Spoken Word Messages - Page 72

Further in this matter of making decisions: Taking time to decide is frequently an essential factor of safety.  But there is also such a thing as taking too much time.  The power of decision is sometimes seized from us by too long a delay. 

Sometimes when we are faced with decisions, we may well wish that we had a blueprint that we could count on.  We may well wish that we could see the end from the beginning.  As between two jobs, for example, both of which have something to be said for them, it would be reassuring if we knew for a certainty which it would be best to take. 

Sometimes judgment (in the sense of retribution and reward) is thought to be something rather remote—something to be ultimately arrived at but not necessarily now—something such as the "day of judgment" associated with heaven and the hereafter. 

May we look again at this question of compensation: Sometimes it may seem that rewards are long delayed.  Sometimes it may seem that those who are selfish, that those who shirk, those who engage in sharp practice, those who follow forbidden ways, acquire an enviable living and live an enviable life. 

Since Emerson wrote his essay on compensation, it has been difficult to say anything new on the subject. 

We remember as youngsters that there was much magic in a magnet—and carefully we would push nails toward it, or other objects of iron, to see at just what point the magnet's pull would snap the approaching object to itself.  But the moment we discovered that point, it was too late to pull back. 

Sometimes we hear someone say, "I wish I could begin again; I wish I could live life over with what I know now."  It is not an uncommon wish, but time cannot be turned back, and in life no road can be retraveled just as once it was. 

There are many theories of government, many political persuasions, many systems of social orders, many philosophies and speculations as to the place and importance of people.  But whatever the theories, whatever the allegiance, whatever the ideologies, this blessed freedom we have had has come because the Founding Fathers recognized, first, a living God as the supreme factor and force in the universe and in the affairs of men and nations, and second, man as an immortal child of God, responsible to Him in matters of conscience and responsible as brothers one to another. 

Sometimes we well may wonder why we have to live so long before we learn to live.  There are many things we might wish we had learned sooner instead of later in life.  There are many mistakes and misunderstandings along the way: mistakes of judgment, bad beginnings, lost time, journeys and ventures in the wrong direction, unprofitable and unpromising pursuits. 

The role of fathers seems traditionally to have been somewhat less associated with outward evidence of affection than some other roles have been.  As between fathers and sons, for example, there has sometimes seemed to be a kind of a code, not definitely defined, but which suggests some sentimental restraints. 

This month of many marriages suggests some thoughts concerning those who are beginning together.  Songs of spring and love and of undying devotion are good to the ears of all of us.  There would be much missing, much emptiness without music and moonlight and romance. 

It has often been observed that a little learning is a dangerous thing.  And if a little learning is dangerous, surely a little ignorance is also dangerous—and much ignorance also.  Both learning and ignorance are dangerous when accompanied by conceit. 

On this question again of the frictions of life that wear us away: There are situations and circumstances that would prematurely wear us all away if we would let them.  There are rough, eroding experiences that with some of us leave raw, deep wounds, but with others seem somehow to heal sooner or not to cut so cruelly.  In some we sometimes see so tight a tenseness that the wearing process is painfully apparent. 

To be able to close each day with a sense of accomplishment is one of the greatest blessings and precious privileges of life, one that entitles a person to sound sleep and sincere satisfaction as few other things do. 

As young people face the future no doubt there are some who suppose (and some who sometimes say) that they would rather have been born to some other time, that they would rather have lived in some other day—which is partly understandable, because troubles with which we are closely acquainted seem so much worse than troubles with which we are not closely acquainted. 

One might search and ponder long without finding anything new to say concerning mothers.  But need there be anything new?  To say that there is nothing new is not to say that some things should not be said again. 

On this question again of balance: Almost anyone, if he will let himself, can bring himself to seeing only one side of a subject—the side he wants to see. 

The Tower of Pisa has been famous for centuries because it has stood so long while leaning some sixteen feet off center.  In this it is an exception—for most physical structures that have leaned that far have fallen and are no more remembered. 

Sometimes we suffer the symptoms of diseases we don't have.  And sometimes we suffer the symptoms of unhappiness for insufficient reasons.  Often unhappiness comes from overemphasizing the negative side of situations. 

In making decisions or in meeting emergencies, it is sometimes significant to see what a man is most concerned to save.  In case of fire, for example, it is interesting to observe what each man considers to be his most priceless possessions.  In one way or another, all of us are daily demonstrating our sense of values by what we do or fail to do, by what we buy or refrain from buying, and by every use or misuse of time, and talents, and opportunities. 

The longer we live the more aware we are of the shortness of this life we live, and the more aware we are of a sense of loss and of loneliness as those whom we have lived among and loved leave us one by one. 

In the normal course of living there are many pleasantries that pass from person to person.  There is also much social. veneer and much perfunctory impersonal politeness.  For example, in passing we may more or less automatically ask others “how they are,” often not waiting for an answer or really expecting one. 

There is no more basic question in life than the question of freedom and force.  No doubt it was a foremost question before the world was.  If there is to be order, there must be law.  But with freedom there is always likely to be some violation of law. 

As we see a new home, finished and landscaped and lovely, we may partly forget the process by which it was brought into being.  There was dirt to be dug; and rough materials to be shaped and put in place—and littered plaster and sawdust and shavings and much noise along with all else.  And while it was in the making, we had to have perspective, and we had to have faith—faith in the plan, in the blueprint, in the materials, and in the men who made it. We had to believe that it would someday be what it promised to be. 

Perhaps all of us pursue some things which, after we acquire them, seem somewhat shallow or shoddy or at least unessential.  And then we wonder why we wished for them so much and worked for them so hard and passed by more worth-while things we might have had. 

We sometimes use formidable words to express simple ideas.  Consider, for example, the word psychosomatic.

When we think of America's patriots of the past, there are two who almost unfailingly are mentioned, whom this month we hold in special remembrance. 

On a certain journey not long ago, some travelers encountered one of those untamed onslaughts of the elements which man, despite all his previous preparations, is never quite prepared for.  It became a question of survival, or of fear test they should not survive.  And afterward, one who was there soberly said: "There were some people who talked to the Lord that night, who had not talked to him for a long time."

As concerning young people, parents are sometimes heard to say: "I don't know what more I can do.  I have given them everything anyone could ask."  But sometimes it seems that we are willing to give everything—except ourselves! 

There are many circumstances and situations in which we may feel that we are marking time—or worse—wasting time.  There are times when we are waiting for people and appointments when we feel cheated as we think of what we might have done with the time we waste in waiting.