| Letters
to the editor from this week's Chronicle
Redneck Review! No. 303 - 2/14/2021 Enough! A welcome break from the controversy, conflict, and hate that has filled the news the past several weeks! In view of today's date noting the celebration of Valentine's Day with its emphasis on LOVE, peace, and concern, and the coming Christian season of Lent, we reprint here an article written by myself in 1983, appearing in a weekly column called "Let Freedom Ring": "Looking back some weeks, we saw the news all in red with hearts and cards and candy and things, representing 'Valentine's Day.' A day for expressing love. "This week it comes just before Lent, with the memorial of Good Friday, representing the greatest act of love of all time, the death on a cross of Christ Jesus, the son of God and the brother to all, who died for love of all of us. Just what is this love we hear about all the time? "Is it that warm feeling that comes to all of us now and then? Is it that driving force that heroes have which spurs them on to heroic deeds? Or need one look to TV and movies where love is said to make the world go round? "Yes, very broad are the things which pass for love! In a flash, it's clear that much of 'love' today must be grouped under the heading of self-love or selfishness. Examples are every where and the tell-tale characteristics are easy to see. This brand of love measures every thing in terms of what's good for me. One 'falls in love' with people so long as they please me. Such love shrinks and dies when the going gets tough, and demands are made on me. This is the 'love me' kind of love. All goes well and I love you, so long as you love me. Be nice to me, make no demands on me. Be good to me. Take care of me. Do all this and I will love thee. "But there is another kind of love. The 'love you' kind of love. The 'Holy Week, Good Friday' kind of love. The brand which puts God first, puts all ahead of me. The kind of love springing forth from self denial and unselfishness. The 'givers' kind of love. The mortar that holds family, community, and nation together, when times are tough and the chips are down. Such love is the only real kind of love. "We need to face the facts, folks. It's the 'love me' kind of love in all of us that leads to all our problems. What else but the 'love me' kind of love tolerates the economic and social evil seen all around us? The huge deficits which threaten to strangle our children financially, the breakup of family, the millions of aborted souls who are denied the gift of life itself? "It's the 'love me' kind of love represented by a quotation sent this way by a reader: 'In Germany the Nazi first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up... I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up...I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics... I did not speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me... and there was no one left to speak for me.' We all need to rededicate ourselves to God and country and others. Simply put, replace 'love me' love with the 'love you' kind of love! The kind which would solve many of our problems!" Maybe even diminish the hate and violence we see all around our nation today! A tough job! But today, Valentine's Day would be a good time to begin, and of course, it is still a few weeks until 'Good Friday!'" Jake Wren |
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