Musings from the Sugar Bush

Word of the day:
Today the Church celebrates : St Cuthbert
Friday of the Third Week in Lent
Gospel
Mk 12:28-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
"Which is the first of all the commandments?"
Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."
The scribe said to him, "Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
"You are not far from the Kingdom of God."
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Thoughts from the cornfield:
Today was Mass with the school children. The kids got to hear about how we as Americans love ourselves too much and that we're greedy and selfish. All Americans? Every single one? It may be true of some people, American or not, but I have to wonder about this steady diet of self-flagellation in which we are expected to participate. The "greedy Amercians" message was for the kids. For the adults the message on greed and self-centeredness was summed up in three letters. AIG

How about instead of pointing fingers at entire groups of people, (particularly when the whole story is not being reported) how about we just focus on our own personal behavior? What can I, as one person, do to make the world a better place? That project alone is enough to more than keep me busy for a life-time.

I think this cynical view can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I would rather make the assumption that good people are the rule rather than the exception. A couple of months ago I left my purse in my shopping cart at Sam's club. I only noticed it as I was pulling onto our road, about 20 miles from the store. I turned around and went back. I entered the store to find that a young man employed by Sam's Club saw the purse on his way in to work, took it in with him and left it at the service desk. Do we hear about things like this? No. We hear generalizations about groups of people - labels slapped on them so that we can de-personalize and demonize them. Our message from the pulpit at election time? Democrats believe in abortion. Really? All Democrats? Republicans don't care about the poor. Really? All Republicans? Young people are lazy and dishonest. (Yes, there was a study done.) Hmmm, all young people? What about the young man on his way to work who stopped to do the right thing?


God bless our troops! (some of the least greedy and least selfish among us)

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