There is no good without evil attending, at least that much is self evident, and such is the exemplary history of the United States of America, said to be a beacon for all who crave freedom in love from the hatred of their kind because of their inimical differences. Wherefore they arrived from all over the world, yet even in this paradise they found cause to hate, for, after all is said and done, hate is innate. So they congregated and thanked love for their very existence, hoping that loving one’s own kind is not based on hating others. And they prayed not entirely in vain. The proof is in the pudding: witness and savor what all have accomplished altogether since then despite their differences.
The perennial conflict between unifying love and hateful strife, call it creative destruction if you like, continues to this very day as the world turns, most significantly on the 4th of July in America, when the country is at a critical juncture, crisis or “turning point in the history of the relatively young but most powerful nation on Earth, for today is Independence Day, so called for the adoption by the Continental Congress on 4 July 1776 of the 2 July 1776 Lee Resolution, precedent to the revolutionary war against the Mother Country.
That strife was avowedly fomented by self-interested and greedy leaders of roughly ten percent of colonials resident. But let us not defame forefathers or fathers and mothers and curse the nation for the hell of it, because that is what we get in return. I am not an arch-patriot, but I am dismayed to see so many Americans independently hating America on Independence Day. So many of them do not understand the issues they claim gives them cause to hate America so much they cannot rejoice in the goods America stands for. They hate just to hate. Do they not therefore hate themselves? Do they lack love because they are so “independent”? What is the nature of independence? Does not the problem begin with the division into and identification with categories such as friend and enemy, and end with a violent solution in hell? Pray tell, for I do not know, I am just begging askance.
I confess that I am tempted to join in, to hate the haters, and say things like, “Deport the criminals and Americans who hate America, and keep the rest and the migrants.” An argument would ensue. I imagine what sort of weapons I should have. I would have to consult with a warrior who is collecting a cache of weapons in his closet for the “imminent” civil war so he can secure food for his family. “To hell with the rest,” he said.
Consider all the goods tangible and intangible we consequently enjoy in America even though we may believe we deserve more than we have. There is a difference between needs and wants. Sufficient resources exist to satisfy basic material needs with a quarter of our labor force, and even less with the development of artificial intelligence. There is enough to help the helpless and lift up the down and out, with plenty left over for frivolities.
No less than Augustine said evil does not exist. He might be correct if we hate evil and love good long enough. Spirits are immaterial yet our spiritual needs are as important as the material. What we need most of all today is far more love than hate
xYx