It’s time to LOVE more

Driving to my doctor appointment this morning, it was hard to enjoy the exuberant sounds of Red Sox fans streaming over the radio. Every Boston station seemed to be celebrating the Sox’s World Series win over the LA Dodgers last night. And why wouldn’t they? The Sox are the World Champions of baseball – big news, huge news, phenomenal news. So why, as a proud member of a native Boston Irish sports family, wasn’t I celebrating? I guess you could say it has a lot to do with the senseless killing of innocent human beings in our world today. I’ve had enough.

I usually don’t write about politics and will refrain from doing so today but the murder of 11 innocent people in a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday has just shaken me to the bone. How many innocent people (church goers, children and others) have to die before we admit that we have a real problem in modern America? Why do we live in this culture of hate in 2018? Is it just because someone is a different religion, color or ethnicity? This has got to stop and if our politicians on both sides of the aisle are not going to do anything, then common Americans must rise up and stand for LOVE, in our great country.

“Thou shalt not kill” is the sixth commandment and it begins in the heart of each man and woman. What we say out loud to our children matters, what we say out loud to others matters and what we say ONLINE matters. We need to teach our children the difference between what it means to have a loving heart towards ALL versus a hateful heart toward some. This is where is starts! If there is hate in the heart of a person, it grows over time and becomes a rotten evil which contaminates everything it touches.

We need to speak out in love with our words and actions in everything we do. We can all start today from holding the door for a stranger to offering a kind word to someone we don’t necessarily like. These small efforts are like seeds in our hearts which will grow into greater love the more we practice them. When we see actions of hatred, we must call them out with kindness and tell others that we don’t accept hatred in our homes, schools and communities.

We must pray for our country and ask God to protect her. I learned long ago from one of the greatest peacemakers of our time that prayer does work. (Thank you Mom!) We must practice reasonableness and patience with those who think differently rather than jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst. Always be willing to listen to the other side of an issue, then state your opinion in a thoughtful manner.

We are better than this America – we can rid our country of this putrid hatred if we join together in prayer to the God who loves us. We can live in LOVE as He did for us. The order of the day is to love. Instead of countering evil with evil – we must become a nation of people who love without barriers or boundaries. Our children are counting on us – let’s not disappoint them.