Doing the impossible is really hard.
August 26, 2017
Absolutes are rare. Maybe we find more of these examples in sciences like physics. People??? Not so much. It only takes about a second to think of an example of this. Killing ok? Divorce? Love? Our society is experiencing social tectonics. Every day in many places, the ground literally shakes. However, most of the time, it is so slight that nobody notices. When the guy on the TV starts talking Richter scale, then we pay attention, why? Because it destroyed and made loud noises and scared people. Good or bad? Don’t know. Sometimes the difference between thrill and fatal is a bolt or two on a roller coaster. We are losing bolts at a rapid rate.
I believe I made this example in another writing, but it is worth a re-visit for this piece. A professor asked my class many years ago, “What makes a criminal?” He was fishing for some genetic or financial precursor that guaranteed a criminal. I ain’t smart, but I knew that sort of softball setup meant embarrassment with just about any answer we gave him. We know that criminals come in all shapes sizes and demographics, so my answer was, “Laws.” Laws make people criminal, not birth, head size or lack of money, etc. Want to solve the crime problem in America?? Get rid of laws!! Well… Let’s maybe table that action for a while. (Although, I think we are headed that way.) You cannot operate a society without rules. Documented, understood, spoken or codified or whatever. When there are two people, one will establish boundaries to/with/for the other. The founders chose to use the word “Unalienable” in our originating documents and that word has another expectation to be absolute that cannot simply be. It can’t be without a lot of WORK and efforts, anyway. Gravity here on earth is fairly constant and you don’t have to do anything to experience it consistently. “Rights” are not the same as gravity.
The next sentence may hurt some feelings. The constitution is just a piece of paper with some lofty expectations. Some don’t care about rules. They want what they want, when they want it and don’t give a rip about anything other than getting it. Others think perhaps the Constitution is some magical shield and sword combination that will last forever and vanquish every foe. And, there are many along a thousand million points of variance in between. A friend made the point and I think he is right. Soon, there will be no Constitution in this Country. Why? Because the schematics used to build the machine rely on a part that has a fatal design flaw.
America isn’t the first Country to go through this process. It may or may not be the last. Eons of civilizations have risen, prospered and fallen into history or dust. Standing way back, I akin this process to watching an artist toil and sacrifice in order to gather paint, brushes and canvas. The artist then sets about to create a beautiful masterpiece. Once finished, the artists lights it on fire and burns it to complete ash. The artist then starts gathering paint, brushes and a canvas… We are getting really close to striking that match in this Country.
The problem with progress and change is that it is a destructive constant when coupled with the other fatal design flaw part, people. People do not have the ability to do the impossible. We cannot be God. God made perfect. We cannot. God maintains infinite existence and knowledge in infinite space. We cannot. We get into trouble when we try. And when we try, it gets really tough. Doing the impossible is really difficult. What’s the difference between hard work and doing the impossible? Scroll up a few lines and look for roller coaster bolts. I haven’t met too many people just standing around screaming their head off that weren’t in great need of medication. Getting on that coaster carries some risk and there is usually greater reward when there is greater risk. A pitch can’t be both a strike and a home run. If every basketball game ended in a tie, people would not watch. If every paycheck was the same, there would be far fewer schools and I doubt many would work for others. Outside of faith in Christ, everything else worth having has a risk. Want a good thrill ride? Pay for your ticket, and strap in. Just know there’s that slight chance that your coaster car will bump out the last necessary bolt. A perfectly fulfilled life will brush past that last bolt many times.
I know I have said it before, but “America” isn’t a word you will find in the Bible. I believe that means there is a reasonable expectation that it will end. I don’t think Canada is in there either, so the Hollywood elite may want to check their airline ticket change policy before they purchase a one-way to YYZ. No, I suggest we all (yup, me too) start operating in absolutes and quit relying on the impossible. We are seeing so many try now. Another way of looking at this is using a cake baking analogy. We should not try to do the impossible, it doesn’t work out. Is trying a little ok? Nope, not really. If I were baking a cake and used only a “little” feces in the batter, would that be ok? Doubtful, so let’s quit expecting the impossible in our walk on this earth.
What does that look like? Live a life of purposeful witness by loving God, loving people and serving. It is free and easy. When it gets difficult, maybe you aren’t ready for what you are trying. Or maybe you are trying to do the impossible. Either way, you can always go back and do just the easy parts and be just fine for eternity. The easy parts are necessary and absolute, like breathing. Maintaining a perfect Country in perpetuity is impossible. Getting everybody to like and agree is impossible. Eliminating stupid and selfish is impossible. The very difficult is keeping Rights by way of a Constitution. It requires some continuous action in order to make it happen. America just stopped working at making their rights happen. America also stopped doing the necessary. Sort of like giving up breathing so we can focus on the color of our hat. The result is pain, followed by brief panic and eventual death. Stop loving God or people and the same thing happens. You don’t get harmony and heaven without some continuous effort and doing the necessary things. It’s easy, but necessary. But like breathing, most of us don’t really have to work at it. We tend to only work at the difficult and impossible. But if you stop doing the easy, that will be fatal. Stopping the impossible can be refreshing.
–– R. A. Grier