Everyone I have ever met wants something he doesn’t have. And almost every one doesn’t know how to get that something. There must be a reason why we have these gaps in our lives.
Do you think we have gaps so Billy Mays and Vince will have something to do to fill up their days? Neither do I. These fellows seem to want you to think you need something without which you have, so far, been able to scrape by.
Could it be we have gaps so the government can fulfill the wants and needs of citizen and non-citizen alike? It seems that more than 50 million folks recently voted for a president with this point-of-view. Unless this is your first time at Do Not Shrug, you know I have another take on this topic.
Are our gaps the result of some fault in the make up of the universe? After all, the vast majority of the universe can fairly be described as one huge gap! Even Gaia-worshipers think the universe is fault-free. Only humans have faults. (I expect a crusade to rename seismic faults pretty soon; “fault” is too judgmental a name for a natural phenomenon for us accidents of evolution to use.)
No doubt about it, gaps exist for a reason. They were designed. They are intended. We want something we can’t or don’t have because we need to aspire for improvement.
- If we are hungry, we want sustenance.
- If we lack shelter, we want comfort.
- If we thirst, we want relief.
- If we are lonely, we want succor.
- If we feel empty, we want to fill our void.
Perhaps we have a dream of accomplishment, and we want to fulfill our dream. We want to be fitter, faster, more musical, a better sculptor, a better writer, victorious in the boxing ring, the most accomplished sniper, or even reelected to public office. The unfulfilled dream is just as much a gap as the desire of a derelict for a warm bed on a cold night.
Now, what are our options for bridging a gap?
- We can try alone.
- We can try with help.
- We can wait for help.
Trying alone – isn’t that the story of Robinson Crusoe? Or maybe it’s the western myth of rugged individualism? Well, if you actually read Robinson Crusoe, you know that he had a Bible and a lot of flotsam and jetsam at hand, no to mention his man, Friday. And the voyageurs, trappers, woodsmen, and settlers of the American west turn out to be rooted in social structures, too. It’s difficult to be truly alone in any undertaking.
Trying with help - that's what achievers do. Athletes have coaches. Musicians have teachers. Name a vocation, there is a helper associated with it. Christians who try to follow Jesus have the Bible and their church fellowship. Atheists have libraries, universities, and websites. Politicians have pollsters, advisors, and some even have financial sponsors.
Waiting for help - that can work out. There’s a story of a grizzled World War II veteran, standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, who took no action during the abandon ship drill. When confronted, he said he would wait till the water reached the deck then and step off. After all, he said, “That’s what I did when the old Hornet sank.”
Most people who wait for help don’t fare so well. If you can’t read this because “your school failed you,” waiting for the ability to read won’t help you earn a living or pay your rent. If you are waiting for God to buy you a color TV or a Mercedes-Benz (as sung by Janis Joplin), you are unlikely to close that gap. Many New Orleaneans during Katrina, Noah’s neighbors, and the average urban street-dweller share a predilection to waiting, and all suffer for it.
So the effective way to bridge a gap is to exert effort oneself and to have help. Is the way to bridge a gap a clue to the reason for their existence? Do we have gaps because it takes a team effort to close them? Do we have gaps because they can’t be closed without effort from both donor and recipient, buyer and seller, God and man?
I think gaps are God’s gift to the people he loves. They keep us humble. They exist because he leads us to aspire to improve. They require us to cooperate. And the greatest and the least of us must acknowledge our shortcomings if we are to benefit from assistance.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Have Mercy
“… bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
This passage from Matthew enjoins followers of Jesus Christ to love not only our friends and families but also our enemies. What actions will follow from this love? In particular, if we love our enemies, must we show mercy on them? How do love and mercy differ?
The Oxford English dictionary devotes more than four pages to love (scant effort compared to the Bible, but perhaps the most extensive presence of any word in the OED). Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the definition is the derivation of the word from a Teutonic root that means “hope.”
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
How does love compare to mercy? The OED advises that mercy is forbearance or kindness extended to another who is in one’s power and who has no claim to receive kindness. In particular, it is forbearance where severity is to be expected.
