In the holy name of love

Many of us, if not most, feel some measure of anger, fear, and spite. These emotions are normal, their existence traceable to some logical beginning, like an unmet need, an unfulfilled promise, or repeated failure and disappointment. To feel them makes us no less human. However, when we grant these emotions the authority to rule over our lives, thoughts, and conduct, we degrade the goodness of our human character. It becomes easier to hold others in contempt, to vilify, to dehumanize. Ultimately, we endanger ourselves to accepting one of the biggest lies of the most malicious nature which has ever permeated the history of our kind: the false supposition that violence and hatred are a solution to our various problems. In embracing this, we invite the Devil to sit at the seats of our hearts, in the place of God.

It is in the exercise of our uniquely human capacity to act and think with compassion and kindness that we prevent the acceptance of that lie and the grim results which accompany it. Showing compassion to others pays reverence to the same spirit which has breathed life into every single one of us, a special kind of nourishment to our own well-being. Though I am still young, I already know very well which kind of country, which world I want to raise children in. The power to reject that grave endangerment and to instead live in the holy name of love is in our hands, as individuals and as the collective. To achieve these ends is what we must work together to do, both for ourselves in the current moment, and for the sake of the generations yet to come.

Jacob Lockwood Mott

Chester