It is an angry world I wake up to every morning. As with all things human, I'm sure it is no more angry now than at any other time in history. We just have the ability to express that anger to a wider audience. Our computers, our smartphones, and tablets become the vehicle of our anger, giving it greater distance than ever before. The plumber who used to gripe to one or two people, go home, and live in relative anonymity can take their 140 character rants to a far ranging public and at least feel significant. Instead of being some kind of cathartic release, though, it becomes the fuel for an ever increasing fire. No one is spared the righteous indignation, nor is any fire too small to fan into a raging inferno.
I've been writing these blogs as a release for my own need to be significant and relevant to a world that seems to be spinning out of control into chaos. Finding the peace of God in the midst of an angry world is simply a matter of turning off the noise. I no longer watch broadcast news of any persuasion. I did this a few years ago, and found my attitude became much better. As an admitted christian conservative I found myself grinding my teeth, yelling at the TV, and despising people I didn't even know. I could pick and choose what I wanted to read, or watch through the internet, so I became very selective. Then came the 2016 elections! I had to stop reading everything. Then the campaigns found Facebook. There was no place safe from the vitriol coming from both parties of our government. So, two weeks ago I completely closed down my Facebook account.
That doesn't stop me from being concerned about the direction our nation is headed. While the 'left' would have us believe that there is a 'white supremacist' behind every corner, I see more evidence for an energized Anti-fa than I do for a sleeping KKK.
Probably the greatest sorrow I feel is for the educators in our colleges, universities, and even high schools. For being so highly educated, they have forgotten what happened to the educators in Russia, and China during their respective purges. I mean, it's only minor history. Something like the teachers being the first ones to be killed. Anarchy is a monster that devours its own. So, I pray. I pray for love and compassion to once again rule the hearts and lives of Americans. Will I see it? I don't know. Right now, as I'm writing this, I can see a squirrel scampering across the top of our fence toward a tree. He is carrying a huge walnut in his mouth and looking for rival squirrels. He isn't feeling the love at the moment. This is the attitude I'm afraid will lead our young people to greater anger. I can only pray I will be found worthy of the truth within me when the time comes.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Sunday, August 27, 2017
OPEN WINDOW, OPEN HEART
I've been busy! Our 'new to us' house is livable, and we are moved in. This makes my days longer and even more blurry than they were before. It's not a complaint, just a fact. The journey from our old home out in the country to our home in the city is in its eighteenth month. I won't call the project complete until the outside is trimmed out and the house is painted. Then it will be maintenance. I'm saying all of this because I just opened a window in my office to let the cool early morning air in. It's a cool Sunday morning, and I can hear numerous dogs barking in the distance. The sound of traffic is something I will have to get accustomed to. It doesn't keep me up at night, but it is louder than our old house in the country. It reminds me of my old office at the church. Which brings me to the title of this post.
A lot has happened since my last post. We have a new President of our nation. We have riots, protests, and hate mongers everywhere. I'm not sure, but I don't think there has ever been a President who elicited death threats or violence if you admitted to voting for him. We have angry hateful people calling other people hateful, and those people being labeled as being hateful are becoming less tolerant. I never thought I'd see the day when colleges and universities would forbid anyone to speak. I never thought I'd see sexual rights (which aren't guaranteed) replace religious freedom (which is guaranteed). Everyone is hunkered down in their dogmatic foxhole lobbing vitriolic mortars at one another. If you stick your head up, you risk being sniped. The 'left' screams resist and the 'right' screams back. As a christian conservative, I've never felt more uneasy than I do right now. Everything I cherish and hold true is being challenged and turned on its head. Even as I write this, I realize all it would take is someone reporting my blog as 'hate speech' and Google would close me down, but I digress.
