From the Stacks … October 30th, 2020

There is much talk today of our nation running aground.

Is this true? The question drove me to the dictionary, to discover that a ship that “runs aground” has found itself in shallow waters.

Aha, I thought. Shallow. There you go. Thus the problem.

We used to believe that “still waters run deep,” until we realized that the adage doesn’t apply to a generation of people who refuse to speak because of the vacuous nature of their thoughts.

I am not quite so gloomy about our future. Yet I do not think it is the job of people who are creatively bent toward sharing wisdom to always kiss the rear end of the person in front of them.

We just need to realize that when a boat runs aground, it can neither float nor can it sail from its perch.

It must seek out deeper waters.

What has caused us to run aground?

My list:

1. By telling everybody we’re great, we have eliminated the word “great.
2. By electronically connecting ourselves to the world, we have emotionally disconnected ourselves from one another.
3. We have replaced actions with speeches, thinking that merely stating our intentions is sufficient to prove our willingness.
4. We allow the fostering of bigotry, even though it continues to taint both our history and our future.
5. We promote a war between men and women while simultaneously using sex to sell everything.
6. We foolishly think there is a permanent solution to problems rather than a gradual revelation in our everyday reality.
7. We value critique–one of the more useless human endeavors.
8. We accept mediocrity, hoping that others will accept our rendition.
9. We want to believe we are exceptional, even though every nationality that has pursued that particular philosophy has ended up being ruled by tyrants.
10. We think that problems can be solved corporately, when nothing ever happens in the human family without individuals repenting.