The grass had been perfectly mowed & neatly packed. I was moved by the simple pastoral beauty of the scene, as I traversed the river that bordered the field. Yellowing hay bales, simple edifices of deliberation and order, dotted the otherwise flat, green expanse. I considered them. How seasonal. How tenuous their presence. I thought about the ephemeral nature of my own physical existence. Oh how fleeting! Those bales - testaments to the transience of all human effort. Even so, a comforting reminder of the presence of order, method, structure, deliberation and definite purpose - that sentient life is not mere random chance.

By the next morning, some kids had pushed one of the bales into the river. By the afternoon, a second bale had been pushed into the river. Bored kids doing mischief, because they long for a real reason to risk, to feel truly alive. And so, in their thrillseeking, they destroyed a piece of someone else's property and besmirched someone else's beauty. They increased the disorder that exists in this world, contributing to the idea that all things return to entropy - that there is no lasting order in the universe.
At first I was really annoyed. I imagined what the state of this world would be if every bored youth decided to seek excitement through acts of vandalism. Then I realized how hypocritical it was of me to be annoyed at the kids. How many times, when I was a youth, had I myself not engaged in some sort of mischief?

At once, I found myself grieving for them, and wishing that the kids had some clarity of purpose, and a better appreciation for the impact their actions have on other people - how inextricably and astoundingly interconnected we all are.
If only they knew how much more there was for them to live for.

Imagine if we all lived for love, real love. What might real love look like?

I thought of Jesus Christ's Parable of the Samaritan...

I thought also of a news account from some years ago, in which we heard of one heroic man taking on (and overcoming) five airline hijackers. He told news reporters afterwards that he believed he "could do it."

I considered the true tale of two schoolboys who, on one summer evening in 1985, responded with relish at the opportunity to be modern day knights, when they heard a woman's desperate screams from a nearby ditch. They charged into action swiftly, wielding a cricket bat and a BB gun and scared a would-be rapist witless. He fled for his life! The terrified college girl, albeit in shock, emerged from the ditch, unkempt, but otherwise unscathed.


I also considered, with deep grieving in my heart, the account I heard recently of how bystanders stood on a well known city street and watched as a man progressed from shouting at his wife to beating her to death. Nobody did anything to help. Nobody! But they stood and they watched. Is this what we find ourselves doing in our own lives, our relationships - standing and watching?

Are we the bystanders in this life, who will be swift and vociferous to express our "rights" to live as we see fit, but are unable to overcome our fear of standing up for the opressed, or for what is right, when to do so would pose the threat of facing conflict? Or, are we of the seed of the Lion - those who take a hold of love and live fearlessly for love? Are we prepared to put our safety, yes even our very lives on the line for real love?

For in truth, we owe it to one another - to love.

Blessed are those who defend the rights of the oppressed.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Blessed are those who love and are loved.

Let us imagine, for a moment, this scenario: more people taking risks for what really matters. How would this world look around them?

What if we were prepared to look foolish to champion causes that are truly worthwhile?

What if we were prepared to get into trouble for what is right, instead of always playing it safe?

So, we can expend our energies on our own personal freedoms - we can fight for our "right to party," or, alternatively, we could live dangerously and choose to live out of real, self-sacrificial love.