I took a class from Dr. Elia Gourgouris a few years ago at a BYU Education Week class. He is a very talented life coach and counselor. I'm reprinting (with permission) the first few paragraphs of an article he wrote this week that applies equally to families and politics. My feelings after I read this article? AMEN!!!!
Finding hope, peace in these troubled times
By Elia Gourgouris
Published: 2010-03-30 00:22:08
I don't know if these are the "last days," but I do know these are troubled times.
Everywhere I look, I see pain, suffering, anger, betrayal, and most of all fear! Lots and lots of fear. From the destructiveness caused by natural phenomena like earthquakes in divers places (most recently Haiti and Chile) to the continued uncertainty in the world's economy.
In the political arena, I see our country divided far worse than at any given time in the last 40 years. This goes far beyond the normal lack of bipartisanship. It's starting to feel like people are so fearful of the way this country is going that they're willing to take things into their own hands and act outside of the law. It is scary to me to think that we would turn on each other violently. That happens in other, less civilized countries, not to us Americans.
The vitriolic statements and sentiments coming from our elected officials in Washington are unprecedented. But it does not stop there because those same sentiments are heard throughout this great land of ours in our colleges, schools, in small towns and large cities and in the media.
I believe all this collective fear and anger together with the financial insecurity we all feel, is spreading to our homes. I see more couples fighting, more families struggling to keep it all together and more children acting out. There's more divisiveness and blame going around than accountability and personal responsibility. This is not a good sign for our country or our families. The old adage, " a house divided against itself will fall" could not be more true in today's world. Part of the problem of course is that we have stopped listening empathetically to each other. Actually we've stopped listening period! Instead we've turned up the volume and made the one who "barks" the loudest win the argument. So what are we to do?
I encourage you to read the whole article here:
http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/elia_gourgouris/?id=14115
See also: http://www.ldscoaching.com/ and http://www.askdrelia.com/
