The Inside-Out Reformation
January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
I try to be an informed and responsible citizen by keeping abreast of all the news from as many sources as possible. But as I hear about major crises and problems such as the genocide in Sudan, our ever-increasing national budget deficit, the insurgency in Iraq, the bankruptcy rate in America, the state of public education and health care, poverty, environmental degradation, etc., I often find myself intensely frustrated and angry at my seeming inability to contribute to the solution of these problems. In a world of six billion people, it’s hard not to feel insignificant and simply give in to cynicism.
In my frustration I turn to our leaders, hoping that they will have the answers and the influence to solve problems that are beyond the control of the individual citizen. However, our elections are vivid illustrations that there is a dearth of solid, principle-based leadership in this country. Our political contests have been reduced to forcing us to choose not the best candidate, but the lesser of two evils. Are we to simply vote along party lines? Wait a minute–where are those lines drawn anyway?
The more I look outward, the more I am convinced that the answers do not lie outside of myself. John Adams wrote that “If worthless men are sometimes at the head of affairs, it is because worthless men are at the tail, and the middle.” In other words, our political leaders are mere reflections of our citizens. If we want our leaders to change, we have to change. Meaningful and lasting national and global change must be enacted from the inside out, not the outside in, and it starts not with the community or even the family; it starts with the individual.
Gandhi taught, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” If I want to see a peaceful world, then I must pursue peace within myself, with my spouse, my children, and my extended family. If I want to see a better system of education in America, then I must take initiative and responsibility to educate myself and my children.
Instead of focusing on what I can’t do, I’m learning to focus instead on what I can do. I can’t pay off the national debt, but I can pay off my debt and balance my home budget. I can’t solve America’s health care problems, but I can live a healthy lifestyle. I can’t stop corporations from dumping environmental waste in our rivers, but I can maintain a clean home environment.
The reformation begins with me. As I change myself, it inspires others around me to change, spreading from my family, to my community, to my state, to my nation, and ultimately to the entire globe. Call me naive and idealistic if you must, but I won’t pay attention; I’m busy changing the world.
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
Do you ever find yourself wishing that you were born differently?
January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
This attitude is a mockery of God and the gifts He has given us. In the Bible, in the book of Romans, chapter nine verse twenty, we read, “…O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus?” In other words, Paul is telling us that we have no right or authority to question the wisdom of God, and our task, rather than questioning God, is to accept His will and to find the reasons why we have been blessed with our particular challenges.
For example, soon after Helen Keller was born, she lost her sight, hearing and speech. The victim way to view this is as an unfortunate tragedy; heroes look for the blessings inherent in such a challenge. By thinking and living as a heroine, Helen was able to bless the lives of millions through her amazing example. God was able to teach us the power of the human spirit through her.
What challenges are in your life? How are you facing them–as a victim or as a hero? What are you teaching others through your example?
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
What was the REAL American revolution and what can we learn from it?
January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
Without a revolution in the minds and hearts of individuals within a society, revolutions actually do more harm than good (i.e. the French Revolution). The real American Revolution happened long before the Revolutionary War; the war was an effect, not a cause.
As John Adams wrote, “What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations…This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.”
America needs another revolution, not a bloody revolution of anger, hatred, and conflict, but a quiet, peaceful, and bloodless revolution enacted by honest individuals who turn inward and humbly revolutionize themselves. What are you willing to do to effect a revolution in your own life?
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
Do we have a choice?
January 25, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Under the worst circumstances imaginable, he found that he still had a fundamental freedom.
He wrote, “The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Do we who live in the freest nation in the history of the world have any excuse for not being heroes?
Suggested reading: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Move the Cause of Liberty by (1) subscribing to the Sentinel, a free weekly newsletter boldly illuminating the principles of freedom in a darkening nation, and (2) pledging your Life, Liberty, and Sacred Honor to the Cause by signing the Declaration of Dependence.
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Copyright © 2008 by The Cause of Liberty. All rights reserved.
Slavery Reparations: Hacking At Leaves, Ignoring Roots
January 24, 2008 by Stephen Palmer · Leave a Comment
Associated Press writer Ashley M. Heher recently reported that, “Lawyers for slave descendants asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to revive a landmark reparations case that demands 17 of the nation’s insurers and banks publicize and pay for their roles in the country’s slave trade. The case, which names Wall Street behemoths JP Morgan Chase & Co., Aetna Inc., Bank of America, Lehman Brothers and others, says the companies’ predecessors issued loans to slave owners and, in some cases, owned, insured and transported slaves…all at a financial profit that helped ensure their success today.”
Slavery was an awful stain upon the fabric of our nation, and it continues to negatively impact us today. Yet if we are to move beyond the suffering and heal the wounds caused by slavery, it will take
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