Sick Daugher, Sick World?

My daughter is sick. She was not feeling well yesterday and I figured it was nothing. I picked her up, took her home and went back to work. My wife would be getting home soon, and my daughter is old enough to stay home alone for an hour or two. However, this morning she is still in pain. So, I’m taking her to the doctor.

I actually need the time away from the office – I could do some work from home, and I will; but I’m not happy about what recently occurred on the job. I am not the best manager in the world – this is for sure. But yesterday, based on a stupid mistake an employee made, he lost his job. I had requested a lesser discipline, but it just didn’t turn out that way. It’s easy for me to say, “there are worse things in life than losing your job”. It’s easy for me to say it because I have never lost my job. The pressure of having a family – wife and children, health care needs (I can call the doctor as I did this morning), and the necessity of a place to live, food to eat, and an occasional time of entertainment or vacation makes life someone pleasant. I have NEVER had the pain and pressure of needing to look for a job in order to take care of my family. Granted, this employee doesn’t have children nor a wife, but I’m sure he has other pressures and responsibilities. Anyway, it hurts but that’s part of life.  And there there are worse things than loosing your job.

I recently read a book entitled, “leading with a limp” by Dan Allender. The author is the president of a Christian graduate school and he shares about the ups and downs of leadership, including the necessity of letting someone go – i.e. firing an employee. Allender explains that it is a lonely role because often no one in the organization understands the role. You are often in between representing the organization and protecting human beings. If you are wired to be more task oriented and define success in terms of a accomplishing organizational goals, the people issues may not bother you as much. Most people and most managers are not cold hearted but depending on your emotional and spiritual DNA, people issues can be quite daunting. I think I do OK, nonetheless, I’m content with being out of the office today.

But as I stated, there are worse thjngs than loosing your job. This world is not actually fair. An old song my father’s group, “The Royal Harmonizers” used to sing called, “This is a Mean World” and the chorus has the line, “this is a mean world, you gotta live in, you got to say here, until you die”. It sounds morbid but the tune is really upbeat ! Anyway, this world is not fair and is not always a happy place. Many suffer at the hands of others. I was looking at some clips of World War II, the work camps, Japanese imperialism, two atomic bombs and the hell they created for survivors, and other clips and articles. Humanity is evil. I am convinced of it.

In fact, consider this quote I stole from a YouTube reply to one of the video clips I saw regarding German death camps (emphasis is mine):

…most people would have been willing to act as some Germans did at that time. Much research had been done into the question of why people were willing to commit mass murder and a number of experiments, the most of famous of which is known as the Stanford experiment and was performed by Philip Zimbardo, seem to indicate that most people will turn into monsters if placed in a particular situation. My ‘favourite’ experiment of this type is the Milgram experiment which seems to show that around 60% of people are willing to electrocute to death another person simply when they are given orders to do so. Look up these experiments, they really are fascinating….

So, as I have stated, we are inherently evil. No one likes this fact and we resist it with a passion, but it is none the less true. What’s even more telling is that we understand what evil is, which is why we resist being associated with it. Yet, we are evil. We think bad thoughts, we are naturally selfish, vengeful, and will follow orders regarding doing things that harm others. It is painful to see this when looling in the mirrow.

So, I’m about to take my daughter to the doctor – hopefully it’s nothing serious, but you never know. Life is not fair and there are no guarantees. The key to living is growing older without becoming bitter, cynical, or pessimistic. Illnesses and suffering will definitely occur. The death rate is still the same: one per person! My encouragement is to find that reason, that purpose for living beyond a good meal and a fun day at the beach. I am convinced that the faith presented in the New Testament is true and accurately reflects not only the evils of mankind, but the goodness of an eternal God who we currently cannot see. Love is powerful and it transcends culture, time, and language. Yet, since mankind is inherently evil, the only possibility of real love is through a transcendent God and I see this in the God of the Christian sacred text, the Holy Bible.

College Students & The Marketplace of Ideas

The fall semester has begun at just about every college and university in the country.  For those that know me, they know I work at The University of Maryland College Park.  I help a young man at Howard move in last week.  I was on the campus of Bowie State University earlier this week as young coeds hustled around campus with carts of college necessities for the dorm.

As an older adult, I hope to encourage and influence these young adults – people in their late teens and early twenties – to grow up and be capable, well-balanced individuals that give to humanity and suck the life out of society!  Of course, being a Christian, I am convinced that living as a Christian is the ideal way to do this – going out of your way to help others, serving humanity in the name of Christ, and encouraging people to seek and follow God themselves.  The larger secular society has no problem with recruiting for a social club, encouraging people to join a fraternity or sorority, or even joining some club that is looking for alien life on other planets.

When key members of such organizations influence others to accept or buy into the ideals or philosophies of their respective groups, nobody seems to really care.  They may say, “that’s not for me” and move on.  However, when people of faith influence people and encourage them to accept or buy into the ideals or principles of their respective faith systems, people put up signs and walls that boldly proclaim: NO PROSELYTIZING. 

Why the double standard?  shouldn’t ideas stand on their own merit and values against other ideas and the d views that encompass a system of belief?  Of course there are a plethora of different belief systems.  The  COEXIST bumper sticker is telling and a fair reflection of what SHOULD be a basis for sharing ideas without killing each other.  As a citizen of the United States of America, this idea shouts off of the pages of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.  Yet, people are offended when faith is involved with the sharing of ideas.

The University started as a place of study and reflection regarding faith.  the oldest University in the World, The University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy started as a place to study Roman Law – that is, the law of the Papal States, of which Bologna belonged.  What is amazing is that Bologna was as independent as one could be in the 11th century.

Anyway, I hope to be a positive influence on college students wherever I run into them.  I hope to influence for good, not evil, for faith, not godlessness, and for productivity, not consumerism.

I pray your fall semester goes well!