Thursday, 04 March 2010
Recently I watched a comic on a late night talk show make a point about the economic downturn. He said, "Maybe it's a good thing if things get REALLY bad -- like everyone having to go around, like the old days, riding a donkey with pots hanging from each side." Conan O'Brien replied, "Yeah, back to simpler times."
The comic related to the "youngsters" in the audience the days when you had to "dial" a phone -- and how you hated it when someone had, like two "zeros" in their number, and you had to wait for the rotary to dial those zeros. And how, when you needed money, you had to IN the bank (if they were open), and write a check, and get it cashed, before you could have ready money, and, if your account was at zero, then you had to say to yourself, "Well, I can't buy anything more then."
He said that now we have a bunch of "spoiled idiots" who don't appreciate the amazing stuff that they have, all the wonders of the most modern technology: "Everything's amazing, and nobody's happy." As a for instance, he mentioned how he was on a flight where everyone was told that, if they had a laptop, they could get internet wi-fi "hi speed." He said it was incredible; he was moving around the web fast, looking at some you tube, etc.
Then the plane's internet connection went down, and the guy next to him said, "Harrumph. This is bull---!" The comic couldn't believe this guy's attitude: "How quickly the world owes this guy something -- something that he knew existed, like, 10 seconds ago!!" The comic then turned his attention to flying in general, where we love to complain the most. "We like to say of a flight, 'it was the worst day of my life,' because we were delayed, and so on. I'd like to say, 'And then what? You flew through the air incredibly like a bird? From New York to L.A. in 5 hours? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight you ungrateful slob?'" He finished with this: "You know, everyone on every plane should be gripping their seats during every flight and saying 'Oh my gosh! Wow!'....YOU ARE SITTING ON A CHAIR IN THE SKY."
It's easy to overlook the amazing-ness of it all when we are on a big airplane in such an enclosed area. I remember recovering my awe of human flight when I sat in an open-seated single-engine plane one day while I was a summer camp counselor. I remember the air winging through my hair, and the thrill of "buzzing" the camp. I really felt like I was in a "skychair" then.
You know, gratitude is often a long-lost art. We stand on the shoulders of people who stand on the shoulders of people who stand on the shoulders of people who created human civilization. And faith? How could we get by without the legends of faith, the prophets and apostles, and especially our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? I love the old song, "Count Your Blessings":
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Refrain: Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
Oh, and I am grateful to Johnson Oatman, Jr., for writing the words to that song....
David Hewitt
