Friday, July 29, 2011

Genuine Or Counterfeit

From My Perspective - - -

As a child and during my youth, my Mother had a trite saying that she would use often – “be the best of whatever you are.” Her idea was that her children should be genuine – the real deal – to strive to be the best at whatever one attempted to do or achieve. There is a song lyric that contains that refrain and idea:
Refrain:    Be the best, you can be the best, be the best of what ever you are…
Verse 1:   If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill, 
             Be a bush by the side of the rill.
             If you can’t be the sturdy trunk of a tree, 
             Be a branch or a twig or a seed.
Verse 2:   If you can’t be a flower, then be the grass. 
             If you can’t be a muskie, be a bass.
             If you can’t be the sun, then be a star, 
             Just be the best of whatever you are.
Verse 3:   If you can’t be a highway, then be a trail. 
             If you can’t be a hammer, then be a nail.
     If you can’t be the head, then be the tail.
     If you can’t be the stairs, then be the rail.
Verse 4:   We can’t all be captains, there’s got to be crew.
             There’s something for everybody to do.
     If you are big, or if you are small,  
     Just do your best, and give your all.
             Be the best, you can be the best, 
             Be the best of whatever you are…

On July 29th, 2011, Peggy Noonan wrote a column entitled: “They’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.” Her emphasis is on the political moment and how people feel and what they are thinking. A few snippets from her column illustrate this point: “I want to talk about something that started to become apparent to me during the debt negotiations. It's something I've never seen in national politics. It is that nobody loves Obama. This is amazing because every president has people who love him, who feel deep personal affection or connection, who have a stubborn, even beautiful refusal to let what they know are just criticisms affect their feelings of regard. At the height of Bill Clinton's troubles there were always people who'd say, "Look, I love the guy." They'd often be smiling—a wry smile, a shrugging smile. Nobody smiles when they talk about Mr. Obama. There were people who loved George W. Bush when he was at his most unpopular, and they meant it and would say it. But people aren't that way about Mr. Obama. He has supporters and bundlers and contributors, he has voters, he may win. But his support is grim support…Maybe the most important word that described Clinton and Bush but not Obama is genuine. He doesn't exude any feeling that what he says and does is genuine…A political veteran forwarded me a hiring notice from the Obama 2012 campaign. It read like politics as done by Martians. The Analytics Department is looking for predictive Modeling/Data Mining specialists to join the campaign's multi-disciplinary team of statisticians, which will use predictive modeling to anticipate the behavior of the electorate. We will analyze millions of interactions a day, learning from terabytes of historical data, running thousands of experiments, to inform campaign strategy and critical decisions. This wasn't the passionate, take-no-prisoners Clinton War Room of '92, it was high-tech and bloodless. Is that what politics is now? Or does the Obama re-election effort reflect the candidate and his flaws?"

What is it to be Genuine? It means  "one actually having the reputed or apparent qualities of character;free of forgery or counterfeiting.” In His ministry, Jesus Christ would often identify and rebuke the hypocrites – “a person who pretends to have virtues, moral and religious beliefs, principles that he or she does not actually possess.” In II Timothy 1:7, 13-14 (NKJV) – Paul reminds Timothy of the need and discipline regarding being genuine: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” In The Message, verses 13-14 read: “ So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ…Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.” Be genuine – the real deal! There are too many counterfeits and phonies in our society. The world needs to see and know the genuine! Is that what others see in you? Consider these things with me!

1 comment:

Beacon2Light said...

Love the poem. Not sure if I agree with Noonan's assessment of nobody loving Obama. It's amazing how many idolized him early on and it is difficult to imagine he has nobody now.