"I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day... to SAVING THE LIVES of the young people who are GOING TO DIE in the Future IF WE don’t FIND SOME NEW WAY, some new religion maybe, that takes WAR out of our Lives."
-Andy Rooney (60 Minutes, CBS - Memorial Day 2010)
There is an obvious distinction between one's Spiritual Relationship with God (Love… Life... whatever you happen to call it), and Religion (or how one chooses to handle the Cultural Practice of Human Traditions that have been passed down from our ancestors to Guide us… to help us Find God… "Love" Again).
I grew up in the Protestant Christian Church and have studied most of the World's religions throughout high school, college, and beyond. I still subscribe to my Christian beliefs, and support/attend church, but I am careful when I talk about "RELIGION" because I see value in all peoples' ideas and cultural beliefs. Why is it important to remain objective and value others beliefs, even if they are different from our own? Well… How sure can we ever be that we truly have something "figured out"… that we ever "know" ANYTHING "beyond a shadow of a doubt"?
1 Corinthians 13 (The Love Chapter: "Love is patient, Love is kind…") describes the attributes of LOVE. I had this memorized back in the 3rd Grade, so it surprised me when last summer, during a road trip to Yellowstone with my cousin, and I "found something new"! I was listening to the Bible on my iPod and a truth resonated in me like never before! The Message Translation of 1 Cor 13:9 tells us that "We know only a portion of the Truth, and WHAT WE SAY ABOUT GOD IS ALWAYS INCOMPLETE!" Verse 12 says "We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist…"
Can we say it yet? Religion is simply Man's Attempt to grasp the Meaning of Life, Death, God, Purpose, Self-Actualization, and Spiritual Enlightenment. It's the hope of Heaven, and every religion has roots based in ONE PARTICULAR culture, one small point in time and geography. As technologically advanced as we might like to think we are, do we have ANY IDEA how to properly channel our Spiritual Energy? Do we even know what RELIGION is? Even Jesus, himself, said that "True Religion" is Taking Care of Widows and Orphans in their time of need.
This Memorial Day, I heard Andy Rooney's ending rant on 60 Minutes, and it may have been the most profound editorial I've heard thus far. He was talking about how most of the wars throughout human history have centered around "god" or some conflict stemming from two differing religious viewpoints, and he was contemplating what we are actually celebrating with "Memorial Day" in the US. "Remembering doesn’t do the remembered any good, of course. It's for ourselves, the living. I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day, not to the memory of those who have died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future if we don’t find some new way - some new religion maybe - that takes war out of our lives. That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating." -Andy Rooney
Click Here to read more of this GREAT ARTICLE on the
CBS 60 Minutes "Memorial Day" Special!!
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/29/60minutes/rooney/main6530502.shtml
-Matthew J Doughty
MUSIC and LOVE.
* .Maktub. *
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http://www.MatthewJDoughty.com
Andy Rooney
