Month: September 2020

Simplify

Image by Lorraine Cormier from Pixabay

Based on my family’s history, I have about twelve years to go before I die.

Ninety years old seems to be the magic number for my family’s longevity index. So, it comes down to this – what the heck do I do with the next twelve years?

What I thought I’d be doing is traveling, biking, fishing, boating, shooting sporting clays, eating and drinking to my heart’s content. But some power greater than me conspired with my mind, body, and spirit to shelve what I thought my “twilight years” would be.

Instead, at 71 (almost 72) I am reimagining myself and redirecting my efforts at attending to that very same mind, body, spirit dynamic. On many days, I am not sure I know how to proceed.

As many of you know I started this blog back in 2016 to write about the Power and Promise of Hope. My default vision was pinned to this statement – every life should have a noble purpose. And as you know I believe my purpose is to attend to the suffering of others in ways that are consistent with my gifts and talents.

Through the gracious comments of former students and former members of churches I have served I have been surprised and humbled by the lessons learned that those folks have attributed to me. Many of my former students have gone on to great things in their lives. They are accomplished gentlemen and gentlewomen. Many of them have nurtured their own families to wonderful effect.

Many former members of churches I have served have continued their faith journeys and deepened their believe in God and the Spirit. Many of those folks have gone on to serve the needs of others as they minister to those who are often forgotten and discarded.

I am inspired by the compassion and the wisdom all of these folks have woven into their lives. They are bringing out the best in others. They have become beacons of hope in a world that so needs decency and civility. I am indeed blessed to have known (to know) so many amazing folks.

A week or so ago I wrote a blog dealing with the topic of truth telling and personal integrity. That blog was uncharacteristically dark and UNHOPEFUL in its tone. In all the anxiety around me, I temporarily lost my way.

It is the memory of my former students and church members that has brought me back.

Those young kids I taught have become doctors, lawyers, teachers, coaches, entrepreneurs, moms and dads, religious leaders, and politicians. They have become their best selves.

Former church members have gone on to do the work of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving drink to the thirsty and visiting those who find themselves in places where people end up and are usually forgotten. They bring hope and compassionate care and love to the least, the last, and the lost.

Wherever I look, I am surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses to the greatness of the human spirit and an appropriation of the power and promise of hope.

So I do not despair at not being able to accomplish the activities I thought would bring me pleasure – the biking, fishing, etc. I sit here at the keyboard, feeling blessed and overcome by those who actively and intentionally transcend and add to their own pursuits to be of assistance to others, even to me.

I have twelve years (or twelve minutes) left in this life. Those who are coming after me, especially my former students and church members, have gifted me with peace. I am indeed a fortunate man, a man of faith and a man of belief in the power and promise of hope.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

“Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

From My Childhood

One of the stories I remember from my childhood is The Boy Who Cried Wolf. I am sure you remember the story. A young boy bored perhaps because of having too much idle time, cried out in false alarm, ” a wolf, a wolf is coming.” The townspeople all came to protect him. They discovered there was no wolf just a young boy laughing at all the silly people who heard his cry for help. They acted out of compassion and concern for this one life.

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Later that day, the boy still bored and slightly amused at the effect his words had cried out again, “a wolf, a wolf is coming.” Once again the townspeople came to rescue the young boy. Still no wolf. The boy just laughed. To the young boy, this was fun, this was a game. As you might expect, later that day the boy cried out once again, “a wolf, the wolf is coming.” This time no one responded. The young boy was eaten by a voracious wolf.

The Lesson

My parents would make certain I understood the story. If one tells too many lies, no one believes the lies anymore. They stop caring what words you might be screaming. “Don’t tell lies,” my mother admonished me, “people will stop listening to you if they think you are lying to them.” She continued, “you won’t be trusted if you lie to people. If people can’t trust your word, they will cease to respond to anything you say.”

I have sadly stopped listening to the cries I hear. COVID, election fraud, justice for all, global warming, on and on. I have heard so many cries with so little evidence of a real presence, that I have chosen to stop trusting, I have chosen to stop responding. I simply do not trust them anymore.

