What a Mess

My heart hurts today for all the mess I see around me.  Political.  Social.  Racial.  People are hurting people daily.  People are killing people daily.  A mess isn't the right word for it but it is simple and it is accurate.  A mess has no clarity, no pattern, no ease of resolution.  

What troubles me is that so many people who have the microphone promise a quick fix, a new program, a way out when they don't really have the answers.  What our world is dealing with his "heart" problems.  We are dealing with issues that are deep in the souls of people.  It may be mental illness.  It may be unrestrained anger and rage.  It may be hurt upon hurt, injustice upon injustice and no government program is going to fix it.  It requires people.  It requires relationship.  It requires patience.  It requires unconditional love.  It requires hope when all seems hopeless.  It requires peace in the midst of the storm.  

There are thousands of people out there who are working in the mess without a microphone and without a platform and who are making a difference, one person, one life at a time.  Those are the people we need to seek out and emulate.  Those are the people who have real, workable and sustainable answers.  

I'm tired of waking up to more death and destruction on the morning news.  My weariness means nothing if it does not give me a burden of making a difference.  I hold up Mother Teresa and Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. as examples of people who have made a difference but I want someone else to be the next one, not me.  It's uncomfortable.  It's time-consuming.  It takes resources.  I'm comfortable and I'm busy and all my money is spent.  How can I make a difference?

It's decision time.

Jeff Jones is an aspiring peacemaker.  He has a MA in Conflict Resolution and a BBA in Accounting and has a broad understanding of conflict and peace in organizations and how it affects both morale and financial issues in organizations.  Jeff writes and speaks on several topics to provide tools to create successful organizations.  Follow Jeff on Twitter @credibleleader. You can also reach him at [email protected].