Good communication is the pivotal point of world order. In nature the existence and quality of all forms of fish, fowl, insect and animal life is contingent upon such communication, co-mingling and cohabitation among the various species since time immemorial. Each also necessitates the art of communication at any danger signal or threat. Seldom if ever is there any likelihood of issuing false or deliberate deceptive warnings as theirs is natural, divine communication.
Mankind, on the other hand, has been endowed with intelligence superior to any other creation while continuing to also mature mentally, scientifically and technologically, subsequently allowing his capability of bending the elements and forces of nature to his will. Therefore, void of simultaneous perfection in the Art of Divine Communications, man is capable of changing this prophesied, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven..” into a proverbial hell instead.
One has but to turn to any daily newscast to hear, see or learn of violence being perpetrated upon some individual or group of individuals at home, within our own community, state, nation or abroad. Violence also ranks #1 in drawing TV audiences and sponsors, according to a recent interview with one network programmer. Yet no one seems to notice, or at least acknowledge, the inevitable negative effects reeked upon society through this repetitive glorification of crime!
Virtues, on the other hand, are among the first lessons taught in the earliest stages of children in most religious institutions, reaching fewer families each decade with the constant proliferation, interpretations and alternatives. Most scientific theory agrees that the first 5 years of an infant’s life are the most formative and therefore the most critical in instilling values that will influence morals and attitudes throughout life.
I feel immeasurably blessed to have been born in an era BTV (before television–and even radio!) with my mother, a 1922 graduate of Ohio State University, and two of her four sisters all being teachers and my father and maternal grandfather both Baptist preachers. I was also educated in Quaker schools through both elementary and high school grades and therefore exposed to totally different literature, music and morals than those of today’s “advanced” society.
“Be not careless of the virtues with which ye have been endowed. Neither be neglectful of your high destiny,” is among the many memorizations introduced to me many years later through Baha’i children’s classes that I was privileged to assist with teaching, once talking the husband/wife-team instructors into including my daughter’s triplets who at the time were approaching the 5-year-old age requirement-–all three of whom just graduated from high school and are heading for college! Not only are instructors still required to have extensive prior training, those who assist also have to finish training classes, not in religious indoctrination as would be expected, but rather in religious education instead with mutual respect for and inclusion of other religious morals and paths to the same God (by whatever Name)! The lessons usually included memorization of various scriptures first, culminating with their own creative enactments to re-enforce their understanding of the messages being taught. All participants of these early classes remained A- and top students throughout their public education and continue to possess unique outstanding model personalities.
If we but consider the fact that, of all God’s creation, man alone is endowed with the sense of reason–which some use sparingly, and volition that many seldom use wisely, we may better understand why as men and nations we must learn to place more emphasis upon consultation, than on confrontation!
Therefore, through this new religious dispensation for a New Era, God advises: “We approve liberty in certain circumstances and refuse to sanction it in others,” as “Liberty causeth man to overstep bounds of propriety and infringe on the dignity of his station…”
May we then, of our own volition, resolve to: “Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts” as we demonstrate the dignity (fast becoming a lost art) so desperately needed–by today’s youth in particular. (Investigate! 1-800-22UNITE)
