An Ecclesiastical Thought
Inspired by various comments on Valparaiso's most recent post:
When the old pass a torch to the young, what other burdens are passed along with it? Do the old see the young as the next generation of leaders to be trained and prepared to take the reins, or as an opportunity to make right all the wrongs they have done and believe themselves too old to do anything about?
Robinson Crusoe is an interesting example to bring up. In the book, he bucked against the teachings of his father - "Value the middle path in life!" - and set out for high adventure, fame, gold, and glory. Instead, he found God on the high seas, and the encounter with the ensuing storm left him stranded on that desert island. As he waited there, his solitude presented him with the opportunity to once again know the Lord, and come to terms with the teachings of his father. Only once he had lost everything did he come to grasp the importance of humility. It is this lesson that is worth passing from old to young that transcends the deterioration of the world - all we have is dust. Do not worry about fame, fortune, or high adventure. If they are to come, they will come, and those who seek them find ruin and great sorrow. No ammount of ambition and fortune seeking ever wrought peace.
In the end, all things - the young and the old - will all fall in to the sea, and what they left behind will drown in an endless march of sand. The old will train the young to inherit these empires of dirt. But then the young will become old, and the unborn will become young, and they too will inherit the wind as their fathers did and their fathers before them. They stack their bricks and bend their steel in vain, for in the end nothing they do will be able to overpower the steady onslaught of sand.
Meaningless, meaningless... a chasing after the wind! There is nothing new under the sun! What was now is, and what has already been is yet to come again!
When the old pass a torch to the young, what other burdens are passed along with it? Do the old see the young as the next generation of leaders to be trained and prepared to take the reins, or as an opportunity to make right all the wrongs they have done and believe themselves too old to do anything about?
Robinson Crusoe is an interesting example to bring up. In the book, he bucked against the teachings of his father - "Value the middle path in life!" - and set out for high adventure, fame, gold, and glory. Instead, he found God on the high seas, and the encounter with the ensuing storm left him stranded on that desert island. As he waited there, his solitude presented him with the opportunity to once again know the Lord, and come to terms with the teachings of his father. Only once he had lost everything did he come to grasp the importance of humility. It is this lesson that is worth passing from old to young that transcends the deterioration of the world - all we have is dust. Do not worry about fame, fortune, or high adventure. If they are to come, they will come, and those who seek them find ruin and great sorrow. No ammount of ambition and fortune seeking ever wrought peace.
In the end, all things - the young and the old - will all fall in to the sea, and what they left behind will drown in an endless march of sand. The old will train the young to inherit these empires of dirt. But then the young will become old, and the unborn will become young, and they too will inherit the wind as their fathers did and their fathers before them. They stack their bricks and bend their steel in vain, for in the end nothing they do will be able to overpower the steady onslaught of sand.
Meaningless, meaningless... a chasing after the wind! There is nothing new under the sun! What was now is, and what has already been is yet to come again!
posted by Raoul The Destroyer at 10:39 AM
6 Comments:
For me, everything comes down to what the (Methodist) minister said at your great-grandmother's funeral. "God put us on this earth to take care of each other." Period. End of story.
We can, and do, argue theology until we're blue in the face (a favorite expression of said great-grandmother). What does it matter, if we don't also make the world a little better...or at least keep it from getting worse?
I've really been depressed about the world political scene...and the mess we boomers are leaving for our children and your children. People I admired, trusted and supported have really screwed up. People have died because of their actions.
So, I'm going to try to stop losing sleep over it, comfort myself with the thought that M&D did manage to bring three wonderful people into the world, and go back to "work in my garden".
Now, if I can just keep from killing the plants!
Black-thumb Mom
Mom, I hereby command you to post more often. Seriously. That was an awesome insight.
I do, of course, disagree with you when it comes to the reason we're on this planet. I believe that first and foremost we're here to Glorify God by loving Him with all of our being, and also to Glorify God by loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Having mentioned that one disagreement, I have to heartily concur with what you said about the state of the world and the culpability of the boomer generation in making it the way it is now. I mean, stuff is an absolute mess.
