Perspective

            When I was younger I was slightly amused by the “old men” who would set on benches at the Mall or the local park and complain,

            “This world is going to pot.”  I would listen quietly while they explained how hard they worked in their younger days and not say anything.  I would think to myself that they were just angry because they were old.

            Now I find myself falling into the same trap.  It does seem the world is going to Pot.  It does seem like an awful lot of our young men and women are giving their lives for a war that most of us these days do not believe we should have started.

            I am sixty years old now and I remember a time when I was full of hope and could call upon my optimism to conquer the whole world if necessary.  Well, I thought I could.  Years have taken their toll and I am just another of the baby boomers who look back for fear of looking ahead.

            You may ask, “What do I fear about the future?”  Ironically, it isn’t for me that I fear.  I have four and soon to be five grandchildren.  What will life be like for them?  That is a question that makes you shutter.

            In a time of technology, we can look forward to all kinds of comforts, including longer lives and better health.  Unfortunately, the same technology is causing air pollution, global warming and the constant dread that someone who does not like what we believe will try another stunt like 9-11.

            If I let myself fear the future too much, I throw away all of my todays for a future that I have no control over.  That’s one way to look at it.  Another way is that you and I together can help mold our youngsters to overcome some of the mistakes that our generation and generations before have made.

            If we do no more than give them faith in God we will have accomplished a lot.  Maybe the world is not a perfect world.  That is Heaven.  What this life is, though is a step toward the next life and that is Heaven.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  These are the words of Jesus.  Now at the age of sixty, I can appreciate the truth in these words even more than I ever could.

            If I may take you back a little, I would like to share my memories of the fifties.  The communist government was going bomb us.  We would have drills in school which taught us to crawl under our desk and shield our eyes in the event of a nuclear attack.  I’m not sure what they were thinking.  People paid to have bomb shelters made in their back yard for the impending attack.  These attacks never came. 

            I wouldn’t want to lead anyone astray because the attacks on 9-11 just like the attack on Pearl Harbor which catapulted us into World War Two are enough to make us sit up and take notice.

            One thing we can do is scrutinize our government leaders a little more.  We need men who love our nation more than their own financial desires.  That is a hard battle for any man.

            Even more importantly, we, each of us, as a people need to realize that we are responsible.  We need to give our kids as much as we can and that is spiritual nourishment as well as physical food.

            In this world it is a real challenge.  We need to help get it started so they have clean air to breath by the time they are sixty and have grandchildren of their own. 

            Of course, none of us can predict the future.  That does not mean we should not try to make a better life for our kids.

God Bless,

Lew