Disturbing Realities

Last night I saw a preview for a new television show 

where one character says to another,

 "They only love us when they're not busy hating us."

I thought sardonically to myself how

that seems to be the story of my life.

But in thinking more on it this morning,

I have realized that, sadly,

this has become our culture.

How many have families where 

they have heard, participated in, or experienced 

situations where one family member is 

speaking ill of another family member,

saying all kinds of horrible things,

but if someone outside of the family

agrees or speaks ill of that person,

they are attacked and threatened by the

one who initiated it to begin with?

We make a joke of it and say that it's okay

for family of speak ill of family, 

but not for anyone else to.

Every day parents abuse children & pit them against one another;

grandparents speak curses over grandchildren;

siblings wish siblings dead;

husbands & wives slay one another;

and we accept it as norm.

In nearly every neighborhood in this country

there are churches who 

open their doors to welcome people in,

until, that is,

those people fail to give enough

time, energy and/or money to their cause;

or have and idea or perspective

 that doesn't conform to their agenda.

When that happens,

those people are ignored, threatened and cast out.

We call this country the United States of America.

You can look around and see flags, banners & ribbons 

that say, "United We Stand",

yet walk down almost any street 

and you can hear bickering & fighting.

Turn on any news station 

and you can clearly see that we are

anything but united.

We send men and women into

other countries in order to

liberate them from oppression,

when ultimately,

the driving force behind it is a

warped sense of pride which says that everyone else

should be just like us

(whether they want to be or not).

So,

we consent to allow

lives to be lost &

families to be torn apart;

all in the name of liberty.

In thinking about all of these things,

I have come to realize the sad & disturbing reality is

that from the broadest relationships

down to the most intimate relationships 

 we have, indeed, 

become a people who

"only love each other 

when we're not busy hating one another".