Deep No 5 --- Time Machine

     H.G. Wells made an interesting comment on one occasion:  “We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams.”

     I’ve spoken before about both of these “machines” on past blog posts.  But I thought today I’d like to consider the aspect of time travel in a different light.

     Consider for a moment having the ability to travel into the past.  Where would you decide to go?  Who would you want to meet?  Of course, there are other considerations that you would need to make:  Can you travel ONLY within your own lifetime?  Or would you have the ability to go to any point in history that existed?  This would certainly put a limit to when and who could get involved in your travels.

     When you travel within the past how would your actions affect others at that time or perhaps even future generations?  What if you killed a person in the past?  Only to learn later that their great, great, great, granddaughter was the person who saved your life while you were swimming on a summer vacation as a child?  It may be that you would have to be extremely careful about what you did while you were visiting the past!

     Also your speech may have to be controlled.  When you met someone for the first time and then realized that this person would perform a great service to mankind in his or her later years.  You let it slip how this was to come about!  Now would the circumstances change or be changed by the fore knowledge by this person?  Would you have changed their “future” history so that the event you described or perhaps the manner in which it was to occur has now be altered?

     Here is something I want you to consider (and I’ll try to explain it simply):  What if you traveled from 2018 back to a point in history we will call 1965 to meet Dr. Martin Luther King and upon introducing yourself you find out that he ALREADY knows you!  Later you learn this is because in 2019 you will travel back in time to 1963 and meet Dr. King at that point of his life!  Now to you the first trip back in time is actually the SECOND time you have met Dr. King.  Do you begin to see how confusing things could start to become?

     Now for a moment consider that you could travel FORWARD in time.  Again we would have to consider such points as (1) would you only be able to travel forward within the time span of your own existence, or (2) would you be able to journey to any point within the future even if it were after the date of your death?  That alone may be a concept hard to wrap your mind around.

     Then what might some of the things that could happen to you within the future?  You may find out things that are GOING to happen that upon returning you would want to change, but could you, since you have already seen them happen?  And if you could change them, what other events might this affect by your actions here in the present?  Or what other changes would that create if you did make only ONE change here in the present?

     Could it be possible that you would prevent your son from marrying the girl of his dreams only to find out that you now have created different grandchildren whose lives completely alter the reality of the future that you had seen?  Think of all the mind blowing possibilities that may be created by your knowing things that might happen?

     You might reach the conclusion that some have already considered:  Just because a thing is possible doesn’t mean it should be done.  Maybe the past should be left as it is and maybe the future should be constructed on doing things better today!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Don't look at things as they are,

but look at them as they could be!"

Busy

     My wife came into my office this morning and asked me what I was doing just sitting in front of my computer starring at the screen.  “I’m busy writing my blog post for today!”  I thought: how dare she ask what I was doing when it was very painfully clear that I was working on my blog.  I was BUSY!

     She gave me a smile, lightly tapped me on the shoulder (you guys know that easy pat), and said as she then left the room: “I’d think if you were working on the blog post your fingers would be moving across the keyboard and words would be appearing on the blank page of the screen.”

     People!  It’s amazing to me how some people cannot understand the process you have to go through to get the thoughts collected in your mind and then make the words flow into the tips of your fingers so you can type them onto the blank page.

     This is a very tiring and tedious process.  It takes much time and effort to work yourself through this process.  This is especially true when the words do not automatically come to your mind just by sitting in front of the computer.    

     So I thought for a moment and then it came to me: Why don’t I put my process down on “paper” and post it as one of my blogs?  That is what I am going to do today.  Now you may read over this process and think: That’s NOT the way I would do it!  That’s fine.  You’re not writing this blog and these are not the steps that you take to put your process into reality.  I’m just going to tell you how I do it!  You can modify the process to fit your style any way you’d like.

1.       I think of my subject.  What am I going to write about?  This almost sounds too simple, but in all honesty you can’t just start putting words on a page and hope they turn into a brilliant article that you can use on your blog.  Although this is exactly how some people do it and it seems to work for them.  But it doesn’t work for me!  I have to know what I’m going to write about and the subject has to hit my mind with WOW!  I like that!

