At The End Of The Day
Sunrise and sunset pictures at one time dominated my picture folder. The only way to tell some sunrise/sunset pictures apart was if the barn was in the picture it was a sunrise, if there was a clear picture with no buildings in it the picture was a sunset...
In human sight, some live long useless lives, some live short meaningful lives, and then there are the rest of us with medium normal lives. Each life is one
of importance. Our existence here is like a kaleidoscope, the colors and shapes moving, changing and reforming. How many great people have come from humble beginnings? How many have come from humble parentage? How many times do strangers, en passant, influence others for good or ill?
As writers we are supposed to write our passion. I have many interests. In working on my story about the orphan boy, Gene Wade, in Gene's Story, I had to research many things. I love doing research and reading about people and their lives and history. But passions? That's a deep subject.
In looking through my subjects, which gives me insight into my passions, I'd say mine would have to do with why some societies fail, or how they come to fail. The reason societies fail is because people fail. People fail because for all their wonderful attributes, and make no mistake about it humans are capable of tremendous good and magnificent works, but for all of that, humans are frail beings—the image of God wrapped in the mantle of clay. Creatures of dust.
God gave us a pattern to live and raise our families by: Ephesians 6:1 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2) Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise), 3) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. 4) And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord."
We are to honor and respect God and each other. Somewhere through the ages we've lost that pattern. Adults have lost respect for God, and then they lose respect for parents and children.
At one point I was faced with a dilemma. Why is it not right for husbands, wives—adults to abandon their families? I asked people that I thought were experts, but got not one good answer. I was searching for a 'thus saith the Lord', but nowhere in the ten commandments could it be found. Did I find the answer? Yes.
At the time I was looking for my answer I read an article either by, or quoted from C.S.Lewis, the gist of which states:
"The standard that measures two things is something different from either. You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as a real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people's ideas get nearer to that real Right than others." C. S. Lewis
Or as I came to see it, "some things are just right and some things are just wrong, and they don't have to prove themselves as right or wrong."
Someone has written, "There is more than one way to raise a child." I say that for each child there is a right way and a wrong way. Those are the only two ways to raise children, and we are far too cavalier in raising our children. Children grow up and become adults whether parents raise them right or not. We don't need a million different ways to raise our children, but it takes a special heart to understand the right way.
