Americans can win the spiritual battle between love and hate, good and evil. People in free nations choose to believe in a loving God, a controlling God, or no God! A loving God empowers, a controlling God dictates behavior, and no God creates spiritual ignorance. Without any spiritual understanding of self, anger and hate can become self-destructive. Americans have the freedom to choose how to live their lives.
The power of hate:
- In cultures where dictators are in power, they control speech and behavior.
- Rules must be obeyed.
- Women lack education and are told how to act and dress.
- Children are taught to hate people who don’t believe the way they do.
- Everyone bows down to their leaders.
In Israel, It was easy to see hate as controlled men attacked free people at a peace festival and in their homes. Women were raped, babies beheaded, and men were slaughtered. The October 6th attack was an unmistakable picture of hate, but “spinners” persuaded American students that the killers were oppressed, not controlled. The question should be asked: why didn’t college students see hate from Palestinian leaders and Hamas, and why were American youth so easily influenced?
After World War 11, Americans saw the power of hate when we liberated Nazi concentration camps. We saw gas chambers, emaciated human beings, and piles of naked dead bodies. Everyone was horrified by man’s inhumanity to their fellow human beings. Americans assumed that would never happen again.
So why was it so easy for college students to become radicalized? Did families become weakened by the good life in America? Did we take freedom for granted? Did we expect government schools to educate children about the power of love? What went wrong?
Politicians and money can not solve this problem; this is a spiritual crisis. Many American youth are spiritually immature because they grew up without any spiritual understanding of themselves. I saw adults more concerned about how they look and feel than how they behave. As a crime and violence prevention specialist, I observed spiritually unaware parents abusing and neglecting their children, using drugs, and abusing each other as gangs formed to create family and community.
We gradually became a nation that didn’t understand the power of love. As a result, many of today’s young people are angry, feel entitled, and are self-absorbed. Gangs of young people band together to loot, carjack, abuse innocent people, and destroy property. We also see juveniles taking drugs, dying from Fentanyl, and suicide at an all-time high. Child abuse and neglect cost taxpayers $220 million a day as “‘we the people” ignore American children. Americans are paying a high price.
The power of love: Why did we assume Biblical teachings of “Love God and Love Others” were no longer critical for youth? Every newborn is a spiritual being who needs to grow and learn from an involved, supportive family with caring neighbors. If this spiritual crisis continues, we will destroy ourselves and our freedoms.
The time is now for caring adults in our churches and synagogues to demonstrate “Love thy neighbor” and unite Americans as we take back neighborhood involvement and support. COVID proved that social isolation creates mental health problems for young and old alike. We all have a role to play if we are going to remain free people.
How we treat each other, forgive, guide, and support children will determine our future. The power of love can transform America! We must become proactive!
For those who do not believe in God, watch movies about redemption. Netflix movie “I Can Only Imagine” tells the true story of an abusive father who turned his life around and his victim, his son, found peace. We can change and live peaceful lives.
A call to Action: The first step is to connect with your God for a spiritual understanding of self. Prayer or meditation can bring inner peace and should be on everyone’s bucket list. Ask for guidance, wisdom, and a mission. We have a forgiving God who can direct our path. Consider reaching out and bringing neighbors together to end the social isolation that allows criminal behavior to flourish. This is a gradual process, so be patient with yourself, and you will be rewarded.
Hi Aldo, I missed this comment. You are right on!! We have thousands of churches and synagogues in America. Why are they not speaking up about the moral foundation of America? They are purpose to be the peacemakers!!
Excellent reflection!
Thank you Aldo and Darlene! I appreciate your comments as people of faith are under attack. We must empower today’s children with the message that everyone is a spiritual being and citizens must do a better job of supporting families in their neighborhoods. I am working with HOA.com as they have 400,000 homeowners associations. They are going to promote neighborhood involvement which can reduce crime and violence and build trust as people come together. We have also seen the consequences of social isolation for children who are experiencing mental health issues today. Families and organizations around the country can empower children. Every child is born with awesome powers! When we understand the power of the human spirit, we will remain a free society. As Frederick Douglass stated, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” http://www.safekidsnow.com
Good!
Excellent initiatives to penetrate the social fabric and share fundamental values.
Darlene, thank you for reading my comment and I’m happy you share it.
I also share yours and, although I think that violence should always be avoided, that there is no different level of violence, I am truly distressed for those who are still prisoners because they have suffered and are still suffering violence of all kinds, especially the women.
Hi Aldo,
Thank you. When I hear what happened to the Israelis, I feel like we are living back in the times of Attila the Hun. It’s most devastating.
Hi Stephanie,
Fabulous and courageous article. First of all, I think Aldo’s comment captures my sentiment along with the silent majority. Secondly, as a therapist, I have navigated the secular world, but as a person of faith, I’ve seen a disintegration of believing in God or something greater than us. Moral equivalency has imposed its ugly head on our society. People seem to forget that innocent Israelis were slaughtered, and now somehow, the world attempts to blame Israel. In the Book of Genesis 12:3, God states: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Holocausts, pogroms, and other atrocities have been inflicted on the Jewish/Israeli community, and yet, they’ve prevailed, providing Western civilization with the greatest gifts. For anyone who challenges the truth of the Bible, I challenge them. How in the world did the only suviving ancient civilization rise out of barbarism, become inspired, and triumph over every attempt to exterminate them as a people? I’ll leave it at that.
Moral degradation is more harmful than a serious illness and can have devastating consequences over time. It involves an inevitable decline of society caused by the transition from a higher to a lower level of morality. It usually precedes or is concomitant with cultural and social decay. History teaches us that this process begins slowly with apparently harmless individual choices that extend their effects, as happens in an epidemic, to the entire social fabric, affecting the single individual, the family, governments and nations.
The decline begins when transcendent moral values, which have proven useful and beneficial over time, are set aside to make room for vices and material greed. A careful examination of human history teaches that moral decline begins with excessive prosperity.
To stem and prevent moral degradation, we therefore need a society that turns back to God, that considers the Holy Scriptures and Tradition as inspiring sources of a society that is not radically secularized.