Two points:
1. We need not love someone to whom we extend mercy.
2. We may not owe mercy to someone we love.
Point one is easy. Love is not an operating principle in the legal system, but judges are often merciful to meritless defendants (perhaps much too often). One may argue that excessive mercy harms the unpunished and their past and future victims, too.
Point two is harder. After all, we are told to love everyone. We are told that such love keeps no record of wrongs. And we are told that we are not to judge, for judging is the province of the Almighty. Does it not then follow that we should take no action against those who hurt us?
Is it a fallacy that mercy must follow love? Consider:
You love your child. Your child wants to dart into the street from between two parked cars. You stop your child and speak forcefully about the danger of taking such needless risks.
You love your child. Your child wants to eat cookies all afternoon, and takes some when you are not watching to eat after you have forbidden this. You tell your child that it is wrong to take something without permission and to disobey an instruction you gave. Eventually, you punish your child for these infractions.
You love your child. Your child uses narcotics. You know that narcotic use will lead to illness and premature death, and may endanger others. You intervene to get your child treatment. Eventually, you ask law enforcement officials to intervene.
You may say that you acted mercifully in each case. Perhaps you did not. Is mercy simply forbearance? Would it be mercy to let the child dart into the street, to let the child ignore your instructions and eat the cookies, or to let your child continue to use narcotics? Would it be kind? If mercy is forbearance to those who have no claim on your kindness, then you were not merciful as you were not forbearing. You were loving in what you did – preventing, remonstrating, correcting, punishing.
Now, let’s talk about mercy in our society.
Is it merciful to use government funds (taxes or fiat currency) to provide housing and food to those who do not provide for themselves? It is a form of forbearance for those who have no claim to kindness. Oh, a great many people say we are commanded to provide “for the least of these,” omitting “brothers of Mine.” On the basis of a giant leap from one’s individual duty to the Maker to a communal obligation exercised through the state, these people claim that those who expect a handout deserve it, and we must pay the government to provide it – or at least the minority of us who earn more than the exempted income will cede progressively more of our earnings to pay for this handout.
Set aside the blatant immorality of taxing one group at a different rate than another. How can it be the proper function of government to provide for the personal welfare of any person that did not enter into a contract with that government to provide a service of value to the government? You will look in vain in our Constitution for such Congressional power.
Suppose for a moment the power existed. How can it be kind to give money that was taxed or inflated from the general population to a “needy” person? How not? After all, they need shelter and sustenance. So do we all. They also need self-esteem that can only derive from accomplishment. They need relationships, and these cannot be one-sided. They need a pathway to improvement, not roadblocks. They need motivation, not disincentive. When has government provided self-esteem, relationships, a path to personal improvement, or motivation to individuals who receive housing, food stamps, unemployment compensation, or publicly funded health care? Never.
A caring society will know that “the least of these brothers of Mine” can only become healthy and accomplished when they are healed by love, guided by the Light, and cared for by other individuals. This healing, guidance, and individual care are the fruits of private charity, not public welfare.
Mercy, then, would be to dismantle the behemoth of state aid to individuals and free up the billions of dollars so misused for private charity. Mercy would stop interfering with the provision of health care so doctors, nurses, and institutions could provide charity care for those who cannot afford it. Mercy would stop inculcating the poor among us with a sense of dependence and godlessness through tax-supported schools dominated by unions that put teacher job tenure ahead of academic achievement.
That mercy would be the greatest outpouring of love our society could achieve in this century, and the merciful would benefit no more than the recipients of their mercy – that is to say bountifully.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
This passage from Matthew enjoins followers of Jesus Christ to love not only our friends and families but also our enemies. What actions will follow from this love? In particular, if we love our enemies, must we show mercy on them? How do love and mercy differ?
The Oxford English dictionary devotes more than four pages to love (scant effort compared to the Bible, but perhaps the most extensive presence of any word in the OED). Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the definition is the derivation of the word from a Teutonic root that means “hope.”
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
How does love compare to mercy? The OED advises that mercy is forbearance or kindness extended to another who is in one’s power and who has no claim to receive kindness. In particular, it is forbearance where severity is to be expected.
