2015/06/25

Pondering Life

Life has been, well, life.  Current events have been weighing heavily on my mind and heart.  And you know what?  I'm scared.  I'm scared because I'm human.  I don't know what is coming next.  And I can't control everything.  

As I was sitting on my back deck this evening watching the lightning bugs and listening to the katydids, I had a thought, more like a revelation.  We have new neighbors.  We've been blessed with a wonderful young lady of 88 years as a new friend.  She absolutely loves my boys.  Well, I got to considering what she's seen come and go through her life.  Think about it for a minute...  She's 88, almost 89.  I'm just 36, almost 37.  Pretty significant age difference.  She's the same age as my grandparents.  So they've all lived through the same world events.

Our neighbor was born just before the Great Depression.  As a child she and my grandparents were babies during that difficult time period.  Then World War II started.  My granddad went straight into the Army out of high school.  He had to, all high school boys did by then.  Thankfully the war ended before he really finished Basic.

Let's see, they lived through the Cold War, the Korean War, and the debacle that was Vietnam.  Can you even imagine the Cuban Missile Crisis and what that would look like now?!?  These wonderful people saw the rise of men like JFK, Martin Luther King Jr, and many more.  They also saw things that were truly terrible.  

Their generation is often called The Greatest Generation.  They're the go-getters, the do-it-yourselfers, and they got things done.  They provided for their families as best they could.  If they had problems at work, with a neighbor, or whoever, they would TALK with the person.  No fighting, no ridiculous behavior.

These people who we're still fortunate to have with us, can still teach us if we'll just let them.  I know what came to mind for me was a few cliches like "This too shall pass."  and "Don't sweat the small stuff." or "Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff."  haha  But, the main theme being reinforced through all this is that time really does carry on with or without us.  Life will keep going and changing.  All this garbage going on in our country will fade into memory at some point.  My fervent hope and prayer is that it won't take another Civil War or World War III to sort us out.  

Take the time and effort to look into what politicians are really about.  Does the one you're backing really have yours and the people's interests at heart?  Are the events of the past year really as bad as the media is telling us?  Is the media just creating more ratings or are they really reporting the facts?  Even though our sphere of influence may be small, we are not insignificant.  Increase your knowledge, help lead those around you, and ripples will grow.  Then maybe we can look back when we're 88, God willing, and see what we've lived through.  See that we held onto our beliefs and ideals and we're okay.