01/25/2021
Non-slip souls.
When was the last time you watched a movie? Can you break down the plot to a sentence or two?
Let's try, something interrupts a person's life and challenges them. A life setback (lost boy/girlfriend), a health concern (cancer/loss of limb), apocalyptic event (earthquake/alien invasion) hits the protagonist. Maybe there is a villain, or at least a protagonist causes trouble.
What makes most movies enjoyable is when the character overcomes the challenges and comes out a survivor, a winner.
Movies are fun, even inspiring, because they show us people who overcome.
The problem is, for most Americans, there is no real challenge or threat. Nothing is really an issue. Nothing is a real setback. We may try to elevate some simple issues to that level, but they really aren't.
Americans are spoiled and we act it.
There are less than 1% who serve in military. There is no awareness of anything common to that 1%.
There are less than 2% who live on a farm, or even come from a rural background. Only 19.3% of Americans live in rural communities.
So for most of America there is no connection to what many of us take for granted. We are connected with the land. We live on it. We grow food in it. We dig and drill resources out of it. We care for it.
There is no connection to danger. There are very few who get in a fight in school. Zero tolerance has made a nation of weakness. Someone is always going to step in and save your butt. Or we have the examples of children who aren't taught to live with internal strength, aren't taught to ignore others, and who harm themselves.
There are few Americans who step in to physically help others. Few who stand between others and a bully. Few who experience being hit in a fight, being threatened, shot at, or who have felt their lives at risk.
All of these safety nets, have left a nation of weakness. A nation full of people who's only relation to life is the little they take from others who they've seen do something spectacular.
Most importantly, we don't celebrate failure within a valiant attempt. We barely tolerate it. We want winners, but we ignore what they had to do to get there.
Think about what it is that we really get behind. It's winners. That's it. If someone doesn't win, they're ignored. Even ridiculed. There is no acknowledgement that the silver and bronze medalists probably worked just as hard as the gold medalist.
There is no honor in hard work. No humble life lived well. No simple pleasures. We all want more from life, and many think we deserve it. We don't
We, Americans, already do get more from life. When we talk of privilege, you have it. Compared with the current world, you are a winner of exponential value over others. If we were to include your status vs historical examples of average folk, we would be embarrassingly blessed with so much that our lowest, would be considered opulence.
Over 14% work in federal, state, and local government.
Only 4.31% work in manufacturing.
Service industries account for over 80% of our nation. That does include government.
Do you see the issue?
Most of us don't make anything. Don't produce anything. Don't protect us. Know nothing of a fight. Know nothing of life and death.
We're removed from the land. That happened during the Industrial Revolution and post WWI & WWII. But now we're even removed from producing goods, and protecting ourselves.
Most have no idea of what's involved to grow anything.
Most have no idea of what's involved to mine iron ore, or to drill for oil or natural gas.
You don't have callouses. You don't have dirt under your nails. You don't have bruises, or a bloody nose.
You don't know what Lava soap, or pumice is. You wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap that smells of lilacs. You've never had to scrub to get the dirt and grease from your hands.
Your boots, if you own any, are designer, or at least a knockoff. They were not bought for their ability to drop a tree on and save your toes. You don't understand the need for non-slip soles.
Most importantly, you're removed from God. You don't see his work. Everything is delivered to you, by UPS, USPS, Fedex, or Amazon. The world comes to your door. You need not venture out and raise your own food, even though your lawn could probably keep your family in vegetables, and possibly eggs and meat.
Your life is great, but you think it's not. You, my dear American, are spoiled. You've forgotten that life is precious and fleeting. Why? Well, for you it's not. You're protected and safe. Well fed and well provided for.
So we're left with most Americans who are so disconnected from the realities of life they take it for granted. When we have a "pandemic" they look for someone else to prevent their own illness, and to solve the problem. They want more than they have, and think it's a desperate need.
Our real issue is the further we're away from seeing how things happen, how they work, how they're made, the further we are from understanding how fortunate we are.
A chicken egg is pretty easy to buy and cook, but there's a lot to the process of getting that egg from the chicken and to your store.
So we're left with a huge population that never thinks of these things. Not once. There are people who will live their entire life with no clue of how food, fuel, or fiber are produced. With no clue of how an internal combustion engine works. Who won't take the time to understand why their lights and internet work.
All of this comes back to thanking God for our abundance of blessings. It comes back to having "Non-Slip Souls". Where we dedicate our lives to living for God's purpose with thankfulness for the chance.
Why?
Because none of this is ours. None of it will be going with us. And none of it will be here if we continue to ignore the basic facts of what life is built upon.
I hear so many say, "trust the science, follow the science". Yet I see so few who actually do, and realize that science shows us that the miracles of life are in front of us daily.
So get your spoiled lazy butt out and learn about life. Learn about America. Learn about how our ancestors lived. Learn about what being in a physical fight for your life feels like. Learn what a punch to your jaw is. Learn what so few do today.
Don't let your soul slip into the world where everyone takes life for granted. It may seem so safe and secure, but some of us know how fleeting, how at risk, how in danger, and how precious it is.
You will find a greater blessing than you can imagine when you start to see God's work in life, and in others. You'll understand those movies where Good prevailed over Evil. And you'll live with so much more awareness that the world will become an even greater blessing and amazement for you.
I am thankful for being raised on a farm, for living in a rural community, for learning how things work, for dirty hands, for bruises, for bloody noses, for knowing what a punch feels like to give and take, and for understanding how close life and death are to each other. I give thanks to God for all of it and hope to never lose my amazement and awe of all that God is.
