Changes

Elevate

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. 

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To lift up; to raise; to make higher.  You know, this old world has changed a lot since I was a kid growing up in the 50s.  This isn’t going to be a “wish we could go back to the good old days” post, because there was a lot wrong then, just as there’s a lot wrong now.

But one thing that was much better then is that respect for the Bible and its teachings, while not universal, was  highly esteemed by the majority of Americans–even those who weren’t  claiming to be Christians respected the principles taught in the Bible.

No one objected (that I know of) when the phrase “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance when I was about six.  In fact, I don’t remember anyone objecting to the Pledge, either. I was proud to be an American. I am the daughter of veterans of the Great Depression and WWII, and we loved America.  School programs were often patriotic in nature. I remember learning a song that started “There are many flags in many lands; there are flags of many hues. But there is no flag however grand like our own red, white, and blue.”  We didn’t sing it in anger or thinking we were better than others. We sang it proudly, but not haughtily. We WERE proud to be Americans.

 

We elevated our flag, for which many of our fathers, uncles, and older brothers had fought and died. We were proud to salute it, proud to have it   in our classrooms.

Since those days, there has been a tenacious, creeping, and pretty successful effort to denigrate American history and to make us feel we need to apologize, as Obama did, for our very existence.

I don’t.  I won’t. America has offered more people more opportunity to thrive than any other nation on earth.  Of course, that thriving depends on how hard one is willing to work, and I suppose that is offensive to some.

I didn’t grow up wealthy.  Not even upper middle class.  Lower middle, most of the time.  Now, I’d probably qualify for middle class in terms of income, but in terms of my gratitude for the opportunities I’ve had to do just about anything I wanted to do, I’m definitely in the highest echelons of the upper class.

My parents grew up during the Depression. They were poor.  Most of the people they knew were poor. They worked hard, they had some success.  Dad became a pastor, so they were never wealthy, but they were rich in love and friends and serving God.

I think we’ve lost our bearing about what wealth really is.  We have elevated financial wealth above everything else.  Financial wealth can be destroyed in a day, after a lifetime of accumulation. The Stock Market crashes, and wealth disappears.

I think we need to elevate God back to His rightful position, and get our heads screwed on straight about a lot of other things as well.

I really wasn’t sure where this post was going when I started.  It’s kind of like a chain reaction–one thought following another.

Main idea:  We need to elevate that which is right, and Godly, and just, and merciful. We need to de-elevate selfishness, immorality, and hatred toward anyone who disagrees with us.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/elevate/

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