It's easy to become depressed if we selectively listen to national news broadcasts and read only what stokes our partisan fires.
We hear that the country has never been more divided, that the United States as a nation is falling apart, that a civil war could break out, that we have lost all of the values that once were dear to this country.
Yes, that's what we hear if we fail to listen to the heartbeat of America. In the heartbeat of America, on this 242nd anniversary of its birth, we see neighbor helping neighbor, folks bringing food to the infirm, scores of children attending vacation Bible school, program after program helping the less fortunate, elders tutoring younger children, ordinary folks thanking military personnel for their service.
We have a choice, you know.
We can be the miserable, the put upon, the aggrieved, the hangdog, the bitter, the dejected, the angry or the resigned, or we can change our fortunes and those of people around us. Instead, we can be the helpers, the teachers, the encouragers, the crusaders, the arbiters, the counselors and the peacemakers.
The Rev. Dr. C. Mark Gooden, a Chattanooga area native recently appointed as senior minister of First-Centenary United Methodist Church, put it this way Sunday in his first sermon to his flock:
"Here's my personal mission statement: To bring hope and encouragement to all people I meet. We live in a world of divisiveness and division and hatred and suspicion You're concerned about what's going to happen in the world, with all the stuff that is happening in the world. "
But, he said, "No situation is beyond redemption. No person is beyond redemption. I ask you to continue to join with me in bringing hope to the world around us, being the light of hope to the world around us, each and every day, that we bear hope to a world that often seems so hopeless."
Gooden was talking about individuals needing to be that personal hope for their fellow traveler as well as offering hope in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
For our purposes today, we're talking only about people being that hope, that spark, that change agent - with family members, with neighbors, with your community, with your world.
We've been heartened by the comments of many of the candidates for the August election invited to discuss their campaigns with the editorial board of the Times Free Press. Sure, they want to get elected, but few have chosen to slam their opponents, be negative about the body in which they work or the situation into which they want to thrust themselves, or rail about the country going down the tubes.
Among them:
-(From an incumbent) "I still love my job."
-(From a challenger) "I love this city. If we put our mind to it, we get it done."
-(From an incumbent) "I still feel good and enjoy the work."
-(From a challenger) "I'm doing it because I see a need."
-(From an incumbent) "Part of the political process [is figuring out] what is best for the community."
-(From a challenger) "It's a choice for voters. There is no choice if you don't put yourself out there."
-(From an incumbent) "I represent a community I know and love."
-(From a challenger) "If we continue to say it can't happen, we'll continue to have the same problems."
-(From an incumbent) "If I'm not helping others, I would be lost."
-(From a challenger) "I'm not going [into the office] to make buddies. The voice of the people has to be heard."
-(From an incumbent) "There are important issues still left [to tackle]."
-(From a challenger) "I wanted to give people a choice."
-(From an incumbent) "I'm not running against anybody; I'm running for the position."
-(From a challenger) "This (Chattanooga) is a wonderful place."
-(From an incumbent) "There's still some more work I can do."
-(From a challenger) "We need to put forth the best and brightest in leadership roles."
Most of the offices the candidates seek are hardly high dollar and require a much larger time commitment - not to mention headaches and constituent complaints - than the "part-time" status the office is designated. With that knowledge, when they say they want to give back to the community that has been so good to them, we tend to take them at their word.
This attitude, we believe, must have been endemic in our Founding Fathers. After all, they came to Philadelphia nearly two and a half centuries ago after journeys of in many cases several weeks. They came with disparate ideas about how a country should be formed, how their colony should matter, how a people should be counted. They endured the searing heat of the summer as they slaved over concepts, clauses and even single words.
Yet, they stuck it out, putting country over colony, the well-being of the whole over the triumph of the few.
Fortunately, many people today - in office and out - still believe in that notion. They believe in being light and hope and help and doing the work of renewal. Today and for the rest of our todays, we can be that person in our flawed but resilient country. We can be the candle in a world that all too frequently loves the darkness.