Two points:
1. We need not love someone to whom we extend mercy.
2. We may not owe mercy to someone we love.
Point one is easy. Love is not an operating principle in the legal system, but judges are often merciful to meritless defendants (perhaps much too often). One may argue that excessive mercy harms the unpunished and their past and future victims, too.
Point two is harder. After all, we are told to love everyone. We are told that such love keeps no record of wrongs. And we are told that we are not to judge, for judging is the province of the Almighty. Does it not then follow that we should take no action against those who hurt us?
Is it a fallacy that mercy must follow love? Consider:
You love your child. Your child wants to dart into the street from between two parked cars. You stop your child and speak forcefully about the danger of taking such needless risks.
You love your child. Your child wants to eat cookies all afternoon, and takes some when you are not watching to eat after you have forbidden this. You tell your child that it is wrong to take something without permission and to disobey an instruction you gave. Eventually, you punish your child for these infractions.
You love your child. Your child uses narcotics. You know that narcotic use will lead to illness and premature death, and may endanger others. You intervene to get your child treatment. Eventually, you ask law enforcement officials to intervene.
You may say that you acted mercifully in each case. Perhaps you did not. Is mercy simply forbearance? Would it be mercy to let the child dart into the street, to let the child ignore your instructions and eat the cookies, or to let your child continue to use narcotics? Would it be kind? If mercy is forbearance to those who have no claim on your kindness, then you were not merciful as you were not forbearing. You were loving in what you did – preventing, remonstrating, correcting, punishing.
Now, let’s talk about mercy in our society.
Is it merciful to use government funds (taxes or fiat currency) to provide housing and food to those who do not provide for themselves? It is a form of forbearance for those who have no claim to kindness. Oh, a great many people say we are commanded to provide “for the least of these,” omitting “brothers of Mine.” On the basis of a giant leap from one’s individual duty to the Maker to a communal obligation exercised through the state, these people claim that those who expect a handout deserve it, and we must pay the government to provide it – or at least the minority of us who earn more than the exempted income will cede progressively more of our earnings to pay for this handout.
Set aside the blatant immorality of taxing one group at a different rate than another. How can it be the proper function of government to provide for the personal welfare of any person that did not enter into a contract with that government to provide a service of value to the government? You will look in vain in our Constitution for such Congressional power.
Suppose for a moment the power existed. How can it be kind to give money that was taxed or inflated from the general population to a “needy” person? How not? After all, they need shelter and sustenance. So do we all. They also need self-esteem that can only derive from accomplishment. They need relationships, and these cannot be one-sided. They need a pathway to improvement, not roadblocks. They need motivation, not disincentive. When has government provided self-esteem, relationships, a path to personal improvement, or motivation to individuals who receive housing, food stamps, unemployment compensation, or publicly funded health care? Never.
A caring society will know that “the least of these brothers of Mine” can only become healthy and accomplished when they are healed by love, guided by the Light, and cared for by other individuals. This healing, guidance, and individual care are the fruits of private charity, not public welfare.
Mercy, then, would be to dismantle the behemoth of state aid to individuals and free up the billions of dollars so misused for private charity. Mercy would stop interfering with the provision of health care so doctors, nurses, and institutions could provide charity care for those who cannot afford it. Mercy would stop inculcating the poor among us with a sense of dependence and godlessness through tax-supported schools dominated by unions that put teacher job tenure ahead of academic achievement.
That mercy would be the greatest outpouring of love our society could achieve in this century, and the merciful would benefit no more than the recipients of their mercy – that is to say bountifully.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Take No Prisoners
Civil discourse is the hallmark of a wholesome society, or so I have been told. If the absence of civil discourse reveals an ailing society, then it seems the patient is very ill. Consider:
• The President of the United States, when his TelePropTer is handy, makes his case for each new social nostrum by offering rational choice between a non-existent opposing view and his own.
• Whenever a secular humanist failure is so egregious that it can no longer be concealed from public view, its occurrence is “unexpected.”
• Experts are always “surprised” when common sense conservative expectations come to pass.
