What’s To Love?
Deborah Venable
06/20/09
Conservative
talkers and writers have expressed an awful lot of concern over the obvious
“America haters” with whom we share the country and our citizenship. I am no exception. America haters bother me, inflame me, exasperate me, and do
damage to my peace and tranquility.
Understanding is hard to come by for those of us who truly embrace the
traditional culture and historical significance of America – understanding
those who hate or disavow these things is impossible. But what I fear most is the hate that is growing for what America
is becoming. Now that is a realistic
concern.
The
only natural enemy of hate is love – pure and simple. While we may be much more able in today’s atmosphere to define
our hate for what is happening to our country, perhaps we could best fight that
hate in ourselves and others by simply remembering and defining all there is to
love about life and, specifically, about life in this country.
I
handled the subject of life and happiness and how that relates to a live and
let live philosophy in a recent article titled, The Truth Not Told, which dealt specifically with the issue of
homosexual activism. I don’t tiptoe
through political correctness on subjects such as this, because it doesn’t do
anyone any good – and that’s just not who I am. Political correctness should not be equated with social
tact. They are two entirely different
things. While political correctness may
be rammed down our throats via legislation to accept anything but “correctness”
social tact has been deserted as an ancient art not necessary for a peaceful
society. We have become a tactless
society because we have forgotten how to express love – have actually traded
love for hate in our expressions.
Let
me pause for a moment to establish just where I am coming from. I have lived a rich, full life in this
country that I know would have been quite impossible in most other places on
earth. My very mixed ancestry and the
times in which I have lived have allowed me to connect with such a wide variety
of old and new cultural values that I could have never understood or connected
to elsewhere. I was blessed with a
natural love of reading and learning that does not come from any classroom
environment, but from a strong sense of family and culture.
The
founders of America knew that education was the key to long-lasting success,
and that freedom was the dominant component of learning that should take
precedent over all others. We must be
free to learn what we want to learn about, and that only comes with
literacy. Many illiterate people lived
long and productive lives here in days past, no doubt, but they were not as
free as they could have been. Today, we
are graduating from our schools and colleges many illiterate young people who
will never know the meaning of true freedom.
What’s more is that they don’t even realize they are illiterate because
they have “proof” (in the form of their diplomas and degrees) that they are
not. In place of their literacy,
liberal educators have instilled a deep dissatisfaction for their own American
roots.
As
they look around them and ask the question, “what’s to love?” that
dissatisfaction manifests itself into hate.
The
first lesson I learned as a child was how to love. My parents did a masterful job at teaching me this lesson as they
showered me with the stuff daily! They
taught me how simple their love for me was as well as my love for them and all
my family and friends. They did not
forget to teach me how important it would always be to “love” myself as a
unique individual. Now, here’s where
the rub comes, because I don’t know how you can teach or learn these lessons
without the very simple, defining, (for me anyway) phrase, “God is love.”
If
I’ve lost anyone with that last observation, so be it.
I
was so filled with love for my family when I was a child that I remember
praying quite often to God not to ever take them from me. I prayed that we would all just die together
so that I would never have to live without any of them. It was an unanswered prayer in one respect
because I lost them all one-by-one - my father, my mother and my brother.
I
was blessed with the love of a wonderful husband for over thirty-seven years,
but he, too, passed and left me alive with our five beautiful children to carry
on without him.
I
have lost so many dear friends and other members of my family that it would be
easy to fall into the trap of self-pity and lament, “what’s to love?”
The
first lesson – God is love – and He has never left me.
I
often wonder why this basic, Christian message cannot get through to
people. I know that preachers and other
very “religious” people would probably say, “the devil is at work – that’s why
the message can’t get through.” Well,
if that’s true, then shame on the devil and shame on all the people that let
his message of hate overpower God’s message of love.
Now
America has a president that has said, “America is no longer a Christian
nation.” We have a former president,
(Clinton) who has said that the “U.S. is no longer dominated by Christians and
Jews.”
We
have a doddering old fool, (former president Carter) who has gone to great
lengths to defend the wrong causes in the Middle East by throwing Israel under
a rusty old bus and all but embracing Islamic terrorists.
I
am amazed at Obama’s lack of strength and focus on the torch of freedom that
was handed him to carry in America’s name as he watches dictators slaughter
those who would stand up in their own countries against tyranny, while they ask
only for a little of that torch light.
All he seems to want to do is distance himself and this country from the
ongoing cry for freedom.
A
truly literate people, who understand love and cherish freedom must always be
ready and willing to lay down their lives for either.
God
is love – and He will never leave.
The
message of hate implores us to be illiterate and dissatisfied with our history,
our culture, and all the decisions ever made by leaders of the past. The message of hate tells us we need change
and hope for a completely different America than has ever been. The message of hate cautions us that we are
not to be trusted to make our own decisions, defend ourselves, or speak our
minds. The message of hate convinces us
that we are not responsible for ourselves or for defending the most innocent
against the most guilty. While we are
told never to sit in judgment, we are judged daily by the very hate that would
rule us.
What’s
to love?
The
truth – that’s what to love! Truth and
love are everlasting, and they will overcome hate every time we have the faith
and good sense to use them.
If
I’ve seemed to ramble a bit in this little essay, that’s okay. It is a rambling subject, love vs.
hate. Far too few people are willing to
give it a second thought except to expound on other people’s hate and
misrepresent the concept of both.
I
wake up to a beautiful world each and every morning. I have no shame for my roots, for my country, or for my God. I can express myself however I choose to do
so, whether it is by writing a letter of complaint to a government
representative, tapping out a quick note to a dear friend, or simply saying a
short prayer of thanks to God for all my blessings. I can sing in the shower, play a great old song on piano or
guitar, voice a compliment to a friend, or cuss out someone for an ignorant
remark. I can put myself into any mood
I choose. I can cry for my losses, feel
pride for my accomplishments, set a goal for new ones, laugh at anything that
comes along, or hunt for something for which to feel sorry. I never have to fear anything or anyone
unless I allow myself to do so. I go to
sleep at night with a clear conscience, secure in the knowledge that if I am
disturbed in the night, I can and will defend my family and myself.
The
government did not make any of these things possible, but the founders of this
country protected my God-given rights to all of them via the establishment of
our Constitution. That is freedom. That’s what to love.
The
message of hate tells us the Constitution is an old, outdated document that in
so many ways does not apply to our “enlightened” society. The message of our present “rulers” tells us
we should abandon everything that made this country great. That is certainly not the message of love –
not for the poor or underprivileged, not for the struggles of the minorities
against the stronger majorities, and certainly not for love of this country. You cannot defend truth by speaking lies and
you cannot defend love by speaking hate.
You cannot profess pride and patriotism in a country even while you are
working to tear it down and lay asunder knowledge of its historical importance.
God
is love.
America
is “one nation under God.”
Therefore
America is to be loved – not hated, not apologized for, and certainly not
traded away for a Godless nation of hate.
If we have to replace every single “representative” of our country’s
government to remind them of that, I say, let’s get started showing them just
what’s to love!