I want Peace.  I want Peace for the world, for the Country, for the neighborhoods, for the schools.  Just Peace.  Why is that so very difficult?

Each day as I read numerous posts on Facebook, I am dismayed at some of the vitriolic rhetoric I witness there.  I love to read about the positive things going on in people's lives, about the miracles we witness every day, about joy and peace.

I am most tired of the divisiveness of American politics today. Rather than focusing on ANYTHING positive about any candidate or individual in office, all you read or hear anywhere is a constant barrage of nasty, critical rhetoric, most of which is not anywhere close to the truth.  It isn't one side or the other.  It is, unfortunately, both sides.  And people, listen up, the division occurring in this Country today is being witnessed all over the world.  The best way to defeat a super-power is to divide and conquer from within.  We are a DIVIDED nation right now.  It is a scary world with lots of scary people out there.

Oh, I am not saying it has not been a scary world for a very long time, but I don't ever remember this Country being as divided as it is today.  It isn't getting better.  Prejudices of all kinds are alive and well, and we have taken our eyes off what it means to be kind, generous and loving.  All of those things were once associated with the United States and its citizens. 

I have begun blocking all the negative comments on Facebook.  I am sincerely trying to evaluate what goes on in the world and in my Country without the negative input of the political pundits.  I see many, many people going back to work.  They may have gone back at salaries smaller than what they previously had, but just like the housing market, many of those salaries were inflated.  We lost so many jobs in this Country because we failed to see that others were working for less, more efficiently and with less concern about greed.  I don't believe that a family with three children needs a 6,000 + square foot home, and six bedrooms and six baths.  We have become lazy and complacent and spoiled in the USA and now we are beginning to pay our dues for the all excesses we have enjoyed for so many years.

It is time to "scale back" and re-examine our priorities.  We need to care about what is happening in our neighborhood, in our schools and in our Country.  I am not talking about socialism, which is what people like to call anyone nowadays who is not completely wrapped up in their own life so much that they can not see the suffering in their own neighborhood.  I believe each man and woman should work for what they have, but I also believe that if someone (through no fault of their own) is starving, it is my responsibility as a caring person, to assist that person to get back on their feet and start moving forward again.

We call ourselves a "Christian" nation, but we do not behave as Christ's teachings demonstrate.  We are pulling farther and farther apart with each day that passes.  As we do, the chinks in our walls are becoming more and more evident to our friends and enemies around the world.  I only pray that it is now too late to change.  I hope that somehow we can re-examine our priorities and restructure the direction in which we seem to be spiraling downward toward destruction. 

Peace, Love and Joy
God Bless