“Don’t tell me that you are still enjoying the drudgery of gardening? By this time of the year, you should be glad that frost may strike and start shutting your garden down,” Ed said when he called yesterday.
I told Ed that I don’t think about what might happen like frost coming early or late. At my age, it doesn’t pay to think or feel happy, sad, good or bad, because who would care anyway? I could tell my cat about what I find a drudgery, or I’m so happy that I could dance, but the cat would not be impressed and take his nap per usual.
Ed, my old neighbour, said that I sounded negative. He asked are you doing OK? So, I got a little defensive, “Did you phone from Saskatchewan to ask me endless questions? I am the same old same old, no better no worse. If I decide to change my name or reinvent myself, I’ll let you know so that you won’t be surprised.”
My old neighbour commented that he thought I sounded crankier than usual. I conceded that he could be right, but I did not think or feel that was true. If it were true, I would not tell anyone about it.
I asked Ed if he noticed that everyone seemed to be declaring that they were this or that in rallies and protests. I said that it is unsettling with people stating that they are for or against immigration, White Supremacists, Nazi supporters, etc. sometimes with violence. They need to be older because they may not remember which cause they support. I could see old geezers like me going to a rally and siding with the wrong side of the protesters. At our age, if we start talking to someone, we may forget what we came for in the first place.
Ed said that rallies and protests are about people declaring their identity as a mob, the bigger the crowd, the better. He said, “It happens at a hockey game all the time fans identifying with their team and the louder they cheer, the better the chance of their team winning. Everyone takes a side. Everything is about being for or against something. If people remain neutral, they will get run over by those who take sides.”
I think Ed makes a good point, for with many people if you do not agree with them you are an enemy. My side or no side is a dangerous road to follow. No one knows everything and what we do know may be used by us for good or evil. Free speech and identifying what we stand for can become a blessing to others or an opportunity for hate and violence. Money can save or destroy, fire can warm or burn, water can sustain life or flood it away. What we think, feel, and not tell, can be right or evil depending on what we do with them.
For those of us who identify with Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, we are called not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We are to be living sacrifices of love towards others even those not on our side.
