The Tears of God

Well folks, the East Coast of our country has seen unprecedented levels of rain in the last few days and it promises to continue for several more.  According to the weather prognosticators, we “dodged a bullet” when Hurricane Joaquin decided to stay away from the U.S. and head toward the Northern part of the Atlantic.  But, hey … I’m kinda thinking the meteorological phenomena might be related.  After some of the things that have happened in the United States and across the globe this week, I have come to believe that all this precipitation is actually tears being shed by God as he looks down on how His children have managed to screw things up.  And Joaquin …. I’m thinking that even hurricanes have good sense on occasion and good sense would dictate that any self-respecting hurricane would give this country a wide berth in recent days.  But, what does it all mean?  What kind of people are we?  Is there something fundamentally wrong here?  Well, as to the first two questions I can’t answer that for you.  But as to the last one, I believe I can speak to that based on what I have seen, experienced, read, thought and prayed about and what is absolutely evident in the writings – media and journalistic – about our culture.  The simple fact is that this is an almost inevitable outcome of the social directions we have followed in the last few decades.  Since the 1960s many people who were erroneously considered to be intellectuals and learned thinkers have promulgated the idea that our only allegiance should be to ourselves; that we should pursue our own aggrandizement regardless of the impact it might have on others.  We have ridiculed the idea of ethics – ethical behavior – and have steadfastly maintained that we should not criticize the behavior of others even if it was anti-social, misogynistic, self-centered or crude because it would be “politically incorrect”.  We allowed our educational systems to become so committed to the idea that “everyone should win” rather than emphasizing that hard work, intelligence, self-sufficiency and pride should be the prevailing values – that we have produced several generations of citizens who have no idea what the real world is all about.  We have created narcissistic, greedy, callous people who simply don’t have the capacity to understand the importance of civil behavior.  And, lest you think I’m simply blasting the United States, let me assure you that this epidemic is world-wide.  Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, the Pacific Islands … no one is exempt.  We just got it wrong, folks.  And one of the most pronounced trends over the last fifty years has been the degradation of religion and moral standards.  Now, if you happen to be one who is agnostic or “non-religious”, don’t get your feathers all ruffled and call me an anachronistic relic and give me some secularist philosophy.  You will be wrong in the most profound way.  Here is the truth.  If we are not able to exercise self-restraint; if we are not able to look beyond ourselves and to ascribe value to others – even when we are not alike in race, philosophy, gender, nationality or presence – we are on a path of absolute destruction as surely as if we were lighting the fuse to a nuclear bomb in our very midst.  We have to re-establish the sanctity of marriage and re-institute “family values” as our guiding light.  We have to reinstate the teaching of respect, self-reliance, industriousness, dignity and ethical behavior and we absolutely must teach parents-to-be that theirs is one of the most crucial roles in the human race.  Listen to me folks!!  We cannot sustain this nihilistic, hedonistic, arrogant course we are on.  Stop it now!!  If you don’t know how to start, write me back – I’ll help.  If you are floundering – I’d suggest you go to a church, synagogue, Buddhist, Shinto or Hindu temple .  I intentionally did not say mosque because I do not think the behavior promoted by Islam is consistent with a future of peace and harmony.  If I stepped on any toes, that’s too bad.  I’m just telling you what we have come to in this world and how truly sad I am about our failings.  We have the capacity to recover and to bring about a world in which we can live together successfully but only if we are willing to examine our own views, beliefs and principles and make the supreme effort to figure out what is truly “right”.  Hang in there – we’ll make it!!