AMERICAN VALUES

What are we all about here is the good old U.S. of A?

Let’s consider our values – the people, places, things, and ideas that we place the most importance upon.

 

First, the people we value:

Who are the people in the headlines, the newscasts, and on the magazine covers? Who are the people who cause the most trouble, create the most noise, and make the most money? These are the people we value the most.

We value people who are brash, bold, and full of bad behavior;

We value people who are rude, radical, risky, and quite repulsive;

We value people with beautiful faces and beautiful bodies;

We value people with big bank accounts, big egos, and big mouths;

We value people who entertain us, excite us, and ensure our economy;

We value athletes, actors, performers, politicians, and philanthropists;

We value people who can improve ourselves and our situations;

We value doctors, dentists, lawyers, lobbyists, and Wall Street wizards;

We say we value our young people, but still we kill the unborn, send our children to daycare, and rely on school and society to teach them the ways of life;

We say we value our parents and grandparents, yet we refuse to listen to them, follow their examples, or even care for them in their final years;

 

Second, the places we value:

Where are the places people most want to live, vacation, and visit? We value places of leisure, licentiousness, prominence, and bright lights.

We value places where we can find pleasure, be pampered, get plastered, and turn promiscuous.

We value Time Square, Atlantic City, Talladega, South Padre, Honolulu, Key West, Long Island, Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angles, Rodeo Drive, and Bourbon Street;

We value places of pride, pageantry and hero worship;

We value monuments, mansions, and molten images;

We value Washington D.C., Mount Rushmore, Graceland, Neverland, Disney World, and Jerry World;

 

Third, the things we value:

We value the fluff, the frivolous, and the fantasy of life;

We value games, gossip, and greed;

We value new, but confuse it with novelty;

We value size over the worth of substance;

We value cost at the expense of craftsmanship;

We value quick as a replacement for quality;

We value plastic – the fake money (credit cards), faux bodies (plastic surgery), and fabricated building materials produced with it;

We value devices that allow us to see, talk to, and play with anyone in the world while we ignore the people right next to us;

We value work, but talk about the weekend, vacation, and years until retirement while we’re at it;

We value activities of all kinds, though most of our bodies reveal that we are not active at all;

We value the earth, the environment, and the climate, while discarding the Creator who gave these to us;

 

Finally, the ideas we value:

We value the idea of independence, yet have no concept of what it is or concern for the responsibilities it requires;

We value the idea of freedom; until we find out that freedom isn’t free, but very costly;

We value the idea of diversity, while disliking the differences we discover in one another;

We value the idea of owning stuff, but refuse to take ownership (care) of the stuff we own;

We value the idea of having people in our lives, but refuse to care for the people whom we say we value;

We value the idea of free speech, until we hear speeches we disagree with;

 

Yep, good old American Values, we value people, places, things, and ideas that have no value and actually devalue our lives and relationships.