Principles : ” Giving up on principles”- 13/8/2016

   In former articles I have spoken about giving up in man’s life then I tackled the negative effect of man’s giving up on God, his family and friends. Then I talked about the true friend. Today, I would like to write about the danger of giving up on principles.

   It is so hard when man gives up or abandons the true principles and essential values that all religions called for and were known by humanity as they feed the seeds of true humanity in our souls. Principles are the rock that promotes man and raises his human value to the original one that God created him to enjoy. These days, people ache out of the burdens of pain, cruelty, wars and conflicts. Nowadays, we can consider people who are full of love, mercy, honesty, sincerity and justice are like lanterns of light in the sky as they recognized the secret to their great humanity.     

   Giving up on principles will lead to nothing but a ruined world void of the true meaning of life; a world that is full of people seeking their own desires and destroying each other for them!. What would the world look like if love disappeared, hatred prevailed, justice became blind and mercy was gone?! . I remember a quote of the late H.H Pope Shenouda III “Grow seeds of love on earth, it would turn to heaven. Remove love from the world and it would turn to a grave”.

   What about people who give up on their principles? The former American president Eisenhower said: “People that value its privileges above its principles soon lose both.” It brings to my mind a story of a woman, lived in Germany after loss of world war II, said to man trying to skip his turn in a row “We lost war, our cities were destroyed, our youth were gone, our girls were raped; but we will never lose our principles with which we are going to build Germany again, so get back to your place and wait your turn”.

   If a person gives up on his values, he gives up on his life too. As his values will make him a true man contributing to humanity and getting a reward after death for the good he did. The writer “Tawfiq Al Hakeem” said: “Personal interest is always the rock on which the greatest values are broken”. At the end of the day, anyone who gives up on his values for an interest will lose both along with his dignity and self-respect; that would be the hardest thing he may face in life.

Anba Ermiah,

General Bishop & President of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center