Amelioration

From My Perspective - - -

It seems as though “amelioration” should have a central place and function in all of ones efforts and engagements. Ours is a world of flux and people need and long for some semblance of stability. Just think of the result if we entered into situations – even if there is a degree of risk – to try to ameliorate rather than ignore. The purpose would be to make something better, or to bring about improvement.

The political candidates for President of the US offer interesting perspectives. One wants to bring about “change”! It is fair to ask: Change from what to what! If we alter Foundational Values the change could be chaotic and devastating. Another wants us to strive to leave the country and world better than how we found it. The idea is to be more self-giving than self-receiving! It is fair to ask him: Where do we start this reclamation of values and how sincere is this expression! For both candidates, is it merely rhetoric? Wendy’s some time back had an attention-grabbing commercial when an elderly Lady would ask: “Where’s The Beef?”

If one looks at the Congress that either candidate will have to work with, the track record is dismal. In a recent Wall Street Journal Editorial, the following is stated under the heading: “As U.S. Economic Problems Loom, House, Senate, Sweat The Small Stuff!” Some of what the 110th Congress has (or hasn’t) done: “The 110th Congress, whose term officially ends in January, hasn't passed any spending bills or attacked high gasoline prices. But it has used its powers to celebrate watermelons and to decree the origins of the word "baseball… Barring a burst of legislative activity after Labor Day, this group of 535 men and women will have accomplished a rare feat. In two decades of record keeping, no sitting Congress has passed fewer public laws at this point in the session -- 294 so far -- than this one. That's not to say they've been idle. On the flip side, no Congress in the same 20 years has been so prolific when it comes to proposing resolutions -- more than 1,900, according to a tally by the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense…Congress has saluted such milestones as the Idaho Potato Commission's 70th anniversary and recognized soil as an "essential natural resource…Sen. Saxby Chambliss, whose home state of Georgia has 24,000 acres planted in watermelon, pushed a resolution establishing July as National Watermelon Month." The list goes on and on and on!

The needed focus on both Energy and the Economy – well – Congress decided they needed a 5 week hiatus rather than address the issue of drilling for oil off our shorelines. Do we need “change”? Do we need to be “self-giving”? Do we need to ask our Congress: “Where’s The Beef?”

In The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ spoke of the importance of Foundations. In Matthew 7:24 through 27, Jesus instructed: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” As we hear the rhetoric of the Candidates, we need to make certain they know the difference between rock and sand. The lofty words quite often are sand – no place for a suitable foundation…

Consider these things with me and let us determine to evaluate the foundational values of our own lives. As those designated by Jesus Christ to be both Salt and Light in our world, one needs to give serious consideration in terms of How, Where and When to begin being what we are intended to be by God’s Grace.