As with most of us, there is something that provokes within that calls us to deliberate about things that we would rather not. For the most part, we already know that if we take our beliefs and bond them together with any sense of coherent reasoning, we will end up at a place where we start to question everything, including our relationship to others, the social order, humanity, our pursuits and ourselves. We fear that if we journey too far into some pretty complicated areas, we might be overtaken with sanity or something that resembles sanity. Of course, if we are prepared to allow a little sanity into the estate, we better be prepared to begin to calm ourselves and our emotionally elevated thoughts.
At a young age an English teacher named Mike Moss once stated in a classroom full of rowdy angry, pot-smoking 11th graders that "nothing was anything unless it was compared to something..." Kind of a burdensome thought for us juvenile delinquents. Yet, it stayed with me till this very day. I have been haunted by the thought process that supports that statement. It became clear to me that there might be numerous levels from which to stand and view our past and make deductions, form opinions and create our realities.
As I began to make assessments of others and their lots in life, I found that they each had a parallel passage. The entire advanced thinking world is made up of diverse shades and hues of two typically atypical personas.
What about the rest of the world?
Where do all the other advanced thinking souls fit in?
I surmise that the left behind magnitude public called humanity have quietly been seeking a rationale and position to call their own. A safe harbor in the storm of feelings and actions going to and fro between the advanced thinking masses and the morally wanting souls. The wanting soul's are dodging the bullets and the bomb, the excise and times, death and disease and still remain not relevant. The others are our friends in all places.
My question, years in the making, is this. If we all arrive at the same place at the same time with the same confusion then what is this journey's true purpose and how can we begin to understand our meaning in God's creation?
For me, as I have shared in so many blogs, it was in climbing out of myself for a moment and seeing, hearing, listening and helping another person without self motive or gain. Trust me, I was never planning for this to happen and was perfectly happy plodding through my self centered and single-minded journey disconnected and "not so'ing" as much as possible.
The key word in that thought/question was humanity. This is where I am going with this line of thought. It is the combination of all of our individual voyages that collectively create the tapestry from which this world is made. No matter where you stand or where you stood we are all right here at this point in time.
Where is here?
Here is where we stand looking at each other thinking thoughts we never thought we would ever think.
Here is where we are prepared to think the worst before the best of anyone, because, we in some manner, in some way, understand that we ourselves are capable of less than best thinking and actions.
Here is where we shrug our shoulders as a society at our leaders as they aimlessly and, at times, shamefully drive the current events to mold a particular line of reason that is absolutely self driven and self serving.
The humanity that we share has been pushed to the back of the bus in the past three generation for an assortment of reasons. Today, lack of humanity seems to be fashionable. We watch as 100-900 channels provide front row center access to any amount of arguing, yelling, fighting over any of 1,000,000 issues that, at this very moment, seem to be of our only consequence. The humanity that has evolved is a inhumanity rather than a progressive humanity.
Where in the world do I have any meaning in all this? Do I retreat into the quietist corner and hide until its over, hoping not to be seen? Not! Humanity starts with me. Compassion is defined as how I connect to the world not how the world relates to me. If I was to judge how the world related to me and serve up some of that stew back at world, we would all be racing to the bathroom with food poisoning.
No, humanity is something that I needed to go beyond myself to find. I needed to find it in something other than my intersecting with the world or the world's intersecting with me. For me, this came in the form of children. It is not a noble thing I keep telling people. Helping children is not suppose to be an award winning activity, nor is it suppose to be the exception rather than the norm. There should be 15,000 social networkers friends already helping children in crises and I would be the one "hold-out." I should have been the one that said or thought... this is for someone else, there is nothing I could add.
But, this was not to be.
Circumstances that were beyond any control set me into action, and yes, today I am in action. My humanity comes from a series of events that I had nothing to do with setting into engagement.
Do you know where and how that race started?
It started when I first had a thought about something other than me. It began when I first found myself on my knees screaming... why? And, there was an answer. A loud answer. "Because you have to do it." "God, was that you, I asked ?" The rest has been a humanity history. At no point, may I remind you, has it become any easier. At no point has life all of a sudden become a bed of roses. The only thing that changed was that from that point on, from that very second, I have never ever second guessed or re-though who I am, where I belong, or what is my meaning. Let me share what a special place that is. It is a place where you meet humanity head on like a bug on a windshield. SPLAT! It is where compassion surfaces and never leaves you. It is where charity sits like a rocking chair in the corner calling you to it so that it might provide ease to you and others.
It is in all of this resulting activities that you get the chance to meet your maker. At this moment, we begin to have knowledge of the true fears. The originating fear and how we face that knowledge. Sound interesting? It is actually. However, not for the faint-hearted. We are called to be example of charity, love and wisdom. The only road to this platform is by stepping out of yourself and joining the league of angels that have come before you or have climbed that mountain right ahead of you. Once there, you will, without doubt be a powerfully influential person within yourself and to yourself. This resulting creation with be, for the first time, in unison with the Creator/Teacher and at that moment... all will be answered, just like it was for me.
...a small action by you results in the largest action that certainly saves many life's, and, at the same time saves you and prepares you for this day that you have waited for since we began to loose sight of the road.