…and
as a nation and a society we’re focusing on the wrong stuff.
We’ve all heard it said that
“violence begets violence.” As Martin
Luther King, Jr. put it:
“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper
darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out
darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do
that.”
The civil rights leader said that
love can drive out hate. It could also
be said that love begets love. If love
can have the duel effect of driving out hate and begetting more love, then it
seems to me that the answer to the world’s problems is to propagate love. That sounds kind of simplistic but how could
it not work?
What are the major problems that
plague our world? War, Poverty, Hunger,
Disease, Crime, Ignorance. So, let’s say we could wipe out war and use the
resources that have been going into it, to eradicate the other major
problems. Would that solve
everything? I doubt it; unless we could
also drive out greed and hatred, both of which are the by-product of fear.
Albert Einstein said, “Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.” There may be enough money in the world to
wipe out stupidity in the form of illiteracy, but I don’t think it could get
rid of fear and greed. Fear, greed and
hate are products of the darkness. Only
light and love can drive them out.
But is there enough love in this
world to counteract all the fear, greed and hate? It seems to me that there is, but we’re not
propagating it. We’re so wrapped up in,
and focused on, the major problems, which are fed by fear, greed and hate, that
we don’t give Love and Light the attention they need and deserve.
What would happen if people
decided to make spreading love the main purpose of their lives? What if only a fraction of the population
made that commitment and every day when they woke up they would ask themselves,
‘What can I do to spread love today?’ Would that love beget more love and more
love and more love? Or, is this just
the notion of a bleeding heart, head-in-the-clouds, overage hippy liberal? NO!
It’s the core message of all the religions and the greatest prophets in
history. Jesus Christ put it very
simply, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.”