2.      Next I would have to think of HOW am I going to approach the subject.  There could be some reasons to simply look at a subject from a review type situation.  Or perhaps I would want to consider doing an update on current information available about that subject.  It could be that I only want to give my opinion of that particular topic.  There are many ways that a subject could be approached.  You must give this consideration before you begin to words on your page.

3.      Dependent upon the results of the first two points I may have to do some research as my next consideration.  The subject may not be very familiar to me or it might be that the way I want to approach the subject needs some factual information to substantiate the points that I will be including in my blog article.  And it is very possible that after I do some of this research I may decide this is NOT a topic that I want to write about anyway!

4.      After reviewing the research you must determine what material you will keep and use and what material will be “thrown away”.  Actually I often decide to keep all the material because there may be some that I could use in a future article for the blog.

5.      Putting all the information in order.  You have the take the information you have and then develop a logical, coherent development process so that it all makes sense.  If your reader comes to the end of your discussion and (scratching their head) says:  “What the heck is this all about?”  Or maybe some other words that have the same meaning.  Then you have not done the job you are suppose to be doing when writing your article.

6.      After these items comes the really hard part:  REVIEW – REVIEW – REVIEW!  You have gone through these things over and over within your mind.  It all makes sense to you!  Who wouldn’t want to read this brilliant piece of literature that you have produced!   You have to remember that those reading your blog post (or article wherever it is published) are seeing it for the FIRST time!  They didn’t go through all this process with you.  You have to “take them by the hand” as it were and lead them to the conclusion that you are trying to make with your written words.  That’s not always easy to do.  Sometimes I find it better to write the article or post and set it aside for a few days and then pick it up and read it fresh.  You may be surprised at the different opinion you have of your article by doing this.  But if you’ve followed your process (whatever works for you) then you will find success at the end of the article.

     This is just a brief summation of how I write the posts for my blog.  Like I said, this works for some and others have their own method.  The point is to have a procedure in place that works for you and make sure you follow that procedure each time to completion.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Never be too busy to care for the

needs of those you love."

Injustice

       To make the comment that there are injustices in the world today is almost an understatement.  It doesn’t matter where you look they are occurring.  Sadly the injustice is “man-made” to serve the specific agenda of someone or some party so that they can gain the upper hand in a situation.

     Consider as one example the Roman Empire.  The influence of the Roman Empire on western civilization was profound in its lasting contributions to virtually every aspect of the western culture.  However to provide the vast expansion and development of the Empire the constant factor was the use of slavery.  Slavery was an ever-present feature of the Roman world. Slaves served in households, agriculture, mines, the military, manufacturing workshops, construction and a wide range of services within the city. As many as 1 in 3 of the population in Italy or 1 in 5 across the empire were slaves and upon this foundation of forced labor was built the entire complex system of beliefs of the Roman state and society.

     You cannot deny that there were social injustices under the Nazi regime with the Holocaust but one often overlooks the impact that the Nazis had on German society.  Adolf Hitler and the Nazis left behind a stigma that is attached to German history and has an influence upon its people even today.  Nazism was terrible and left a “black mark” upon the history of Germany.  Many today are still appalled by the insinuation that even now they (as a person) may be defined by what happened in their country decades ago.

     Examples of injustice in the world today include the oppression of cultural and religious groups throughout the world, widespread economic and social inequality, the infanticide of baby girls in India and China, violence against women, and unequal access to medical care, legal protection, and education just to name a few.  We could all probably think of other things that are solely an injustice whether it affects us individually or as part of a group.

     Some of these matters could be corrected or at least reduced if only people could work together for the betterment of humankind.  But we don’t see that happening.  Take as another example people in various countries starving because of a lack of food.  However, in many of these areas like Ethiopia, Haiti, and India (as well as others) the food is there.  But it rots on the docks because of politics.  The people never get the food they need!

    This is a sad expression of man dominating his fellow man to his injury.  We make selections on various applications:  What race do you belong to?  There are many different possible choices; however, I never see the choice for being part of the HUMAN race!  When will we ever learn that we are ONE people?  We face the same problems, have the same joys, we look forward to the same chances for peace and happiness.  Why can’t we help each other and not become the very injustices that we deplore?

