Fear of the people who live on the other side of the hill constructs a delusional picture of human beings who appear different, the result of human prejudice creating mind filling imagery of the stranger whose appearance among us might well inspire an over reaction based on nothing more than perception that "they" are different.
How each of us responds to our daily trials will more often, or not determine the success, or failure of our strategies to cope with, and surmount the challenges that confront every member of the human race.
Panic and despair are the predictable immediate reactions of very many people when facing life's adversities with the emotions taking charge, and reason consigned to the pending tray.
As a primary school boy Rod Serling's television series "The Twilight Zone" assisted me to understand that the human person can easily surrender to our fears, leading us down a lonely alley into disaster, a cul de sac of no return where the shadows of despair reign, and common sense is consigned to the refuse bin.
Proverbs 8 NIV
12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;
I possess knowledge and discretion.
13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech.
14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine;
I have insight, I have power.
When in those moments of deepest distress we call upon the help of Our Father there is an immediate awareness that He intervenes through our innermost inspiration to set us on a path that will resolve all our pressing dilemmas.
Rod Serling served with the United States Army in The Pacific during the Second World War learning that his wounds were visible, and invisible to the human eye. Serling reminds us that the past mistakes of the human race need to be displayed for the benefit of future generations to prevent a replay, particularly referencing the extermination camp at Dachau.
“They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers.”~Rod Serling
When we rely upon Our Father to assist us with our daily misfortunes there grows an understanding that we could be the stranger alone in a foreign land seeking assistance, and grateful that The Good Samaritan stopped to lend us a helping hand.
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