America is said to be “the melting pot of the world,” but is she? The United States is waging a great battle between the Democrats and Republicans. It is those who wish to reelect President Obama against those who wish to elect Governor Romney. We have seen the advertisements from each side call the other one a “liar” and worse! We have questioned whether one or the other candidate is truly qualified or if their “records” would prove them unworthy or worse! We have seen in the past where family members of those running have been maligned. And all of these actions are in front of a world that would like to see us destroyed! Are we destroying ourselves from the inside so another enemy will never have to attempt a land invasion? How did we get to this point?
How many remember the worst disaster in maritime history? The vessel, launched by one of the world’s greatest powers, was hailed as a super-ship and could hold enough people to repopulate Port O’Connor about ten times. But unexpected tragedy struck, sending the ship to the ocean’s bottom with a staggering loss of life.
Most would think I am writing about the Titanic, of which a movie was made. But it is the Wihelm Gustloff, and it claimed six times the number of lives as perished about the supposedly unsinkable luxury liner.
When the Gustloff was torpedoed by a Russian submarine during World War II, it was carrying more than 10,000 people, which included about 1,200 wounded German soldiers – the rest were civilian refugees. They had been crowded into the space that had been designed to hold no more than 1,800 passengers. More than 9,000 perished.
When the Titanic sank, 1,524 lives were lost and 710 lives were spared.
Why do we know about the Titanic and most know nothing about the Gustloff? Why did not we study this tragic catastrophe in our history classes?
As the Russian army was advancing during World War II, the Gustloff was a German ship evacuating civilians from East Prussia, then in the eastern part of Germany. The area would be ceded to Poland after the war.
Perhaps the fact that the tragedy occurred during World War II has made it less memorable. But there is a more likely reason for the incident’s relative anonymity. Though those who died were mostly civilians, they were Germans, the nationality of the Allies’ primary enemy. Wihelm Gustloff, for whom the ship was named, was a Nazi! It would have been difficult to find people in the Allied nations to sympathize, especially in the United States, while our Seventh Fleet was lying at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
But should we ignore the fact that most of these were individuals and families that had been uprooted from their homes and would have been opposed to the war and Hitler’s rule? Simply because the Gustloff carried wounded enemy combatants, can we write the rest of the passengers off as not important?
Our prejudices often affect how we relate to people and people groups. Sometimes our impressions are true (some on the Gustloff had been active in trying to destroy our nation); but sometimes our rationale is false (it is very unlikely that many of the civilians aboard were Nazi sympathizers). But holding a bias, even based on a small piece of reality, is no reason for Americans to not care about those of another political persuasion.
When the ballots are all tallied, every citizen of the United States will have a president. It will be the same president for us all. We must put aside our political differences and work at the one thing that has made America strong and prosperous: God.
The babies that are killed as a result of our abortion centers are neither Democrats nor Republicans, but human beings that have the same rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” that the rest of us enjoy! Those older Americans who become ill have the same right as healthy folks and should never have a “health panel” choose death over life for them! We need God back in our classrooms (and contraception out of it) and the Ten Commandments to stand as the cornerstone of our Legislature! We need righteousness (meaning “right standing with God”) to rule our court systems! Jobs should be created for the 46 million people on our “food stamps” roll! It is time we take back our nation from those who are attempting to make it something different from its roots! We must arise to fight the bigots who would make us a secular or maybe a socialist society!
The authority of the Holy Bible must reign in every aspect of our lives. We must get to know what God says about every social quandary and be willing to follow His plan – remember He created the plan! We were based as a nation on “the freedom of religion” and not “the freedom from religion”. Of course, if we remain true to the ideals of our founding fathers, it would be “freedom to live Christian faith without fear of reprisals”. Our founding fathers would never have conceived conquering a land for anything less than providing Christian liberties for the generations that were to follow!
May we return to being the “melting pot” for the world, where everyone can hear and receive the Gospel message – about Jesus and His love!
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
Patrick Henry
Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution
