According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Heart Disease and Cancer are the top two causes of death for Americans. In fact, Heart Disease and Cancer together kill 40% more people than the remaining eight causes of death on the top ten list combined. Additionally, according to the CDC in 2014, 67% more people took their lives, then had their life taken by someone else.
That is the truth, those are the facts, and that is the reality. More people die in America because of overindulgence than they do for under privilege. Americans are almost three times more likely to commit suicide than they are to be murdered. We will allow ourselves to be biased against entire races or ethnicities because of an irrational fear that they might harm us.
In life, there are always three absolute truths. There is the truth. There is the truth of truth. Lastly, there is the truth of peace.
The truth is that the most significant threat to any one American’s happiness and life is found in the mirror. The truth of truth is that “Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.” (Ludwig Van Beethoven, 1814). Additionally, happiness in one’s life is always obtainable, so long as you have the courage to accept that you are the one in control of it.
The truth of peace is that real wealth doesn’t come from having more than others it comes from giving more to others. That isn’t some inspirational quote. You only have to go as far as looking at the facts of what gives life, and what brings death. Happiness can never be achieved by having more in your life. That is the greatest deception that evil has ever planted in the minds of people. As long as you believe that your happiness comes from having “stuff” you will never be satisfied.
The moment, you accept the joy of giving, you suddenly devalue that “stuff” that you once thought was so important. Now, you can be free to the realization that “stuff” holds no tangible value over your life and happiness. Suddenly, you can experience real freedom. Unexpectedly, you realize that you’ve been living your entire life a slave to fear.
Fear of not having enough, or fear that others are going to take something from you. It is this fear that causes one to overindulge themselves, which eventually leads to unhappiness and death.
Fundamentally, the truth of peace is also the gift of life.