Life. Beautifully tragic word. It takes on so much meaning given the context.
I wonder though if these two words really have much to do with each other. Pro-life and life. Sometimes they even seem like polar opposites.
When has the church gone out of their way to help a mother that is put in the position to choose. More often than not, those in the church judge and condemn mothers to be, instead of offer them a way out.
Taking it out of the abortion controversy, when is pro-life used in regard to war? Death penalty? Euthanasia? Or any other issue. Can one be a supporter of war and also be pro-life?
Some may say, "But those are the enemies. It's better they die, than we die."
There we go again. Resurrecting an us and them mindset. What if the world was always "we"?
The other day I was walking through Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. They have two pictures, one titled "us", and the other "them". The picture "us", is a plethora of cartoon people. The picture "them", is nothing but a black circle. We don't care about "them". "They" are __________ (fill in the blank). Do we know "them"? Have we ever taken the time to get to know "them"?
Then when I turned to corner and walked to the small cafe, I saw something that really moved me. I saw a whole wall filled with the same cartoon people. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, people...all of them us.
All of them filled with life.
All of them God's creation.
So, if you believe in life, in LIVING, then Why do you view "them" as the "enemies" in your Civil War?
ReplyDeleteNice observation. Thanks for the feedback. I was trying to offer a hypothetical response to what I was saying with the comment,
ReplyDelete"But those are the enemies. It's better they die, than we die,"
I guess the italics didn't make it as obvious as I would have hoped. I will go back and edit that to try and reflect what I was saying.
Also, I would like to know what civil war you think I am fighting. I am trying to escape from a mindset of "us and them". In doing so, I feel like I am fighitng myself more than anyone else. If in my reflections I have pointed fingers else where I am sorry. It is hard to escape a system of thought that has been so previlent to my of thinking for so long.
By "them", I meant your family. Why do you view them as the enemy in your personal Civil War?
ReplyDeleteIf by family you mean birth family, I don't view them as enemies. I don't associate with them for my own sanity. It has little to do with anyone else. I have found what I view as family else where.
ReplyDeleteAlso interesting usage of civil war. I thought civil war was within war within one's self.
No, Civil War is between two groups within an organization. Both the North and the South were a part of the United States. And, it's debated whether the Civil War was started because the South wanted slavery or because the South wanted to succeed from the union, the states.
ReplyDeleteAll countries have their problems with Civil War. Nothern and Southern Ireland have been fighting over religion (Northern/Catholic and Southern/Protestant for years.
North and South Korea having been having their Civil war for years. This war is over Communism, with North Korea being the Communists.
Some Civil Wars get settled. East and West Germany are now one country since the wall in Berlin came down while Reagan was President. Reagan's famous command was "Tear down this Wall!"
I found your thoughts of "We" interesting, since you have "succeeded" from your family, hence the analogy to a Civil War. Your family does not want you to succeed FROM them, however they DO want you to succeed! Such different meanings with that one word!! They love you. They are hurt by the wall you have chosen to put up. Please tear down this wall.
Merely semantics. America: one body, two parts. Korea: one body, two parts. Both of us hold a correct definition of civil war. We differ in what war we are speaking of. Me: war within my own self and any one else that may be on this journey with me. You: war between me and my family.
ReplyDeleteWe also may differ between our definitions of family. Again, if you mean birth family, then I fail to see how I could be at "war" with a group I do not belong, nor ever seemed to belong to.
Also I do not know of the walls that you are refering to. Since you seem to know so much of my family, then I assume you know that I have two. It seems odd that one family doesn't seem to mind periods of silence from me, while the other doesn't know how to handle it and accuses me of taking part in a so called civil war and building walls that according to your anal,ogy are paralleling the Berlin Wall. If you seem to know, or seem to want to know, so much about me try understanding me in light of my complete identity instead of looking from merely one angle, i.e., both my families.
Thank you for wanting me to succeed. I do appreciate that. Though it loses some of it's meaning when tacked on the end of thoughts on me taking part in this so called war and building walls. This comment begs the question of how one defines success. I am sure there are millions of answers to that. If you mean worldly success in terms of the great American dream (And yes, I did mean for that to be as ambiguous as it sounds) then my families wants will have to be just that. I see flaws in that definition of success.
The prophet Isaiah asks this question of his people:
Why do you spend your money for that
which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does
not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what
is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
I look out over this country and continually ask that question. Why do people labor for things that are not lasting? Why do people slave over what isn't going to satisfy? I don't want to be a part of that insanity. I have found another meaning to the word successful. And I feel that I am.
Yes, you are successful! Thanks for blogging. Your thoughts offer much food for thought. I appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the floating comma in "analogy" in my last comment.
ReplyDelete