This morning I rolled out of bed, took care of some personal issues, made the bed, did some editing on a few of my in-progress CFP/AFP articles, read some AFP articles, made myself some breakfast, and watched some television news to see if the world had blown up yet. Then I engaged in a dangerous activity, contemplating my navel about what is going on in the world, and questioning why I am bothering to do what I’m doing when so much of humanity and the world is so broken.
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak, and not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Then I remembered that Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer died because he tried to do the right thing in the face of the evil of Nazi Germany in 1945, about a year and a half before I was born. As a certainly flawed Christian (and yet a pretty good Lutheran), I figured it is my duty to continue my verbal abuse of the evils as I see them. I can only hope that God will hold me guiltless when my final evaluation is conducted.
“Truth is a tyrant-the only tyrant to whom we can give our allegiance. The service of truth is a matter of heroism.” ~ John F. Kennedy
As best I can determine, there are only two absolute truths that are agreed upon by all human beings and all religions. The first is that there is good in the world and there is evil in the world. However, where a human being stands on this issue depends on where he sits. For example, a Christian’s view about good and evil is very different from an Islamist’s view about good and evil.
Christianity is the only religion on the planet that believes the Jew, Jesus Christ, was the true son of God sent by God to save mankind from their sins. Good heavens, most Jews don’t believe this. The other absolute truth is that birth of a human being is the first step toward dying and no creature gets out of life alive.
However, as a Christian, I have an expanded view that the first step toward death is inception and that God has bigger plans for us beyond our time in the vessel we call a human body.
Contemplating my navel is another way of saying a short bout of depression when I acknowledge the evil in our broken world, the evil in the Canadian government, the evil in the United States Congress, the evil in America’s broken judicial system, the evil hidden in the Executive Branch of the United States government, and the evil running rampant on the streets of America. These are more than ample reasons to be depressed.
So, after my itty bitty pity party, I said to myself; “Self, if not you then who? If not now, then when? It’s time to man-up and get back to the keyboard.” So, I did and it seemed right to share my experience. So, that is my why.
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