In a "Perfect World"...

...in a "Perfect World"...

We wouldn't need laws because the people would be perfect and govern themselves perfectly. We wouldn't need police because we wouldn't need them to enforce the laws that we wouldn't need because perfect people would govern themselves perfectly.

Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. We are not perfect people, and we do NOT govern ourselves perfectly. Hence, the need for laws and those who enforce them. That being said, those who enforce our laws are not perfect either. Thus the need for oversight and care in ensuring that those who enforce our laws follow those laws and law-enforcement guidelines that are designed to keep law-enforcement officers in check.

Prejudice exists in this world. That is a sad fact of living in this imperfect world among imperfect people. When you have people who think that the color of their skin, or the tenor of their beliefs, or the degree of their education, or the balance in their checkbook makes them somehow superior to other human beings, that is prejudice. Another form of prejudice is exhibited in some activist-mentality that shouts that if you don't agree with me, you are somehow inferior or biased or stupid, etc.  This mentality seems to think that if they yell loud enough to drown out other opinions, they can convince the world of their own rightness and superiority of thinking. They demand equality and tolerance while standing on the street corner shouting down the opinions of those who disagree with them. How is that tolerant?

The beauty of this life is the gift of agency that we have all been given. We each have the ability to choose for ourselves. We can choose to believe in God - or not. We can choose to follow a religion - or not. We can choose to exercise and be healthy - or not. The difficulty erupts when we refuse to allow those around us to make their own choices whether we agree with them or not. Whether or not you believe in a religion, there is inherent in this life, the concept of right and wrong. That concept is bound up in and exhibited by the laws by which we live as citizens in our countries. The beauty of the gift of agency is that we don't all have to make the same choices or believe the same things. We CAN disagree and be kind and civil as we do so.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have very strong religious beliefs. I will share those beliefs with whomever wishes to hear them. Just ask me! However. I will defend with my last breath the right of another person to NOT believe as I do - to choose a different path than I do. It's been said that we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Recently, there has been much furor about "Black Lives Matter". It IS true that Black lives matter.  It is also true that Asian lives matter, Native American lives matter, Hispanic lives matter, Muslim lives matter, Christian lives matter, Caucasian lives matter. ALL lives matter. Whether we agree with one another or not, ALL lives deserve to be treated with respect and kindness. For me, that is the essence of being a Disciple of Jesus Christ...I try to go about doing good as He did. 

After all, two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ ended the debate on which lives matter - He died for ALL!!!