“For centuries, the battle of morality was fought between those who claimed that your life belongs to God and those who claimed that it belongs to your neighbors—between those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of ghosts in heaven and those who preached that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of incompetents on earth. And no one came to say that your life belongs to you and that the good is to live it.”
The ownership of a life must be taken by the one breathing, not by an outsider who takes claim like a foreign invader. In any life, there are many choices, obligations, and options that come into play as one traverses the world. At the end of the day, we are only left with the choices we make. That’s the one gift we have.
The very gift man used to turn from God is the very greatest gift God ever gave to man; choice.
The single bite of the proverbial fruit is what makes every “I love you” beautiful, and every “I hate you” putrid and harming. Free will. Choice. And the ability to choose yes/no, right/wrong, up/down, love/hate.
This is why we are human. It is the free thought and mind we have that separates us from our animal brothers and sisters; those bound only by instinct and their surroundings.
Yet, in all of us is a little bit of that animal. Whether or not we like to admit it, each of us is capable of very, very shocking things. The innocent old lady will turn and open fire on the invader of her home. The most tender “I love you” is only one four-letter word away from being a bitter goodbye.
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