The Love Chain Gang

Love! Chain! Gang! These are powerful words, separately or together. They conjure within us strong emotions.

Without being aware of the characteristics of a gang, we may define it as being a group composed of undersirable individuals. The truth is nearly everyone is a member of a gang, and as such, possesses a gang mentality. Among other things members of a gang adhere to a code of honor and ethics, honor that may be dishonorable and ethics that may be unethical.

The chain gang is composed of individuals who are forced and bounded together by others whose objectives are to punish and force them to engage in requited labor. I first encountered a chain gang the first year I attended school. I saw about twenty black men dressed in black-white and zebra-like striped clothing working on Highway 43 in Washington County, Alabama, not far from my school. They were controlled by two white men with shotguns raised in the ready-to-fire position. These black men were shackled, i.e., with chains around their legs.

What a difference there is in a chain gang and The Love Chain Gang where the members are bind together by love. The Apostle Paul says, "The greatest of these is love." John, a Gospel writer, says, "God is love." Like God, when a person loves he does not just love, he is love. The person who loves shares with others the only thing he can, himself. He can only love another person and God as he loves himself. Moreover, he will love others and God as he loves himself. Love is both tender and tough, velvet and steel.

"The Love Chain Gang" is a metaphor which describes the linkage and connectedness that exist as a gestalt martrix where love, chain and gang become one creative and harmonious force that produces salvation, particularly, for its gang members.

A chain consists of links. This is also true of the love chain. In a chain a single link or more than one link is (are) weaker than other links in the chain. When the chain is under pressure one or more links will reveal that it or they are weaker than other links in that chain. When links, representing individuals, in The Love Chain are under pressure, one or more of them will reveal weakness while others will reveal that they are stronger, comparatively speaking. Contrary to and just the opposite of what is true about chains in general, i. e., "no link is any stronger than its weakest link," in The Love Chain the opposite is true , "no link is any weaker than its strongest link." In The Love Chain links do not pull against each but with each other. They pull together and support each other. Consequently, whatever is availabe for the strongest link is available for the weaker link, especially for the weakest link. Here, the Biblical admonishment to "Let the weak say I'm strong" is  a cardinal principle. This principle is described by Jesus in this simple statement, "I was hungry and you fed me. Inasmuch as you did it to the least of my brothers you did it to me." The message is: "when the strong has bread the weak will eat."

Human beings are connected, not just by the umbilical cord, as is true for each person at birth. Cutting our umbilical cords did not separate us from each other. We are connected at all points. We are inextricably tied together in a network of mutuality. We are Humanity Being. Our connectedness is not merely family, tribe, or nation. Our connectedness is humankind species-wise and humankind-at-large.

When humans come to realize that they can no longer be inhumane to others without being inhumane to themselves or destroy others without destroying themselves, just maybe, then they will relish and be proud to be members of The Love Chain Gang.

Let us heed this truth spoken by John Donne who  said, "Do not send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. Any man's death diminishes me because I am invovled in mankind."

Love Chain Gang members are bound not by their legs, feet and hands but by their hearts, minds and spirits. Let us imagine a world where The Love Chain Gang is as powerful as the big bang that created existence and set humans on their journey that is still in process. Members of  The Love Chain Gang declare individually, "I love you not because I need you; I need you because I love you. And what's mind is yours if you need it."

Copyright 2008 by Uriah J. Fields