...Cultural Shame

Dear friends... I was saddened, dismayed, and truly disgusted today to learn that a man was trampled to death this weekend by over zealous holiday shoppers. Let me remind you that the origin of 'holiday' is from the Old English 'Holy Day'.
Before I compromise my own dignity and unleash my lower, cynical self - I'd like to share with you some Words from Bahá'u'lláh, excerpted from The Advent of Divine Justice, a series of messages to the American Bahá'í community from Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.

"By the righteousness of God!" writes Bahá'u'lláh, "The world, its vanities and its glory, and whatever delights it can offer, are all, in the sight of God, as worthless as, nay even more contemptible than, dust and ashes." "O ye My loved ones!" He further exhorts, "Suffer not the hem of My sacred vesture to be smirched and mired with the things of this world, and follow not the promptings of your evil and corrupt desires." "Disencumber yourselves of all attachment to this world and the vanities thereof. Beware that ye approach them not, inasmuch as they prompt you to walk after your own lusts and covetous desires, and hinder you from entering the straight and glorious Path." "This civilization," is His grave warning, "so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men.... If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation."

As we have so recently taken the time to ponder and reflect on those things for which we are most thankful; let us now resolve to - individually and collectively - behave in a manner befitting our station as humans. Let us restore dignity this year. When you pray, meditate, or put positive energy into the atmosphere, please remember this man and his family. I do.