robbery isn't just something that guys in masks do.
here you go, guys, it's the question of the day ...
and I think it's one worth considering.
a h e m.
what is sacred?
yes, sacred, I said it. I'm going there, I'm asking.
(for the record, I say things. I go there. I ask.
I don't like leaving ideas alone in dingy little corners, abandoning thoughts to the cobwebs. so many do. so many just left to rot ... I don't understand how a generation that prides itself on becoming better practices ignoring basic morality.
ridiculous, really.)
so for a moment, wake yourselves up, Sleepy Headed Ones. it's time to think. it's time to challenge yourself.
I've been told that sometimes, it's impossible to know what something is unless you first know what something isn't. so I will use that logic now.
what is not sacred anymore?
intimacy.
but that covers a vast amount of things. I'll narrow it down for your little minds a bit.
sex. trust. love. everything from footsie on Saturday morning to impassioned tussles.
it may be intimate, it may be full of warm fuzzies, gasping I Love You's, and going out on a limb. but it certainly is not sacred.
our bodies.
the other day, I was hanging out with someone I had only known for a few hours. he seemed nice enough and wasn't from around here. so I offered to show him around on my day off. we were soldiering down Riverwalk, making jokes and laughing, when he reached for me ...
he wrapped his arm around me. a side hug. but I went completely stiff. I stopped laughing.
in retrospect, you'll scoff. think it wasn't such a big deal, Sarah, don't be so uptight. and any other day, I might agree with you. that it wasn't a big deal. that I was being uptight.
but not today. not now. because I've done some thinking.
I had only known him for a few hours. what right did he have to assume that he could touch my body?
why do we freely give of ourselves physically?
I remember a day when a hug came only after a few weeks of dilligent pursuit. it was a sort of reward. it had to be earned, you see. nowadays, hugs are passed around the room. our bodies, folded into everyone's arms without a second thought.
and I am not condemning affection. I am merely (and not merely) looking at it. going deeper, into the reasoning or into the heady idea.
why don't we value ourselves a little bit more? and why does the idea of holding back create tension?
friendships.
yes, friendships. complete with distorted truths and motives. complete with being "brothers in arms", complete with humanity.
and I'm not declaring that it should be perfect. because friendships are composite of imperfect people, it's impossible to strive for something like perfection. no no, I'm thinking of something a little closer to ... honor, I think.
which also, by the way, is not sacred anymore either ... lets just go down the list, shall we?
honor.
love.
sex.
affection.
intimacy.
friendships.
our bodies.
promises.
family.
marriage.
death.
art.
music.
government.
fathers.
mothers.
polite discourse.
reputations. (ours and others)
humility.
our word.
emotions.
abilities.
justice.
goodness.
civility and consideration of others.
self worth.
basic morality.
faith.
trust.
the truth.
our stations in life.
life, itself.
sadly, the list does not end there. but it's a brief encounter with what has become trampled, regarded flippantly if not ignored altogether. that is the norm, don't you see, to defraud all of those things ...
with blatant disregard, our culture dances in front of a golden calf.
we have traded all of that, as a society, for what we are given in return ...
unrighteousness.
fornication.
wickedness.
covetousness, full of envy.
maliciousness, malignity, malice, craftiness, despiteful, violent, insolent, inventors of evil things, unmerciful, and implacable (irreconcilable/ruthless).
murder.
debate.
deceit.
backbiters, slanderers, whisperers.
haters of God.
proud boasters.
without understanding, senseless, foolish.
covenantbreakers, faithless, untrustworthy.
disobedient to parents, without natural affection: lacking the natural love that one has for family member and friends.
I don't know about you but I look at this and I am ... sad.
what have we, this great nation, achieved? in our hearts, in our actions and motives?
a complete and utter disregard for anything and everything worth preservation.
how did we let all of that get lost? fall between the cracks?
how did everything and anything that matters at all become worth so little?
and how did we let it?
and what can we do now?
and even if we knew the answer,
what would we do?