Observations From Hadleyville: SELF-SACRIFICE

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

SELF-SACRIFICE

I was recently asked "why are you worthy of getting healthy, this year?" I have to say I felt insulted by the question. Why am I WORTHY? Can't think of a single thing that makes me WORTHY that's any different from anybody else. The question strikes me as self-centered, even selfish.

I'm not insulted because I don't want to get motivated to drag my Jabba the Hut body off the couch. I am working on my health, honest. I exercise thirty to forty-five minutes, at least four days a week. That may not be up to Olympic standards, but hey, you try exercising a fifty-four year old overweight-from meds, diabetic body. I hiked four-hundred miles last year. I climbed Yosemite's Half Dome. I want to do better, but I'm fighting a losing battle here.

No, I'm insulted by the whole "ME Generation" attitude of: "on my honor I'll do my best to help myself and cheat the rest." That motto should be engraved on the headstone for 2008. Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a Boomer.

No wonder Christianity is so despised by the modern world. It stands in opposition to self-centeredness.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in
humility consider others better than yourselves.
Each of you should look not only to your own interests,
but also to the interests of others. "Philippians 2:3-4

What ever happened to the notion of self-sacrifice? Especially for others in my family? When I was a kid I heard many success stories that began with a mother or father's sacrifice to see that their child got an education and a good start in life. Don't hear much of that any more. And I haven't heard any success stories that begin with I'm where I am today because my mother ignored me and looked out for herself FIRST.

Nuts to that. I am so sick of my generation's eternal attitude of self-centered, self-congratulation. Like we're somehow special simply because abortion was not safe, legal and available at the time we were born. Oh, wait... we're the generation in love with abortion, aren't we?

I rest my case.

4 comments:

Eric said...: Thanks, Don. I appreciate, even admire, those who've worked hard for what they have. But it's become an obsession in our culture to the point of idolatry. "I'm better, I'll win because I can work harder than you." No thanks for any help or luck they've gotten along the way. No mercy for those who work just as hard but aren't as lucky or privileged. I love Romans 5. Rom 5:8 was my first ever memory verse: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Thank God for his blessings, love and mercy.; January 7, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Kathleen Flynn said...: You watched Oprah didn't you?; January 7, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Don the Baptist said...: Religiously!; January 7, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Kathleen Flynn said...: You must have loved her "spiritual" show on Weds. Especially where the "men of the cloth" said that "being gay was a gift from God." Then again, maybe they meant the god with the small "g".; January 9, 2009 at 8:59 AM

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WORDS OF WISDOM FOR WRITERS

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don't learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it.
-Jerry Pournelle

WHAT'S THIS HADLEYVILLE THING?

Those of you familiar with Mark Twain’s works might recognize my blog title. As Samuel Clemons grew older, he became increasingly disillusioned with humanity. Towards the end he began referring to the Damned Human Race; employing the secular and religious epithet at one stroke.

I find I’ve not reached that level of despair myself. I still believe in redemption and I still see signs of nobility even among we fallen, damned creatures. So, I could not bring myself to call this blog “On the Damned Human Race.” I do however, resonate with another of Clemmons stories; “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.” And viola, there you have it. “Observations From Hadleyville.”