The wife and I went to see the movie “Lincoln” last night. The auditorium of the Theater was packed with my ‘Older Generation”. Trying to find two seats together in a sea of gray hair, we ended up in two handicap seats down front, which actually turned out to be a blessing! I have serious hearing loss in my right ear and partial loss in my left hear, so I found that sitting down front actually helped with my understanding more of the words. Dah! Now if I could find something to help my mind to ‘comprehend’ what was being said!
The movie was very good with some big names in the cast, and they all did a superb job of showing the battle over whether to set the slaves free or not under Abraham Lincoln. The portrayal of a vast array of emotions on the faces of those for and of those against was very real. Also the battle of the conscience to do the right thing under political pressure of doing what was expected was, well dramatic. You could see the struggle of voting yes to end the slavery, battling with the inner and outer voice to vote no to continue slavery. The power of political men over their lessor colleagues was of course nauseating, and at the same time a reminder that this goes on in our government offices daily.
I encourage everyone to see this movie for an appreciation of the victory that was won for the Blacks in 1865 by the 13th Amendment. If you have read the book ‘Roots’, it makes you appreciate the movie even more so.
The strong exercising their power over their weaker fellowman has been an ongoing battle since Cain and Abel. We all cry for peace and equality, but the ‘ego’ of man stands in the way. As long as we assert our ‘self’ over the ‘self’ of our neighbor, one or the other will end up as ‘property’.
We each have a unique personality that cries for self-expression among the tumultuous babble of the crowd. Giving each other respect as a human being is the least we can do to help promote the peace and harmony that everyone longs to have in their heart. The other part of the equation is giving God the glory for your uniqueness. These two go the distance in controlling the selfishness of one’s soul, and in return helps reap a little respect for the respect that we sow. The law of sowing and reaping!