FUD for thought

The more I read about current events as of late, the sadder I become.  It is not the media, for I know that they thrive on violence, despair and FUD to line their coffers.  It is not the complex kabuki theatre that is politics in the US, for they are just as culpable and capable as the media to borrow trouble for their own ends.  It isn't the rampant hypocrisy of 'certain churches' with their misplaced nostalgia for Victorian values nor the brazen, rapine behaviour of corporate America nor the economic news which should have me wallowing in shadenfreude like pig in slop.

No...it is a deeper thing that connects them all and goes far beyond.

What I see, day in and day out, is a consistent reinforcement of a self-centered approach to reality which is defined by materialism, consumerism and levels of self-absorption which are just stunning.  Time and again it is about 'me' and 'mine', what directly affects me and how I can get/keep/avoid things that are about me.  The corollary is that people in our society don't truly recognize what is going on around them...who is going on around them...and how their actions or non-actions have consequences for other folks.

In short and and brief, we have (individually and collectively) eschewed our mandate as human beings and treat other people as 'Other', not as people. These things are reasonable enough if you are an amoral and soul-less entity solely devoted to the accumulation of material wealth (i.e. a corporation), but when churches, governments and people start acting this way, they are abandoning the core ethic if being human.

What to do?  Where is God in all of this?

Love removes fear, Faith is the antidote of uncertainty and Hope counters destructive doubt.  Our call to do unto others is a near-direct antithesis to the present day, post-structuralist/post-post-modernist capitalist society.
 
Lord, 

Help me see myself in the Other and them in me;
help me see the Christ within and the Christ in all.

Let my hope be an anchor in the storm-tossed sea;
let my faith be a lamp against the present pall.

Help me reflect your love and mercy;
help me see beyond the present squall.
 
Here I am, Lord.
Let me be an instrument of your peace;
let me be the change you wish to see in the world;