So what are we who don’t share the popular delusions that human behavior is perfectible, that men will gladly work to pay for those who don’t, and that men who have been conditioned to expect entitlements will somehow throw off their chains and become free – what shall we do to educate everyone who exercises the franchise (that is, “votes,” for those of you who attended compulsory public school during the last 40 years)?
Shall we say, “On the one hand, the Founders clearly understood how to organize government for the general welfare of our nation, and on the other hand, Obama, Reid, and Pelosi may not?” I’m thinking this is both erroneous and unlikely to change many minds.
A left-wing loon recently told me that he believed people should be responsible for their own actions, and that he thought Obama’s redistributionist plans were just and fair. This fellow is a secular humanist – the first clue that his reasoning powers are suspect. When one tries to reconcile the competing notions of individual responsibility and government taking disproportionately from one taxpayer to subsidize a tax-taker, one can see how hard it is to reason with someone who holds such views.
Decades ago, I learned a communication model with five sides to use when the method I normally use doesn’t work. The five sides are Persuasion (by logic), Intimidation, Disclosing, Disengaging, and Visioning. Most of us are familiar with trying to explain the six reasons why you should agree with me (persuasion). Congress is hard at work on Intimidation (the Employee Free Choice Act, under which union goons can intimidate workers to sign a card requesting union certification). I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but when I let you in on a “secret,” that is called “disclosing,” and it can persuade people who are susceptible to joining the “inside circle” (You get those fund-raising appeals in the mail, don’t you?). Disengaging is what you do when you show the palm of your hand to someone who approaches you while you are on the phone. And the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. used visioning when he made the famous “I have a dream” speech.
Since we aren’t likely to persuade committed idiots, er liberals, by logic, let’s try another communication style (take no prisoners). Every time we are asked to look the other way by Obama, John Kennedy, or Bill Clinton to ignore the latest liberal failure, we get an inspirational speech with an unimpeachably inspirational goal (visioning).
So what’s the lesson here? Do as Reagan did. Cheerfully, relentlessly, and optimistically show the merits of faith in God, adherence to the Constitution, and private charity. Humorously show the weakness of liberal propositions. Love everyone, and positively correct those who err and fail. Gladly help those who accept their own responsibility for failure.
Clearly show others a VISION of the America that can and should be: free, loving, decent, honest, charitable, and self-reliant.
Above all, let the healing hand of our Creator shape your life. Accept His mercy, acknowledge His lordship, and study His word. The example of His followers is a powerfully persuasive force for good. His message is clear – there is mercy for those who love God and follow His word, exclusively for them alone.
• The President of the United States, when his TelePropTer is handy, makes his case for each new social nostrum by offering rational choice between a non-existent opposing view and his own.
• Whenever a secular humanist failure is so egregious that it can no longer be concealed from public view, its occurrence is “unexpected.”
• Experts are always “surprised” when common sense conservative expectations come to pass.
So what are we who don’t share the popular delusions that human behavior is perfectible, that men will gladly work to pay for those who don’t, and that men who have been conditioned to expect entitlements will somehow throw off their chains and become free – what shall we do to educate everyone who exercises the franchise (that is, “votes,” for those of you who attended compulsory public school during the last 40 years)?
Shall we say, “On the one hand, the Founders clearly understood how to organize government for the general welfare of our nation, and on the other hand, Obama, Reid, and Pelosi may not?” I’m thinking this is both erroneous and unlikely to change many minds.
A left-wing loon recently told me that he believed people should be responsible for their own actions, and that he thought Obama’s redistributionist plans were just and fair. This fellow is a secular humanist – the first clue that his reasoning powers are suspect. When one tries to reconcile the competing notions of individual responsibility and government taking disproportionately from one taxpayer to subsidize a tax-taker, one can see how hard it is to reason with someone who holds such views.
