Equals

I had a thought today which I don’t recall ever reflecting upon in the past.

As babies we move, and live and breathe, but without the slightest bit of self-awareness; at least, nothing more than the strictly rudimentary. For when we reach the age of self-awareness, there is no remembrance of that season, outside of what our parents share with us, of whom we were and what we experienced. Dependent in every sense of the word, and totally without any wherewithal to function outside of our dependence on others.

And then there is the geriatric stage of life in which, for all practical purposes, the majority of human beings revert back to a primal state of existence; at least at some level. My own mother found herself increasingly dependent on others, having lived in a nursing home for two years. And in the last few months of her life completely bedridden. I can tell you it was nothing less than  an abject shock to see her being transported to and from the bathroom; hanging from a metal lift like a sack of potatoes. 

Of course, so many elderly patients drift into dementia. I’ve seen them. I’ve spoken to them. Heard them asking for their mothers, (who have been dead for half a century or more). Being rolled around a dayroom floor; cuddling baby dolls in their frail arms. No self-awareness. No cognition. For all intents and purposes, geriatric infants.

And then there are, of course, the young and aging adults among us; (of whom I belong to the latter of the two groups). The productive years. The years which separate the men from the boys, and the women from the girls. For there are some who achieve great things, and there are some who struggle all their lives, and who, ultimately, die unsung and having achieved little or nothing to show for having passed this way.

I cannot help but think of those whom we have made our idols, since in some way, shape or form I have been acquainted, or am distantly related. And almost without exception these have achieved notoriety during the years which God has granted them to live in adult bodies, and prior to reaching the years some refer to as “golden.”

Princess Diana, General and President Ulysses S. Grant, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and the WWII movie star, Frances Langford; all of whom I am distantly related. 

Kathryn MacGregor, “Mrs. Oleson” of “Little House on the Prairie” fame, with whom I developed a pen pal relationship for a time. Taylor Lautner, of the “Twilight” series of movies. His great grandfather attended my church, and prior to his death Andy would procure cassette disks of my speaking series, and send them out to Hollywood for Taylor to listen to. (Whether he indulged his granddad’s wishes, and actually “spent time with me” is anyone’s guess.

King Tut, Historian Josephus, U. Thant, Secretary of the United Nations, Joseph Stalin, Russian dictator, Adolf Hitler, demented leader of the so-called “Third Reich,” Charlotte Bronte, Victorian author, Dale Evans Rogers, cowgirl and film actress, Britney Spears, Matt Damon, Clark Gable and countless other notables of ancient and not-so ancient times.

The high and mighty among us, as well as men and women confined in prisons, and living under bridges. Artists and Actors, Engineers and Electricians, Presidents and Poets. Strutting and fretting their stuff. Getting it done, failing miserably in the process, or “hiding their talents under a basket.”

Doing what adults do best, or the lack thereof.

 And then there is a 4^th stage of which scripture extols us to be conscious.

“As it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

Where we shall all, as in two of the previous three stages, find ourselves at the mercy of a benefactor, or judge; depending on how we cared to spend our productive years, but more importantly to Whom we lent those years. Where we shall all depend on the One to Whom we have been subjected, and before Whom we are as helpless as newborn babes, or the elderly. 

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father." (Phil. 2:10-11)


By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 35. Copyright pending

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