America's Great Legacy: Love Thy Neighbor, Not

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love." - John 15:9 (KJV)

Sometimes a picture says it all and you can't label it fake or alternative facts. To be "great again" implies that we were once "great before". Let's keep it real. America has never been great.

Instead, we are a nation with bountiful opportunities like no other and there are plenty of great people who dwell here. Yet, we must always strive to do better and move forward towards unity, not division. The "real truth" is that we have an ugly past as a nation built upon genocide, slavery and segregation. In the photo below, Dorothy Counts is shown after her admission to Harry Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1957, she was the first black student to attend an all-white school. Needless to say, her parents pulled her out four days later after relentless harassment from the other students. This is such a shameful stain upon our legacy as a nation and it displays ignorance of students who inherited their core values from the parents and their parents' parents, etc.

Thank God, not everyone is like the students surrounding Dorothy. Some have enough of a moral conscience and capacity for human compassion that enables them to speak up against injustice and unfairness.

It is not my intention to make this post about racism or bigotry, but merely to illustrate what we are capable of descending to when we fail to practice "Love thy neighbor as thyself". I would like to encourage all to examine their hearts when speaking or acting and determine if the source of your behavior or motivation emanates from love. I think if we even practice this just a little, it will truly make our nation great.