The way things should be . . .

So I sat in church last weekend thinking to myself:

". . . so if someone decided to do some real harm today, what would my first reaction be?"

I like to think that I would be the first to jump up and without one lesson in martial arts take down the assailant in a mind-blowingly fantastic demonstration of perfect timing and hand-eye coordination.

I see people patting me on the back - a picture in the paper: "man takes down terrorist with bare hands."  Hey - it could happen . . . I mean, the Eagles beat the Patriots . . .

And then I almost made myself laugh out loud at the vivid thought of "what if I sprang upon a would-be-attacker and at the exact same moment someone else had the same thought and we collided in mid-air giving each other a massive concussion?"

The second thought made me sit back in my seat and think about hiding options.

Do you have those thoughts now whenever you are in public?

It's funny because there are some people who would say that our fear is getting the best of us and that is what is making us think these thoughts.

I disagree.

I don't think we are afraid.  I think we are angry.  Righteous anger.  Anger that we live in a world where this is happening.  Anger that there are people who live in Western societies that are allowed to coax people into doing horrible acts while judges in America are ruling about 'Manger Scenes' in public squares.

The world is completely upside down.

So no, it is not racist anger.  It is not seething hatred of another religion.  It is not the kind of anger that seeks to limit Muslims from coming into our country (yes, the political world is completely crazy).  

It is an anger that comes from a vision of the way things should be - the way it used to be.

And I might add - the way it can be.

There is only one solution to the madness of the world that we now live in.  It is called a change of heart.  And it seems like a fitting time of year to take it seriously - because the more that we try to think we can handle all of this, the more it is obvious we are really lost.