send submissions to us@thelighthouseband.com

Click here to return to The LightHouse Band!

History of th' World

In our country today there is a serious problem, and it is one that cannot be understood except in light of the entire history of th' world. What i mean is, it is not limited to only th' present. It's roots lie in th' past, and it's effects and consequences in th' past, present and future. And to make this devastation more shocking, let me say now that i do not believe in evolution. Jesus says the universe was created in six days and i believe him. This being th' case, the earth is about 6-10 thousand years old. That's pretty young. If you believe in evolution, th' truth of th' devastation that i'm going to present will still be valid, only th' time frame will be much larger, making th' effect a little less dramatic, but no less dangerous. Th' problem is that our world is destroyed. Th' fact that we could, in less than ten thousand years, almost totally annihilate an entire planet is, to say th' least, an impressive feat, and one that testifies to th' greatness of our influence upon, not only the earth, but also on each other, and every living and non-living thing on th' planet. To be clear, what we have destroyed is not only th' land, but also our water supply, our air, and perhaps most importantly, our relationships, our families and our communities. I will now attempt to show th' connections between these problems. For th' problem of our devastated earth is not independent of th' problems common in our everyday life.
You have only to look at a persons home to know his effect upon the entire world. Home life is where th' truth of a person is revealed, as it is also th' place where many habits, whether bad or good, are formed. Among all our attempts at great things, it's our habits that have th' greatest effect. A man can do a few good things for the environment which can easily be undone by a series of bad habits. Th' same goes for relationships. Take "giving to charity" as an example. If a person gives money to a local charity organization, he has done a good thing. But if in his everyday life he despises th' poor of his community, or even if he simply, and perhaps unconsciously, ignores th' poor of his community, or does not consider them as equal to himself, has he not done more harm than his one act of giving has done good? The ignored and despised of th' community would say that he has. And so our true selves are revealed by our habits much more than by seemingly greater individual acts. (which often are done in an unconscious effort to undo a series of bad habits. People who live in th' wilderness, for example, don't often go "camping".)
These days, and especially in our american culture, bad habits are often ignored, unrecognized, and even encouraged. After all, a consumer society can only survive because of bad habits. Imagine a world where most people were happy, productive, and content with having their basic needs met. Sales would be down to say th' least. But we are born into a disposable, temporal society. A temporary society encourages bad habits because it sees not th' future and remembers not th' past. We have become disconnected from our ancestors, and so have forgotten th' lessons they had to teach us. Lessons from an era where things were made to last, not simply to be used and thrown away. Speaking only of material things, most of us know that tools created before th' popularity of plastic can still be found in working order. A garden rake from the 1800's works just as good today as th' day it was made. But what will that plastic rake in th' shed look like in 50 years? Nothing but a stick. Relationships have progressed in th' same way. Before modern communications, th' people in a persons life were often fairly constant, and knew each other for many years. They weren't as easy to blow off, and so common ground had to be found in order for people to have peace in their lives. They actually had to live together as a community. No one wants to live with an enemy. When you realize a person is going to be around for awhile, relations with them are treated more seriously, and many times forgiveness must be asked for and given. For by nature we are bound to hurt one another, but when our habit is to love one another, those hurts are more easily forgiven, thus doing less damage. If, however, there is a person who habitually mistreats you, th' hurts they cause you are not so easy to forgive (though just as necessary). Now, with modern communication, more people than ever before are seriously lonely. People come and go in and out of our lives as if they are mere products to serve some specialized purpose. Just like th' products we buy.
Just as th' roots of our habits are too often overlooked and ignored, so to are th' consequences. If we cannot look around and see the effects of our habits, then we must try to imagine them. Many times an awareness of the effect of a bad habit is all that is needed for a person to make efforts to replace it with a good one. And th' way to know whether a habit is a good one or a bad is to look at it's effects, and to ask th' question, if i loved this person, or this place, would i intentionally cause these effects?. If not, we had best ask forgiveness and begin making an effort towards th' correction of th' destruction we are responsible for. After all, th' seeds that we sow will become th' food that we eat.
Having said that, i must also say that i have never known guilt to be an effective motivator for good. Perhaps th' greatest thing God has ever offered us, besides life, is forgiveness. It is absolutely essential to good work and habit that we believe in forgiveness, That we accept th' forgiveness of God and of our fellow man when it is offered. And that we also forgive ourselves. For we cannot do good, we cannot love and forgive others, if we have in our own hearts fear and shame and condemnation. We cannot offer to th' world or to others what we do not have. And so i hope this essay causes us to examine our habits, th' things we do almost unconsciously every day, and helps us to realize that we have greater influence than we can even imagine, and i dare say even more for good than for evil, for God is good, and we are created in the image of goodness. And realizing our potential for goodness, let us act with reckless abandon in everything we do, everywhere we go, and with everyone we meet. Many times i have felt sorry for th' stupid things i've done, but never have i been sorry to love.