Did you ever get one of those email forwards or FaceBook posts about how wonderful life was in the "good ol' days?" You know... the ones that remind you about how kids roamed the neighborhood and didn't come home until the streetlights came on or how you could buy a bag full of candy at the corner store for a dime? Reading them always makes us agree, that yes... life was definitely better way back when.
I've often thought of writing my own "good ol' days" response... one that says stuff like:
- Remember when there were separate water fountains and bathrooms for "coloreds?"
- Remember when women were looked down upon for wanting careers and were paid half as much as men who did the same job?
- Remember when it was "nobody's business" if a neighbor was physically abusing his wife and kids?
- Remember when children were sent to work in dangerous factories for ridiculously low wages?
- Remember when a cancer diagnosis meant certain death?
And there are plenty more where that came from. Certainly society has a lot of problems today... some we never would have even thought of 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. But we have also improved in a whole lot of ways as well. Instead of pining for the "good ol' days" that really weren't as great as we like to remember, why not work to improve what we have today? And why not thank God for the progress we've made, especially in the ways we try to treat one another... by protecting the weak and healing sick and standing up for the poor and oppressed? We could easily slide back into some of the stuff we've already overcome by remembering it as "good" instead of recognizing it as the evil it was.
THIS is the day that God has made. Let us rejoice and make everything we can of it!
Father,
Thank you for today. Help us to work to keep improving the lives of all the people in all the world. Amen.
Joys: Today!; a morning FaceBook chat with Richard; cereal and fruit for breakfast
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