CTH – I am sure by now all of you, like me, are weary of hearing Black Lives Matter, and all the rhetoric associated with the phrase. It isn’t really being used as an introduction to a productive and honest conversation, or even as a true call to arms to change injustice. I am not, and I will emphasize that for commenters, am not wanting to discuss the worthiness of the cause and all the associated protests, and violence. We can leave that for other posts.
Because this has been at the forefront of our minds the last months, no matter which side of the issue you take, I have been giving a lot of thought to what makes life matter. You can throw out a phrase the media seizes or glorifies without really having any true understanding of it. That is inconsequential to the truth, and only the mentally lazy or immature accept it at face value.
For this thing we sum up as life, a big word indeed, what does give it meaning? What really matters? I’m sure since the beginning of human ability to discuss and record ideas no consensus has ever been found, but, at least in Western society as I know it, until recently, it appears to me that people, families, cultures, governments, philosophers, historians, educators and theologians shared some ideas.
What are they? Unique to each person, we can never speak authoritatively for all, and I do not seek to do that here. I would just, with your assistance, examine some of the more common motivations that I became familiar with through my childhood, born in the late fifties, and adult years, and feedback from friends, family, and ideas from my reading and studies.
It seems to me that every generation bore the burden of living up to unspoken standards, perhaps innocently as a toddler, and maybe even unwillingly as the child grew and became a teenager, in certain instances. No individual came away unswayed by those parental and societal expectations, not even the great and small rebels who defined their rebellion against those very expectations, be they bath and bedtime, curfew, length of hair or hemline, or denial of civil rights or religious freedom.
From earliest human history, people had to work to provide their safety, sustenance, and hope for another tomorrow. Only relatively recently in our existence have we had the luxury of leisure and reflection.
I know that life for my grandparents was all about work, survival, and that included surviving the Great Depression and all that entailed. Gardening especially, farming in Kansas during Dust Bowl years for my dad’s family. Re-using, repairing, making do, sacrificing for the whole family, and especially for the sick, the young, the old.
Please read the rest here.
I think one of the greatest challenges we face today is the lack of want. We have all of our basic survival needs. So what, then, do we make of life? And while many dig into that challenge with relish, finding ways to see beauty in objects and in actions, others struggle to discover what is important to them. And too many take the easy way out, with no work ethic and no appreciation for what creates value.
I wanted to separate this from my prior post as it is a different aspect. A friend created this term and definition, although it is very similar to things I have said.
Gracism – Seeing and appreciating the individual,
unique creation of God
more than the group or label society has placed upon another.
A wonderful question. IMO, what makes lives matter is that God has given it to us. It doesn’t matter what race, color, creed, sexual orientation, etc. You were given life by Him (and the physical enjoyment your parents participated in). It does not matter if you happen to be black, Hispanic, Asian, European, whatever. He made us in his own image. When you denigrate that because you happen to fall within a subset, you are taking away from the primary purpose.
Having said that, I do see many that are willing to give up their reason for living for some stupid reason (get into a meaningless fight, threaten someone else who has the same right to life, just being stupid, whatever)
OK, off the box and ending the rant.
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women…..
Along the lines of LCD—
Taking pride in providing for oneself and family and helping others do the same.
It seems those that do not create anything of their own are bent on destroying what others have created.
@Mark Martin *giggle*
jellybean – yep. part of that is from jealousy and laziness.
What makes life matter is driving the leftist before you and hearing the lamentations of their soyboys.
In those times, people immigrated to the US legally, to escape actual danger and find opportunities to WORK and prosper. Nowadays, we have illegal aliens flooding in to collect welfare and destroy our country.
What makes life matter? I have struggled with that on and off most of my life. Raising my son was what made my life matter for a large number of years and then not screwing him up even worse by killing myself. In older age what makes me feel like my life matters is that I am a child of God and if he didn’t want me here I wouldn’t be. That’s not to say that I am not disappointed in myself for not accomplishing or doing more. But I think that nudge of dissatisfaction in myself is one of those things where there’s a fine line. This one being between egging myself on to be motivated and do something, or falling into depression and giving up. So I actually appreciate the importance of feeling “dissatisfied” a bit and waking up everyday wanting to be a better person. (Although, I was laughing at myself driving in the car the other day when I had the thought that no one could accuse me of being a lady – foul language and opinionated).
I believe in God and Jesus, (I have had a few situations of miraculous proof – to the point that to deny the existence of God and Jesus and his teachings would be the utmost stupidity on my part) and that how you live your life on Earth will matter for eternity.
…it’s simple, really…
When they SAY Black Lives Matter…
They MEAN White Lives DON’T.
…and White people WILL be treated accordingly…
Throughout history humans have struggled against natural and man-made adversity. To survive and (hopefully) succeed in adversarial conditions brings great satisfaction and humility. It’s human nature.
Nowadays everything is so easily available to most that people don’t have to struggle for anything, so they made up imaginary adversity in order to have SOMETHING to struggle against. The leftists have capitalized on this to gain power.