Decades ago, I learned a communication model with five sides to use when the method I normally use doesn’t work. The five sides are Persuasion (by logic), Intimidation, Disclosing, Disengaging, and Visioning. Most of us are familiar with trying to explain the six reasons why you should agree with me (persuasion). Congress is hard at work on Intimidation (the Employee Free Choice Act, under which union goons can intimidate workers to sign a card requesting union certification). I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but when I let you in on a “secret,” that is called “disclosing,” and it can persuade people who are susceptible to joining the “inside circle” (You get those fund-raising appeals in the mail, don’t you?). Disengaging is what you do when you show the palm of your hand to someone who approaches you while you are on the phone. And the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. used visioning when he made the famous “I have a dream” speech.
Since we aren’t likely to persuade committed idiots, er liberals, by logic, let’s try another communication style (take no prisoners). Every time we are asked to look the other way by Obama, John Kennedy, or Bill Clinton to ignore the latest liberal failure, we get an inspirational speech with an unimpeachably inspirational goal (visioning).
So what’s the lesson here? Do as Reagan did. Cheerfully, relentlessly, and optimistically show the merits of faith in God, adherence to the Constitution, and private charity. Humorously show the weakness of liberal propositions. Love everyone, and positively correct those who err and fail. Gladly help those who accept their own responsibility for failure.
Clearly show others a VISION of the America that can and should be: free, loving, decent, honest, charitable, and self-reliant.
Above all, let the healing hand of our Creator shape your life. Accept His mercy, acknowledge His lordship, and study His word. The example of His followers is a powerfully persuasive force for good. His message is clear – there is mercy for those who love God and follow His word, exclusively for them alone.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
An Open Letter to God
Almighty Creator,
This is a plea for forgiveness and for help.
First, forgive me for the anger and revulsion I feel toward the President, the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House, and all their colleagues as they wrench our great Republic off its moorings of self-reliance, individual freedom, and obedience to Your Word. Help me to pray for them and to forgive them for their sins. How can I do otherwise? You assumed human form and took upon Your flesh all the sins of every man, woman, and child, past, present, and future as atonement for our sins, suffered unspeakable agony, and went to Hell – all to spare those who accept the gift of Your grace and follow Your teaching. Since You forgive us all, how can I not do likewise?
Second, help them. We know Your Holy Spirit moves among us every day and guides sinners to the path of righteousness. We see murderers repent and repay. We see adulterers mend their ways and restore their relationships. I beg You to soften the hearts of Your children Barack, Harry, and Nancy and all their collaborators.
Teach them that Your great gifts are life and freedom. Show them that a nation that has aborted 50 million unborn since 1972 mocks You, and that a just society condemns murder, rather than promoting it. Show them that a just society allows Your works to be done through the free choice of men and women, and that no one has the right to take from another. Teach them that coerced “giving” demeans both donor and recipient. Set them on a path to freedom, not to socialism.
You gave us a great gift in the Constitution of the United States. Show the voters of our nation and those they elect the truth of this document. Teach them that the mere desire of Congress to act does not give Congress the right. Lead our judges to follow the word of that document, and not their personal wishes. Turn the hearts of the employees of the Executive branch to follow the true meaning of the Constitution, and to put aside all the laws, orders, and regulations that trample on the individual freedom and limits on government embodied in our founding documents.
Above all, mend the soul of President Obama. Show him that government cannot justly take the work of one person to provide for another. Show him that only earned things have value. Teach him to love and respect every American, and to use his gifts to encourage us to help one another by choice, not by government coercion. Turn his mind away from false and failed programs that weaken the fabric of our society by rewarding sloth, indolence, and ignorance. Help him to see that freedom is Your gift to us, and that You are not mocked.
You, Lord, have led Your people into the wilderness and into slavery when they turn from You. Spare us this fate. Lead our nation to truth and justice by restoring our commitment to individual freedom to create, to give, to succeed, and to fail. Teach us reverence for human life and guide us to become faithful stewards of the world you gave us. Show us how small we are in Your universe, and teach us the folly of thinking we can alter the level of the sea or the temperature of the planet. Turn our hearts and minds to worship You, the creator, and away from the false religion that worships Your creation.
Spare us from false prophets that deny Your deity and reject the one, true savior, Jesus Christ. Help us preserve Your church that believes in and worships You, and give us the earthly strength to turn away the vandals that would replace that church with another.
