Ken Loyd's Eclectic Blog: Ring Around the World

Let me be perfectly clear. I'm not for one world government, nor one world economic system, nor one world language. I'm only for one world religion if by free choice all people of all nations chose the salvation made possible by the one true God through his only Son, Jesus. But God would not force this free gift on us.

Nevertheless, I have proof that God LOVES all those people of all nations. Furthermore, there is evidence that he desires that WE love others as He does. Not an easy task. So I guess "Christians" are at least not being hypocritical when they state openly that they don't want to see people of other national origins, listen to any language other than their own native tongue, or put up with any other discomforts or inconveniences caused by having these "others" around. While the rhetoric may all be against "illegal aliens," in practice, these individuals often lump all non-Americans together.

Most folks realize that America, both now and for centuries into the past has been a land of diversity. American citizenship cannot be discerned by the fluidity of English speech nor any physical trait. But some would even have us narrowly re-define citizenship now to exclude those they deem undesirable.

The picture that appears at the beginning of this blog is of a paper placemat I saved from childhood. I do not recall the occasion, perhaps Vacation Bible School, but it pictures people of the world positioned around the globe with its four compass points. Each compass point contains a cross, making the clear point that people of all nations, races, and languages need the salvation the Lord offers.

The bordering Bible verses emphasize what God intends for us to treat our brothers and sisters like.

May the Lord make your love for one another and for all men wide and full like my love for you that your hearts may be strong. I Thessalonians 3:12

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:31-32

Let us love one another: for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. . . . God is love. I John 4: 7-8

God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him. Acts 10: 34-35

I've consistently heard this message proclaimed by Sunday School teachers and preachers all my life. Yet some individuals have no problem with narrowing the sub-group of whom they must love according to their own flawed criteria.

I'm most appalled when children are innocent victims of the "bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice" that are now prevalent in mass e-mails, letters to the editor, and talk radio.

One current push here in North Carolina is to charge children of illegal aliens (many of whom were born here and are citizens) out-of-state tuition to state universities and community colleges. This is a thinly veiled effort to deny these children (a miniscule number, according to authorities) access to the benefits of our democratic system and to punish them for events over which they had no control. Proponents of this crackdown are seeking to be punitive and restrictive; their goals are not truly budgetary, but to lock out targeted groups to make survival so difficult that they will surely go "home." But for a child who has lived his or her whole life here, whether right or wrong, this is the only "home" he or she has ever known.

Political and economic debates will continue to rage, but I offer a couple of simple poems in support of the voice of reason; a voice to draw us together, not drive a wedge between us.

Ring Around the World

by Annette Wynne

Ring around the world

Taking hands together

All across the temperate

And the torrid weather.

Past the royal palm-trees

By the ocean sand

Make a ring around the world

Taking each other's hand;

In the valleys, on the hill,

Over the prairie spaces,

There's a ring around the world

Made of children's friendly faces.

This one is more familiar:

It's a Small World

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears,

It's a world of hopes and a world of fears,

There's so much that we share

That it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all.

It's a small world after all,

It's a small, small world.

There is just one moon and one golden sun,

And a smile means friendship to everyone,

Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide,

It's a small world after all.

It's a small world after all,

It's a small, small world.

May God grant us all the grace to accept His blessings for ourselves and our families without wishing to deny those blessings for those outside our chosen circle. And may the circle of those we love and accept as brothers and sisters continue to widen and flourish.