June 22, 2020
by ©Rosalin Moss
Love Thy Neighbor
As I was writing my
Father's Day posts on Facebook yesterday, I became
overwhelmed with sadness by images from days
gone by flooding my mind. I found myself wishing
for the days when everyone was still here, you
know, my daddy, my brothers,
grandma and so on. Days when funerals were far
and few in between.
As I look around at
the state of things today in our great nation, I
wonder if we realize how short our days are and
how silly it is to waste those days on fighting
with each other and trying to prove each other
wrong? I wonder when all of the bullshit will
stop and some brotherly love will start flowing?
Will there ever be a time when somebody is not
looking down their nose at someone else? How
long shall it be before ugly truths are faced
without turning away and pretending they do not
exist? When will this nation get on its knees
and bow its head and ask for forgiveness? When
will we see that we are all guilty in one way or
another for our pitiful plight?
In my mind, it is very
simple -- love God and love your neighbor as you
love yourself. Who is your neighbor? In my mind,
your neighbor is every person that you
encounter, no matter where it is, for that
moment in time, they are your neighbor. There
are no exceptions. God did not say love some of
your neighbors. God did not say love only the
neighbors who are of your same race. He didn't
say love only the neighbors in the area where
you reside. In my mind, loving your neighbor is
simply respecting a person and not trying to
harm or cheat that person in any way, and if
that person needs your help and you are able to
help them, you help them. Loving your neighbor
does not mean loving yourself less or taking
anything away from you.
Sometimes the truth is
twisted so well until you cannot blame people
for falling prey to deception. Yet, are we to
let ourselves be led to hatred, fear and
confusion? Since every story
can have two or more sides, I believe that it is
our personal duty to understand the sides and to
make an intelligent determination as to which
side holds the most truth. No one is obligated
to take anyone else's word for anything,
including mine. Most importantly, I believe that
our determinations should be based on what is
right and wrong, what thus sayeth the Lord if
you are a Christian. It doesn't matter what we
want to be true. We must look with
uncompromised eyes at what is before us, and we
must accept what is truth.
I am no one of
importance according to society's measuring
stick and I do not claim to have the answers
. Perhaps I am feeling a
little sad over some of the things I have seen
and read over the last few days. So many
have hearts of stone and show no mercy at all
under any circumstances.
Can civilized people really be so cold, so
heartless, so mean? Can we at least
tolerate each other enough so we can all live in
peace and enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness? Can we really love our neighbor as
God asked us to? Can we?
--©Rosalin Moss
Say It With Roz
June 22, 2020