I suppose there are cries I have heard that might be authenticated and “proved.” But I just don’t feel like spending the energy to pursue the veracity of the cries I keep hearing. If I tried to uncover the truth of all the cries I hear, I would never have time to live and enjoy those things that still have proven to be true.

Are there things you know to be true, that are not affected by others shouting random words all the while trying to convince you of some horrible hurt about to befall them and by extension to hurt you? Do you trust? Why?

Emerson wrote the quote above decades ago. The health of human society has been being attacked for countless years in countless ways. Every day, the truth falls victim to some little boy’s voice who, for his own pleasure or amusement, cries out to get a reaction. And then, he sits back at laughs at the commotion he has created. The liar cannot remain whole, he commits a sort of suicide every time he attempts to get a reaction from his victims. He has diminished himself and ultimately will suffer the consequences of his behavior.

The Same Lesson Learned

So I keep hearing the cries. The wolves have come but instead of the liar being devoured I have become the victim. I trusted for far too long. If the truth is lost it’s because, like me, we all get too tired to sort out the truth from the lies and the fiction.

You and I are victims of those false cries for help. We run to be of assistance and we are laughed at. When we stop listening to the cries, we are lost. But when we run towards the cries we find a silly little boy, bored and alone. When will he be devoured? When will the lies stop? Is it still our moral obligation to save him?

We are slowing dying as a society because we have stopped demanding the truth. To paraphrase the “motto” of a well know college in New England there is a voice crying in the wilderness. If only we valued the truth. If only we let those telling the lies to be devoured. But then we become as vicious as the little liar. We allow him to suffer a slow death. We allow ourselves to suffer the same little death.

As a person whose purpose is to ease the suffering of others, I am lost in my inability to demand the truth. The little boy sits and laughs at me and cries and cries. And suffering increases. I/we have been overtaken by falsehoods and misrepresentations.

Help me. Help all who mourn the loss we have allowed as truth dies in uncaring shrieks from a little boy. Save him. Save ourselves.

Just Now

“Hope and fear cannot alter the seasons.” – Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

I envy those folks who can remain present in the moment, not affected by the past or the future. In scripture, we read ( in Matthew 6:25-34) about worry and needless preoccupation with the future. Especially helpful to me is verse 34. “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

None of us need to add to the unsettled times in which we are living. There are troubles enough for today without us adding anything else. Our happiness, our peace is a moment by moment response to learning from what falls to us.

To counteract minds that drift from the past to the future, a habit to cultivate is experiencing the present or to put it more simply – to fully embrace this moment whatever it brings. There are all sorts of books and authorities on how to experience being in the present moment, not connecting the past or future to just now. Mindfulness training and learning to be present are big business these days.

Common Sense Solutions

To jump start the process of experiencing the present, try these no-muss, no-fuss common sense solutions.

  1. Sit somewhere that is comfortable. Devote at least 30 minutes to sitting, just sitting.
  2. Give thanks for the peace and quiet of the moment
  3. Stop worrying
  4. Begin to notice and let go of sounds, sights, thoughts, anxiety, and any distraction that interrupts your silence.
  5. If sitting doesn’t work, go for a walk regardless of the weather. Feel the weather. Let weather work its magic.
  6. Sit, breathe deeply, in and out, relax your muscles.
  7. If sitting and walking doesn’t work (by this I mean, if they are getting in the way of being still) lay down somewhere comfortable. I like lawns in the summer and spring, piles of leaves in the fall, and the coldness of lying in the snow in the winter. My new mattress is becoming my new “go-to” place to relax my muscles so the aches and pains of my body don’t disturb the present moment
  8. If and when the silence becomes too much for you, consider this. Recall someone who taught you a lesson that has comforted you when hope and fear seemed too overwhelming to trust.
  9. In your silence, let the divine connect with you. If you ask and remain open to “still, small voices” or “booming thunderous voices”, the quietness of the present moment will return.
  10. Allow your self to be inspired by artwork or music or quotes or photos. There is always beauty, truth, and goodness. Do you believe this?