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"When one member of your body hurts, 

the entire body hurts.  Don't be the cause

of self-inflicted wounds."

The Question

     From the moment of our birth into this world we are a very curious creature.  We begin to explore our surroundings by the only means we know: feeling the textures of the substances around us.  And soon we want to know what everything tastes like.  All objects that we can grasp go right to our mouth.  This includes many things that we should never put into our mouths but they go there anyway.

     We are so inquisitive about our surroundings that soon we find ourselves capable of uttering speech and we begin to ask that parent terrifying question:  WHY?  We want to know.  Our parents begin to instruct us with information we will need as we progress in this growing pattern called life.  Do this --- WHY?  Don’t do that --- WHY?  Everything they put to us is questioned.

     In time as our vocabulary grows we find that we can structure more involved questions.  But they are still with the purpose of wanting to better understand ourselves and the surroundings that we are living in.  Why is the sky blue?  What are the lights in the sky at night?  Why is the grass green?  And many other such questions!

     As our youth continues we tend to ponder the universe around us with even more complex questions.  What is the sun?  How do the orbits of planets work?  Why do chemical reactions of items respond the way they do?  It seems like the questions will never end.

     When we begin to enter our adulthood the questions will often become more personal and again very complex.  Who am I?  Why am I here?  What is the purpose of life?  Why do we grow old?  Why do we die?  What happens after death?  And there are many more.  These are questions that we really need to know the answers to if our future is to have any real meaning.

     But what usually happens?  We get to the point where we can’t find satisfying answers to these questions.  Or by asking them we are told that we are not suppose to know the answers.  We are only to believe what we are told and to stop asking these difficult questions.  So in time most of us do just that!  We no longer ask questions.  Sometimes we don’t ask any questions at all but merely “go with the flow” as the expression goes.  We accept what we are told without any consideration that maybe there is a different answer:  An answer that we can find to satisfy the burning questions within our mind and heart.

     For many years people believed the world was flat (sadly many still do today).  But it was discovered that it is flat.  That discovery is most commonly ascribed to the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, while the credit for proving it is usually given to Aristotle.  So it was in 1519 that Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to circumnavigate the globe and he is usually given credit for doing so.  However, Magellan died before the trip was completed.  So, in fact, he did not complete the intended voyage.  You may want to do a little more research on this subject.  But if these individuals didn’t question the current perceived notion of a flat earth we may never have known.

     You can imagine the same in other fields of science, medicine, space, travel, and so on.  Without those who would question the concepts of the day we may never be privy to many of the advances that we have today.

     All our lives we need to question. We need to reach out for the satisfying answers that we deserve to know.  We should never stop looking at situations and asking WHY?

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"The only dumb question 

is the one you don't ask!"

Memories

     Now that the days are getting longer (and hotter!) you may find yourself with some extra hours left at the end of the day.  I know that seems a bit farfetched but it could happen.  What are you going to do with all that extra time?

     I’ve found that spending some of it just relaxing and reviewing your life might be very enjoyable.  You can think of many various things that have happened in your life and recall how you responded or how you felt about the situation.  What I find extremely relaxing is remembering old friends or family members that you haven’t seen in a long while or perhaps now they have died, but you can recall many pleasant moments with them while they were alive.

     What I’ve been trying to do lately is think back to the time of the oldest things I can recall in my life.  Perhaps it was a vacation, or other trip, or maybe some important event in your life.  You may be surprised at what you might remember.  Of course, it would later be nice if you had another person who shared that moment or event with you and see if they remember it the way that you do.  This too may be enjoyable as you “compare notes” on the matter.

     Sometimes you will find that there are certain events that you can recall with great detail and clarity and others you can barely remember at all.  Why our minds work that way is probably a mystery to most, but it does.  My wife and I find that she can recall certain events with much greater detail than I can.  She will describe a meal we had a restaurant many years ago.  She’ll name the restaurant, what she was wearing, what I was wearing, why we went to that place on that date, what she had to eat, what I had to eat, and so on:  I, on the other hand, kind of remember being at the restaurant!

