I was on my way to work last week. I was listening to the late minister Adrian Rogers on Christian radio station BBC. Like many engaging preachers, Pastor Rogers possessed a drawing voice filled with conviction. One of the main things I like about him is his sense of humor—not foolish, but thought provoking.
In the course of his sermon, Pastor Rogers stated that it was not possible to think of two things at the same time. This gave me pause for thought.
In a lot of circumstances where I’m concerned, I might agree with the statement. Take, for example, writing this article. I write all my articles in my office at the Union County Board of Education building, almost always between 10:00 p.m. and midnight. I don’t write them at home because I have too many things that distract my attention, and I have to concentrate totally on what I am writing if it has the least hope of being any good.
Along that note, I will share with you a bit of feedback I received from an “almost” cousin. I say “almost” because he is related to my half-brothers and -sisters on my father’s side of the family, but is no blood kin to me.
He said, “Ronnie, some things you write are pretty good and others ain’t worth reading.” I guess that puts me in the category of country singer Charley Pride, who said, “I ain’t the prettiest, but I’m not the ugliest, either.”
There are those who say they can multi-task. Some say they cannot study or read if they cannot listen to music. I find it impossible to comprehend anything I read if there is music or television in the background. Just as with writing, I have to fully concentrate on what I am reading if I am to get anything out of it. And I have to be fully awake.
In my early teaching days at Luttrell Elementary I used to attempt to read in the morning for a while before I went to work. I can remember once reading a book titled The Burnt Orange Heresy, but I honestly don’t remember one word that I read in the entire book. I was not fully awake, and most likely had my mind on the teaching tasks of the day. I was also greatly concerned with a car accident I had experienced around the time that I read the book.
I did go back to a trusty Internet search to discover the plot of the book, but not one iota was familiar to me. I did learn that the book is now back in print and is about to be made into a movie! I’d go see the movie, but I’d probably sleep through it, and I can sleep for free at home with fear of violating social isolation.
I can pay the household bills while listening to music if the music is very familiar to me or if it is instrumental or classical without words. Generally, for me to fully appreciate music, I have to listen to it with no other distraction.
I would say that in most cases I definitely have a one-track mind, and the more difficult the task, the more focused on that task and that task alone I must be in order to succeed.
Now let’s go a little further. Pastor Rogers went on to use the example that if he tried to think of an elephant, a mental picture of that elephant would form in his mind. Then if he thought of a zebra, the elephant would be replaced by the zebra. He did not see a striped elephant, a gray zebra, or a combination of the two animals.
He did not say that he didn’t see both animals at the same time in a picture in his mind but seemed to allude that this would not be possible. I have no trouble at all of seeing a picture in my mind with both a zebra and an elephant, side by side.
Pastor Rogers, later in his sermon, mentioned that it was impossible in this world not to sin. He said that the harder you tried to set your mind to not sin, the more likely to sin you would be. I wholeheartedly agree.
Let’s say, for example, that I set my mind that for the next thirty minutes I am not going to think one bad thought about anybody. Like that supposed “friend” who borrowed a hundred dollars from me and never even offered to pay me back. Like that man who said he would do this certain job for me three weeks ago and has yet to drive the first nail, and that . . . oh, my goodness! It’s only been thirty seconds, and I’ve already thought evil of three people, even if they deserved it!
I remember one Sunday when the late great Preacher Oliver Wolfenbarger preached from the pulpit of Loveland Baptist. His point was personal sin, and he said that undoubtedly if some of our thoughts at that very moment could be projected onto the screen above his head that we would most assuredly be mortified.
Instantly, when Preacher Wolfenbarger said that, I began thinking of some of those very thoughts in my own mind that would so affect me. Strong stuff, that power of suggestion!
Many of the events that have been prominent in recent news are undeniably results of the power of suggestion. What would cause people hundreds or thousands of miles away from a tragedy to revolt, burning and looting property of people in no way connected with the misfortune? What possible benefit can further violence have in proactively reacting to and preventing violence? (The cliché “violence breeds violence” is significant here.) How will destroying images of our country’s past history erase that history or positively affect the course of our country’s future?
I write this to you on June 30, 2020, the last fiscal day of my 33rd year with the Union County Public Schools. It is also four days before our nation will celebrate its 244th birthday on July 4.
When the late great President Ronald Reagan was running for his first term in 1980, he looked America straight in the eye during the last debate with Jimmy Carter and asked, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
Obviously, America was wise enough to say no, as Reagan was elected in a landslide.
I think today a different question needs to be posed to the American people as we enter this week of celebration, “Are you better off than you were one year ago today? Even six months ago?”
I think almost every true American for different reasons could honestly answer no—the problem now is the vast disagreement as to why not.
America as a whole needs to stop being doubleminded and unite to take a stand for those things that will restore peace to a troubled land. Rather than questioning political standing (if liberal, moderate, conservative), race, ethnicity, religious preference, gender, language, and similar categorical terms to highlight differences among us, the only question we need to ask is, “Are we American?”
We have our differences, but sometimes we are too blind to see that those very differences are a strength that can be used to make us strong. Nails, 2 x 4s, drywall, brick, mortar, stone and metal taken separately have limited use, but when used together in the proper way these materials make a strong house that, if properly maintained, can last for generations.
America has, for almost two-and-a-half centuries, remained a strong building. Let’s not tear down her house by destroying the very foundation stones upon which she was built. Rather, let’s maintain those stones so that future generations will benefit.
Millions did that for us, and that’s why we have been able to live this long in THE LAND OF THE FREE, THE HOME OF THE BRAVE!
I leave you this week, Faithful Reader, with another great pearl of wisdom from my world of email:
In a democracy, it’s your vote that counts.
In feudalism, it’s your count who votes.
Let your vote count before someone else’s vote counts for you!