Finally, up to this point, you have lived and overcome, perhaps even thrived all that has been thrown at you, good, bad and indifferent. You have adapted, regrouped, or set off in new directions. You are a survivor. So far today, you are still surviving. Survive with grace, bring your noble purpose to others to respond to their suffering. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Just finish today. It’s always worked out before.

Of course, as always, I could be wrong. One last thought – “For the wonderful thing about saints is that they were human. They lost their tempers, got hungry, scolded God, were egotistical or testy or impatient in their turns, made mistakes and regretted them. Still, they went on doggedly blundering toward heaven.” (Phyllis McGinley -quoted in Paper Lanterns from The Sun)

Seasons come and go. Those days are gifts meant for you. One day at a time.

Eloquent Speech

In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense: and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day. (excerpt from Common Sense by Thomas Paine, 1776).

Not another question…

I grew up across the street from one of the parks in our town. This park was immediately recognizable by a slightly worse for wear statue of Thomas Paine, front and center for all to see. As a young kid, I had no idea who Thomas Paine was or what his statue was doing in the park across the street from my house. Being curious, hence asking questions, was a character trait I exhibited from a very early age. I always had questions – I was surprised (and then disappointed) that many folks had no time to answer my inquiries.

Thomas Paine Statue located in Burnham Park, Morristown, NJ

I spent lots of time at the local library. The librarians seemed to anticipate my questions. They were never too busy for my inquiries. Usually, those wonderful lady librarians pointed me in the general direction of resources leading to new information about the topic of my questioning. After I had been led to the general area that housed the information I was seeking, it was up to me to dive into the materials in front of me.

And so I became acquainted with Thomas Paine and then Patrick Henry leading to the discovery of the writings and speeches of this country’s founding elders. There was an urgency and need for precise meaning in the words those architects of our country’s values crafted. Those writers considered the effects of their words. After all, their very lives depended on the impact and the power of their words. They were willing to die to defend their words and their actions. There was noble purpose in their writing and speech-making.

The words those folks crafted had impact, had effect, had the power to convict and to call to arms. The messages those words offered had consequences. Meaningless phrases and empty sentiment were absent.

A Huge Hole in My Education

I do not have many regrets in my life but one oversight or one weakness in my education was learning to write well. No one suggested improving my style, my vocabulary, the possible effect on others as to the meaning of my words when they were heard or read. The writing lessons I had in school were all about assignments – a 500-word essay on sportsmanship or a six-page lab report from my science class describing and defending the reasons for the outcome of my classroom experiments. No one discussed the mechanics of writing.

Even when I got to seminary, writing (as in writing sermons) was left to the practical suggestions of my peers. colleagues, and mentors. Fortunately, in that group were some folks who believed it was their job to comment on my writing – choice of words, syntax, conciseness – on and on. I attended several conferences to learn how to create a meaningful sermon as well as how to deliver that message to an audience who actually intended to listen to my words.

Important Items to Consider…

The other day I read a post from social media. I can’t remember the exact words of that post but I do remember the impact the post had on me. Basically the question posed was: in speaking or writing consider this: 1) are your words the truth, 2) are they kind words, 3) is what you are writing necessary? I would add the following: 4) what is the purpose of what you are writing, (a bit different than point three), 5) have you anticipated and taken into account the response your words might have on diverse readers, and 6) what is the context/the circumstances that have inspired your words?

All this being said, eloquent speech speaks to the common good, to shared values and threats to those shared values. Eloquent speech incites us to stand up and respond with our lives and our scared liberty.

I would like to end this post with some eloquent speech written by Patrick Henry, one of the most outspoken voices of the American Revolution. Consider his choice of words and his message. This is eloquent speech, speech befitting the gravity of revolution.

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”

“The eternal difference between right and wrong does not fluctuate, it is immutable.”

“For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and to provide for it.”

“The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian but an American.”

“When the American Spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different; Liberty sir, was then the primary object.”

And so, may you write and speak eloquent, honest, and inspiring thoughts that create a climate of unity among the people and repair the things that have gone asunder.

As always, I could be wrong.