Goodwill Toward Men?

If ever a slogan was misappropriated, this one: "Peace on earth, GOODWILL toward men", has to be the all-out winner! Especially the part about "goodwill"!

It rings out all over the Christmas season. We hear it from pulpits, in carols, even in advertising jingles. Every year television stations highlight "good" stories- people helping each other, doing good for each other. We get indoctrinated with the "goodwill" theme.

It's supposed to be a "magical" season, when somehow people lose their animalistic instincts and start acting as if they actually respect their fellow man.

WHAT A HORRIBLE JOKE!

GOODWILL toward men?
Webster defines goodwill as, "a friendly or kindly attitude; benevolence, cheerful consent; willingness"

Ebenezer Scrooge said it best: "Bah! Humbug!"
Let me illustrate this with just two horror stories from this Christmas season:

SANDY, Ore. -- A 66-year-old woman was fatally shot in Clackamas County on Christmas Day and her son has been arrested in connection with the death.

Michael Bighaus is accused of walking into a home and shooting his mother, Vivian Bighaus, with a large caliber rifle while her husband was also inside the house, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. Deputies said Bighaus immediately fled on foot from the home on Fernwood Circle about 8 miles east of Sandy.

The shooting set off a manhunt, which shut down Highway 26 on Friday night.

A family member said Bighaus has a mental disorder and may not have taken his medication. The motive for the shooting is unknown.

At 5:50 a.m. Saturday, Bighaus returned to the scene of the shooting and was taken into custody without incident by deputies who were stationed at the home.

(Source: http://www.livepdx.com/news/22061017/detail.html)

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas - Salvation Army Major Philip Wise was killed outside the organization's community center in North Little Rock, Arkansas as his three young children looked on.

Wise had worked for the Salvation Army for 16 years and had been at the Little Rock location for 3 years.

"He was so important to that community," said North Little Rock Police Department spokesman Terry Kuykendahl told FoxNews.com.

The suspects are described as two African-American males and are believed to be 'armed with handguns.' Police are following up on leads, but are asking the public to help them by contacting them with any bit of information they may have.

(Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581229,00.html)

Two incidents of murder at Christmas time.

I could have listed many, many more. But there is no need. These two highlight how out of touch we are with the phrase "goodwill toward men"!! Did the perpetrators of these crimes have feelings of goodwill toward their victims?

The answer is blatantly obvious!

Why is it there are more murders, rapes, shootings, and suicides during this period of "goodwill" than any other time of the year? What is friendly or benevolent about any of these acts?

Why does the media proclaim the same blather about this season, when they know full well it is NOT a benevolent time? And why do religious organizations continue to promote this terrible UNtruth of "goodwill" to an UNheeding, UNhearing, UNfeeling society?

Hatred doesn't stop because it's Christmas.
Bad feelings, grudges, hostility do not suddenly take a holiday!
People don't change overnight and become "better" because of a slogan ringing out in a Christmas carol.

The whole thing is a travesty! Everybody knows it!
There is no magic in this time of year- unless it's black magic.

There are still uncounted numbers of hungry, homeless, hopeless, NAMELESS individuals living on the streets of America. The soup kitchens and shelters can't keep up with the need or even the desire to provide these unfortunate people a warm meal and bed for the night.

The "goodwill" they may receive tonight doesn't change the fact that tomorrow morning they will be back out on the street, the same hungy, helpless, hopeless and nameless individuals they were yesterday. Usually, we don't even think about them, unless one of them happens to freeze to death because there wasn't room for him in a shelter. And then, he or she only becomes another statistic- heard today, and forgotten tomorrow.

Thousands of our young men and women are putting themselves in harm's way defending us in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea. They aren't there because they WANT to be! They're there because someone HAS to be there, because hatred exists all over the earth. There is no "goodwill toward men" in those places, especially toward America. How many of these brave young men and women will become statistics, because of the lack of goodwill among nations?

Thousands of children will go to bed hungry tonight because their dad abandoned them, and their mom, instead of caring for them, is out somewhere getting drunk or stoned. Mom might even end up dead, and then both she and the children simply become more statistics.

GOODWILL toward men?
A husband is without his wife of 44 years today because his own son shot and killed her.
Three children WITNESSED their daddy's MURDER, thanks to a couple of low-life thugs who had no "goodwill" in their heart. Add these to that list of statistics!

How many more acts of horror could we add to this list? Hundreds? Thousands?

We will continue to hear "Peace on earth, goodwill toward men" blare out over loudspeakers for a week or so after Christmas. Then it will all die out, until next December. People will go back to their pre-Christmas ways, lying, stealing, raping, murdering, cheating, abandoning their familes. All the "goodwill" will vanish, because it was never there to begin with!

In a few weeks, we will hear yet more statistics- of families breaking up, filing for bankruptcy, divorcing- all caused by this season of "goodwill".

Where is the goodwill in any of this?
Did anything or anyone really change over the Christmas season?

Mankind's actions will never change for the better until his heart changes, and that will never happen just because of a line in a Christmas carol!

So why don't we just own up to the fact that we are an evil people, living in an evil world?
Why go about the pretense of being something we aren't?
Why don't we just drop this facade, and stop living a lie?
Proclaiming "goodwill toward men" has never yet made it happen!

Maybe we do it because we are trying to impress someone this time of year.
GOD, perhaps?

I don't know. But if that's what it's all about, I don't think it's working.