Is the power to destroy greater than the power to create?

My Mother’s favorite mantra was, “A place for everything and everything in it’s place!”

We all long for order in our lives.  We establish boundaries and patterns of behavior to ensure our control.  As it turns out, much that happens to us is not in our control.  We struggle to keep  from drowning in the flood of events — personal, community, national and international that ambush us.

As we move into the future we see before us our vision of America where there is Freedom, Justice, Opportunity and Security.  In order to keep these ideals operating we must be diligent in our search for the truth.  Compromise is not always possible.  Sometimes the choice we have is simply between what is “right” and what is “wrong”!

“Global warming” is a reality.  It is not a matter of opinion.  “Income disparity” continues to grow.  People may find employment in today’s economy but their income doesn’t cover their expenses.  “Healthcare” is an ongoing concern, intensified by addiction to opiates and gun violence.  Regulations protecting our water, air and ground have been cut allowing toxins to invade our environment.

The conundrum caused by “immigration” has always been with us.  The present administration is using the plight of refugees to divide our nation and fan the winds of fear and paranoia.  The reality is we need these people.  Americans are living longer and families are having fewer children.  If we want to grow the economy, pay taxes and support Social Security, we need to take new people into  the country to help us meet the cost.

It has been a source of concern for me that our current President spends his time denigrating professional people, our institutions, our allies, and saying the press is the “enemy of the people”! 

Many years ago I sat in my dining room at 2901 Girard Avenue and watched as the house next door was torn down.  Trucks arrived at 8 a.m.  A wrecking ball was hurled into action, reducing the house to a broken pile, a tangle of wood sticks and mortar.  The debris was loaded into dumpsters a half block long and carted away.  Tractors leveled and smoothed the ground where the house had stood.  By 1 p.m. the area became a parking lot.  I don’t know all that is involved in building a house.  I do know it takes planning, materials, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and time.  Destroying what they built was accomplished in one morning.

Another memory I have is a friend who was brought down on the streets of Chicago by a single bullet in a drive-by shooting.  In that moment a wife lost her husband and children lost their father.

It takes knowledge, talent, perseverance and time to build  friendships, government institutions, learn to play an instrument, paint a picture, build a bridge, grow flowers and vegetables.  It doesn’t take skill to tear apart what others have created.

This is not a time for complacency. If we want to preserve the promise for a “more perfect union” for our country and the world we must diligently seek truth and facts and establish an authentic foundation for confronting the problems we face.  We have to get out of the comfort zone and embrace political candidates who have integrity and care about education and healthcare.

As I write this, bombs made in the United States are falling in Yemen, killing helpless civilians and devastating their land.  I will continue to wonder, “Is the power to destroy greater than the power to create?”