WHAT IS AND WHAT WAS

Last evening I was sitting in my darkened house watching the dying embers flicker in the fireplace. So much of my life has passed. I realized that now as an old man, I'm as deeply connected to what went before me as what's in store for my children and  grandchildren. Without connections to God and others, my life amounts to nothing. 

In many presentations and speeches across North America, I've told countless audiences that if our culture is to survive we must realize we are all interconnected. We must embrace interdependence. It is the essence of community and gives clarity to our collective and individual humanity.  A commitment to interdependence calls us to relationships. We are called to lives that are relational. Excessive worship of independence and autonomy is idolatry of self.

Our individuality is not totally our own. It is the culmination of our

upbringing and the influences of many relationships -- be they good or bad. Our individuality was formed, in great measure, by our genetics, families, elders, friends, institutions and cultural mores. We must come to the understanding that who and what we are is a reflection of who and what we were. 

To deny or revise our history damages us. Acceptance is the first step to understanding the point of why we are who we are. Remember, there is good and evil in every generation, including our own. Be kind to the memory of those who were here before. They did what they could with what they had.

Music in clip below: Aaron Copland's 'The Promise'