The Debates

Blah, blah, blah, John McCain. Blah, blah, blah, Barack Obama. Have I really become this cynical? That's all I hear anymore? I'm not hearing the words coming out of their mouths. I'm not hearing the passion of their hearts. I'm not hearing the platforms or the issues that they're running on. All I'm hearing is blah, blah, blah. But then by now I think that's all I'm listening for. Like most Americans, I am tired of hearing what your opponent "is going to do." I want to hear about issues. I want to hear truth. I want to hear what you really believe. I don't want to be lied to. I don't want to be just another vote. I want to be a person. I want to be respected and appreciated and shown concern. I want to have value to them. I want them to show me that they care.

Hold on...wait a minute! That's the same criticism that people are leveling at the church. They want to hear the issues. They want to see the facts and weigh them for themselves. The world feels like they've been lied to so often that all they hear now is blah, blah, blah. They've stopped listening. So how do we get them to listen again? We show them we care. We stop being hypocrites. We treat them as more than a tithe, as more than another butt in the pews. We acknowledge them as people and ask them about their story. We respect them and appreciate them and show them concern. We value them.

But then how do we teach people to care for others? How do you teach love? Is it possible. I do not believe it is. Love is not something we can outline and define and then expect our students to carry it out. Love is a life long ambition. It is something that takes years of study and practice. It is something that must first be experienced, before it will be shared. And when one has been the victim of a loveless life, then twice as much time must be devoted to teaching that person to love again. This is where we drop the ball. This is where we fail. We do not love enough. We assume that people know how to love. We figure that with all those songs about love people have figured it out. WRONG! Listen to the songs if you don't believe me. Most of them are about what love is not. That is what the world has learned. They've learned how not to love. Our mission is to teach them to love, and that is not up for debate.