Letters to the editor - Jan. 2
Change takes time
Every big change takes time. But once the momentum towards fulfilling what is good, right, and just gets started it propels the change to its ultimate goal. A few cases in point for America come to mind.
(1) Immigration reform. (2) Health care. (3) Same sex marriage. (4) Cultural and race integration. (5) Paying attention to climate changes. (6) Water surpassing oil as our top natural resource concern.
Having lived and witnessed 8 decades of life in America so far, it is most interesting to me to look back and see how each of these subjects have morphed from the first righteous concern of a few, to public concern of many, to political wrangling and divisive publicity, to protest actions by large groups, and to the ultimate necessity for our executive, legislative, and legal branches of government to actually do something and take some action. And it is all because the basic human desire for what is good, right, and just for the whole inevitably grows and endures.
I believe we can trust this evolutionary process locally, in our individual states, in our nation and in our world. And how much turmoil and pain we suffer in the process to change is totally in our hands. We always have a choice as to what and whom we listen. We can listen to reason or rants. We can listen to loud and angry voices or to quieter and thoughtful voices.
My belief is that we are a growing and evolving species, growing and evolving in harmony with higher laws and power than anything we humans can conjure up within our own social and political structures. And it is to this higher law and power to which we must turn in order to determine what is good, right, and just for all.
Bob McClellan
Polson
A time for reflection
The year-end is on us. There is no time when reflection on the past seems more appropriate then the year-end. Accounts are finalized, books are balanced, inventories are tabulated and a general review is taken. Would it be proper to assume that what is done at the office at year-end would also be suitable as a review of our personal activities during 2013? Recently, over the course of the past three or four years, I reviewed my life, wrote and published my memoirs (JESUS the talk of the Town). The time was well invested as I endeavored to recall events of seventy-five years; fortunately, since 1958, I had written and saved daily notations of my activities and interpersonal relationships which enabled me to recount numerable incidents and mostly joyful experiences.
However, there were some very unpleasant memories which today, re-mind me of a story in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter forty and forty-one. It’s the story of Joseph’s prison experience. There were two other prisoners with him who during those days had discomforting nightmares. Joseph gave both the Baker and the Butler the interpretation of their dreams which ultimately happened just as Joseph had declared; the Baker was decapitated, the Butler was exonerated and Joseph remained incarcerated. A day came when the Butler remembered his promise to Joseph, that he would speak well of him to the Pharaoh upon his release from prison. He had totally forgotten his promise. His exclamation, “I do remember my faults this day” KJV. The NLT expresses it, “Today I have been reminded of my failure.”
Isn’t it true, we forget the things we ought to remember and often remember the things we ought to forget? It’s a common fault. We forget vows, promises and answers to prayer and remember hurtful relationships and the hard painful words. There is a line in God’s book that says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” Psalm 139:23-24 NLT. Let the inventory begin.
Harvey A. Town
Polson