Jonathots Daily Blog
(2042)
“What are the cool kids doing?”
I thought that question would be a phenomenon of high school and would disappear, or at least dissipate, in importance when I entered the unknown realm of “Grown-ups-ville.” Now that I’ve occupied that territory as a resident for several decades, I will tell you that we are still oppressed, possessed and obsessed by “what the cool kids do.”
Perhaps the most annoying factor in this scenario is the process by which we determine who the cool kids ARE. Normally three ingredients:
- Popularity
- Money
- What they get by with
So much to my chagrin, as I travel across the country, I see perfectly wonderful, kind people under the spell of a temporary haze of confusion by a political arena that is back-biting and ferocious and a spirituality which only offers flavors in bubblegum and castor oil.
It is most unfortunate.
It is rather doubtful if we will be able to deter people from chasing the ways of the cool kids. Our only hope would be to change the roster of that particular group of people.
Yes, to a certain degree we are all victims of this quandary, in which we have a tendency to imitate the people in our society who have power, money and who get away with things, performing it in our own little homespun three-act play.
So churches, organizations and even families are plagued with much more bickering, fussiness and dogmatic attitudes because we are told by our media pundits that this is the “way of the world” and is the best avenue for getting what you want.
It will take some awfully brave people to counteract this misery. Therefore I woke up this morning and asked myself: who do I want to be?
I guess I would like to have the strength of an ox.
I chose the ox NOT because of the age-old reputation, but because the creature is deliberate, mighty and uncomplaining. For I’m sure that an ox has aches and pains, but nothing will deter it from its labor.
For me, I want the mind of Jesus.
Why? It blends wit and tenderness, which will win the day if given the opportunity to perform.
I guess I would like to have the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.
For as you study his life, you realize he was a gentle soul with an iron will, a sense of humor and more questions than answers about his faith. There’s a healthiness to that which keeps your spirituality moving forward instead of settling into your favorite pew.
And emotionally, I would like to be the perfect merger of a child and a soldier:
The simplicity of a child’s curiosity and honest about my own needs, and the bravery of a soldier, who realizes that sometimes my wants are negated by reality, and I need to march on.
Where I see these attributes in my society, I will praise them. Where I don’t, I will avoid them.
- I want to be a strong ox
- with the mind of the son of God
- and the spirit of an emancipator
- while sporting the simplicity of a child and the courage of a soldier.
This creates my parallel universe to our present earth-bound logic.
If you’re looking, that is where you’ll find me.
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Jonathots Daily Blog 