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Modest Proposals
A Modest Proposal - God Bless…? This is the inaugural edition of the Modest Proposals newsletter. I am overwhelmed with the support that I received for taking this on, and I thank every one of you who reads the newsletters. My thanks is not for myself, but for the fact that there are a few thousand of you (at least) who are willing to open-mindedly look at new ways of thinking and doing that just might create a radically new world that promotes the sharing of resources and knowledge, ending hunger and poverty, and an outreach of all peoples of all ethnicities, religions, and races to one another. That is not this month's Modest Proposal as it is hardly modest. However I do have some thoughts that are more modest… It seems that folks in the US (and other countries) are suddenly invoking God to bless the USA. Bumper stickers, overpasses, billboards, television, tee shirts, homemade signs, pins, and all other manner of displays entreat God to bless one specific country. Now, I am not taking issue with God blessing the USA, not at all, though seeing all of this does bring to mind a Modest Proposal… Before stating the proposal, I want to explore a question that came to me. What is the motivation of the person who asks God to bless the USA? Is it a sincere request to God to bestow blessings on the nation? Or is it a request to God to take sides with the USA against its terrorist enemies? If it is the first case, then the US is already pretty well blessed with freedom and abundance, so what more could its people want? Is it that the citizens of the USA want God to make the terrorists go away, to make life like it was? I suspect that this is what most promoters of "God bless America" have in mind. About the second group, those who want God to send a few avenging angels to Afghanistan and other selected countries and smite those upstart, radical, extremist Moslems and make the world once more safe for the US, its policies, and all-importantly, its economy, their motivation is a bit presumptive. I know that in the Old Testament of the Hebrews, God did take sides. God smote the Egyptians and nuked Sodom and Gomorrah in favor of the Hebrews. However, in the New Testament, God seems to have taken a 180-degree turn when his son casually said something about loving your neighbor. Who then are my neighbors? Are they the folks across the road whose dog barks all of the time? My neighborhood is the world. There are people in it that I prefer to not have living next door, but they nonetheless are my neighbors because we are all on this Earth together. What I do affects others in places remote from me and unrecognizable to me. Heck, they don't even speak English, and as thoughtless as that is, I forgive them. The people of the US have certainly come to realize the kind of effects nameless and faceless people from across the oceans can have on their country. If nothing else, and I think there is far more, the events of September and October have suggested that it is time to look at nationalism and the terrible price that its misguided application inflicts, not only the citizens of one country, but on the entire world. There is nothing "wrong" about having love of one's country; it is when that "love" is defined as placing one's country above all others. Supremacy has never withstood the test of time. Never. All "great" nations have fallen. Many historians say because of complacency, corruption, greed, and arrogance. That is something to think about. My Modest Proposal is that we restate "God Bless the USA" to "God Bless Our Earth." If we are indeed invoking the blessings of the deity for peace, abundance, and freedom, let's be expansive and make the request for the entire world. All we need to do is to open our eyes a bit wider, and make our hearts a bit bigger. That would indeed solve everyone's problem. What do you think? I invite comments and counter proposals. Please mailto:ron@RonMcCray.com. Namaste…Ron
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Email Ron: Ron@RonMcCray.com
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© Ron McCray 2002 - 2004
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