Too Negative!

TOO NEGATIVE!

What would this world be without negatives? Ask a scientist. It is no different in our daily affairs. If I do wrong, then the truth for me is negative. I have discovered that my positive critics have not been as constructive as my negative critics. With my positive friends, everything is just fine, even if I am headed in the wrong direction. My negative friends wave a red flag every time I do or say something that is not quite right. Of course there are those for whom I can do nothing that is right. But I am thankful for the few that redirected my life and my thoughts. It just is not good enough to dismiss me as being too negative. I would like to know when I am wrong, for it helps me find my way.

Perhaps I do know for the world we live in is not exactly going straight. We hardly trust each other, and we have no confidence in our leaders. What is right for one group is wrong for another? In fact every group insists on being right and then there are so many. It is a fact that we all stray at times and need voices that warn us of the pitfalls we are headed for. And these are negative voices that want what is best for us. Unfortunately, when a society prospers, the negative voices decline. Prosperity becomes proof that all is going well. Very few dare to warn us that we are on the wrong road and that shall crush. I belong to the few negative voices that have experienced twice a sudden end to prosperity and now we are facing a third one. Had we only taken the negative warnings seriously, we could have avoided or at least cushioned our loss.

I take my clues from the Bible. The Bible is a negative book for everyone that does not agree with it. However, the Bible is nevertheless a book that accurately predicts the outcome of our actions. The Bible is based on the simplest of all principles “Do not!” For example, Adam “Do not eat,” Jacob “Do not cheat,” Moses “Do not” (ten times) and Jesus “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law.” The absence of the negatives, have resulted in the consequences we are facing. In fact, our age is not unique in disregarding negative warnings. The warnings of God to Adam, of Noah to his age, of Moses to his people, of the prophets to Israel and of Jesus to Jerusalem fell on deaf ears. Elijah faced 400 positive messengers. My people lived in positive Russia, Poland, and Germany. I remember my parents regretting that they did not immigrate to Canada before the positive music that caused our demise began. It does not take a genius to see where greed, coveting, and any other broken rule shall take us. Don’t we wish we had kept some of them?