About fifteen years ago, I
realized the break down of society was in the fact that many don’t know how to
merge in traffic. This is an abstract statement representing the fact that we
no longer know how to live in community. Obviously, this is a generalization. I
am sure you know how to live in community. I am sure I always hit it on the
bull’s eye when it comes to living among the human race.
Okay, I don’t always get it right
and in case you didn’t smell the sarcasm, let me be the first to break it to
you. You don’t get it right all the time either. And at the risk of sounding
really old, I think our ability to live in community is getting weaker.
It does not even take an hour of
reading the paper (scanning the internet) to realize how broken we are at living
in the same space. We can point to commercialism, guns, social media or even
the church as the guilty parties in this breakdown. And possibly they are all
correct. However, I think we have forgotten how to let another person in line
in front of us. I think it starts there and then it grows to become something
that just is down right scary.
The internet tells me of a
shooting on the floor of a hospital where I have spent a few nights. Someone is
trampled at Walmart over a sale item. I know this gives ammunition to have
tighter regulations on guns and to cancel Black Friday (Thursday). I am not
arguing for or against those recommendations. I am pleading the case that it is
bigger than those culprits. The net needs to be a little wider if we really
want to make this world a better place.
Do I know what the net is or the
fix-all or the answer? I wish. Because if I did, I would write a book, be on
Ellen and become some guru that only goes by my first name and living in
isolation. After a few years I would realize the irony of understanding the key
to living in community and living in isolation and probably write another book.
In all seriousness, possibly the
book has already been written. There are some wise words in Scripture that
refer to merging in traffic…I mean living in community. However, a lot of those
words have to do with looking out for others instead of ourselves. And most of
us are not sure that is a line we want to buy into long term.
But what would it look like if
everyone thought and acted on that concept first?
I think traffic might go a little
smoother.
