Today I am getting on a tram (street car) going to an appointment. I've just returned to Prague from a long family vacation in the US. I'm feeling a bit drab and low about getting back into the routine of work. As I step on the tram, a little girl with her hair in a pony tail starts to move to a seat just vacated by a passenger who is getting off the tram. I am moving in that direction, so the little girl goes back to her mother's lap. I pass the seat and motion for her to take it. Her face beams with joy and she moves to the empty seat saying, "thank you" to me with great enthusiasm. Her gesture has made my day already, but during the tram ride she looks up at me and smiles again. As I prepare to disembark, I make eye contact with her. She smiles again and I say good bye. She waves to me as I leave.
Someone might suggest that I exercised random kindness toward here, but I assure you I was the one who was most blessed by her expression of kindness. Being on the receiving end of a great big smile from a cute little Czech girl in a city filled with people who regularly look right through you as if you were invisible is an enormous experience. Her kindness was a bright spot in my day. This was undoubtedly the work of the divine, whose image still resides in that little girl, though it might be distorted in her as it is in me. But, that was a glimpse of what we were made for, how we were made to relate to one another. Two perfect strangers from two different generations, products of two cultures sharing the joy of kindness.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Specialization is for insects
I saw this quote today and could not help but chuckle. Probably because I have a deep loathing for specialization...
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love"
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love"
Friday, January 25, 2008
Big Brother, Sauron's Eye-What about Divine attentiveness?
Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat.Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake.
He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed.
~ Chuck Palahniuk
There has been a growing sense in the last 100 years in literature of an entity that has pervasive knowledge, which it uses to control people and create a kind of dead order—1984’s Big Brother and Lord of the Ring’s Sauron, to name two. These two characters are very different in nature, but both are extending their control over all things through their “seeing” power. The fact that they are always scanning and that one must always assume that they are being watched is terrorizing to some (those who resist) and deadening to others (those who give up). What seems to be lost in the mix in light of these kinds of characters, and often understated, is the existence of another omnipresent being who is the antithesis.
This sense of a pervasive force for good is present far more in the book version of Lord of the Rings than in the movie version, however, it is rarely much thought of or discussed.
In this day and age, one can be truly paralyzed by fears of having one’s phone tapped by the government, of having one’s identity stolen and all one’s life savings with it, or of being constantly watched by cameras in public places. We do live in a kind of panopticon—we are always being watched. Think of the number of places you go where there are cameras, or where you can be identified and located by someone in a remote location (e.g., when using a credit card or placing a mobile phone call).
However, we must not despair that the only “all seeing” agents out there have evil intent, though some may. What very few people seem to discuss or consider is the presence of ever present goodness. Sure, there are children’s stories about fairy godmothers and guardian angels, but there is also Santa Claus. Those of us who believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob need to be reminded that our God is all seeing and everywhere present and He is a force for good. In spite of the accusations that might be placed against Him (i.e., “Where was God when tragedy struck?”), our faith compels us to face the fact that His Word assures us of His constant presence and His constant working for good. While Big Brother’s may exist in the 21st Century, there is a deeper, more pervasive omnipresent One compared to which all the Big Brothers are only a distorted, cheap imitation. His loving kindness endures forever—His is a tenacious attentiveness.
He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed.
~ Chuck Palahniuk
There has been a growing sense in the last 100 years in literature of an entity that has pervasive knowledge, which it uses to control people and create a kind of dead order—1984’s Big Brother and Lord of the Ring’s Sauron, to name two. These two characters are very different in nature, but both are extending their control over all things through their “seeing” power. The fact that they are always scanning and that one must always assume that they are being watched is terrorizing to some (those who resist) and deadening to others (those who give up). What seems to be lost in the mix in light of these kinds of characters, and often understated, is the existence of another omnipresent being who is the antithesis.
This sense of a pervasive force for good is present far more in the book version of Lord of the Rings than in the movie version, however, it is rarely much thought of or discussed.
In this day and age, one can be truly paralyzed by fears of having one’s phone tapped by the government, of having one’s identity stolen and all one’s life savings with it, or of being constantly watched by cameras in public places. We do live in a kind of panopticon—we are always being watched. Think of the number of places you go where there are cameras, or where you can be identified and located by someone in a remote location (e.g., when using a credit card or placing a mobile phone call).
However, we must not despair that the only “all seeing” agents out there have evil intent, though some may. What very few people seem to discuss or consider is the presence of ever present goodness. Sure, there are children’s stories about fairy godmothers and guardian angels, but there is also Santa Claus. Those of us who believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob need to be reminded that our God is all seeing and everywhere present and He is a force for good. In spite of the accusations that might be placed against Him (i.e., “Where was God when tragedy struck?”), our faith compels us to face the fact that His Word assures us of His constant presence and His constant working for good. While Big Brother’s may exist in the 21st Century, there is a deeper, more pervasive omnipresent One compared to which all the Big Brothers are only a distorted, cheap imitation. His loving kindness endures forever—His is a tenacious attentiveness.
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