Dona Nobis Pacem 2014

If you only write one blog a year, make it the blogblast for peace on November 4.  And here we are.

Last year, a person who has been in my life a very long time said to me that blogging for peace was all well and good, but I had to know that it was a waste of time.  Over the last year, he has continued to keep me updated on all of my poor choices and misconceptions about life, until I finally decided to put him on permanent ignore.

The point of this small rant is that we don't have to fight every battle, prove every point, convince every single person that we are right.  Most of the time, it doesn't matter whether we are right or wrong.  An amazing number of things we do in the world are issues of personal choice --- what vegetables to eat, what sweater to wear, whether or not to take your vitamins.  Even whether to live or die.  But people argue about them as if they are moral imperatives.  

Then there are cultural norms disguised as moral imperatives.  Food, again.  Do you eat beef, pork, puppy?  Who cares?  (Other than the puppies... that is just wrong.)  Do you wear long dresses or pants, do you cut your hair, wear make up?  Women, too, face these issues.  Who cares?  Everyone knows you don't wear white after Labor Day, and once we can get that straight, all else is choice.

These are the things we fight about, in our homes, our neighborhoods, our churches, our nations, and our world.  These are the dumb things.  

And all of these things: land, power, what to eat, what to wear, how to pray; the need to control other people, all of these things are about fear.  Fear that I won't have enough or that someone else will have more.  Fear that I am not dressing right or that someone else looks better.  Fear that I won't be loved enough.  

I know, too simplistic.  But I have become a simplistic person.  

As a Christian, I believe that we are to love God and to love others as God loves us.  That is simple.

We have enough, let go of that piece of bread and give it to your sister.  We have enough, let go of that need to control and give it to your child.  We have enough, be your true self and let others be their true selves.  That is the moral imperative.

I can't control the monsters --- the people so controlled by fear that they hurt others.  But I can refuse to be one of the monsters.  At least for today, with God's help.