As
I was contemplating the prosperity and wealth that we have, I offered
up a prayer of thanks for the previous generations who worked hard to
build this country. My thinking was stimulated by a piece of
road-working equipment parked on our street in preparation for some
resurfacing . It has been sitting there waiting for at least a week,
inactive and gathering dust. I would probably need to refinance my
house if I wanted to buy such a machine but it just sits there
patiently.
Have I done my share to pass on the torch of
prosperity? I have not built any railroads. I have not invented any
great gadgets or processes. I have discovered no new lands or
mineral deposits. What have I done?
I guess we should
understand that the thousands of men who worked to build the
transcontinental railroad did not see it as establishing wealth for
future generations. They were simply earning a living. What built
the greatness, in addition of course to the blessings of God, was the
simple process of believing certain truths and passing them on to
their children. The basic values of Christianity were assumed to be
of value. They may have been rejected on a personal level but were
assumed for society. Thus you may have had an affair with your
neighbor’s wife but you acknowledged that adultery was wrong.
We
are at a time when those of us who still have a sense of right and
wrong built on eternal truths need to get back in the business of
being squeaky wheels. We should have passed on such concepts as
honesty and hard work to our children. It needed to be done in deed
as well as word. I seems that many have abandoned those standards
which means that we need to be even more squeaky.
Look for
opportunities to pass on the torch of Western civilization. You
don’t know what that torch looks like? Get a Bible and start to
read it. You may not accept the idea that Jesus is Lord but the
principles that are laid down apply to everyone where they believe or
not. The workers on Ford’s assembly lines were not doing it for
you but they supplied the inexpensive transportation that transformed
a continent.
Be a torch passer.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.