I find myself getting frustrated with the World War II generation at times as well as the Baby Boomer generation. It seems that they're so afraid of loss (given their lengthy track record on the subject, what with the depression and WWII and all) that they've come to a place in their approach to life where they refuse to give up any control over absolutely anything, even when it's a trivial matter. For example, pastors getting fired from their position at a church solely because they didn't "speak loudly enough". Such pride is destructive. All too often, I see the WWII generation turning its back on the younger generations to cling to their way of doing things instead of taking the time to impart wisdom to us. In many ways, I believe they have dropped the ball more than the Boomer generation on a task far more important than defending freedom from Nazi Germany - the responsibility of training the younger generations how to live by imparting wisdom to them. When we turn to that older generation for guidance, they only have tales of woe and loss to recount, or they crack us over the head about our failures (real or perceived) without lifting a finger to aid us.
I am sorry that you have seen so many people you looked up to disappoint you. I understand the sentiment all too well. Perhaps that is why I gave up on faith in humanity so long ago. People just haven't demonstrated an ability to be worthy of trust. They fail us. All of us.
But the nice thing, and perhaps this will help to put your mind at ease, is that in the end even the damage that they've done won't last forever. Sure, there may come hardships and nasty consequences, but without these trials and difficulties we don't get the opportunity to confront them and grow as a result of them.
The Boomer generation screwed a lot of things up, to be sure. But it would be a great shame if my generation and the generation after mine decided to whine and complain about the problems instead of facing up to them sqare on, learning from the problems, and growing as a result of their confronting the problems.
And even further, what can we do about it beyond deal with the trouble laid before us? Though the world goes to hell around me, I take great comfort knowing that despite the horrid, abyssimal failure of the generations before me, around me, and after me, God has all things in His hands and will use them to work good in the world, even in spite of the evil intent of many of those things.
This, of course, isn't to say that I don't think we shouldn't try to improve the world around us (see the second part of the purpose that I mentioned). I believe that everything I do in the world, be it designing an experiment, helping others, or just working in the garden, is ultimately for the Glory of God. And because of that, I can do the things I do in peace.
So, back to my original point, you should post more often, Mom. I (among others) want to hear what you have to say.
i agree with your son, post more often. besides, it will keep you out of the garden and give your plants a fighting chance.(he he)
i believe that we are here to be what we were created to be to the greatest extent that we can... in doing so we both glorify God and improve the lives of those surrounding us.
i also find it very interesting the recurring patterns of parents to children... how the "curses" and "blessings" seem to pass on for generations. i see many of the "curses" at work. it is amazing how many people i arrest that have parents with records for the same exact thing; as well as the number that never had a father.
Ah... is it a curse, or are they a product of their genetics combined with their environments?
Thank God that Grace overcomes both.
"Both/and", rather than "either/or".
Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books! Is it the last chapter that talks about the vanity of life and the repetitiveness of it? Well, it’s true. There is something inherently cyclic about human behavior. History is bound to repeat itself. Interestingly enough, Ecclesiastes talked about this so called Modernist concept thousands of years before anyone thought of such wonderful ‘innovation’, which proves (once again, as if it needed to be proven) that the Bible contains transcendental, perfect, primal truths. But back to Modernism: human kind will repeat its mistakes… but it’s also bound to mature.
We need to pay more attention to that maturity. We should close the age gap. Like you said, have them impart their wisdom. There are at least three generations living at any specific point in history, and all three are equally able to change the world for good or for worse. I think we tend to forget that. Our generation seems so terrible unaware that it very deeply needs the maturity and wisdom that a previous generation can impart –regardless of its character or personality. Maybe it’s because modern society concentrates too much on the power and energy and beauty of youth… I’ll spare you my thoughts on individualism and collectivity, but whatever our environment is like, I think we need authority and guidance. My Grandfather, for example, is a WWII veteran (he was a frogman, back in the day, when they weren’t a part of the seals) and he says we don’t get to understand “our time” until it is gone, and so we have no excuse: our environment shouldn’t shape our actions. Great conversations, I tell ya! I’ve got to write about the donkey cab.. and the exotic fruits of Guadalajara.. and the wonders of the sea, Mexican and not.. and the beauty and horridness of marriage…awe… I love my grandparents…
…and Robinson Crusoe. A wonderful example of the importance of alone time with the Lord. All of this makes me reflect on how I tend to get absorbed in books… that’s the wind I chase a little too much… and sometimes I fail to get absorbed in the Word. Chasing after the wind… there’s such beauty in the imagery of these words, and yet such terrible ultimate tragedy –exactly the way it is in real life. Beauty is a potentially dangerous thing.
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