Business and Spirituality

"Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord's Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach." - Woodrow Wilson.

I think the first petition in the Lord's Prayer is "Give us this day...", which connotes a gratitude and desire for life, followed by a desire for daily sustenance. No one can worship God or love his neighbor without the gift of life. Considering the many famines mankind has suffered, and the time-honored tradition of fasting, I would venture to guess that it is quite possible to worship God and love one's neighbor on an empty stomach.

What an odd statement for Wilson to make. He skips right over "Give us this day" and pounces on "our daily bread."

Born in the 50's

I had the distinct pleasure/curse of being among the first generation of human beings to experience Christmas enhanced by television. The pleasure part included the Andy Williams Christmas specials, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolf the Red-Nosed-Reindeer, hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the Pope spreading Christmas joy in every language on earth. Other generations only heard about such things. They didn't have television.

The curse part was the increasing intrusion of product advertising. Until that time, there were baby dolls (not grown-up Barbies, with their own condos, sports cars, boyfriends, wardrobes, and careers); there were building blocks or lincoln logs to construct homes, not Legos to build super-structures and other-worldly mega-complexes.

We adopted a "Jetson" mentality, where only the new, the modern, the progressive, the anything-but-traditional, was worthy of admiration.

Is it any wonder that merchants are setting up Valentines Day displays on Christmas Eve? It's easy to blame the demise of our culture on greedy capitalists. The generation of the '50s unwittingly caved to the message that "new" is unquestionably better.

We're older now (some of us are ancient), and we realize that we were wrong. New is not automatically better (unless it's the Edison-type of new). We treasure the past we've been part of, and would like to pass the best of it on to fresher souls.

Thank God we have a vigorous new generation to carry the torch!

Tell It to the Wind

TELL IT TO THE WIND

When clouds turn gray and blend to black,
don't make a noise, nor turn your back;
just breathe it to the wind.

When bread dries out, leaving brittle hard crust,
don't cry out, nor dare mistrust;
just scream it to the wind.

When evil wins the devil's hand,
don't wince or moan, nor take a stand;
just proclaim it to the wind.

When black is white, and lies are true,
do not despair; it's nothing new.
Just bare it to the wind.

The wind sweeps strong and clears the air;
When the wind is through, there is nothing there.
Just tell it to the wind.