Are we more important than we think we are? I’ve wondered that from time to time. Then it occurs to me that we should really be more concerned about how we are important to others. I don’t mean just in the sense of responsibility but just mattering to others. Do we just wake up one morning and say “I think I am going to start to matter to others.” I think not. I hope not. The way we gain importance is through how we make a difference in other people’s lives. It’s about the effort we make to actually affect others in a positive way. It can start by something as simple as holding a door open for someone.
Why should we care? I’m sure that many people these days really look at how they are viewed instead of actually affecting the view. The other point to acknowledge is if we are trying to affect the view in only superficial ways we will only look as shallow as those attempts.
You see, I think that living your life for others is the supreme way to really and truly make a difference. Many people in this day and age live life only for themselves. It is known as what’s in it for me rather than how can I make a difference for them. You see it every day. Go to a supermarket and watch how people are on self-missions and God help anyone who breaks their mission’s rhythm. You can ride on any road and see how so many people seem to be ready to beep their horn at anyone who breaks their stride. Remember the old saying, patience is a virtue? I submit that is a mostly lost virtue. I think that virtue began to decay when the microwave was invented. Push a button and in 2 minutes you have a complete meal. Now it is an expectation that we push a button and instantly get what we want. No more need for patience.
I talked about this with my dear sweet wife the other day and said imagine if everyone lost their cell phone reception for a day. The world would go into complete turmoil. Nothing would really change in that day but the perception of being disconnected from an over-connected world would drive deep and traumatic results. Perhaps it would also make everyone stop and look at each other if for just a day and perhaps even TALK to each other. What a hideous time that would be right?
How about no electricity for a day? Now, of course, the obvious need for electricity is with health care and vital services but think how paralyzed we are when power goes out for just 20 or 30 minutes?
My point in all of these mind numbing thoughts is we are a product of screaming fast and ever changing technology. Technology has come so far in such a short period of time that humanity and the way we interact has been forever changed. The majority of anyone younger than me could never imagine a world without a cell phone, microwave, computer or GPS. I grew up without all of those things and seem to have done OK. (Opinions may differ) So I submit instead of having an Earth Day or some other “green initiative” we should have a technology free day. Perhaps look at a flower or the ocean or listen to the wind blowing through the trees or just sit and talk to someone instead of TEXTING. It is a pipe dream but pipe dreams are always where dreams start so that’s my pipe dream.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Just Proud That's All
So often my little blogs are to remember people or things and occasionally I write because I have been inspired. This would be one of those times. Let me tell you about this woman.
This is a woman who goes through life with an open heart. This may seem like a cliché but I assure you it is the absolute truth about this woman. You see, she has worked a number of years in service to the United Methodist Church. Most times she is in the background and frankly, she really prefers it that way. While she works in the background assisting and nurturing each year a new group of aspiring pastors. She does it because she loves what she does and she really loves being connected to so many impressive Christian leaders to come. You may be saying well big deal, what’s so special about that?
This weekend we were privileged, and I mean that in the most sincere way, to sit on our sofa together and watch another annual conference for the UMC. I did more than watch the conference. I watched her. She named every aspiring candidate by their full name before the Bishop would. She could tell me details about these special people that I would venture even some family members would not remember. While this is inspiring alone there is another aspect of this process I watched. I watched Linda’s eyes light up with each ordination and I watched tears of joy flow from her during this process that really put me in awe.
We go to our jobs day by day and push through and once in a while might experience some sort of satisfaction in some way but whenever I watch Linda during one of these conferences I have pangs of envy that while not healthy are real. I will likely never experience what she seems to experience but I am at least the beneficiary of second hand satisfaction.
She may not be there many more conventions but I know that when that chapter ends she will surely miss those intense moments. I know I will. I say this not to brag on her, although I am happy to do that, I say this because I have never been more proud of anyone and more inspired by anyone in my life. She is not a Methodist but you would not know that by the pride she shows in her candidates that she helped through their process. I just wanted to get this out. The really neat thing is long when Linda and I have gone to our glory, there will be a large flock of shepherds in the United Methodist Church that I know for sure will never forget her.
This is a woman who goes through life with an open heart. This may seem like a cliché but I assure you it is the absolute truth about this woman. You see, she has worked a number of years in service to the United Methodist Church. Most times she is in the background and frankly, she really prefers it that way. While she works in the background assisting and nurturing each year a new group of aspiring pastors. She does it because she loves what she does and she really loves being connected to so many impressive Christian leaders to come. You may be saying well big deal, what’s so special about that?
