I continually become more aware of how
paradoxical life is. I want to delve the subject deeper, to write
about it alone; but that's a project for when I get there. So much
could be said about it, the Bible deals with it, maybe more than we
realize. I've recently learned about a tragic instance of it.
The father is suspicious of computers
in general, and has little or no room for the internet. He has one
son still at home, the son is in his early teens. He bought a couple
of I phones for the family, and an I pad for the son. I don't have
the details, but it sounds as though he didn't realize the internet
capabilities of the phones, or that his house was overlapped by
several hotspots. Someone showed the son how to access porn sites,
and he was viewing the stuff without his parents knowing about it.
The son ended up doing something abusive, and now there's a great
deal of sorrow and division.
Did his loathing of certain technology actually cause the problem?
Or was it a case of not investigating what he bought? We don't have
TV in this house, so I understand the motive to do something serious
in terms of omission. As far as computers go, I use them in my work,
and the internet is a large source of my work; so I learned quite a
bit about the subjects. We don't have wireless, in fact, we're still
on dial up. That slows picture downloads way down, and video is out
of the question, especially lately. Our connection is slower than
ever. The computers are desktop models, most still have the big
clunky CRT monitors. The one computer that does have access is in a
very open location in the center of the house.
Years ago, I started to write a pamphlet about mediocrity, how God
hates mediocrity. The project was put on hold, I went through some
difficulties, it was never finished. Sounds mediocre; but I can do a
better job now. Like paradoxes, it's something I frequently think
about. We've read a number of books about life and people in the Nazi
concentration camps. I'm left with the impression that everything
there was drab. Gray, not light, not dark; no art, no music, no
decorations. As is often the case, my mind started to wander in a
contemplating way. I wondered if there are any visible flames in
Hell. What if there's a place in Hell called the mediocrity zone?
Where bottomless pit is translated unending boredom.Yellow, orange
and red are too far from mediocre. What if mediocre people end up
there; people that didn't bother to know God. The God who created
everything, from DNA the the expanses of the universe, the awesome
God. The God who created all these different kinds of woods, and the
tools to work with them. To make musical instruments or airplanes.
Tomorrow is election day. Pretty sad
when the situation has deteriorated from voting for the lesser of two
evils to voting for what you hope is the lesser of two evils.
Roulette politics. I can't help but wonder if there are powers out
there who give you something bad, then, when you're coughing and
gagging, you desperately grab at the alleged alternative, only to
find that it's worse. In this way, we're ping-ponged to a wretched
place.
It reminds me of a true story that
happened about forty years ago, to a kid I knew. His older brother
was pretty rough, and ran in that kind of crowd. One night they came
across some cheap whiskey. While staying up late drinking, they
figured out a trick they could play on younger brother, who was in
Junior High at the time. When younger brother awoke, mother had
already gone to work. Older brother and friend grabbed younger
brother, and forced him to guzzle some whiskey. Finally, they let YB
go, who immediately went to the refrigerator, and, disregarding all
manners, grabbed the plastic container that had the orange juice in
it. YB poured the yellow liquid down his throat while noticing two
things: older brother and friend were watching him intently with sly
grins; and, the orange juice wasn't as relieving as YB had expected.
OB and friend started laughing, saying that they had spiked the OJ
just to watch this happen. YB went to school with a buzz that day.
Maybe the story fits better than I
first thought; how many people are intoxicated with the great power
and glory of having a huge military presence all over the world? Both
drinks had it, both parties do it. Oh yeah, it was stolen whiskey by
the way.
