Have a Little Faith

At times, I find myself losing faith in our society. With economic uncertainty and questionable morality and exploitation of the young and extreme violence drowning our lives in never-ending torrents, I strive to keep my head above the flood of problems. I choose to ignore many of the bad news stories in the media because they tend to depress me when I ingest them. I know my ignorance prevents me from becoming a vibrant part of the solution; however, I often choose this road, telling myself that somehow maintaining distance will assure the strength of my own basic positive convictions. I guess I tend to "pick and choose" my fights with society by supporting issues I perceive closest to home, those issues most likely to affect my loved ones. Yes, I admit this approach is selfish and not very scholarly. Still, I feel as if I am not so much giving up on reform, but I am trying to find some speck of goodness in the darkness while depending on wiser heads to prevail. Sometimes, I do feel like an ostrich sticking his head in the sand. Above all, I try to let my faith support me, a faith that our societal problems can be alleviated by God working through those educated and dedicated to work with these concerns. Gandhi wrote, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Gandhi reminds us that the vast "ocean" of humanity is clean. Negativity may breed negativity but the overwhelming sea of human beings seeks goodness. An individual can change the world when given great support from his followers. Every day numerous people effect positive outcomes with their good work. It seems to me these individuals are the people we all must uplift and help with our own talents to insure the ocean of humanity remains uncontaminated by the waste of those who wish to litter it with false ideals. One of my favorite quotes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us: "Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love." I believe these lines with the faith that love will prevail and assure justice in the end, no matter what the prevailing difficulties may be.