If the Lord had not been on our side . . .
- From Psalm 124
When I was a kid, and families were large, there was one leveling factor that worked in the favor of smaller, dumber, nerdier, weaker, and uglier kids:
Almost everybody had an older brother, or cousin, that would stand up for them.
I was not a big kid, and outwardly, not very tough looking. But it didn't matter. I was "Little Darr," and my brother was "Darr." He was the starting quarterback, an athlete, and a kid that would fight. Nobody would mess with me. And he had big friends. A block and a half from our house, was my brother's best friend, Pat Cotturone. If people didn't know my brother, but they knew Pat, then I had it made.
A bunch of bigger kids from another neighborhood came into our block once. They didn't know me, or the two or three little squirts that were with me. We got a head start into our block, and as we turned up into my yard, out came my brother and two or three of his defensive lineman friends. The other kids turned around, ran, and never came back.
There's a downside, of course. My little brother came after me, and everybody always underestimated his athletic abilities.
But in the end, everything evens out. It turns out that that there's nothing so effective at leveling the playing field, as the loyalty of friends and family. And there's nothing so nurturing and caring for all members of a community, than a large family that can see to your needs.
We shouldn't need help from government . . . and probably don't.
Loyalty is a virtue that gets undervalued. We see people all the time, at an alarmingly increasing rate, turning their backs on people that are counting on them.
Young people, today, turn their backs on the family that nurtured and sacrificed for them . . . because of some fringe group on the West Coast that will accept them "as they are." People turn their backs on their aging grandparents, in order to have fun with friends they will never remember in ten years. They unfriend family on Facebook, because of politics, and embrace f-bomb-wielding strangers, on a account of some likes and shares.
We've got to be able to count on people . . . when they let us down, it feeds anger, resentment, bitterness, and in extreme cases: rage. Loyalty is not a premium today. The divorce rate, and frequent moves of families with children, testifies to the problem.
Shooters go into malls and gun down strangers. We all want an answer, but we won't let anyone introduce the problem of disloyalty as a root cause.
And yet, loyalty may be the glue that makes caring, and fairness happen.
God is loyal to us. He is unconditionally loyal to us. He has made a promise He will keep . . . even if we renege on our end of the deal. The Father of Time has our backs, for all time.
And if God so values loyalty . . . shouldn't we?
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