This will likely make me persona non grata in some circles. It may get me banned from social media and placed in Facebook’s Camp Gitmo, but let’s run this up the flagpole and see what happens.  America seems to be losing if it has not lost, its collective mind.  Well, America cannot lose its mind it is a Republic, not an individual, but Americans seem to have succumbed to the lunacy of the day and lost contact with reality. 

Is there something that causes me to make that assertion?  What is prevalent today that has caused me to develop such a dim view of the mental acuity of today’s society?  Are there any pieces of evidence that support my assertion that the masses have lost contact with reality and lost all ability to think cogitatively?  If you will bear with me, I will attempt to articulate to the best of my ability my reasons.  You then can judge them, embrace or reject them, and we will move on with life.

I saw that one NBA Basketball Coach offer his attempt at solidarity and being down with the struggle by saying that he was embarrassed to be a white man.  I find that interesting that anyone of any ethnicity would make such an assertion.  Are they truly ashamed of their ethnicity or is there some more in the mix they are not stating?  I suspect that it is not that they feel they have done anything wrong but are expressing their disgust with the rest of us of their ethnicity and consider us ignorant and deplorable.  We are not enlightened and therefore are unworthy of any empathy, sympathy, or understanding. 

I have a problem with anyone of any skin-pigmentation being ashamed of their ethnicity.  You did not choose what skin color you would be, God did.  Therefore, if you reject your ethnicity for any reason, you are also rejecting the God who created you.  You are missing the possibility that you were designed to be a bridge, not a wedge.  If you stereotype all whites, blacks, browns, or any ethnic group negatively you are not seeking restoration but division.  That may not be what you think you are doing, but that is what you are doing.  STOP IT!

I am reminded of the age-old hypothetical question and one that I had on a test in a Philosophy Course in college.  “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it does it make a sound?”  I was shocked that about 90% of the class answered, “No.”  That is ridiculous, making a sound is not dependent upon a human being around to hear it.  My answer, to the amusement of the professor, was, “YES!”  When I attempted to defend my statement some of the most outlandish responses occurred and revealed a mindset, decades ago, that has become a harvest today.

Just because society decides something is normal that does not automatically make it normal, good, right, or acceptable.  Before you argue let me ask, “Do you think human sacrifice is acceptable even if the culture or society believes it is the right thing to do?”  If you study history, you find that the Aztec empire performed approximately 200,000 human sacrifices each year.  Many and probably most of them were children and infants.  The rituals were off the charts in cruelty and horrifying. What sane human would think that is normal and acceptable even if the entire culture agreed and approved?  Does that make it normal and right?  NO, ten thousand times NO!

If someone starves to death in some part of the world and you are not hungry or there to witness their plight does that mean it did not happen?  Did the suffering not exist because you did not see it or experience it?  Making that assertion would be ridiculous.  I would never say that there were not those in our history and human history who were treated horrifically, they were.  However, to insist that I repent and apologize to someone who did not suffer that abuse because of something someone in the past did to someone in the past is equally ludicrous.  How does that solve the problem and bridge the divide?

Our world has, in a measure, evicted God from our culture and that is deeply problematic.  It is not just problematic for my faith and religious convictions or theology but society.  When America was founded most held an unquestioning belief in things unseen (God).   Today, that has shifted to the view that if you don’t see it, it does not exist. 

The center of our society’s universe has shifted from God, the Divine to Self.  We have become a “me” world and have completely lost contact with our founding principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence.  “All men are CREATED equal…”  We have lost the value of believing that ALL have been granted unalienable rights by the Creator.  Today, many seem to believe that if your views are contrary to theirs yours must be silenced and censored and you must be punished.

We have become a society of victims.  Has there been victimization in our history and modern era?  The answer is an unequivocal, Yes!  But it is not the event that is as problematic as the mentality developed as a result.  We have transformed from being victimized to being victims and therein lies the problem. 

Some will not appreciate this reference to a biblical account, but I offer it because it can speak volumes to us and help if we can receive it.  In the early portion of the Bible, before the nation, of Israel, became the nation of Israel occupying the Promised Land, they were in Egypt.  They were slaves.  I find that transition to slavery somewhat troubling because the Bible record reveals they came to Egypt at the invitation of Pharaoh.  He invited them out of respect for Joseph who was God’s tool to save Egypt and the world from a cataclysmic condition.

They occupied the choicest of the land and prospered in a foreign land.  Somehow from the time of their arrival to the time of Moses, they were pressed into forced labor (Slavery).  It is evidenced in their attitude before their deliverance and after, in the wilderness, that they had become victims rather than those who had been victimized. 

When difficulty came, water was scarce and food was lacking they said to Moses, “We were better off in Egypt and we want to go back.”  Back to Slavery?  Seriously, you want to go back to being forced to serve the ruler rather than being free?  That suggests a mindset that had accepted their plight as being normal and acceptable.  They still shouted that they were abused but embraced their abuse as their identity.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul makes an incredible declaration that some will snarl at.  He said in Ephesians 6:5-9 – “Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. 9 And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.” 

Might I suggest that he was not telling them not to desire to be free but rather than viewing their plight through the eyes of being a victim view it through the eyes of being a victor.  If each of us dropped the mentality of being a victim and realized that we can be Free in our spirits, we would find peace if not release from our enslavement and condition. 

I conclude with a reference to “The Republic” where Socrates painted a picture of people who lived their entire lives chained to a blank wall.  They could see shadows and even gave names to those shadows.  The shadows became their reality.  He unveiled the idea that rational people are like prisoners who deliberately break free from the cave of victimhood and become able to see reality instead of shadows. 

We, in America, seem to be content to live chained to our wall of victimization and are incapable of breaking free and seeing reality and finding real solutions.  Hate is too much easier and vengeance seems to be sweeter.  I reject that and desire to Cancel the Cancelling of Culture.  Let’s see Reality and Live Free in our hearts, minds, and souls.

God bless you and God bless America!