 |
| Courtesy of Google Maps |
A friend of mine said something that really hit home to me. He wrote on his Facebook status, "It(')s sad. It takes tragedy in this country to pull us together. As soon as the tragedy is over we(')re right back cutting each others throats(.)"
Crisis conversion seems to be the most popular movement in our nation nowadays. It converts the weak into believing they're strong, because they use strong language. It converts the quiet American into the ultimate Patriot, because they use strong Patriotic language. It converts non-believers into believers (some temporary), or so-called believers. It converts the slightly ignorant into the extremely ignorant.
New York's tragedy quickly became America's tragedy. Most recently Boston, became America's tragedy. Before that Sandy Hook, and even further back Pearl Harbor.
9/11, and Pearl Harbor trickled into worldwide tragedies, and caused other countries to lament with us, while others laughed at us. Although, there might not be as many fatalities in Boston, it is slowly becoming a worldwide tragedy. The Boston bombings are opening the eyes of other nations, and it is slowly but surely opening the eyes of many Americans. We here in America hear about bombings in other nations, but we have not been accustomed to hearing about such events here in the United States, at least not until the turn of the century. Pearl Harbor was the last devastating event of war or mass destruction (other than natural disasters like Southern hurricanes) to take place on American soil until 9/11. We Americans, and good people of the world (the human race) still continue on. "Look for the helpers. You will always find PEOPLE who are helping," is what social networkers are saying that Mr. Rogers once said. I am not sure that Mr. Rogers actually said that, but I can totally see him saying that, and it's powerful.
We Americans argue about politics, we argue about religion, sports teams, and about the cities we're from being better than any of the other cities on the planet, but it all boils down to this... it is not one that makes us American, it's all. Born here or Naturalized, it's all of us. All of us that live to defend the declaration set many years ago; the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. "E Pluribus Unum." Many that make US ONE!
Our global community is human. It's not one human, nor one country that makes us human, it's all of us. We can't hate one religious group (well we can, but we shouldn't), because of tragedy. We can't be quick (well we can, but we shouldn't be, although, unfortunately, we usually are), to accuse someone on whim. Capriciousness, often causes unnecessary actions, injustice, and unjust movements, like wars that could be prevented.
Do I pray for Boston, New York, schools nationwide, and all of my other fellow Americans? Of course I do. For the safety of each venue, from educational facilities, to rival sports venues. I pray for them, and those that view, me, us, and them enemy. I may bad mouth the Yankees, Sox, Knicks, and Celts, but that's because they are my people and we LIVE for those moments when we can say we bested you in LIVELY competition, not in jihad... Which by the way is the ugliest oxymoron ever! Holy and war together, not if you're a true man or woman of God. Most importantly, we live for those moments to say that we can boast about our togetherness, the love of sport, country, and fellow man. Boston blessing to you, from your quiet neighbors down here in the Bible belt, we love you and stand with you, because together we make this nation what it is. FREE and COURAGEOUS!
