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Old Acquaintances We Shouldn't Forget... 12/29/2011 6:25:21 PM
So in a few hours we'll sing Auld Lang Syne, eat and or drink too much, make promises to ourselves and hope 2012 is better...but maybe we shouldn't forget some of those old acquaintances we sing about with such nostalgia...
So there is much in the world to bemoan, to rise up against--and I can't get the attacks against Tim Tebow, the Denver quarterback, out of my mind.
I'm not as faithful as I should be, not what many would call "religious" in a formal sense of the world. I'm pro life with a strong belief that certain situations call for choice--with no one butting in or condemning. So I'm not of the Tebow as saint persuasion.
Yet when we mourn lost acquaintances every New Year, perhaps our greatest lost is the tolerance and acceptance of those who do believe, and the ability to support their rights to not only exist, but to express their faith freely and without assault on their reputations and sometimes even on their persons: this is the U.S., for heaven's sake.
Traditions that founded our country have been stripped away to preclude "offense." In other countries, one respects the traditions and laws of the country. In many countries, if you offend someone, even innocently--you die.
Why is it then that those who celebrate Christmas are shunted aside, their children taught to sing "I wish you a happy holiday"? Why is it that in an athletic culture that is more often drug dealers, dog killers, and those involved in gun play or knife fights, one man kneeling in silence to pray should be such an evil? Why should he be humiliated, condemned, and generally persecuted by those who want absolute freedom for their actions, but cannot extend freedom to others?
2012 will be, according to the Mayan culture, the end of time. I saw a cute cartoon showing the Mayans laughing about the fear their calendar would engender--they had simply run out of room for more dates.
I'm not afraid of the world ending. I'm afraid of America ending, if our old friends reason, respect, common sense and freedom of expression for all do not return to our lives.
Happy 2012.
P. S. For more on Tebow, please see my Rio Returns blog site at:
