4th July: greed and giving PART 1

Now that the fourth is past and life seems to be returning to normal.  In my town that means not being kept up at night by quarter sticks and cheesy copycats of the real thing whistling through the air.  I’d like to reflect on some deep, sobering, and for me, disturbing thoughts relating to this great holiday. 

I’m not unpatriotic before anyone gets the impression that I’m about to bash America.  I’ve lived in nondemocratic countries and have a deep appreciation for the freedom and liberty this nation espouses and which we celebrate on the fourth of July.  But, underneath all the flag waving, parades, and expensive displays of fireworks (which were really cool this year) there are some realities that need challenging. 

We took our kids to the fourth of July parade that our town hosts on the eve of this holiday.  Like any other parade candy is thrown to the children so in some ways this isn’t any different than our Halloween parade or a Fair Parade except it was in the context of the celebration of independence. 

My daughter is on the small side for her age and so it’s quite easy for other children to, by their size alone, push her out of the way.  Quite a few times as people were throwing out candy she would run to it only to have the bigger kids grab everything in their path leaving none for her. 

As a father it was heart wrenching to watch especially when she would come back to me and say “I didn’t get any”.  I could barely take it without wanting to yell at the other kids to not be so greedy.  It’s only candy for crying out loud so why do we think we need to grab it up as if it were going to delay old age or something.  But then again this is the fourth of July and how fitting it is for children to reflect the values of the nation whose holiday we are celebrating. 

Is the fourth about freedom or greed?  Perhaps us adults we’re not much different from those children.  We use the instruments of politics, power, corporate structures to take as much resources as possible from any country that is smaller than us because our sheer size and strength allows us to do so. 

I’M SURE THERE ARE FATHERS IN POOR COUNTRIES THAT SEE THE UNITED STATES TAKING ALL THE GOOD LAND, FOOD, OIL, TREES, ETC. WHILE THEIR CHILDREN DIE OF STARVATION AND THERE’S NOTHING THEY CAN DO BECAUSE WE HAVE THE BIGGER GUNS. 

How should we respond to our own habit of snatching up everything we can without thinking of others?  How should we respond to our children who snatch up all the candy or to those children who get none?  IT’S ONLY CANDY but tomorrow it will be something much bigger.

Iran: Do people want freedom?

It’s easy for us as Americans to interpret the current political and social crisis in Iran through our own historical and ideological lenses.  We find empathy in any context where people rise up against a perceived tyranny just as our forefathers rose up against tyranny and established the United States.  But, is this perception an imposition of tyrannical ideology upon others whose situation, context, and history are vastly different from our own? 

There is an increasing globalization of the idea that people have the right to choose their lifestyle; their economic and political context.  The idea of choice has made democracy a potent force in the past few decades.  But, this doesn’t mean that people necessarily want the version of democracy found in the United States or agree with the lifestyle and culture that dominates the United States.  People want a democracy that enables them to choose how they will live. 

I think we need to tread carefully in our assessment of the Iranian situation.  President Obama has been careful and wise for the most part in staying on the sidelines so that the Iranians can wrestle with their issues without a biased and unjust meddling from a superpower.  Instead we need to understand and respect that many Iranians values the ability to choose their leaders in as much as they value their Islamic revolution.  The protests in the streets is not a protest against Islam but demand for justice and choice within Islam. 

People want and need freedom to pursue those things that provide humanity with dignity and significance.  Americans often equate freedom with the ability to live anyway a person desires giving rise to our destructive consumptive lifestyle.  True freedom is not about living any way the heart desires which leads to anarchy since our hearts can deceive us in the pursuit of selfishness.  Instead true freedom is a reality when all people have the ability to pursue those things that provide human dignity; having access to housing, food, education, a clean environment, living peace, etc. 

True freedom comes in the dignity of love.  Not a love of self but love for others as much as we love ourselves.  Jesus taught us that the golden rule is to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  When we live out this kind of love we have freedom from the tyranny of consumptive lifestyles and the strength to oppose oppressive theocratic regimes. 

Let’s pray for the people of Iran to have freedom to choose the outcome of their history and live in a peace with significance and human dignity.