The Joy of Me

I have heard it mentioned several times in Church is the Biggest Lie that Satan tells you is that he does not exist. Lies are subjective and I would like to put forward that I believe the biggest lie we are faced with in our culture is the " Me first "lie.
Our culture is all about self , the importance of self , the appeasment of self , the nurturing of self , the training of self , the grooming of self , the gospel of self ...this culture does not escape any of us, though it can be argued some are more enamoured of themselves than others.
Their are very few totally alturistic people in this world , those who do good things for others , usually do it for themselves as well , but at least in their case they are doing good things for others.
You can't escape this doctrine of self, we are told and encouraged to take care of ourselves , we are told we deserve a break today , that we should have it our way, that its time for us , that we deserve this thing or that thing...Most of us live as if we are the stars of a movie about US. and its the only one showing at the theater. Not only is the movie about us we get upset if others don't know the movie is about us , we want them to know the words we have written for them , where we want them to stand , how fast or how slow to go on the freeway, we want people to answer the phones when we want them too and stop calling when we want them to stop calling.
I know this well because I have my own movie as well...and it is the only one playing .
We live in an age of entitlements , we demand service , yet are unwilling for the most part to give it. In a word we are selfish.
You go for a visit and someone prepares a meal for you and you complain there is too much salt , or that you perfer Endive over Romaine lettuce . You get iced tea from your host and you tell them its too sweet. You stay at a Hotel and you complain about the feather pillow instead of foam ...we have become a nation of whinners.
I know a person who was offered free housing to save on his travel expense then complained bitterly that the bed was too small he expected a King size bed ...
And it goes on and on. I rarely see people holding doors for other people , in the middle of a converstaion they answer their phones as if you are invisible, driving down the road people throw out their trash and ciggerettes because they don't want to have to deal with the trash and the butts...because ..its their movie , everyone else are just extras to make them look , act and feel better.
If this malady were just isolated to us as individuals it might not be so bad , but it spirials out ward , we choose our elected officials not for what they might do for others , but for what we hope they will do for us...we stockpile nuclear weapons so if necessary we can destroy half the world to protect our way of life ..and we allow surrogates to go forth into harms way so that we might live a more worry free life ...
We have totally bought into this Sacrifice for our Country idea haven't we ? Yet before you lynch me consider this ..imagine that the next door neighbor comes to your house , this is the boy you watched growing up , playing catch with his father, shooting hoops in the drive way , you saw him one night slip into his freshly washed car with a bright blue tux on ..this boy who has just graduated from High School comes up to your door step and says " Kenn, I have decided to join the Army I want to protect you from terrorism and to do that I am willing to sacrifice my life " and you give him a big hug and say you will pray for him...sounds reasonable doesn't it ?
I think I would say something else , something like please don't do that ..I don't want you to sacrifice your life for mine ...in fact if it means that I might die at the hands of a terrorist instead of you I will gladly take my chances ...Instead , go to College , get married , have children watch them grow up and if on the way you help to find a cure of Cancer or Diabetes , then ..you will have in fact done more to save my life or prolong it than risking your life in a distant place , walking around with a target on your back.
You see I beleive that Love ( true love ) means that the needs of others become more important than your own. I do not need the youth of our Country to sacrifice themselves for me ..I would nver ask someone to risk their life for mine ...period.
I will take my chances ...And I will trust in God .
But as a nation we have neatly packaged and decorated the Sacrifice of our soldiers , and there is no doubt they are being sacrificed ..over 4000 and counting ...honestly its not unlike the ancient Aztecs sacrifing their children in the Human Sacrifices to provide annual crops ...
You see ...we do these things, allow these things , not because they are good for others , but because they are good for us ..Of course we try to say we are doing this for others , that we are doing good and helping others , but we know , deep down inside we know we are doing these things because the thought of losing our freedom , our language , our carpeted homes , our SUV's and Skidoos is so abhorrent to us that we will accept a few human scarifices to make sure we can maintain our way of life .
And way of life means a culture that takes care of me