     There’s a great song that highlights this very point.  It was entitled “I Remember It Well”.  The first performance of this song was in 1958 by Maurice Chevalier and Hermoine Gingold.  The first recording was by Hank Jones in 1958.  Many other performers did a rendition of this song, but the most popular version was done by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme in 1960.  The lyrics are included below, but if you’d like to hear them sing it do a “Google search” of “I Remember It Well” and you can find a selection.

Translation in progress. Please wait...

We met at nine, we met at eight, I was on time, no, you were late
Ah, yes, I remember it well
We dined with friends, we dined alone, a tenor sang, a baritone
Ah, yes, I remember it well

That dazzling April moon, there was none that night
And the month was June, that's right, that's right
It warms my heart to know that you remember still the way you do
Ah, yes, I remember it well

How often I've thought of that Friday, Monday night
When we had our last rendezvous
And somehow I foolishly wondered if you might
By some chance be thinking of it too?

That carriage ride, you walked me home
You lost a glove, aha, it was a comb
Ah, yes, I remember it well
That brilliant sky, we had some rain
Those Russian songs from sunny Spain
Ah, yes, I remember it well

You wore a gown of gold, I was all in blue
Am I getting old? Oh, no, not you
How strong you were, how young and gay
A prince of love in every way
Ah, yes, I remember it well

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QUOTE TO REMEMBER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"May our lives be more than they actually are

so that others will remember us as we hope to be."

Trying Times

     In today’s world it is hard to find someone who does not have to face some type of trying situation.  It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, male or female, “upper crust” of society or in the lower economic standings, whatever your position in this world or whatever standard you use to measure it, you have to face the trying circumstances of this system.

     If you are young there are difficulties in school that you must contend with.  Even the sad reality of not knowing if you attend classes on any given day if you will return home alive or be part of a school shooting!  You never truly know with complete assurance that the fellow student beside you in your class is not going to erupt into a nightmarish personality and begin doing unthinkable things.  And if things aren’t that bad at school many continue to deal with the “bully” problem.  This has led to more suicides in recent years than I would like to mention.  The young girls in particular have to deal with the “image” aspect from their peers as well as the whole of society that is placed upon them.  You MUST look a certain way or you are not considered “attractive” to anyone!  And the problems continue to mount in many different areas.

     Some might think that once you graduate from school and become an “adult” these problems will automatically disappear.  Some do.  But many are a lifetime problem that has to be dealt with on a daily basis.  And with adulthood there comes a new set of problems that must be confronted.  Think for a moment:  At your graduation you are told that you “are the future” of humankind.  That you are entering the world of great opportunities.  But in reality you find that many opportunities are not available to you for many varying number of reasons. Some leave the halls of their graduation and find that they cannot get any acceptance into college, that they are not even eligible for any consideration of economic assistance, and many cannot even find some type of meaningful employment.

     Many get involved in gangs, drugs, or some other illegal type of activities and then find that it is almost impossible to get themselves free some such involvement.  Some have unwanted pregnancies.  Some begin to feel that they can see no way to overcome the problems that they are facing.  The world begins to look very bleak for them.

     They find that the corporate system is against them.  The legal system doesn’t really care that they can “correct” their situations.  The economic system becomes too much for them to bear.  Many find it time to look toward religious organizations, but these too prove to be a failing source of comfort.  They speak grandiose words of faith, but they prove false to the true power of religion by merely “feeding” on the depressions of those they get to follow them.  The combination of these areas to fail in providing the needed comfort and hope to people leads many to resort to the idea that they are truly unlovable and unneeded by human society, so they turn to the alternative of taking their own lives.

     Many can find that the truth of the Bible and God’s message of a wonderful future on a paradise Earth is a hope that is worth hanging on to and living for regardless of the present conditions that they have to face.  By understanding the real message that the pages of the Bible holds out can bring a true peace of heart and an earnest desire to continue to develop a real lasting personal relationship with God.  This counterbalances the trying times.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"When you are the No. 2 entry in a two man race,

second place is better than next to last!"

Pain

     There is probably no greater pain that we can suffer than the pain of losing a loved one in death.  With just a brief and non-exhaustive examination of pain we can gain a little insight with this fact.

