Fear

I recently wrote about my “Star” for the year – Self-control and what that might mean.
As I scroll through my FaceBook feed I’m forced to face my self-control head on. I’m assaulted with the wings of the spectrum, mostly far left and far right. The world is a scary place and you can read about it directly on any newsopinion site you chose.  If you haven’t guessed the newsopinion is what most simply call News, yet true news of just reporting the facts is pretty much a lost profession. It’s far more profitable to be selective in the reporting and couch things in such a way as to cause someone, or group to become upset. The easiest way to upset folks is to stir them up.

Stir up the fears most of us harbor. The fear of the unknown in all of its forms. Fear of unknown people. We can call them migrants, aliens, refugees and our lack of knowledge leads us to pick our newsopinion site and believe it lock, stock and barrel. Oh, and speaking of barrels, rile them up with fear of losing their rifles. Now that will set some folks OFF! That way we can infer that background checks might lead to registration, and registration to confiscation. Right. Now I’m not so naïve to believe the few additional background checks will curb the shootings in this country either. But now I’ve equally upset the polar opposites in this country. I’m hoping to find some middle ground that we can all call America.

There are any number of issues in this country that need to be addressed. Racism still exists, police reform is needed, too many folks are homeless – including a number of veterans, there is an ever widening wealth gap, the global climate change looks to be a force of change, technology is ever more helpful and yet also potentially harmful. The problems need to be faced and addressed. The difficulty is in the range of attitudes surrounding them. The problems are complex, the causes are numerous and nuanced. The solutions will require greater understanding, study, compromise, sacrifice and persistence to solve. Blaming and causing division is NOT the solution, yet I don’t think there is any candidate that will run on a platform of study, compromise and sacrifice. The public won’t buy that. We are the problem; I am the problem. Fear is the problem.

I fear for my safety. We fear for our economic wellbeing. I don’t want to be content with what I have. We don’t want to share. I don’t want to sacrifice. It’s far easier to say “they should”, not “what can I do.”

Contentedness. Greed. Sacrifice. Fear. They fight to coexist in some marginal optimum, yet they cannot. Resentment or joy remain the undebatable conclusions.

I’m left to conclude that I (we) do not love as I (we) ought, and my self-control is not what it needs to be.

There is no fear in love.  (1 John 4:18)