I wonder...

I'm supposed to be cleaning out the storage room so I don't have to pay another month's rent, but, as often as I should know better, a thought hit me and I decided that those brave enough to look should have a moment (or several...) to peer inside my mind.

Hey - you clicked the link.

You can’t hide under a rock without being besieged by opinions and judgments of who should or shouldn't be allowed to make decisions for us in the arena of government. I personally am tired of hearing about it. It seems more like frivolous daydream than any form of reality anymore. But then I started thinking...

This is the part where you start running...

Listen to those who voice those opinions, and study those who are among our options, and the ultimate decision isn’t one of our right to choose, but to be yoked, forced, not to decide who is right for the job, but who has the best campaign manager and speech writers, and who is favored by the broadcasting corporation who benefits by showing you only that which will sway your decision or the information that is strategically released for us to uncover.

We live in a world of choices. We want what is best for our lives, and we let that hinge solely on a decision of a human being, no different from any other; from ourselves; Someone we are likely to never shake the hand of or speak to face to face, someone we hope is truthful and honorable, without ever knowing more of their character than what has been deemed best to be shown to us.

You know - like a comic book hero?

Will they be fair? Fair to you? Fair to me? Fair to those who have less than us or more? We opine they will give us all that we ask for, or that they will strip from us that which we hold dear, and we suffer, rarely in silence, hoping that our freedom to do as we will is never taken away, and rallying in anger at the thought that a single moment of choice will be ripped from our hands, even when that choice may have never been one we chose to pursue until the merest suggestion of its loss.

How many guns would we buy if we knew that tomorrow, we could buy no more? How much gold would we plunder if tomorrow it would no longer exist?

How many would turn to God, if tomorrow He would be taken from your ability to choose?

Should we demand we are given more, that what we have is not enough? We sell ourselves into bondage daily, and then rail against those we want to blame that they have taken from us what we have freely given. We choose and then stand with mouths agape when our champion is the same imperfect being that we are, making choices we foisted upon them. “They asked for it”, we say. “They campaigned for the job”, we shout, and then laugh in stooped superiority as they ask for us to be understanding.

And what if we were given all that we asked, all that we demand is our right to have? Would we be silent and content, never asking for more? Would we then turn away from our own desires to lend a hand to those who are shivering in the rain, cowering in the dark, whose aching and empty bellies growl with the contempt of our wasted pleasures? Hasn’t it been proven time and time again that it is from darkness that our line shines brightest? That, it is then, when we have nothing that we then turn to others and give to them all that it is that we have left? We give meager crumbs in time of plenty, and sacrifice all that we have when we have nothing.

When we finally see each other as the equals that we are?

So then, whom should we seek to place in power over us? Those who would give us all that we ask, or one who would lighten our load by increasing our hardships? If we are stripped of our idols and our insatiable hunger for the spoils of a battle we did not fight, will we not then prosper? Would we not be better served to show to all that we are not a land of plenty, but a plentiful land of people who, under hardship, grow and prosper in the beauty of our hearts, rather than the beauty of our homes, our vanity, or the digitally enhanced splendor of our vacation photos?

We wait for sudden disaster or displeasure to show who we are, while all the while the true disaster approaches in silence, veiled beneath our quickened pulse over the loss of our right to speak as we will, do as we will, ignore others, as we do. If we expended as much concern for those who are beside us every day, as we do for those who are beyond our reach, how little, truly, would we ever have the need to ask for?

I'm naive. I know that. I'm a dreamer of fantasies, and unwilling to accept that the world is what it is. I believe it can change, we can change. What I say isn't any different than all the other rhetoric out there. 

But I also believe that so much time is spent on this political drama, that it feels like more of a distraction than anything worthwhile. How much good could all the money that goes into these campaigns do if were better utilized? How many could the shelters house with the millions spent on advertising? How many could be fed with all the food that is wasted in parties to curry favor and donations?

And while I'm on my plucky little tirade, I may as well go a little further... 

Believe what you will about Christianity, the Bible, and God. There is a simple fact - Christ lived and died and lives now. How do I know? Other than my own personal experiences, you can spend about an hour on the internet and get all the research you need. But, Even if you believe He was nothing more than a man, that man set in motion events that have led to right now, this moment. For all the bad many may want to point to about the things done throughout history in the name of religion, there have been those with real faith working in the trenches, led by God, to spread His word, to cultivate the things we often take for granted. Inspiration has freed slaves, fed multitudes, healed the sick, housed the homeless, and helped those who felt they had nothing left, that life was not worth living, go on to do great things, not for their pride or ego, but for the One who made it possible for them to exist. And I'm not talking about just during thousands of years ago either.

Seriously - think about that. Would we have the freedoms we have now if it hadn't been for Him? We thank the veterans who gave their lives for the freedoms we have today - and rightly so - John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends".

There have been many throughout the centuries who have done just that, and while we herald them, I think we often forget that it all started with someone who chose not to curse, not to hate, not to tell us to pick the right president so we have all that we want, but to love. Love our enemies, love our friends, our brothers, our sisters... everyone.

God chooses who will rule over us. If we, all of us, suddenly said, "Hey government. We're not playing your game anymore until you start doing it right. We refuse to vote this time" Can you imagine the chaos? How shaken would our very world be if we, as a republic who touts democracy, practiced our right to vote by not doing it? That would be far more of a gauntlet than the paltry percentage split that the presidential race is won by now.

How much more profound would our rebuke be if it were spoken in total silence and refusal to act?

Of course, that would never happen. If you want people to act, you have to tell them they can't, not that they have a choice not to do something. It's why living a life of chosen denial can be difficult. I constantly have to tell myself it isn't that I have to try harder, it's that I simply have to choose not to do something. When you try to do something contrary to what you want, you're going to rebel. It's when you just don't, that when you stop fighting yourself and others, that the real progress begins.

And let me tell you so you don't think I'm being all sanctimonious, that I spend as much time daily asking forgiveness for my failures as I do praying for others. I screw up - a lot.

I know, I know - it's tough to believe. But yes, I too - am human.

Not doing the wrong thing can be, and sometimes is, more difficult than doing the right thing. But there's a unique difference. We don't always know what the 'right' thing is. Knowing what isn't right is usually pretty clear.

When you have the choice to give something up, it's a much harder road to walk than if what you want to do is simply not something you can do. If we were told we weren't allowed to vote, then we would revolt. If we were told we have to do something, say, pray or worship a certain way, no matter how much good may come of it, many would fight it just because they want the choice to be and do as they wish.

And that's what it is all about, isn't it? It doesn't matter what we want, we're not happy unless we can choose.

And that is a right given to us by God, from the point of creation until right now. Not by you, not by our government, and certainly not by the person we choose to put in office every four years. All those who gave up their lives, sacrificed for us, they had a choice. 

And they did it for us.

He did it for us. He did it for now.

Hrm.

So what is the big debate about again? I forget...