Give us strength to form the army that loves You and makes a nation in Your image: loving, forgiving, free, strong, and just. Give us a nation of individuals, prepared to take nothing they did not earn, and to share willingly with those whose love and efforts earn their charity. Turn us away from a nation of entitlement, and show us all that it is a sin to give a handout, and a blessing to give a hand up.
I know it is our duty to work to achieve these goals, and we will bend our effort to make them a reality. But I am so small, and evil is so large. I can do nothing without your help. An army wearing Your armor will surely prevail, as an army cloaked in evil must perish.
So, Lord, help me and forgive me, and help our nation and forgive it. You have given us so much; do not let us squander your gift in pursuit of earthly delusions.
In the name of Him who bore all our sins and opened the door to redemption,
Amen
This is a plea for forgiveness and for help.
First, forgive me for the anger and revulsion I feel toward the President, the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House, and all their colleagues as they wrench our great Republic off its moorings of self-reliance, individual freedom, and obedience to Your Word. Help me to pray for them and to forgive them for their sins. How can I do otherwise? You assumed human form and took upon Your flesh all the sins of every man, woman, and child, past, present, and future as atonement for our sins, suffered unspeakable agony, and went to Hell – all to spare those who accept the gift of Your grace and follow Your teaching. Since You forgive us all, how can I not do likewise?
Second, help them. We know Your Holy Spirit moves among us every day and guides sinners to the path of righteousness. We see murderers repent and repay. We see adulterers mend their ways and restore their relationships. I beg You to soften the hearts of Your children Barack, Harry, and Nancy and all their collaborators.
Teach them that Your great gifts are life and freedom. Show them that a nation that has aborted 50 million unborn since 1972 mocks You, and that a just society condemns murder, rather than promoting it. Show them that a just society allows Your works to be done through the free choice of men and women, and that no one has the right to take from another. Teach them that coerced “giving” demeans both donor and recipient. Set them on a path to freedom, not to socialism.
You gave us a great gift in the Constitution of the United States. Show the voters of our nation and those they elect the truth of this document. Teach them that the mere desire of Congress to act does not give Congress the right. Lead our judges to follow the word of that document, and not their personal wishes. Turn the hearts of the employees of the Executive branch to follow the true meaning of the Constitution, and to put aside all the laws, orders, and regulations that trample on the individual freedom and limits on government embodied in our founding documents.
Above all, mend the soul of President Obama. Show him that government cannot justly take the work of one person to provide for another. Show him that only earned things have value. Teach him to love and respect every American, and to use his gifts to encourage us to help one another by choice, not by government coercion. Turn his mind away from false and failed programs that weaken the fabric of our society by rewarding sloth, indolence, and ignorance. Help him to see that freedom is Your gift to us, and that You are not mocked.
You, Lord, have led Your people into the wilderness and into slavery when they turn from You. Spare us this fate. Lead our nation to truth and justice by restoring our commitment to individual freedom to create, to give, to succeed, and to fail. Teach us reverence for human life and guide us to become faithful stewards of the world you gave us. Show us how small we are in Your universe, and teach us the folly of thinking we can alter the level of the sea or the temperature of the planet. Turn our hearts and minds to worship You, the creator, and away from the false religion that worships Your creation.
Spare us from false prophets that deny Your deity and reject the one, true savior, Jesus Christ. Help us preserve Your church that believes in and worships You, and give us the earthly strength to turn away the vandals that would replace that church with another.
Give us strength to form the army that loves You and makes a nation in Your image: loving, forgiving, free, strong, and just. Give us a nation of individuals, prepared to take nothing they did not earn, and to share willingly with those whose love and efforts earn their charity. Turn us away from a nation of entitlement, and show us all that it is a sin to give a handout, and a blessing to give a hand up.
I know it is our duty to work to achieve these goals, and we will bend our effort to make them a reality. But I am so small, and evil is so large. I can do nothing without your help. An army wearing Your armor will surely prevail, as an army cloaked in evil must perish.
So, Lord, help me and forgive me, and help our nation and forgive it. You have given us so much; do not let us squander your gift in pursuit of earthly delusions.
In the name of Him who bore all our sins and opened the door to redemption,
Amen
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