This weekend we were privileged, and I mean that in the most sincere way, to sit on our sofa together and watch another annual conference for the UMC. I did more than watch the conference. I watched her. She named every aspiring candidate by their full name before the Bishop would. She could tell me details about these special people that I would venture even some family members would not remember. While this is inspiring alone there is another aspect of this process I watched. I watched Linda’s eyes light up with each ordination and I watched tears of joy flow from her during this process that really put me in awe.
We go to our jobs day by day and push through and once in a while might experience some sort of satisfaction in some way but whenever I watch Linda during one of these conferences I have pangs of envy that while not healthy are real. I will likely never experience what she seems to experience but I am at least the beneficiary of second hand satisfaction.
She may not be there many more conventions but I know that when that chapter ends she will surely miss those intense moments. I know I will. I say this not to brag on her, although I am happy to do that, I say this because I have never been more proud of anyone and more inspired by anyone in my life. She is not a Methodist but you would not know that by the pride she shows in her candidates that she helped through their process. I just wanted to get this out. The really neat thing is long when Linda and I have gone to our glory, there will be a large flock of shepherds in the United Methodist Church that I know for sure will never forget her.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Some Past Remembrances
I've been thinking lately, and yes I know that’s a problem of itself, about just where we are now as a society and where we have come from in my life. My life is but a speck on humanity but it is mine none the less so just come along for the ride.
I’m trying to remember all of the technological advances in my lifetime and frankly it is too much to just spout off here but I want to at least mention the highlights. When I was a little boy I ran around my old hometown of Lyon Mountain, NY free as a bird. My only stress was to try and determine how many bumble bees I could catch in my jar and lid. I remember strolling through the woods and on paths and picking wild blueberries and strawberries and feasting on them. I remember eating rhubarb right out of the ground. I remember picking and eating apples until my stomach hurt. I remember my one speed bike, yes I said ONE speed….just frittering the hours away riding to Standish or Chateauguay Lake and exploring all nature had to offer and it had a lot. I think as an adult I have a keener appreciation for nature than even children these days do and that is sad.
The reason I digressed to my childhood is it has a real connection to who I am now and it also has a bearing on who kids are now and where they are headed. There were no buttons to push for me as a child….no phones to carry around. I was not instantly connected to everyone on the planet. My world was what was around me and I really think it was a better world because I think people of my generation had a stronger connection to people around them and to the things around them. Children these days can’t interact with nature and are getting more disconnected from even other people. This is what is, in my opinion, heading us down a path that will be hard to change. Now I know not all children are as I describe but I also know it is a disturbingly large number. I almost wish there was a way to hit the reset button on many of our so called technological advances and get back to basics. Let’s face it…we come into this world with nothing and we leave this world with the same thing. No cell phone service in heaven….at least I hope not!
OK, so we have the cell phone now. I remember having a party line phone as a child where three or four houses shared the same line. Can you imagine that? I remember washers that had rollers that you would run your clothes through to get the water out of the clothes. When I was a child our dryer was a line outside. Electric dryers were thought to be this incredible advancement that only well off folks could afford. Everything that was cooked was cooked on a stove. Microwaves were not even something thought about and there were no shortcuts for dinner. Everything took time to make. Even thinking about ceiling fans and how they were not something much thought about. We were just fortunate to have a light in every room. Does anyone other than me remember the first color TV? No I am talking about the FIRST color TV. It was a black and white TV with a color filter you would put over the screen. It was color albeit one color. Does anyone remember the famous test pattern in the morning before the stations would sign on? For some reason I remember an Indian on that test pattern….surely would not be allowed today.
Let’s talk lawn mowers. The first lawn mower in my recollection was the type with the cylindrical cutting carriage that would rotate as you pushed it. It actually did a pretty fabulous job except it actually took EFFORT to do it. Then the motorized versions burst on the scene. The kind that had a sprocket on top you had to wind the rope around and yank. You could be doing a lot of that process if you had a mower that took it’s time starting.
Let’s go back to TV a moment. No cable TV when I was a crumb cruncher. We really thought we were living high on the hog (sorry to the PETA people for that reference) when my Dad purchased a revolving outdoor antenna that could be controlled INDOORS without having to walk out in a storm and rotate it. What an advancement. It meant you could improve reception on those three channels you were lucky to get.
