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Amusement rides are fun!! They take you away from the everyday routine, and allow you to just let go ...you let them control where you go. They take you for a ride ...it can be said, they really take you for a ride!
Part of the intrigue is in not knowing. Once you get on the ride, if it's the first time, you never know where you are going. Then you are somewhat familiar with it the next time, and lead your friends to it ...after all, it's something new and exciting. As you and your friends are now familiar with it, you each talk about it with other friends ...describing it not in detail, but just the thrill of it, that they have to try.
Life is different. It is not an amusement ride. And often the light illuminating what is ahead ...is often not illuminating at all. Few of us consider that there is much of a chance that the ride will possibly malfunction ...and that you won't be able to get off the ride. After all, wasn't our nation built on risk taking? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the saying goes. But, when it comes to risks & thrills ...there's a big difference between just plain fun, adventure, exploring, and faith; and having fun at the expense of others, adventuring into promiscuity, exploring drugs, and having faith in a get-rich-quick investment.
I wrote another blog about the errant direction that led others down the path to World War II. And I alluded to the train that led to the death camps. I also said we are already on board another train, but I did not mean of the same nature ...though no less horrific. The difference is that I don't know what route the train will take, I just know the destination ...and that is even worse.
Yes, I believe we are on a path of destruction for the economy of our world. I believe the United States is not exempt from this trouble. Yes, I believe we are allowing weapons to get into the hands of nations & people who are bent on the destruction of certain aspects of our society. Though this does concern me ...it is not my main concern, nor should it be yours.
Jesus said, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
I am presently reading Ben Carson's latest book, entitled, America the Beautiful ---and I was tempted to highlight points in the book, but it would be like dipping the entire book in my chosen color. I don't like to highlight a book, because I like to preserve everyone's own thoughts that they'd like to highlight in their mind ...not just what I got out of the book. But, like I said, I would have highlighted the entire book. It is not just the M.D. that follows his name, nor the vast experiences and talent he has with his work over the years as a Neurosurgeon at John Hopkins, ...nor is it the amassed trials and difficult lessons he has learned through an impoverished childhood, but rather his belief in God that allows him to emerge through all of this with the positive and clear perspective to which he approaches most every case placed before him.
There is a joke that goes something like this: "When I entered college, I found out so much that my parents didn't know ...but, it's amazing how much my parents learned by the time I finished college." Do you think they got self-educated somehow during those few short years?
No, most of the baby-boomer generation failed to either learn the lessons of their parents who endured the Great Depression or arrived on the world's stage during World War II, or they failed to pass the lessons on. The experiences they had, and what they had seen ...cannot be contained adequately within any textbook. They did not just have the option to read about it, or not. They 'lived' life's experiences.
In contrast, we have the words of Al Gore, speaking to a class of twelve year old kids ..."There are some things about our world that you know that older people don't know. Why would that be? Well, in a period of rapid change, the old assumptions sometimes just don't work anymore because they're out-of-date."
So, we have the failure of the baby-boom generation ...now, facing the boomerang generation, where it flies back in your face. They obviously haven't been taught that if you throw it, it will come back. If you throw away the principles of fiscal responsibility, they will come back. If you turn away from the morals that you should have been taught, and throw it all away ...it can blindside you.
Sorry, Al ...but in a period of rapid change and uncertainty, you go back to the old, to what worked successfully and compassionately in the past. Our forefathers were compassionate about what they aspired to do to make this nation a better place to live. The old people know this. So, what kind of people would want you to rush into rash decisions ...and blind trust? Who would want you to jump on ...and just go for the ride? I'd think those who like to teach only new ideas, and none of the old ...perhaps don't want you to consider the old, and rapid change works to their advantage to cause change before you know what is happening.
In God We Trust ...is not just for coinage, nor should we attempt to wipe it out of every memory possible. If possible, we should try to reinstitute it in our schools ...and ingrain it into the hopes, values, and minds of our children.
