Small Things With Great Love

I’ve been feeling especially blue. The news seems full of evil goings-on. Like most good citizens, I vote, donate money, forward e-mails, etc. But I get freaked out when the nastiness is more powerful than us good citizens. In the face of this, what seems most sensible and mature is to do some act of violence, like blowing up the mall.('course then I realize this might not be the best idea, especially since my best friend owns the mall.)

Back in high school, I hung out with other hippie wanna-be’s, all of us dedicated to peace and love. Therefore we despised anybody who wasn’t with us. My catch phrase at the time was “When the revolution comes, your house will be the first to go.” (Meaning if you weren’t as loving and kind as we were, we’d burn your house down.)

This is the insanity of a culture that tells us the only sane response to evil is “getting back at them.” Like this is going to change anything. ("I well remember the day Lyttie Poe burned my house down. Suddenly it made me realize how wrong I’ve been, so I now will devote my life to peace, equality, and singing Kumbaya.”)

Years ago I finally got around to asking God what to do about all the evil in the world. The response I got was “Go thou and do the opposite.” (Yes, I know it sounds dorky, but I don’t control these things.)

I’ve discovered I can get a lot farther by becoming a loving person myself than by trying to make the world a loving place.

An example: four years ago I met a woman named Katie who is my polar opposite in religion and politics. Today I count her among my dearest friends, because we’ve learned to look past the differences and focus on what is beautiful about the other. (Besides, in every other way we’re exactly alike.)

Anyway, in response to all the horrible news items, here’s what I did: I wrote “You are a precious child of God.” on small strips of paper and wove them into a clay heart I found lying around the house. Then I went to a church parking lot, asked my Higher Power to guide me to someone who needed a lift, and put it on a windshield. I don’t know how the person reacted to it; when I came out later the car was gone. But that day I felt like I’d done my small part to go “Nya! Nya!” to meanness and violence.

To paraphrase my favorite philosopher Elwood P. Dowd, “In this world you must be ever so clever or ever so nice. I prefer nice.”