Who is the Enemy?

I generally don't get too religious here, but I was re-reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew this week and I ran across a principle that should be a bedrock in our society. Jesus said that we should love our enemies. At first glance that is a very tall order. Love our enemy? Really? I have always had a struggle understanding this counsel. Society today teaches that we should hate and punish our enemies. Daily accounts in the news show how we are punishing our enemies and how much they hate us in return. We not only punish the offender, we also dole out punishment to he who might do us wrong in the future. How long can the rhetoric of hate go on? I talked this over with my wife and she said something which brought this into perspective for me. She said that the only way we can love our enemies is to see them as someone who feels justified in their actions and who has their own hopes and dreams. In other words, we need to see them as we see ourselves. Until we do that we can't love them. A great example of this is shown in a book I have been reading called "Blood Brothers" by Elias Chacour. It is a story of Christian Palestinians who lived through the time when Israel moved into their country after World War 2. Elias as a young boy saw his home taken from him and his family displaced. His people were then treated as pariahs by the world, because some of his fellow Palestinians protested their treatment. Elias learned to love his enemies despite his persecutions and has brought much good into his world. He could only do this because he learned to see his enemies as people who were really the same as he was. The media only shows our enemies as an angry mob, we never see the individual. We see generalizations that may not be a true accounting of what is really going on. Why does the Arab World hate us so much? Why do we hate them back? Because that is what we have been taught to do. If we keep nurturing this hate then we must continue to send our sons and daughters out to fight and die. At some point we need to take the higher ground and try to know these people we are fighting. I think we will find that they are people just like us who are being fed their own brand of propaganda. If you truly desire to love everyone, including your enemy, they must be seen as real people who have their own hopes and dreams. Until we can do that there won't be true peace in the world. Jesus could love everyone because He didn't see them as Jew or Gentile, He saw them as individuals. I think we better follow His lead.

My Dream Candidate

As I have been watching the candidates for the upcoming local and national elections I have had a consistent thought run through my mind. Why don't I feel inspired when I listen to the candidates? I hear ramblings about jobs, the economy, healthcare, bloated government, and which candidate will give me more stuff, none of which inspires me. I need a candidate who can tell me how wonderful it is to live in a free country. Someone who can inspire greatness in a people and move them to better themselves. I need a candidate who can show me why I want to be an American, that can bring pride of citizenship to the forefront. Someone who can help me to deny my selfish motivations and reach out and help others so the government wouldn't have to. Where can I find such a person? Where have they all gone? Dare I say that a candidate of this caliber won't be found until these traits and values are brought back into our homes. We have a drought of leadership in America and I daresay that we deserve it. If a parent can become an inspiration to his children, then the children can be inspired to something greater than they have been. We can only lift if we are on higher ground. Let's take the high road and do what it takes get ourselves into a position to help others, then perhaps there will come a candidate who is inspirational in word and deed.