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I have been a witness all of my life. It kept me safe. Witnessing great and small, learning from interactions, or the lack thereof, doing my best to separate truth from fiction and all of the grays in between. There isn’t much I can say with certainty about anything. Except that we, you and I, are fashioned to experience change. Sometimes, that change comes with growth, sometimes regression; those, too, are subject to the observer’s interpretation.

But change, as most of us are well aware, is hard. For some, it is insurmountable. Founding principles are always fashioned within the confines of the times in which they arise. Usually, they arise from the disgruntled ache of what was, that is no longer, and then become something that can coexist with then and now.

God, the concept, the reality, the language, continues to be one of those measures of change. Baal, once revered as the Lord of Fertility among a people heavily dependent on agriculture, was the central deity in ancient Canaanite culture, later vilified by those seeking to adopt a monotheistic perspective centered on Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews. Baal gradually became Satan of the early Puritan Christians. Religion has an ebb and flow; Faith does not.

There has always been an influential trajectory of change. There have always been sides. Which is Myth and which Reality belongs solely to the perspective of the observer and those who rely on others’ vision to see.

We are witnessing a failed attempt at a strict interpretation on both sides of just about everything these days.  Dissent is transcendental and necessary to reach a higher state of being.  

I have often wondered why it is so challenging, seemingly impossible, for each side to see the other. I had just as much fun as a brunette as I did a redhead or a blonde. I could cite countless conflicts between opposing forces throughout history. Yet the lens is narrow when love and compassion emerge between us. Embracing the idea that we are a people of shared humanity, even amid bitter conflict, is the challenge. There is, of course, the Iliad and General Howe’s Dog, Romeo & Juliet, Mildred and Richard Loving, and Jesus’ love for his enemies as some poignant examples.  

Love and compassion are the exceptional choices. Those who master the idea and harness the power of love to transform enemies into allies are our martyrs and our teachers. Love is about compassion, empathy, and connection. War of any sort, real or imagined, is about aggression, dominance, and inevitably destruction. Peace is a balance between the two.

I do not see compromise or inclusion as a watered-down version of love. It is an opportunity to bridge a gap and prevent a chasm from forming. I see it as a hand and a heart willing to listen, share, and be influenced or influence a changed perspective. Disdain and anger are never the answer. I choose love, tolerance, and most of all FAITH in God. I strive to live by Spiritual Principles that continue to shape who I am. I am grateful for the changes I have experienced, despite the challenges some of those changes have presented. “For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” James, 2:26