U.S.: America the Barbaric

We have spent another week watching the events in Boston unfold; on the heels of one senseless act of violence after another. We ask why and blame pressure cookers, nails, the Internet, knives, guns and fertilizer for each incident. One must look much deeper to see the real reason. The truth lies in the hearts of us all.

It has been said that America was great because America was good; and we, the people, were great because we were good. A democracy is based on a people who are self-governed, who carry the Golden Rule in their hearts, and on whose walls of justice hang their Creator’s Ten Commandments. America’s Golden Age prevailed when we extolled these virtues. If these simple commandments are not followed, thousands of laws and rule by an iron hand will follow.

Thus we are sliding into a barbaric state. Cameras watch us in stores and on the street.

Electronic tags in stores prevent shoplifting and raise prices on everything. Our children wear torn clothes and shirts decorated with skulls. Their heroes are those in vampire movies.

Without lofty ideals we become a culture of death. When a family member dies, how many of the heirs become looting, unprincipled barbarians, so like Vikings, and without mercy? Our art is impressionistic, no longer a thing of beauty with fine details painted with a single-haired brush. The music we listen to is no longer smooth and inspiring with words of love; it has become a cacophony of noise and un-intelligible words.

As a people, we have lost our moorings, cast adrift into a darkening storm. We have renounced our own Creator, our Father, and if we can no longer love Him, how can we love each other? We are at a crossroads; to pursue again a lofty ideal of a self-governed Golden Age or follow a selfish road into a Barbaric America.

SUSAN E. DREDGE

Coeur d’Alene