As I mourn the apparent setback for a country emerging from domination by terrorists, I’m reminded in several corners, the influence writers have to create controversy, introduce radical ideas, and offer hope. Writers in this age have used their pen to change world views—some for the better. These feel like desperate days with earthquakes, floods, pandemics, governments falling, and egos run amok, but it helps to take a few deep breaths and realize our earth has endured worse.
As a believer in Christ, and hope for an afterlife with God in heaven, I see the selfishness, arrogance, pridefulness, and violence raging today as more evidence of how dearly we need faith in our hearts. Humans can’t handle big tasks well. Since the beginning of recorded time–and let’s thank a writer for keeping the documentation going–we have stumbled at almost every juncture, ruining good and noble ideals set before us. And yet, the sun still rises, babies are born, and harvests yield nurishment.
That’s not to say there haven’t been strides in human development, civilization, medicine, arts, education, and society–there have been, and I’m grateful to live in the age where personal freedom is more widely available than ever before. But I have to ask . . . can we turn the camera lens off ourselves for a while? Quiet the talking heads. Urge writers to go where people really live, beyond the satellites signals and the advertisers’ agenda, and reconnect with humanity, nature, and faith. That’s where we find what’s worth writing about . . . that where we’ll discover the truth that is worth sharing. Maybe, that’s where peace lives.
