Motivation Quotation: “To live means to have something definite to do — a mission to fulfill — and in the measure in which we avoid setting our life to something, we make it empty. Human life by its very nature has to be dedicated to something.” –Jose Ortega y Gasset

Commentary: We all need a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Otherwise life is nothing but routine — going through the motions of living — dull existence without meaning. We crave excitement, a cause, a purposeful battle to fight.

Yet many people today strive to be cool, to impress, to look good to other people. They fill their time and their minds with meaningless media and aimless activities. Then they wonder why they feel so empty.

It is as if they are eating cotton candy all day and wondering why they never get full. There is no substance to it. And there is little substance to many people’s lives today — nothing but fluff.

Meanwhile we live in a world of desperate need. People all around us are hurting and self-destructing. They need someone to care.

Hey? Could there be a meaningful purpose for living lurking here? Maybe we could dedicate ourself to helping someone every day — speaking encouraging words, showing kindness, listening to another’s pain.

Here is a mission for you: Don’t go to bed tonight until you have eased someone’s pain today. Daily set your life to that and you will soon begin to lose your empty feeling.

Give it a go. Your mission today – should you decide to accept it – is to reach out beyond your comfort zone and help somebody.

We live in a society that prides itself on tolerance? But are we a tolerant society?

There is little tolerance today for those of us who believe in sexual purity — that the way to great sex is abstinence before and faithfulness during marriage. Our views are mocked and treated as a joke through out American media, while cheapo sex is constantly promoted as a good thing even though it is causing the death of millions through HIV and other diseases. Is that “tolerance”?

Those of us who sincerely believe that human life begins at conception are given little tolerance. We who believe that killing unborn babies is just as horrible as killing 20 year-olds don’t get much toleration in American media. Those who protest for the life of the unborn are presented as weird radicals while those who protest for the life of convicted murderers are presented as sincere and sympathetic people. Is that “tolerance”?

The views on the origin of life of those of us who believe in a supernatural Creator are not tolerated in public schools or in government jobs. The idea that all that exists originated by time and chance is pushed down our throats and brainwashed into our children. Where is “tolerance” in that?

And where is “tolerance” for people who believe in the historic moral views of the vast majority of the human race? Those of us who believe the reality of right and wrong get no “tolerance” for our ideas.

People who promote “tolerance” seem to like to accuse the people who disagree with their views of using “hate speech”. So who is being “hateful” with that attitude?

“Tolerance” does not mean agreement. I tolerate a lot nowadays, but I sure don’t agree with it. And I will not approve of it. I am not going to call people who choose to engage in immoral or evil behavior bad names, but I am sure not going to give my approval to their immoral behavior. When people demand that we call what is immoral “good”, that is extreme intolerance.

“Tolerance” does not demand approval. It does not demand the silence of those who disagree. It gives those who disagree the right to express their views freely. Unfortunately today, as Phyllis MacGinley said; ”Those wearing ‘Tolerance’ for a label call other views intolerable.”

Here is my favorite definition of tolerance: "Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them." --Joshua Liebman

What if Jeff Foxworthy confuses his new TV show and his books? That could be a major problem.

His books would say things like: You might be a 5th grader if . . . you enjoy laughing at body sounds. And you might be a 5th grader if . . . you stick your old gum under your desk. Or you might be a 5th grader if you think the opposite sex is gross.

Jeff’s TV show would be called: Are You Smarter Than A Redneck? Here are sample questions and answers.

Question: How do you drink beer? Redneck answer: Pour it in your mouth and swallow. Question: What is the purpose of a tattoo? Redneck answer: To give you a clue about what you did in your last blackout. Question: What is the best way to care for your front lawn. Redneck answer: Cover it with old cars.

I sure hope Jeff can keep things straight! Don’t you?

The image of God is being mutilated and vandalized in temples all across America. Yet the press is mostly silent. And most Christians remain silent too.

When church buildings are bombed or burned, the press sounds an alarm. Christians pray and speak out against the injustice. But when the image inside the temple is torn apart, few seem to care.

The temple is the human body. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” The image of God is “one of the least of these” — the beautiful, developing child resting peacefully inside her or his mother -- one of the most beautiful religious images in the world. Even ultrasound pictures of the innocent touch our hearts.

The desecration is called abortion — the brutal killing of the child made in the image of God by pulling her or him into pieces. The silence is the absence of sorrow, or outrage, or guilt, or repentance, or shame. Perhaps denial helps us sleep at night.

Yet, I believe that God would rather that every picture of Jesus in every church building in America be torn asunder by vandals, than for one more unborn baby to be killed in America.

Why does our society have such different attitudes toward vomit and violence? Vomit is “hush-hush”. It is seldom discussed or shown in the media (neither the act of vomiting, the vomiter, nor the vomitus which is the “matter vomited”). Can you imagine a TV show called VSI — Vomit Scene Investigation?

However, we treat violence just the opposite. We feature it on the front pages of newspapers, on the covers of magazines, as the lead story of national newscasts, and as entertainment for our viewing pleasure on TV shows and in movies. Our society can’t seem to get enough violence.

So what is the difference? Aren’t both vomit and violence signs of sickness? Vomiting of physical illness — violence of emotional, spiritual, and mental malady.

Aren’t both equally gross and revolting? I would suggest that the gore and guts of violence is even more gross than vomitus because vomiting is involuntary and amoral while violence is an individual choice and is immoral.

So if we, as individuals and as a society, can exercise restraint in our media consumption of vomit, why can’t we do the same with our consumption of violence? If we don’t want to look at vomitus, why do we seem to get so much pleasure from the sight of blood and guts?