Wednesday, July 19, 2017
First Things: Betterment vs Detriment
Last night, as Ian and I were driving home from visiting a friend downriver, we were talking about the HBO Documentary Tickle. If you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend it. It's seriously messed up and completely fascinating.
Without spoiling too much of the movie, it ends up centering around someone who has a tremendous amount of wealth and time and uses that very poorly.
And it struck me, almost to the point of tears, that to do such a thing with the valuable resources and time you are given seems to be to be more "sinful" than the poor person who turns to drugs or crime.
I'm sure that in some ways the socio-psychological conditions by which both the wealthy person and the poor person choose to waste their resources are similar... but for the person who has much to offer the world - to squander that wealth is far more reprehensible that the person without.
It sits with me then, that we have an obligation to be wise with what we have been given. To use the little or vast resources that we have at our disposal for betterment and not detriment. Do we use our words to build up or to tear down? Do we use our time to improve or to complain? Do we spend our energy celebrating another person or belittling them?
When I look at the legacies those who have gone before us left, the legacies of those who used their time, money, and efforts to tear down are rarely celebrated - perhaps in circles for a season, but then they are gone, tucked away as a part of history we learn to not repeat. But those who enrich the world, who stand as a force for positive change, their legacies last both in physical memorials of statues, statutes, laws and books - but in the hearts of lives changed for good.
We have a choice every day as to how we will spend our valuable resources.
For betterment or for detriment.
Without spoiling too much of the movie, it ends up centering around someone who has a tremendous amount of wealth and time and uses that very poorly.
And it struck me, almost to the point of tears, that to do such a thing with the valuable resources and time you are given seems to be to be more "sinful" than the poor person who turns to drugs or crime.
I'm sure that in some ways the socio-psychological conditions by which both the wealthy person and the poor person choose to waste their resources are similar... but for the person who has much to offer the world - to squander that wealth is far more reprehensible that the person without.
It sits with me then, that we have an obligation to be wise with what we have been given. To use the little or vast resources that we have at our disposal for betterment and not detriment. Do we use our words to build up or to tear down? Do we use our time to improve or to complain? Do we spend our energy celebrating another person or belittling them?
When I look at the legacies those who have gone before us left, the legacies of those who used their time, money, and efforts to tear down are rarely celebrated - perhaps in circles for a season, but then they are gone, tucked away as a part of history we learn to not repeat. But those who enrich the world, who stand as a force for positive change, their legacies last both in physical memorials of statues, statutes, laws and books - but in the hearts of lives changed for good.
We have a choice every day as to how we will spend our valuable resources.
For betterment or for detriment.
Labels: Christian living, life choices, love, positivity