(leftists capitalizing….that’s funny)
The alternative. Life is it’s own reward.
…but this probably isn’t the best time to ask me what lives matter and what lives don’t.
I got back from a funeral a little while ago.
For a heroin addict.
I told a bit of “Cam’s” story here before, you can look here if you’re interested.
https://iotwreport.com/cbp-officers-seize-over-103-pounds-of-heroin-fentanyl-pills-at-az-mexico-border/
…but you don’t need it to see my point.
…see, I’m no stranger to heroin. No, not personally, but I transported the results to the hospital now and again, including some frequent flyers, which gave me practical training in Narcan (good stuff), how addicts react when you end their high abruptly (bad, they act bad, and throw up, too), and a pretty good view of just how stupid people can be when chasing a high.
Morality was pretty simple then. Stupid idiot wants to kill himself with drugs, that don’t bust MY onions beyond my obligation to not let them die in transport. Who cares, what’s for dinner?
Then I got older, and married, and met more people.
Some of whom I came to love like brothers and sisters.
Who had heroin addict children.
But I won’t retell,but go forward from there.
As I said, I was at a funeral, today, for a dear friend’s son.
So was his brother.
So was his mother.
So was his father.
So was his aunt.
So was his wife.
So was HIS son.
…and so were about 3 dozen other friends and family and relatives who loved him, loved someone who loved him, and all of whom thought 37 was too young to make an exit.
But he died, by his own hand, and his own fithy habit, right? Who cares?
…well, all of THOSE folks cared…
…it’s been a bad year. Lots of folks dying, which I’ve noticed gets more common the older I get. I’ve been in more cemeteries than COVID has at this point, so I’m no hairless innocent on funeral rites and behaviors, even in the recent past.
So I can tell you,
THOSE people cared.
His life meant something to THEM.
I piped for him, mostly out of consideration for the father, because I did not well know the son. You see, some years ago, he lost a grandson too, after only a little over a month of life, and a tortuous month it was, too. He was grieving hard, and I sought to give him some solace by expressing God’s amazung grace in that well-known song by that name which I learned to play on my chamber-sized bagpipes. It’s kind of obligatory to learn that on the pipes, just as it is to play ‘Stairway To Heaven’ when you get a guitar.
…well, here we were, many years later, and he was laying father to rest beside infant son.
It seemed appropriate.
It was a pretty rough crowd, as you might guess, some of them, sprinkled with folks that were older than me, to folks much younger than me. And I did, truth be told, a not-great job on the pipes, it was recognizable, but I could only do one bar because my breathing ain’t always so good, and I’d helped carry the casket just a short time before.
When I was done, however, they were all weeping. No credit to me. All credit to the love they had for him, and the meaning of that song for tormented souls from all walks of life.
So, did HIS life matter? Well, to THOSE folks, it did.
And his son’s story is yet to be written. It may matter through him to many more to come.
Does it matter to God? Tough call. He died in sin to the best of my knowledge and, funeral oration about “we’re all children of God” aside, my belief would be that one such would be in hell today.
But for God’s amazing grace.
Did he call to the Lord at the last, in his extemis?
I do not know.
Is it likely?
No.
Is it possible?
Sure.
Is it for me to say and dash the hopes and prayers of those gathered together with firey rhetoric about hellfire and brimstone?
Absolutely NOT.
I believe sinners go to hell, and it doesn’t matter the sin.
I also believe that God is a loving God that didn’t create us for that purpose, and holds the door open to the literal last breath.
That Amazing Grace is just that. He may have had a lost and broken soul turn to Him, even at the last.
But I also believe that it’s best not to count on that last breath, so I work to turn folks to seek their salvation in Him in my own way, as the Spirit guides. I am not done talking to some that were there, but I must ask the Spirit to give me words of hope, not condemnation.
Because all my corporal life, I’ve had ONLY condemnation to give.
Along with Narcan.
So, what lives matter?
The ones that matter to us, SHOULD be the same ones that matter to the Creator.
And that’s ALL of them.
If it’s kill or be killed, give death or recieve it, that removes all ambiguity. The ONLY death I’m not prepared to explain, is my OWN. One may kill in defense of family and home, of other life and of country, with a clear conscious.
But we should never assume we know more than God about who is worthy of life, and who is not.
Kiss your children tonight. Pray they don’t put you throgh this. And that THEIR children don’t put THEM throgh this.
So that no one ever thinks their lives don’t matter.
Because they DO.
To the Lord.
You don’t have to love them.
But someone does…
If black lives matter why are they taking all of them away?
I used to eat breakfast with several black folks but now their gone.
The two best days of your life are; the day you were born, and the day you realized why!
“It’s your PURPOSE in life Charlie Brown…that’s what make life matter.”
Be a good dad and husband.
Be a good mother and wife.
Be there for your children and grandchildren.
Be a GREAT boss if you own a business.
And if you are inclined to do so, invent something that helps others AND you can make a buck.
You are given the gift of life from GOD, do something productive or worthwhile with it dam it! :>)
What matters in life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23