A favorite slogan, usually attributed to Jesse Jackson, is “Keep hope alive!” But this well-known phrase is getting harder to achieve with time and technology.
With the proliferation of criminal, racially stigmatized, profane, sexually explicit and other demeaning oriented content, however–including prioritized bad news coverage, the primary intent would appear more to “keep Hate alive.” Whether by accident or “by well calculated design,” more people of good will are breaking under the perpetual pressures and constant instigation of brutal societal and political infractions that tend to push people’s hope over the edge.
In our capitalistic society, defined by Webster as, “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state,” it appears the more accurate slogan is “All is fair in love and war,” when such dynasties are threatened.
An undeniable fact is that love is stronger than hate. Yet in the absence of such knowledge, or of what true Love is, the flames of hate are easily kindled and spread when fanned by the winds of ignorance, prejudice and fear, all based in greed, selfishness and EGO (Edging God Out).
If “in the beginning God (however perceived), and God is love,” what creation can supersede its Creator? I once read on a church bulletin many years ago, “A computer, no matter how intricate, never forgets that man made it.” How ironic that the driving impulse of modern man in mastering the scientific and technological discoveries of the universe is to prove the non-existence of his Creator.
Hate is among the most poisonous and insidious of acids that do “more damage to the vessel in which it is (perpetually) stored than to the objects on which it is (occasionally) poured.” Such intended victims are seldom even aware of its existence–except in the cancerous disease of racism. Then, as with any other serious disease, denial of the problem prevents adequate treatment and solution, perpetuates the disease and undermines the self-esteem of victims and perpetrators alike. Whatever the race, all are adversely effected as hate begets hate, and love begets love–if only given a chance!
One poet has described love as the mother and all mankind her children. Another as: “Love is giving someone the power to destroy you–and the trust that they won’t.”
As we continue through the first quarter of a new century and new millennium, many old challenges remain that adversely influence our families, our lifestyles, the nation and the world.
“In the process of human evolution the ages of infancy and childhood are past, we read from “Two Wings of a Bird,” released first in 1997 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States. “The turabulence of adolescence is slowly and painfully preparing us for the age of maturity when prejudice and exploitation will be abolished and unity established. The primary elements necessary to unify peoples and nations are precisely those needed to bring about equality of the sexes and to improve the relationship between women and men.
“The world in the past has been ruled by force and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy…As long as women are prevented from attaining their highest possibilities, so long will men be unable to achieve the greatness which might be theirs…When women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world…war will cease!”
What an incentive to “Keep HOPE alive! (Investigate! – 1-800-22UNITE)
