The Clock Ticks On Without Us

I awoke this morning to the sound of birds singing and the sun shining brightly in a brilliant, sparkling topaz blue sky. I stepped outside to feel the sun on my face and the gentle breeze blowing through our patio. And as I sat there I thought about how many people had been right where I am sitting now…on this very land…through the ages. Change is inevitable. Much as we would like to slow the clocks, they tick on without us.

image from corbojewelers.blogspot.com

I do not believe that it is an era or time that is better but that parts of each have so much to offer. Not all progress is good in my book. When I watch so many people including children walking around texting or a cell phone to their ear all the time, that is not progress in my book. I think about the days before cell phones and we survived. Not only did we survive but we spent that time learning other things. We created our own entertainment instead of gossiping on the phone or sending texts back and forth that really have no meaning at all a lot of the time.

image from http://etiquettepage.com/everyday-etiquette/the-manners-of-mobility

We see people whose only goal is to retire by the time they are in their thirties. People want to get rich quickly and do not want to invest any of themselves in getting there. Or they want to get on TV shows that show them acting in the most despicable ways to make that money. And yet, in our grandparents and parent’s times, work was part of life and families worked together. Instead of everyone sitting in front of a computer talking or whatever, people were out working and enjoying each other as a family.

And so I thought about all the change just in my life time. The clock can not be turned back but sometimes I wish it could to a time where people still believed in the simple things and in being families and being together. A time where love was important and respect and honesty and integrity. A time where you would take a person at their word and know it was the truth. A time where it was not a deluge of fighting, war, pornography, violence, tragedies, wounded and all sorts of painful things flooding our senses through the newspapers and television and the internet all day long. As I was watching the Walton’s earlier, something that was said was that they always felt protected from the world there on their mountains. That is until the war came home to them. Perhaps that is why son and I like the country and small town USA. It is a sheltering from the storms all over the world.

My heart yearns for something we will never see again in our country and that is peace in the world and peace within our country. I dream of a more peaceful time and place. We have come too far. People have pushed the envelope and attitudes have changed to where there is no respect for each other, no compassion and greed abound. And yet my naive heart can not understand why people must battle and have wars, why they must be cruel to each other or want what another has. It sounds so easy and yet it seems that it is not.

Why must we battle other countries….why must they battle us or other countries? Why must our country be so split and the ugliness and fighting go on? When did our politicians quit caring about us, the people who put them in office? Why have we lost compassion for the hurt, maimed, starving and needy? Why is there so much hate and anger in the world?

I think about how beautiful this world could be if people just got along and quit being so greedy. This country leader wants what that country has, this politician wants this special project and the people pay for it and people envy what others have that they do not and so on. I look around and see so many people who think possessions and money are what bring happiness and yet they have it and are still discontent. I see others who are content with what they have.

We are bombarded daily with things that some company wants us to buy or have. I remember the Sear’s Wish Book days and we would look through and dream of what we wanted. But today, it is even worse. The internet, TV, radio, newspapers bombard us daily with things for sale or this new invention or that. And the stores themselves do the same thing and it makes us all want whatever it is. And some people buy and buy and others have to save and save to get it and it brings us joy….for a while. But the happiness we seek is inside us. It can not be bought or sold. It is what we create and build inside ourselves.

It took me until I got older to realize that the things that mean the most to me are things like the smiles on my children’s faces or watching my granddaughter grow up. It is my home and having the time to enjoy all of these. And yes, I admit I love the sheltering from the storm that the country and small town USA brings. It is not I do not care what happens in the world. I do very much. If I can make a change, I try and try hard. I used to gather clothes and had a clothes room in my house for those without and gather food. But, if I can not change things, then I can not let them travel through my brain all the time for they impede me just living life. I have to keep it off the television, off the radio and internet areas that I look at.

I learned the following things to do when something gets that knee jerk reaction. I can not go out and chop wood like my ancestors did. And so, I stop myself and say “why are you really getting mad…this does not affect you?” “Why is this upsetting you?” “Can I do anything to change it or help?” And when I answer those, I often find that some things upset me because it hits a nerve from something else. Some things upset me because of the unfairness, etc. And If I can not do anything, then I take it and write it down and put it in the jar for God to handle. And when I start getting upset again and again, like we are prone to do….I write it down again and again and put back in that jar. I have had a jar with thirty little tabs with the same issue on it before I finally let go of it and gave it to the one that can handle it.

The clock keeps ticking and we can not stop it and it brings home the point that we each only have so many “ticks” in our lives and that makes those seconds, minutes, hours valuable and ones in which you can not get back. The clock will not rewind like the DVD will. This is it. This is live and it is now. The clock is ticking down and how much is being spent on ugliness, anger, etc that could be spent on loving life and those around us.?