Does anyone here reading this right now know what a brook trout tastes like? I used to go out and fish the brooks around Lyon Mountain and I’m telling you those little boogers were tasty. OK I am talking about the fish still Jim.
Thinking about computers and there is really nothing to compare them to in my childhood. It was just not thought about much. Looking up at my printer(s) and thinking about those days when printers didn’t exist. I do remember the old copy machines that smelled all through the halls of school when they would fire up that beastly machine which roared like an airplane when it was in operation. Remember carbon paper and how that was the only alternative for making duplicates of anything? I remember when showers were considered a luxury and bath tubs were it.
There are certainly many more things from our past that make us ponder where we are at now but those are several that come to mind. Feel free to share more!
I’m trying to remember all of the technological advances in my lifetime and frankly it is too much to just spout off here but I want to at least mention the highlights. When I was a little boy I ran around my old hometown of Lyon Mountain, NY free as a bird. My only stress was to try and determine how many bumble bees I could catch in my jar and lid. I remember strolling through the woods and on paths and picking wild blueberries and strawberries and feasting on them. I remember eating rhubarb right out of the ground. I remember picking and eating apples until my stomach hurt. I remember my one speed bike, yes I said ONE speed….just frittering the hours away riding to Standish or Chateauguay Lake and exploring all nature had to offer and it had a lot. I think as an adult I have a keener appreciation for nature than even children these days do and that is sad.
The reason I digressed to my childhood is it has a real connection to who I am now and it also has a bearing on who kids are now and where they are headed. There were no buttons to push for me as a child….no phones to carry around. I was not instantly connected to everyone on the planet. My world was what was around me and I really think it was a better world because I think people of my generation had a stronger connection to people around them and to the things around them. Children these days can’t interact with nature and are getting more disconnected from even other people. This is what is, in my opinion, heading us down a path that will be hard to change. Now I know not all children are as I describe but I also know it is a disturbingly large number. I almost wish there was a way to hit the reset button on many of our so called technological advances and get back to basics. Let’s face it…we come into this world with nothing and we leave this world with the same thing. No cell phone service in heaven….at least I hope not!
OK, so we have the cell phone now. I remember having a party line phone as a child where three or four houses shared the same line. Can you imagine that? I remember washers that had rollers that you would run your clothes through to get the water out of the clothes. When I was a child our dryer was a line outside. Electric dryers were thought to be this incredible advancement that only well off folks could afford. Everything that was cooked was cooked on a stove. Microwaves were not even something thought about and there were no shortcuts for dinner. Everything took time to make. Even thinking about ceiling fans and how they were not something much thought about. We were just fortunate to have a light in every room. Does anyone other than me remember the first color TV? No I am talking about the FIRST color TV. It was a black and white TV with a color filter you would put over the screen. It was color albeit one color. Does anyone remember the famous test pattern in the morning before the stations would sign on? For some reason I remember an Indian on that test pattern….surely would not be allowed today.
Let’s talk lawn mowers. The first lawn mower in my recollection was the type with the cylindrical cutting carriage that would rotate as you pushed it. It actually did a pretty fabulous job except it actually took EFFORT to do it. Then the motorized versions burst on the scene. The kind that had a sprocket on top you had to wind the rope around and yank. You could be doing a lot of that process if you had a mower that took it’s time starting.
Let’s go back to TV a moment. No cable TV when I was a crumb cruncher. We really thought we were living high on the hog (sorry to the PETA people for that reference) when my Dad purchased a revolving outdoor antenna that could be controlled INDOORS without having to walk out in a storm and rotate it. What an advancement. It meant you could improve reception on those three channels you were lucky to get.
Does anyone here reading this right now know what a brook trout tastes like? I used to go out and fish the brooks around Lyon Mountain and I’m telling you those little boogers were tasty. OK I am talking about the fish still Jim.
Thinking about computers and there is really nothing to compare them to in my childhood. It was just not thought about much. Looking up at my printer(s) and thinking about those days when printers didn’t exist. I do remember the old copy machines that smelled all through the halls of school when they would fire up that beastly machine which roared like an airplane when it was in operation. Remember carbon paper and how that was the only alternative for making duplicates of anything? I remember when showers were considered a luxury and bath tubs were it.
There are certainly many more things from our past that make us ponder where we are at now but those are several that come to mind. Feel free to share more!
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