Peace, God & Love

Those who do not believe in God, or Peace, or Love should probably not read any further. That would be a Boolean decision – if you believe in any one of the previous, then read on. It is my unshakable belief that you cannot have true Peace without some form of Love and understanding and anytime Love is present, so is God.

I recently submitted the photograph below to a contest sponsored by the College of DuPage. The judges felt it good enough to award a prize. It was not a staged photo – I was simply in the right place at the right time. The photo, as I interpret it, illustrates my beliefs on where the world is moving.





Children are not born with prejudices. We adults teach them how to hate. Why do we do that? Because that’s what we learned from our parents, peers, drill instructors, or life experiences. Look at the two innocent children in the photo, one white and one black. They have not yet learned that they are supposed to fear/hate those who are not like them. What a shame that we will soon educate them.

“Not like them” comes in many flavors. Race is obvious, although becoming less so as the world’s population turns brown; religion is not quite as obvious. Christian, Jewish, Muslim – all people descended from Abraham – all believe in the same God. My choice works for me and I am happy to tell others why. I cannot restrict the God that I believe in to only my set of beliefs. So I choose to express my God by the Love that I show to others. It seems to be amazing how people of all colors and beliefs react to that approach. Try it.

Another flavor is economics. The homeless in Glen Ellyn or Cape Town are still homeless, needing food, shelter and compassion. The Love approach works in this case as well. We handed a stocking cap to a barefoot child on Sunday. It broke our hearts, but at least his head will be warm. We’ll be cooking soup this Saturday for the Sunday distribution – it’s a small thing to us but an important one to those who are hungry.

Here comes a somewhat controversial topic, so be careful. Remember how we held up Abraham Lincoln as an example of how a person could rise from a log cabin to the White House? And then we would tell our child that he or she could be anything they wanted to be? (And Hillary almost made that true). The African world is poised to tell their children that they can be anything they want to be. This depends on us having the guts to elect Barack Obama as our President.

It seems obvious to me that the last eight years has brought us the TSA, Homeland Security, 9/11, the Iraq War, $4.50/gallon petrol, food hikes, economic issues, etc. Damn right it’s time for a change because I’m not interested in more of the same. Obama is a well-spoken, Christian (although that is not relevant to his qualifications), intelligent, relatively young person who commands the respect of people throughout the world. Find me a comparable candidate and I will consider him or her.

In the meantime, Floyd Rogers, a dedicated Republican up to and throughout the Nixon years, wholeheartedly supports Barack Obama.

“Electile Dysfunction?” If, and only if, you are self-medicating with status quo pills. Try looking into the future. Ask me how I really feel on this subject.

Floyd