For some reason, we like secrets. We like knowing something that others do not, and then the pleasure of keeping that something from others. What happens, though, when the secret we keep doesn’t only keep others in the dark, but also ourselves? What would we do then? Live in darkness? For how long can we live without the light? How long can we hold on to a secret when that secret forces alienation upon us, apart from the world where we belong?
What of this living in the dark? Would this not cause a warping of the mind, the intense desire to hide ourselves from the world? Can we take pleasure in our secret and live in the dark as well? Would this be healthy? Would we drive ourselves to do what we would not do in the light because of the darkness we force upon ourselves with our secret? What pits would we fall into while preserving the secret that prevents the aid of light?
More than the pleasure of a secret is the pleasure of gaining a new one. A secret captured is a feat, one we celebrate within ourselves as if we conquered the climb of Everest. We count our collection of secrets precious and gleam in the glow of new secrets added to the lot. What if a secret is too much? What if that someone in the darkness ready to step into the light at the loss of the preservation of their secret, specifically the giving of their secret to you, causes you to revolt against the offering? What if the secret is so much that you would rather push that soul into their darkness once again than to accept their secret and allow them to stand in the light? Would you not care that their glimpse of light lost as you banished them to the darkness be more painful than the secret you felt so overwhelmed with?
As one with such a secret, would you rather voluntarily live in darkness forever to avoid the possibility of being pushed from the light, or chance life in the light at the risk of being sentenced to the darkness?
This is the second video Matt has done of his travels around the world. It’s an amazing look into the reality that as a people, we are very much the same all around the world. We are striving for many of the same things. It’s unfortunate that we often come into conflict while doing so.
A verse from Garth Brook’s “Thicker than Blood” came to mind as I was watching.
And if blood is thicker than water, then what are we fighting for? We’re all sons and daughters of something that means so much more.
I see it on my TV, but I can’t understand. Lord, it’s one big contradiction to me. How in God’s name we love thy neighbor with fists in our hands and kill each other hen we just don’t agree?
Why can’t we see the walls we can’t see through? And see what God’s been telling me and you?
Blood is thicker than water, hh, but love…
Love is thicker than blood.
I’m a half and hour late as I begin writing this, but I really want to post a few thoughts I’ve had running around my head this Independence Day. I hope you don’t mind my tardiness.
Today we celebrate the happy accident that was the creation of the United States of America as an independent nation, sovereign apart from Great Britain. I call this a happy accident because such an event had never happened in the history of the world. Was there any who could have foreseen from the outset that the colonies of Great Britain in the new world would one day up and decide that they could hold their own as an independent nation? Going even further, did any have the idea that these colonies would take their independence by force, putting their ill trained army against what could have been argued as the greatest military force of that age?
Some would argue that the creation of the United States as a new nation was not an accident and that independence was destiny. This sort of aggrandized thinking has fueled our political rhetoric and has pushed the growth of the nation from 13 colonies, to 50 by way of manifest destiny; a doctrine very connected with the idea that independence was predestined from God so that it should spread from one ocean to the other. Time and time again, we expanded our borders through the sacrifice of treasure and lives.
We are never finished. The signers of the Declaration of Independence knew that the act of signing would only be one step. The framers of the Constitution knew that their system of Government was not perfect, clearly stating that their goal was to create a “more perfect union”. As we move forward and face new challenges and gain a greater understanding of who we are and what out place is in the world, we must continually make needed sacrifices in order to abide by the destiny we accepted on July 4th, 1776.
I don’t think anyone would argue that we are living in a time where our decisions will have an extremely significant impact on our future. But then again, why should there be any argument about this? Every age has had its challenges to overcome. Over and over again we have accepted these challenges, and have overcome. I believe that we will overcome the challenges we face now. Through sacrifice and innovation, we can find acceptable solutions that will propel us to whatever future challenges our destiny as a nation holds. It’s a never ending cycle. We’ll never be a perfect union, but each decision we make as a nation should lead us to be more perfected. The failure to act and improve will be our only stumbling stone in our attempts to achieve this goal.
For something that shouldn’t of happened, the outcome of this accident has transformed the world, and I am grateful to have the privilege of being a citizen of this great nation.
While I don’t do this often, this post is of the personal kind.
Anyone who knows me will readily attest that I’m not the easiest person to get to know. Whether it’s a matter of me being disattached, unengaged, or slow to trust; it takes a lot for me to accept someone wholly into my life. For the past couple of weeks, this has been the theme of many thoughts and musings; how distant I know I must seem to others. Incredibly, during the time of these considerations, I meet someone who somehow managed to instantaneously bridge the gap and unlock the doors to every compartment of who I am.
And I feel vulnerable…
…like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, heels planted into the hard ground knowing that with any gust of wind I’ll plummet to whatever doom awaits. Even still, in this most precarious of positions, I have hope that I will be pulled to safety by the hand of who has captured my thoughts. It is the slimmest of possibilities that this hopes for hand of rescue will materialize; or even if it did, that it would be permanent.
It is amazing how everything can be different with one person; how everything is better, and seemingly like it should. Damn the uncertainty though; the questions and the waiting.
And while this makes you want to become a better person in every way, you struggle with the fact that you can’t possibly become better fast enough to stop them from slipping way. I can’t become better fast enough, but I hope my best for now will do.
So this is what Spring has brought, characteristic of the season. Uninvited, yet not entirely unwelcome; contradictions and all.
I’m a half and hour late as I begin writing this, but I really want to post a few thoughts I’ve had running around my head this Independence Day. I hope you don’t mind my tardiness.
