With the anxiety caused by the present political climate and the tragedies in Orlando and around the world, a song comes to mind as a guide. For me, it seems to provide an answer to the dilemma our country and the world now faces.The words were written by James Russell Lowell as a poem in 1845. Later, it was made into a hymn. Here is a portion:
"Once to every man and nation,
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever,
'Twixt that darkness and that light.
Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.
At the public funeral for Muhammad Ali, former President Bill Clinton said that the honor that was shown to Muhammad Ali all came from the choices Ali made during his time on earth.
There should be no confusion about what is good or evil; we all have tasted of the tree of knowledge and we are spiritually recognized by the fruit we choose to eat. Do we eat the fruit called Love and value all life? Do we eat the fruit called Truth or the fruit called Intelligence, valuing education that helps young people learn what is right? Or do we choose the fruit called Hate that leads us to destroy and kill?
We all have a choice.
Carolyn Schurmann, Arbutus