     We will only consider a simple breakdown of pain that happens to us and pain that affects us due to the loss of something.  Consider for a moment the physical pain that we might have to endure.  We could hit our thumb with a hammer.  Or we could stub our toe on a piece of furniture.  These two examples of pain may be very uncomfortable for the moment, but with the passage of time we will recoup and the suffering from the pain will be forgotten.

     We could also have pain from some type of accident which may require us to undergo surgery or we may have some type of illness which also may cause us to have to have surgery.  In either case this type of pain will also pass in time.  We may have some type of scar that would constantly be a reminder of what we had to go through although this may also become part of our distant past and we may not give much additional thought to the pain we had gone through.  This situation may also be one where we will undergo some form of mental pain along with the other suffering.  This may require more time to pass by, if ever, we are to lose this suffering.

     These types of physical pain and many other forms can be things that we have to face throughout our entire life.  You’ve probably also noticed that some individuals are able to stand greater pain levels than others.  And you may find that with time, patience, and certain degrees of practice a person can condition themselves to increase the pain tolerance which they are able to bear.

     In the other direction we can consider the pain of losing something.  You’ve probably at one time or another lost your wallet or purse, or maybe you thought you did.  Such a loss can create great pain and suffering.  A lady that I used to work with lost her purse (well, actually it was stolen).  The pain and agony she went through for months getting her credit cards replaced, a new driver’s license and other things was almost unbelievable.

     Perhaps you’ve lost a job, or a promotion, or the car or house keys.  You know the pain you suffered and how you feel every time you thought about it.  And I can’t even begin to describe the situation of pain when we lose a pet.  A cat or dog or other pet that has become part of the family would leave a devastating empty spot in your heart if they were to be lost.

     However, the pain of the death of a loved one can only be described as pain that hits hard, goes deep, and can last for many years to come.  Perhaps never really subsiding at all.  But here is where we can have faith in God who says “death will be swallowed up forever” (Isa 25:8).  And by providing the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, who “might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:15), we can look forward to a future where “death will be no more” (Re 21:4). 

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Death, where is your victory?

Death, where is your sting?"

1 Co 15:55

Too Late

            Have you ever had a good friend pass away and then thought about all the times you had wanted to call them or visit them, but never got around to having enough time?  It seems that we all have failed to plan for things within our lives that should be given more priority until it is too late.

            Then they are gone and all we do is think about the times past and what we had done or said and how wonderful it would have been to visit them one more time before they were gone.  If you have ever felt that way, and I’m sure you have at one time or another, why not begin to think about those who are still with us NOW and not have to feel that way about them at a later date.

            Life it just seems is too short for us to get anything done.  When we are younger we always feel that there will always be enough time so why worry about it now.  We also feel that we are invincible and that nothing bad is going to happen to us.  Before we are aware of it the years begin rolling past so quickly that they are almost like a blur before our eyes and then we are on “the downhill side” of life and barely have enough time to get the daily necessities taken care of before the next day is upon us.

            We can complain all we want about life not being fair.  About it seeming that “all the good ones” are taken too quickly.  However, we don’t know when some accident or other event beyond our control is going to happen.  We don’t understand why some of us get the sicknesses we do or why others just seem to “fall apart” before our eyes!

            What we do know is that the time swiftly passes by and we are making excuses for ourselves and why we never did the things we should have been doing all those years before theses years of regret have reached us.  Remember there’s no better time to tell someone how you feel about them than NOW!  You may not have the chance to do it later.

            This hit home to me so well some years back when I was delivering commercial supplies for a company.  Every week I would stop at this little bar/lounge in town and the old couple who owned it was always giving each other a hard time with their comments.  After several years I came in one day and the wife was not there only the husband.  I inquired of him how he could let her have a day off during the week.  Those had always been there together.  His reply was: “She invited her relatives for a visit this week-end and I told her she had to stay home and clean the house.”

            The very NEXT week when I visited, she was there and he was not.  So I inquired:  “So, you took off last week and now he felt like HE should have a day off too!”

            Her reply came back sadly:  “He died!”

            Of course, I felt very ashamed about my comment.  But it goes to show you never know what is going to happen from day to day.

            We need to seize the moments within our lives and make the most of them that we can.  We never know when those precious moments may be the last ones we have. 

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If you love someone, tell them.

You will never have this moment again."