What’s Missing
The people of this nation are crying out. They are struggling for change. They are struggling for recognition. They are struggling for a sense of belonging. All of these things come from the intrinsic knowledge that there is something missing in this nation; some basic factor that we all feel was once part of the fabric of this nation and which now is missing.
Inside each person there are some very simple needs. There is the need to be loved, the need to be respected or admired, the need for a meaningful occupation, and the need for a place of peace and security.
When each of us looks around on the Internet, in the television news, in the newspapers and all we see is violence, crime, hatred and the need for fear, then we begin to believe that a place of peace and security is no where to be found.
When we see our economy, our jobs and our production facilities failing and falling away we begin to loose a sense of meaning in our occupation. We no longer work for the “home team.” Rather our companies are internationally joined somewhere far above our level. The pride of a worker in their craft means nothing to those assigned to cost efficiency five hundred, or five thousand miles away.
Our model for admiration is our “stars.” Their means of being admired is their appearance. Their livelihood is based on a facade, a false projection of the traits they believe will cause you to spend the most money on them. What we all recognize, but never speak of, is the fact that this form of admiration is nothing more than the economic value of one’s appearance, or their sexuality, or their perceived personality. This is prostitution.
Love? What does love mean? We have been fooled into thinking that love is defined by sexuality. There’s not enough time in a 30 minute television show, or a two-hour movie for long-lasting friendships that eventually turn to mutual need. Need is defined by desire, want is confused with necessity. The hot flash of lust attracts two beautiful people who immediately have sex to consummate their attraction. And they lived happily ever after… That is, until the next best thing comes along.
People are disillusioned with government. They want a change, and at the same time they feel trapped. We have two choices in this country; socialism and old guard. The people of government are so ensconced as to be inbred. People don’t trust anyone who seeks office, and so they don’t bother to research credentials, identity, or history. After all, what’s the point? The government doesn’t listen anyway. As long as it’s going to be this way, we might as well make the best of it.
The citizens of this nation have decided that they simply don’t want to deal with it any more. We have elected a form of government, no matter the situation, either has hired, or will hire someone who’s task is to handle any given circumstance. The individual is relieved of the responsibility for most circumstances. They are then free to go out and get on with living.
The problems of healthcare, childcare, education, employment, lack of employment, retirement, and elderly care are all handled by someone else. Once again, we don’t bother to look to the character or history of these people, we simply accept their presence as a necessity.
People, after all, simply want to live life to it’s fullest. Yet, even today we find people still looking for something. Ask the children. Ask the young adult. They all are looking to find something to shove into that hole they have in their hearts. Though there can be some temporary relief, these reliefs last about as long as chewing gum.
This is the stupidity of our modern America. This is the blindness of our children. This is the destruction of a nation.
As we give up more and more personal responsibility, we find that the pleasures which remain become more and more empty. Our work is even less fulfilling. Our vacations even less lustrous. Our personal relationships become even more shallow. All of these things fail, despite our new freedoms of pursuit.
“From a classical education point of view, the pursuit of truth is very noble. But many human beings aren’t pursuing truth. Many humans just want something that works right? And if it happens to be the truth… cool” – Stuart McAllister
The problem is that what works now usually breaks tomorrow. This constant revolution of ideas as to what works and what fails is not a matter of success versus failure. It is a matter of who’s success versus who’s failure. The concept of “redistribution of wealth” is really moving money from one social group to another, insuring the shift of power. The idea of “that’s not fair, it’s my turn” simply doesn’t work in this circumstance, because no one is willing to surrender their turn. Why? Because the concept of taking turns has nothing to do with self, and everything to do with recognizing others.
What we have lost in this nation is a concept of other. We are so busy trying to find self-esteem that we have forgotten the concept of self-worth. If we are to have worth, then that value is assigned by someone other than ourselves. It is when we have worth that we have value. Esteem is just a guess, a self-proscribed estimation. It is as though we are trying to set the time on a watch without reference to a calibrated source.
In fact, many have – over the last fifty years – asserted that there is no such thing as a calibrated source for personal worth, even though they readily will point to calibrations for every other standard known to mankind. The truth is, however, what each of us knows on the inside. It is the thing that each of us is searching for. There is a voice inside each and every person that drives them to find a sense of value, esteem, respect; love.
The truth is that there is only one source for the fulfillment of this desire. Search physics, biology, sociology, genetics, history, and religion; there is only one place where you can find other over self, worth over esteem, love over everything. There is only one place where nature meets supernatural, where history meets philosophy, where hope meets reality:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” – John 3:16,17
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