Age Old Thoughts

Today’s title is about those ideas humans have wondered about throughout the ages. And I bet you thought I was going to dwell on aging!  Tsk! Tsk!

With Nelson Mandela’s passing we are confronted by many of his comments passed down to us as on a golden tray. Here is one:

“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.”

This is not a stunning idea. It is Mandela’s observation. Poverty is a created condition. There are those who benefit from the condition; earn great wealth from it. Out of the sufferings of others. And power. Lots of power comes from manipulating or using the people, their underpaid labor, their indentured labor, even.

Poverty may not have been an intended condition, but once at hand, its value becomes clear to those not of goodwill.

Black Elk (1863-1950), an Oglala Lakota medicine man, had this to say about white man’s culture:

“I could see that the white man did not care for each other the way our people did…They would take everything from each other if they could…some…had more of everything than they could use, while crowds of people had nothing at all…This could not be better than the old ways of my people.”

Think about the wide open spaces of the early days of our continent, at least those days when early America was forming and expanding throughout the open lands. Survival in the woods or on the high plains, or on the deserts of the far west, people banded together. Same in Daniel Boone’s days, and Lincoln’s. Communities began as settlements, two families on neighboring farms, then a black smith, a retail trader in daily commodities needed by most people to survive…they cooperated with one another.

So did tribes. But there were few tools or stored commodities. Few clothing racks, either, or closets and storehouses filled with inventory to be used as needed. No. Such goods were made as needed. Small stores of commodities – corn, seed, dried herbs – were kept by nomads in pottery vessels or tightly woven baskets. These stores were small and for the family unit. The goods were shared for meals and celebrations at gatherings. Together they survived and built small villages. And expanded villages. Then tribes. And regional tribes. Even confederations of tribes. Bonding together to improve stability of living conditions. Improved living conditions.

Native Americans lived on the land and from the land. Basic reality. And they did it together. They relied on one another.

Then western European immigrants arrived on the shores of the ‘New World’ and assumed ownership. Their ways were different. In a new land with few goods counted as wealth, these settlers did for themselves and also settled into small villages. But their attitude was different: the worked for a vision of their own future.

The Native American lived for a bond with nature and the great beyond.

Fundamentally a different way of seeing the self in the world, the universe. That different-ness is all-important.

Why do we exist? How did we come about? To what purpose are out struggles? What is the great objective? Who created us? And why?

The age old questions. Age old answers or stabs at answers! The philosophies of centuries and the theologies, too. All these ideas have been bandied about from the beginning of time. What is Man’s story on this planet? What is our purpose for living? And how well have we done with it all?

I was at an impromptu gathering the other day. Ostensibly we were there to say thanks and goodbye to a man who has labored in the midst of our community running a family restaurant. John is a nice man. A gentle man. Giving and hospitable. Through thick and thin he provided a welcome spot for the rest of us to gather and share a food of table mixed with talk of families, friends, and community.

In short John is a loved person of our community. And he is retiring and leaving our scene. Oh, another person has bought the restaurant and so far is learning how and why this place has become so important to our village life. I think she will do well with the eatery. All the good signs are there that she will follow well in John’s footsteps.

But we still had to say goodbye to John. And tell him we loved him. When we did, we saw his glow and humility. A treasure to us, and we to him I suspect.

But then someone at our table uttered this statement: “I just did something good for another person and it makes me feel real good.”

Ahhh! An age-old statement, idea, thought. It is not about self but the ‘other’. That is the focus that heals, builds, and rewards us.

Theologies have this at their shared core. Thank God for that!

December 11, 2013