Earth Day 2009

Dear America,

Where do I begin? There is so much to say, yet it has all been said before in one way or another. There are so many people out “there” speaking, shouting, broadcasting, blogging, reporting, blah, blah, blah…is anyone really listening or is everyone just talking? People just drone on and on about poor me, poor America. I would like to quote Bruce Willis’ character in Disney’s “The Kid”: “Somebody call a Waaaambulance!” It seems like the people that are doing all the talking don’t have a clue. My favorite morning show is doing segments all this week on creating a great dinner for 4 out of $15.00. If I spend $15.00 on an entire dinner to feed my family of 5 I had better have enough for TWO meals! I’m not crying, I could probably be more frugal. I’m not as thrifty as other people I know. My point is “they” don’t know. I don’t even know, most native born Americans don’t know unless they’ve spent some time in impoverished countries where multitudes of people live without even the most basic of needs. Yet, WE have the gall to complain about our economy, cry out to the government to help us, and whine because someone has a bigger piece of cake than we do.

America, WE have SO much. So much to be thankful for…thankful to Jehovah God! We have the rights we have because Christians sought to be free from religious persecution and set up a society where ALL of us are now able to worship as we choose, speak as we choose, dream, work, (or don’t work) as we choose. We have a society where life is valuable (or at least it has been), and the only people condemned in our country are those who devalue the life of another person. We have the wealth that we have (even our poor are rich compared to most other countries) because God chose to bless this nation. You enjoy the political freedom to deny God because people who worship God fought and died to give you that freedom. We enjoy the political freedom to pursue wealth, to make our lives better if we want to. Whether or not we enjoy the wealth we hoped for yet has a few determining factors but most of it is in our own hands. So far, our government still allows us to pursue the careers we choose, work where we want and when we want and for whom we want and the only ones that have any control over how much money we make or the benefits we receive is us and our employers (and we can change employers). Education or lack there of only goes so far…my father-in-law only had a 5th grade education yet still owned his own business, ran it successfully and was able to take care of his family’s needs. He worked long, hard hours, worked jobs he didn’t like, moved his family several times but as he learned and gained experience he was able to do more, be more and be successful. We all have challenges, but challenges only become road blocks when we don’t test our strength to move them or find another way to accomplish our goal.

When all these thoughts started swirling around my head this afternoon, before I decided to start writing them down or I’d never be able to concentrate on the other things I need to do tonight, I wasn’t really thinking about the economy at all. I was thinking about a conversation I had with a customer a few weeks after 9/11. I don’t remember what country he was from exactly but I believe it was in a small country east of India. But somehow we got on the subject of how many countries around the world haven’t known the peace that Americans have grown so accustomed to for generations. There are adults in these countries that have lived their whole lives in battle zones. If it’s not civil disputes, its national disputes. One nation feels cheated, another nation feels entitled, one nation believes they are better than any other, one religious sect feels the right to kill any one who doesn’t agree with them. For multiple generations children have been caught in crossfire. Bombs have gone off in plazas, schools, places of worship, city streets anywhere and everywhere. Yet America whines and cries as if nothing this evil has ever happened to anyone else, nothing this tragic has ever occurred before. I can only imagine how we must be perceived by these war-torn nations. We cry like spoiled children expecting to sail through life on this earth unscathed by the “petty little skirmishes” going on all around the world. As long as men and women have egos we will have war. World peace will only come when everyone surrenders their “right” to be right or different or rich or poor etcetera etcetera. (Scripture tell us that this will only happen when Messiah takes the throne in Jerusalem.) My point here is that we need to get a grip. Our pride, America, has gotten the best of us.

We are not the best and the brightest in the world, and we are not exempt from the terrors of war and tragedy. We cannot hide on our side of the globe put lines of tape around ourselves and tell our brothers and sisters to keep their dirty laundry on their side of the world and don’t bother us with their problems and refuse to acknowledge them as roommates anymore. At some point we have to stop living only for ourselves either as an individual, a family, a state or a nation and realize that it is better for society as a whole to purse what is in the best interest of others rather than just what I want. Most people don’t want to wage war, to train soldiers, to send young men and women into battle, but sometimes the strong have to protect the week. We can’t take a live and let live stance. Imagine if no one had fought against Hitler…I mean REALLY imagine it…where would that have ended? What would our world look like today? Would you even be here? Would you have the freedom you have? Would your life be better or worse? Sometimes I wish that battles for leadership didn’t take place on a battle field between men and women that have no vested interest in the real fight but that just the few men/women involved would have some type of competition that would determine who wins and who looses…that would be my dream. But that just isn’t the way it is, it isn’t the way it will ever be. I can’t sit and cry about it I can’t wage war to stop war, I can’t cry over the lost innocence of my father in WWII, or my nephew in Afghanistan or the thousands of other American soldiers as if their lives are more precious, more deserving than all the hundreds of thousands soldiers and victims of war world wide.

My challenge to you, Dear America, is that you turn your anger, frustration, pain, and loss into something good. Change what you CAN change even if it means you change yourself. Respect our soldiers, our politicians (even if you didn’t vote for them), our teachers, our religious leaders. Reach out to help the war orphans and widows around the world, work hard at what ever work you can find to do and take pride in your work, in your charity, in your compassion for others. Value the life of the people around you as well as the earth around you. Let this Earth Day be about more than just the house we live in (environment) and let it include the “family” we live here with.


Sincerely Yours,

Kathy Marshall