The problem is air conditioning. We keep our homes locked up solid all year long. The windows are for looking through not listening. We condition our air, and end up conditioning our lives. God forbid we should be uncomfortable. We've lost the ability to listen to one another. When I was a young boy growing up in El Paso, Texas, we didn't have air conditioning. We had swamp coolers, and you had to have a window open to allow the chilled air to pass through. That window was usually in my room. I could hear the neighbors TV sets, their fights with children and one another. I could hear the street traffic, the sound of dogs barking, and crickets. When neighbors met during the day, the most common question was; "did you hear 'that' last night?" (Whatever 'that' was, was usually a neighbor forgetting everyone had a window open.) Then, everyone started getting air conditioning. The windows started closing, and amazingly people stopped meeting each other on the street. Chain link fences went up, and eventually bars over the windows. I saw a picture of our old house not long ago, and it truly looks like a prison with ten foot high chain link fence and concertina wire atop it. I can remember laying out on the grass in our front yard staring at the stars. Now there is not grass. It looks like a prison yard. I used to live in a neighborhood where all the kids knew each other and were free to play outside until nine at night.
Now, my neighborhood is digital. Facebook, instagram, and snapchat have replaced meeting people face to face. Husbands and wives text each other in the same room instead of talking. Children don't even text their parents. This is not the kind of relationships I want in the city.
Sometime soon, I'm going to put a birdbath outside the window to my home office. I'm going to put a green table close to the fence and sit at it while my neighbors do their thing. We are going to invite people over for Sunday dinner. We'll sit down and discuss the disgust we see around us. We'll open our windows and hopefully hear the occasional sounds of life beyond the TV set. I'll be glad to hear the sparrows skittering and splashing in their bath. I will open my window and open my heart, which is pretty amazing for me considering I'm an introvert.
A lot has happened since my last post. We have a new President of our nation. We have riots, protests, and hate mongers everywhere. I'm not sure, but I don't think there has ever been a President who elicited death threats or violence if you admitted to voting for him. We have angry hateful people calling other people hateful, and those people being labeled as being hateful are becoming less tolerant. I never thought I'd see the day when colleges and universities would forbid anyone to speak. I never thought I'd see sexual rights (which aren't guaranteed) replace religious freedom (which is guaranteed). Everyone is hunkered down in their dogmatic foxhole lobbing vitriolic mortars at one another. If you stick your head up, you risk being sniped. The 'left' screams resist and the 'right' screams back. As a christian conservative, I've never felt more uneasy than I do right now. Everything I cherish and hold true is being challenged and turned on its head. Even as I write this, I realize all it would take is someone reporting my blog as 'hate speech' and Google would close me down, but I digress.
The problem is air conditioning. We keep our homes locked up solid all year long. The windows are for looking through not listening. We condition our air, and end up conditioning our lives. God forbid we should be uncomfortable. We've lost the ability to listen to one another. When I was a young boy growing up in El Paso, Texas, we didn't have air conditioning. We had swamp coolers, and you had to have a window open to allow the chilled air to pass through. That window was usually in my room. I could hear the neighbors TV sets, their fights with children and one another. I could hear the street traffic, the sound of dogs barking, and crickets. When neighbors met during the day, the most common question was; "did you hear 'that' last night?" (Whatever 'that' was, was usually a neighbor forgetting everyone had a window open.) Then, everyone started getting air conditioning. The windows started closing, and amazingly people stopped meeting each other on the street. Chain link fences went up, and eventually bars over the windows. I saw a picture of our old house not long ago, and it truly looks like a prison with ten foot high chain link fence and concertina wire atop it. I can remember laying out on the grass in our front yard staring at the stars. Now there is not grass. It looks like a prison yard. I used to live in a neighborhood where all the kids knew each other and were free to play outside until nine at night.
Now, my neighborhood is digital. Facebook, instagram, and snapchat have replaced meeting people face to face. Husbands and wives text each other in the same room instead of talking. Children don't even text their parents. This is not the kind of relationships I want in the city.
Sometime soon, I'm going to put a birdbath outside the window to my home office. I'm going to put a green table close to the fence and sit at it while my neighbors do their thing. We are going to invite people over for Sunday dinner. We'll sit down and discuss the disgust we see around us. We'll open our windows and hopefully hear the occasional sounds of life beyond the TV set. I'll be glad to hear the sparrows skittering and splashing in their bath. I will open my window and open my heart, which is pretty amazing for me considering I'm an introvert.
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