Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Abstractions and Considerations

From My Perspective - - -

Abstraction No. 1: Life is lived in a hurried pace and the thoughts or ideals from a previous, more tranquil time are forgotten or unheeded. There is a song titled "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" (music by Jerome Kern; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) from their 1927 musical play "Show Boat," that includes these lyrics: "Fish got to swim, birds got to fly, I got to love one man till I die. Can't help lovin' dat man of mine."
We now have the crisis of a Gulf Oil Spill and the chilling effect that fish can’t swim and birds can’t fly there now. Seafood may be impacted for years to come, and the migratory birds habitat may take years to clean – and a question pondered is – will the fish survive and swim there again and will the birds survive and fly there once again.

Abstraction No. 2: Glenn Beck has caused a literary stir by using the words of Rudyard Kipling in a promotion of his newest book, The Overton Window. The words are from The Gods of the Copybook Headings, and state:
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man-
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:-
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
The critics, without knowing the words were by Rudyard Kipling deemed them to be without merit, An interviewer with The Huffington Post referred to the words as "stupid, simple."

Consideration No. 1: What’s even more intriguing is that some of the words used by Kipling were taken from the Bible - - Proverbs 26:11 – “The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” The Apostle Peter uses them in II Peter 2:19-22. Peter is writing about a world that has alienated itself from God, and says: “They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: A dog returns to its vomit, and, A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."

Consideration No. 2: Solomon spoke the sayings of the wise in Proverbs 24:23-34, These also are sayings of the wise: “To show partiality in judging is not good: Whoever says to the guilty, You are innocent - peoples will curse him and nations denounce him. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come upon them…Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house. Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, or use your lips to deceive. Do not say, I'll do to him as he has done to me; I'll pay that man back for what he did. I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” As societies and nations struggle to survive, it is wise to turn from those things which breed and cause decadence. A free people can choose to live in a world of Abstractions and struggle to survive, or they can embrace the stated Considerations and be guided into a pathway of wisdom and sound judgments. Consider these things with me!

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