Here’s a sample of some of what you can expect to find here. I wrote this shortly after President Obama addressed the country on the Sunday evening following the Newtown tragedy…
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So, I just watched the President and, I have to say…these are unprecedented times and, ultimately, I respect, appreciate, and admire his genuinely heartfelt remarks. These are American times, not partisan times.
While we probably and most naturally prefer him to speak as a Dad, he’s also the Chief Executive and, as such, has a duty to remark on how we will respond as a nation. He did both well.
I agree that no law or set of laws will resolve this. And I hope that these issues of family, community, values, and love for one another will remain on the agenda for us all. We tend to be a very fickle people and, I hope, that we prove that wrong in the coming days, weeks, months, and years ahead when we are distracted by other “current events.”
There is no more current event than the weakening of America’s fabric. These events confront us with our own moral and spiritual cliff – with far greater consequence than any cliff of budgetary significance.
If we re-center our internal GPS on our faith in Him and allow God to be the epicenter of the centrifuge that is our world today, how can we go wrong? How much controversy, gridlock, hatred, and half-hearted “compromise” can be wiped away if we simply…SIMPLY follow the lighted path?
To our leaders…Newtown reminds us that politics are not about the person, but the people.
Of the people.
By the people.
For the people.
The people.
These are not partisan matters or situations that will be simply resolved with the penning of words of policy and admonishment to paper. The repair of our culture cannot be legislated, though, it must be led. You are called to do so.
And to all of us…May we never forget those lost in Newtown, as we remember those lost in the other senseless mass-shootings we have too often mourned. May we never forget those angels who have gone ahead before us. While the media recalls the 26 lost at the school, recall that Nancy Lanza was the first of 27 and her loved ones mourn with us, too.
And the shooter – he who was so troubled that he let the evil take over…a lost soul who, despite his evil acts must be remembered so that we do not lose sight of our responsibility to seek to prevent future senselessness and concession to wickedness. We must remember and pray for him, as well.
So, what do we do from here? What is our responsibility?
Simply, ours is to love.
Love our children.
Our neighbor.
Our community.
Our country.
And all those around us.
Only through regular, disciplined, intentional demonstration of love will we enhance and restore our nation’s fabric over time. We must sow love into our fiber until, once again, it becomes an unwavering norm. One Nation Under God. Without apology for Pledge or Commandment. We must do our part to ensure that not one among us is left behind in darkness.
We must accept that our world will continue to know senseless violence for a time uncertain. Some of us have been called to confront it in the past. Others of us may be so called in the future. Yet the certainty that such darkness persists is no excuse to be apathetic – in fact, it is our call to action.
A well-known poem notes that the beginning and the end of our lives are generally recorded upon our tombstones, but it is truly “the dash that counts.” For some…like the children of Newtown…the dash is brief, yet the impact is so enduring. For those of us given a far longer opportunity to impact the world around us, may we realize early that our greatest potential for meaningful legacy comes not in the form of our profession or possessions, but rather, in the form of our character. Will we be remembered as human? Or humane?
1 Corinthians teaches us that faith, hope, and love remain – “and the greatest of these is love.” Indeed, so true.
Share the Good News.
God bless,
T.
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