Something I want to say to everyone here
I was listening to the interfaith prayer service in Dallas a little while ago. One of the pastors suggested this:
Tell someone different from you that you love them, and that God loves them.
So I want to say to all of you: I love you, and God loves you.
We differ from each other in many ways -- in our opinions, our interests, our cultural backgrounds, our gender and sexuality, our ages, our financial situations, and more. But despite our differences, and even despite our occasionally becoming irritated with one another, we appreciate each other's company in some way, and we would be saddened to see tragedy strike others.
With recent events in the news in the United States, I think it's meaningful to reflect on the value of our bonds with our fellow humans, to remind ourselves of our common humanity. To love one another means that we care about each other. We cannot fully live the lives of others, but we can and we should love others, showing compassion to them.
The pastor's wording likely specifically had racial/cultural difference in mind. But considering that people are quite able to divide themselves on whatever arbitrary lines are necessary to incite conflict, it should be remembered that the mere non-mention of some division does not mean others' humanity should be conveniently forgotten.
(For those of you who are curious, I'm actually not a Christian or even religious myself. But still I feel the use of the term "God", as a term representing a higher power or order in this world, is appropriate and I am comfortable doing so, because I feel it has spiritual and emotional value. And frankly speaking, I just think it feels right to pass on the pastor's intention in his own words. I mean no offense to anyone.)
Tell someone different from you that you love them, and that God loves them.
So I want to say to all of you: I love you, and God loves you.
We differ from each other in many ways -- in our opinions, our interests, our cultural backgrounds, our gender and sexuality, our ages, our financial situations, and more. But despite our differences, and even despite our occasionally becoming irritated with one another, we appreciate each other's company in some way, and we would be saddened to see tragedy strike others.
With recent events in the news in the United States, I think it's meaningful to reflect on the value of our bonds with our fellow humans, to remind ourselves of our common humanity. To love one another means that we care about each other. We cannot fully live the lives of others, but we can and we should love others, showing compassion to them.
The pastor's wording likely specifically had racial/cultural difference in mind. But considering that people are quite able to divide themselves on whatever arbitrary lines are necessary to incite conflict, it should be remembered that the mere non-mention of some division does not mean others' humanity should be conveniently forgotten.
(For those of you who are curious, I'm actually not a Christian or even religious myself. But still I feel the use of the term "God", as a term representing a higher power or order in this world, is appropriate and I am comfortable doing so, because I feel it has spiritual and emotional value. And frankly speaking, I just think it feels right to pass on the pastor's intention in his own words. I mean no offense to anyone.)
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