two hundred ninety one

 Perhaps I'm becoming and old fart now that I have turned seventy. I've written a few post about how I feel about it. I will someday, God willing reach an age where people will talk about me while I'm in the room. That happened to my father who suffered from dementia. That is a personal nightmare to me.

When I was young I witnessed other young guys at work mocking older guys because of their age. A joking environment at work is fun but these comments were mean and belittling. I saw this and reacted but these young cocky assholes lacked any self-awareness. 

Both the human and animal kingdom have the young males challenging the older males but there is more respect and honor in the animal kingdom then these children showed to their elders. 

I learned early on to value older men and women because of their experience, they had seen decades more life then me. They weren't necessarily smarter then me, but many were. They had seen and done more then me simply because they had been alive much longer. 

Some were successful and some weren't. Some were happy and some were not. Some were wise and some were old fools. I understood I could learn from the wise ones and even the fools.

I'm not claiming to be a wiseman or a fool, I am probably a bit of both. The simple truth is I have survived my recklessness, dodged large fast moving and pointy objects and survived disease for 70+ years. 

This simple fact gives me a special vantage point. I have seen more life then the most intelligent and successful young person because I was alive for as much as fifty years longer.  

Each of our life experience is different but human nature throughout the world and through history has been a constant. People from the beginning of time have been greedy, self centered, violent, hateful, jealous and cruel. 

These were the main operating values of ancient society. God then interjected the concept of right and wrong, love, compassion and forgiveness, first through the Law of Moses and finally Jesus. Society now had a new set of values to factor in.

The seventy years that I have occupied the planet has seen more technological changes than any time in history. Human nature at its core never changes but the speed and volume of communication has accelerated at a pace never seen before.....or has it?

The book of Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon. The reference to nothing new under the sun has always intrigued me. Has there been societies before us that had advanced technology and communication? Did we travel to other worlds? Perhaps the Pyramids are evidence of things beyond our present understanding? That doesn't factor in the Pyramids we may have also built on Mars.

I know I'm beginning to be a little silly or am I? I'm realizing more and more that I only know a little. 

We have this cocky attitude in our media and leaders today. Everyone is so sure of everything. Everything is happening for the very first time so everything is "unprecedented". Every event is perceived as the best or the worst in the history of humanity.  I call them the "Chicken Little, the sky is falling media. They abuse language, skew statistics, ignore or distort even their own recent history. 

None of this is new, from the beginning there has been a play to gain power by using division, hatred and jealousy. Any small event, natural disaster, any transgression or flaw in a fellow human being can be exploited. The one constant is their superior attitudes, false compassion and self righteous judgments. 

These words ring true, "What has been will be again and what has been done will be done again". 

The one slight super power I have is that I don't forget what someone said or did. I have trouble with names and numbers but I remember most details of conversations and events.

Humans have short memories we need constant reminders of our mission, values and history. Statues, memorials, songs and pledges help us remember what happened before and after, were and how it happen, who did it and why they did it.

The effort to erase or rewrite our history is a conscious effort to divide and deceive us. I represent a threat because I was around when these things happened and remember the what, who and why about our history.

The truth of these words is directed to the need to understand and remember our history.

I could write volumes of examples but this is a natural motivation to gain control and power. The basic yearning or temptation that began in the Garden of Eden. Man from the beginning has yearned to be God.

Building bridges or destroying them, unifying or dividing, stirring hatred or sewing peace, these are the real questions.

I accept these words. "There is nothing new under the sun". Now I look at the fruit produced to find my way to what is true. Yes it is that simple.

Watch the news, listen to a speech or watch what they do, then shove everything through this filter; are they dividing or healing? 

They all claim to heal, they claim to know history and they claim superior thoughts, morals and knowledge, but they can't hide their real motives.........if you just take the time to look clearly.

These words are available to everyone, I have been fortunate to find them. My lower base nature is always in play but by God's grace I have been blessed and guided into this truth. I must push my own thoughts, motives and actions through this same filter. 

The questions I am guided and judged by are; am I dividing or healing, am I promoting violence or peace, am I spreading hatred or love?