since when does destruction = responsibility?

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen."

 In the news, you may have heard about Occupy Wall Street. In many cities, this group that protests what the top 1% of the nation, also known as the "rich," are doing to the rest of us has taken hold. At first, they held peaceful protests, making clear their intent. Peaceful protest, now there is something that even MLK and Jesus would have liked.
Then it started becoming "the ends justify the means." Windows get broken, fires are set, people are mauled and hurt...how is this letting the 1% know our dislikes when even the protesters start acting foolish? The destruction now overrides the message. I think some folks just look for that outlet to create misery, then blame it on someone else.

My son told me about a pastor in North Carolina who is telling his parishioners that if they know of someone who is gay, they need to punch them in the face or else break their wrists, showing them our disapproval. I was astonished and asked my son, "how is this in any way behaving as Jesus did?" Nowhere does it say that Jesus went after people who weren't "like him," and hurting them! yet I am sure there will be people who will do just as this person asked...why? Because in their minds, the ends justify the means.

I myself live as St. Francis lived. Peacefully. In his time, wars between city-states was a huge thing, yet he, disgusted of war, retreated into his own world where good outweighed bad. Live and let live, and let your actions speak louder than words. If you want peace, you must work FOR justice. Justice doesn't happen because you blew up cars, damaged property or hurt others. Peace happens when others, tired of the pain of their lives, want some of that inner serenity that you display. I don't know about you, but growing up in a home with nothing but conflict, I crave peace. I search for peace. I find it in the sunrises and sunsets, in a baby's laugh, in a flower, the sounds of birds singing...then I take those good feelings and spread them to others. A smile, a thoughtful good deed, a hug...this is what calms the soul and brings others to your way of thinking!
To hurt, damage, destroy....this is not what God is all about. Today, re-examine where your thoughts lead you. Do you get fed up when someone else holds you up in a grocery store line or during the morning freeway rush hour? Or do you calmly smile and tell yourself, "this could have been me instead?"
I thought so.