As most of you know I was raised on an Indian Reservation. What you may not realize that we were raised to respect everybody, regardless of how they believe.
My Grandfather was an elder on the council and was very much into our lives as we grew up. One of his favorite sayings was: Walk a mile in the moccasins of your rival before you pass judgment on his actions. I always found that to be sound advice.
Our Country, right now, is so divided it almost feels like we have lost all our compassion. The Right is pushing it’s values and the Left is pushing theirs. Yet no one is thinking of what is happening to our Country in it’s wake. There is no compromise, there is no bending – it is all my way or the highway attitude and guess what we are losing our Country because of it.
I served our Country for the greater part of my life and am proud of it. I fought for our Constitution and all it stands for. I served to keep the freedoms we as a Country have and rights that go with it. I have seen many of my friends loose their lives fighting beside me. Yet when I mentioned I support the second ammendment a while back I was told; If you live by the sword you will die by the sword.
This is Memorial Day weekend where we honor those who fought for your freedom and for those who lost their life’s doing it. Yet many pastors today feel these are God given rights and those who serve and died to protect our Constitution, which guarantee’s those rights have done little or nothing for them, and don’t give Veterans the respect they really deserve.
What has happened to our Country? Where is the compassion we used to have for each other? Why can’t we pick each other up and work together as we used to in this Country?
We are so wrapped up in our own little worlds that we forgot we are America, the greatest Country in the world, and we are great because we stand up for each other beside each other. We all need a little compassion for our fellow man and our neighbors. We all need to walk a mile in the moccasin’s of our neighbors to realize that life just may be a little harder for them. We need to be more tolerant of each other.
We need to work together to take back control of our Country and get it out of the hands of the big corporations. We need to remind everyone that we the people are America and we are what makes America strong.
Happy Memorial Day to all Veterans!
Let there be peace on earth!
Courteous comments are appreciated.
Ed Christian's World 
Thank you for your service, Ed.
As far as the “live by the sword, die by the sword” goes, I think Jesus brings us a new way to choose to live. It’s our personal choice how we want to live. Jesus seems to show a pacifistic approach as I understand the bible.
The problem is lack of respect for the personal beliefs of others. The Bible is the word of God and yes Jesus showed us a different way to live life, however the world still wants to fight each other. As a man here in the United States I was required to go to war. I went and although I didn’t like what I was doing I did it to survive. I learned to live with a gun and that gun became my life companion. Believe it or not we live in a dangerous world.
While serving our great Country, I also learned how corrupt our government is and how they do things against the law in the name of national security. That showed me that I can’t trust our government either. So I have my gun. My personal choice is to end all war and clean up the government. It won’t happen in my lifetime.
We are the people of America. We are all different, but with a common bond, to keep our families and Country safe. Let us all respect that!
I can agree with this…I do wish it was a world that was easier to be Christ like in. I have guns too, because of the insanity, to protect my child and property. I would love to embrace pacifism as Jesus did, but I’m not sure how long I would survive if I did.
Jesus said to love God with all your heart and to love others as He has loved you. That is unconditional love, without looking for something in return.
Some people have a problem loving unconditionally, because they are always looking for something back. When you can love unconditionally you can walk the walk in peace with yourself and God. I am at peace with myself and God.
Pacifism has both good and bad points. In our world, we cannot live without police to help control crime or the military to help keep our Country safe. Pacifism requires world peace, I’m not sure we will ever experience that.
Continue your walk, my friend, learn to love others as Jesus has loved you and your life will change remarkably.