boycott, thoughts, and a missing pot

I am boycotting the boycott. Kind of.

The walkout, marches, protests, parades, and riled screaming: I am just not sure what the message is supposed to be when a very large, angrily chanting~in~Spanish fella shoves a green flag into my open car window as I drove LaLa to preschool this morning. He and his friends' strange but peaceful attempted blockade of the intersection was thwarted by one of about 891 million police officers on duty today. And I am left with the consistent feeling that we are a lost people. So thirsty. But yet dedicated to continually drinking from the same poisoned well. Content to slap band aids on cancer patients and call it a day.

Every human being has value in the eyes of the Lord, and we must bind ourselves to the example of scripture and love one another. Love. One. Another.

But we must not cheapen that love by redefining it to be blanket acceptance of every societal whim, replacing what is legal/illegal with what is easiest to live with or what makes most people happy. 'Righteous' and 'popular' are often antonyms, we must guard ourselves against choosing one at the expense of the other. Loving one another as Jesus exemplifies and without prejudice or boundary does not mean we must discard, disrespect, and dismantle the borders or the laws of our sovereign nations in order to do it. Loving others must not be made tantamount to a political philsophy. Loving others is not dependent upon their legal status. Loving others must not be equated to our willingness to amend laws at the demand of those who break them.

The concept of immigrants of all cultures and nations blending to form the substance of America as a "melting pot" is a brilliantly accurate, laudable vision of this nation. Both past and present. That we should each bring our own set of ingredients to add to the uniquely evolving recipe that defines what America is - the content of our soul as a nation of collected people - is a blessed GIFT for all of us, paid for by the actions, sacrifices, and lives of others. But this beautiful, traditional "melting pot" concept does necessitate the presence of the POT in the scenario, does it not? Without the structure of laws, standards of right and wrong, definitions of illegal and legal, and accepted ideals of what it means to be American which form the "pot", we have nothing to contain or facilitate the melting process within. Lately, it seems we are hellbent on throwing out the "pot" altogether. Abolishing the laws, rules, standards, criteria, and sovereignty of the nation itself destroys us all. If we toss the pot ~ if we make right, wrong and wrong, right, and if we abolish the sinews of laws, commonality, God, ideals, ethics, hope, and traditions that bind us together as a unified people ~ our nation dies. Instead of blending together in a uniquely wonderful recipe within the "pot" which is the United States of America, we become a smelly mess of unrepentant individual ingredients, burnt to a crisp on the stove. That tragic potential reality is wholly avoidable. It is up to us.

We are one people, one nation under God, with one government, one Constitution, one language, one law, one hope, one peace. We are in this together. And we must rise to the challenge of tempering grace and mercy with unity, liberty and justice for all.

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Historical tracking of my journey with respect to this issue:

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/benamon/060501
http://www.mexico-child-link.org/mexico-project-work.htm

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." ~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1907.

“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here. ~ [Patrick Henry, May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." ~ Romans 13:1-7

"Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled {the} law." ~ Romans 13:8