The Force of Good Will: American and Christian Values
|
Print This Post
Sincere, practicing Christians possess two fundamental values that allow them to live in the world without recourse to radical ideological means.
American Good Will and Values
Americans should never allow ourselves to apologize for our values, the institutions that we have created, and our way of life.
A current case in point is the 2010 earthquake that has devastated Haiti. As it has done so many times in the past, America was once again quick to respond with humanitarian aid to that nation. Yet American generosity and aid to the Haitian people is not the result of U.N. or other trans-national mandates, rules, regulations, diplomatic agreements, etc.
The stark reality is that America, and by this we should first point out the initiative taken by the American people, has always come forth to place its manpower and resources at the mercy of those who need it most during desperate times. What is most interesting, and which serves as an example to people of good will throughout the world, is that Americans do not require government intervention to propel us to act.
Americans coming to the aid of Haiti is simply motivated and executed through the sheer force of our values of fairness and good will. It is has often been observed that Americans are very generous where it counts most: our wallets. Yet it is important that we take the time to remind ourselves that this is the case because of our good will, and not because we have a guilt complex for being a prosperous, productive conglomeration of self-motivated, autonomous individuals.
Most Americans are constructive citizens. Most of us are also conservative and traditionalists in our approach to the practical demands of daily life. Research and studies have demonstrated how this particular demographic group is always the most generous with its money. This is a sincere form of action that does not rely on government programs or handouts, and which is not mystified by why government does not do more for us. Conservative and traditional values repudiate the welfare, entitlement mentality.
Also of importance in this matter is the fact that Americans are fair-minded people. We practice fairness from principle, and not because positive law, that is, the law of the land coerces us to do so. Again, the catch words here are: fairness, caring and good will. American aid to Haiti comes as the result of vital, spontaneous acts, and not premeditated, politically-calculated abstractions.
Consider that moments like this time of crisis in Haiti effectively dismantle the thinly veiled ideological hypocrisy of those who preach abstractions like “social-justice.” American aid to Haiti has to do with respect for the plight of individuals who are suffering, not the cardboard, faceless entities who populate the manifestos of intellectually frigid ideologues.
Again, the reality is that sincere, caring people act out of fairness and good will, and not out of artificially prescribed, ideological, textbook or academic abstractions. American involvement and support for the Haitian people since the earthquake easily demonstrates the strength of this truth.
In the real world of men, women and children of flesh and blood, of suffering brought about by natural disasters and institutionalized, political evil, people care out of the goodness formed by their values, not through the strong-arm of ideology.
This, too, is easily attested to by those who have paid close attention to the critics of America since the Haitian earthquake. Hugo Chavez’s vile hate showed its sinister face once again when he said that the earthquake was caused by Americans detonating atomic bombs. Of course, these phantom tests affected the earth’s mantle, which subsequently made the earth purposively tremble right under one of the world’s poorest nations. Does Mr. Chavez care to explain why this same devastation did not take place in Beverly Hills, Geneva or Paris?
Unfortunately, there is plenty of this same kind of hate to go around. The Castro brothers and their murderous cadre also made sure to take the opportunity to stab America by using the earthquake to accuse her of an imperialist attempt to take over Haiti. Then, there is the case of the Italian government official, Guido Bertolaso, who calls American relief to Haiti “pathetic.” Not to be undone, the actor, Danny Glover, has stated that the Haitian earthquake comes as the result of America not wanting to promote global warming initiatives. Of course, these are all lamentable examples of why we have the radicalized hate that we currently enjoy in our little blue marble that is situated 93 million miles from the Sun.
Christian Values
It is an undeniable fact of human existence that suffering is part of the fabric of our lives. Natural disasters happen because we live in a physical universe that, like a machine, has moving parts that interact with each other. The planet that we inhabit is constantly wearing and tearing, and re-making itself precisely because the physical forces that run it are dynamic. These are the cold facts presented to us by geo-physics and other earth-sciences. Human suffering can be said to take over us, even when we have done nothing to merit this.
However, in some respects, we can say that all of our striving, ingenuity and humanity is a response to this truism. Part of the understanding that allows us to flourish as moral and spiritual beings is our admission that human existence is mired in danger. Undoubtedly, we will lose much that is dear to us in our incarnate lives. With this understanding comes the realization that our values must be rooted in the acceptance or least the possibility of transcendence. This is part of our existential/metaphysical nature.
Christian charities are usually the first to mobilize in times of natural disasters. This has already proven to be the case in the Haitian earthquake. Why is this? Sincere, practicing Christians possess two fundamental values that allow them to live in the world without recourse to radical ideological means.
Christians understand that while they may not be able to solve all their immediate or long range problems, they are endowed with a self-regulating will that must act on its own initiative, and for its own sake. Another reason has to do with Christian patience in believing that the mystery of Being and God – the absolute, the prime mover of the universe, etc. – cannot be understood in its totality by finite beings. This allows honest Christians to keep from becoming devoured by the ravages of cynicism and bad will.
Christian goodness is inseparable from its embrace of virtue. This serves as an example of the moral/spiritual bankruptcy of secularism.
While Christians embrace the mystery of being, they are not baffled by the exigencies of human existence. Christians live in the world but do not think of themselves as being merely of the world. In other words, the Christian faith allows its practitioners a modicum of hope that the rampant cynicism of nihilistic, relativistic “post-modernism” can never touch.
The overwhelming response of Americans in lending a hand to the Haitian people ought to be a valuable and lasting lesson to remember in a world that never gets a respite from natural or ideological mayhem.
Related posts:
- Leading Hispanic Evangelical Organization Announces Partnership with CUFI SAN ANTONIO – We are excited to announce that...
- More Panic in Haiti A strong earthquake struck Haiti yesterday, shaking buildings and causing...
- Do’s and Don’ts for Real Haiti Recovery By Ray Walser, Ph.D., The Heritage Foundation The future of...
- Haiti’s Disasters: Natural and Man-Made By Roger Noriega. Before the natural disasters of the last...
- U.S. Reaches Out to Help Haitians After Earthquake Haitians are searching for survivors of the most powerful earthquake...
Praise God for all He is doing. Thanks!
This guy goes on to wag his finger at the UN. The UN who was in Haiti doing a lot of good work in a country that needed it, well before Pat Robertson explained his theory on Haiti. And when the quake hit, they, the UN workers took casualties. Very classy and Cristian to bare false witness.
Of all the countries in the world, the United States is the most generous in giving and providing aid and support in times of disasters. You won’t find Obama pointing that out overseas while he’s apologizing for “American arrogance.” The UN may have been their, but the only reason they can function as an entity is because most of their funding comes from the U.S. I may disagree with many of the Hollywood crowd, but many of them gave more individually than some countries like China, Saudi Arabia and some European coutries. The reason we are so generous is that our roots are based on solid Judeo-Christian ethics.