, respectful, and good citizens. We honor the flag during the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem. We abide by laws and have no criminal record. We give to charities. We are trying our best to live and be our best, with an attitude of gratitude. We do make mistakes every day, and plenty of them. Far, so very far, from who we should be. But we're trying.
Everyone has their own reasons for how they live. Our reason is that we love Jesus. We believe we have been blessed by God to live in America, to enjoy the comfort and prosperity it offers. And we believe we should be good stewards of those blessings, and to try to live by God's Word in the Bible.
And because of that alone, if one side wins, we become the enemy of our own nation. Never mind good citizenship. Never mind that we're not protesting funerals or standing on street corners shouting that everyone is going to hell. No one will care. Christian has become a dirty word. It's unfathomable to me.
And even unfathomable for the other side. In no way do I agree with what they believe, but I know there are Muslim families just like ours, here in the US, trying to live and be their best. If one side wins, they become the enemy.
This is typically as far as I can go in thinking about these things. My brain starts shutting down and I call myself a hypocrite and start googling small houses with a view in oh, I don't know, New Zealand? Sounds good to me.
It's just so sad, where we have found ourselves. Not only from a standpoint of faith, but on every side. I know that change is inevitable, and that sometimes change has the side effect of hurting people. But it seems lately that, and I can only predict how this will continue either way, we are being forced into change with the purpose of hurting people.
I dread November. And all the days leading up to it. Because there is no right answer. If I've learned anything over the difficulties of this past year, it is the misery of living with no right answer. In multiple areas of my life right now, I face situations where it is literally impossible for me to make a right choice, because there isn't one. I believe the word is hopelessness.
And if it wasn't for my faith, hopeless is where I'd be setting up camp. Actually, I'd have set up camp there a while back, and at this point I'd probably burn my tents and drift into despondency.
I don't know what will happen this November. Truly, while it matters right now, in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't. Things are going to get worse for those who love God, and they'll get worse regardless of who moves into the White House. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." I never thought that kind of hate would come in my lifetime. And yet.
But beyond the hate, covered by the blood of Jesus I have the promise of eternity in my future. Rest and peace and joy forever in His presence in heaven. Nothing that happens here can shake that. The government cannot put Jesus back in that tomb.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I will not lose heart. I will run the race with endurance. I will continue to live as respectfully as possible toward my country. I will still cry at the national anthem. I will help wherever I can. I will try hard to love people like Jesus loves them. I will not give in to despair, but will put every ounce of my hope in God alone. Because everything else will fail. He never will.
So there is my two cents on America. It's grim, but I believe with all my heart that God will not abandon those who love Him. And that He has purpose in all things. And that He still so loves this world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.
Moved by the sound of His voice
Seas that are shaken and stirred
Can be calmed and broken for my regard
And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And through it all, through it all
It is well
Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And it is well with me
Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can't see
And this mountain that's in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea
And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And through it all, through it all
It is well
Through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And it is well with me
So let go my soul and trust in Him
The waves and wind still know His name
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