Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Tue, Jun 07 2005
Squeezing And Hoping
It's pretty amazing to be living in a time when so many different kinds of news stories come out at about the same time. Some stories remind me that the person who tries to do the right thing is not always rewarded in this life, and that sometimes he or she even suffers for their actions. Violence always seems to make great headlines. Other stories remind me that the worst of human behavior can also bring out the best of human kindness. And sometimes a news story reminds me that the choices I make from day to day are what matter. When the end of life comes it will only matter that I made each day count, no matter how the stopping of those days comes.
I hear from a lot of people who are always hot to remind me that we're living in the "last days". They tick off current events and talk to me about conspiracies and prophecies and ethnic folklore and apocalyptic Bible verses. Some people point to specific news stories and match them up with prophecies they've read. They insist that the story is a sign of "the end". And they often do it with that kind of look a kid gets before a birthday, when he or she examines a wrapped gift and squeezes the package with a gingerly hope that it's going to turn out to hold the very gift they've longed to have, even when the gift-giver has some fun with them by pointing out that the package is kind of a funny shape. They keep testing and hoping and squeezing and trying to make sure that what they hope is inside is really there.
Part of me is usually tempted to remind these folks that many generations of people have thought that theirs was the generation of the "last days". But I know I shouldn't. The faster the media shoves bad news at us, the more we need to feel that a better time is just ahead. If we believe the best is yet to come maybe we can tough out the waiting.
posted at: 08:06 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
It's pretty amazing to be living in a time when so many different kinds of news stories come out at about the same time. Some stories remind me that the person who tries to do the right thing is not always rewarded in this life, and that sometimes he or she even suffers for their actions. Violence always seems to make great headlines. Other stories remind me that the worst of human behavior can also bring out the best of human kindness. And sometimes a news story reminds me that the choices I make from day to day are what matter. When the end of life comes it will only matter that I made each day count, no matter how the stopping of those days comes.
I hear from a lot of people who are always hot to remind me that we're living in the "last days". They tick off current events and talk to me about conspiracies and prophecies and ethnic folklore and apocalyptic Bible verses. Some people point to specific news stories and match them up with prophecies they've read. They insist that the story is a sign of "the end". And they often do it with that kind of look a kid gets before a birthday, when he or she examines a wrapped gift and squeezes the package with a gingerly hope that it's going to turn out to hold the very gift they've longed to have, even when the gift-giver has some fun with them by pointing out that the package is kind of a funny shape. They keep testing and hoping and squeezing and trying to make sure that what they hope is inside is really there.
Part of me is usually tempted to remind these folks that many generations of people have thought that theirs was the generation of the "last days". But I know I shouldn't. The faster the media shoves bad news at us, the more we need to feel that a better time is just ahead. If we believe the best is yet to come maybe we can tough out the waiting.
posted at: 08:06 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
