Is there no answer to the inequities of life? Is it acceptable to just say, ‘That’s life, get tough and deal with it’? Does ‘culture’ have any bearing on our attitude? If so, what is our culture?

I just read an account of Pvt. Danny Chen’s experience and how he chose to end his frustration and the pain of living. Some of the comments following that account were quite alarming and some were quite encouraging. We don’t know the full story, but my years of living tell me that he was not alone in his inability to survive the atrocities that man is prone to inflict on his fellowman. Can anyone of us, in good conscience, declare that he, Pvt. Chen, alone was responsible for the events that led up to his decision to end his life like he did?

Tis the season! What’s the season? It’s the season that motivates all the arguments about proper salutations. It’s the season that merchants hope to make up for the slow economy of the past seasons and years. It’s the season that some hope to reclaim their dominance in setting agendas and controlling the content of programs to celebrate the season. It’s the season that mental and social professionals tell us more people suffer depression than at any other time in the year. (How sad that is!!!) All the bitter battles over whether it’s ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holiday’, a ‘Christmas Tree’ or a ‘Holiday Tree’, whether any particular group has absolute ownership of a particular day, whether we’ll sing my choice of songs or your choice of songs, or all the other battles that rage on don’t benefit any of us.

Man is religious by his very nature. In modern history (200 AD to the present) the Western Hemisphere has been dominated by Christianity, as the most popular religion. That doesn’t say that the majority of mankind claimed Christianity as their spiritual guide. It only says, Christians were the dominating public leaders. That doesn’t mean that Christianity was universal in doctrine and theology. The world outside of the Western Hemisphere, was not void of religion. Historical evidence, from the first evidence of there being a difference in mankind and the animal world, shows that mankind in all societies, civilized or uncivilized, had religious rituals and practices. The ancestors of Abraham (Israelites or Jews) and followers of Christ (Christians) labeled any religions other than their own as pagan.

Religion has been the motivating force for most of mankind’s confrontations. Many of our modern history wars were between Christian factions. The dominance of Roman Catholicism was responsible for much persecution of dissidents, especially in the conquest of the New World. Adolph Hitler, the madman who engineered the outbreak of World War II, claimed Christianity as his chosen religion. Albeit, his idea or brand of Christianity didn’t fit the profile of most Christians. He hated anyone that appeared to have any identity with Jewish ancestry. This was based on his blaming the Jews for Christ’s crucifixion and the Jews apparent expertise in acquiring wealth. He indicated that his ‘pure’ German race, with their fair complexion, were the chosen people of God. Hmmm. Do we have anyone today that thinks the U.S. is God’s chosen?