Wednesday February 23, 2005
Three rules for living To receive this column regularly via e-mail, send a request to [email protected]. E-mail subscribers also get excerpts from correspondence about these columns. Please forward a copy of this column to anyone who might be interested in subscribing.
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For a lighter look at ethics, faith, and life, I recommend Ralph Milton\’s weekly e-newsletter Rumors. You can subscribe to it at the Wood Lake Books home page in Ralph Milton\’s Site, or by sending a note directly to [email protected].
It\’s also worth pursuing Richard Fairchild\’s United Online site. Another site worth visiting is David Keating\’s \”SeemslikeGod\” page.
Sometime last year, Pastor Tim Schroeder of Trinity Baptist Church in Kelowna published something he called “Three Rules for Living.” Friend Lorne Farough reminded me of them the other night.
Tim\’s first rule, loosely paraphrased, said, “Don\’t take it for granted.” His examples referred particularly to the scenic beauty of the Okanagan Valley. I think his rule goes farther.
Don\’t take anything for granted. As soon as you do, you de-value it. You permit yourself to push it to the back corners of your awareness, while you pay attention to other matters.
When you take something for granted, you assume it will always be there. But it won\’t. Health, friends, family, income – all will change, someday. If you\’ve nurtured them, if you\’ve taken them seriously, they may change for the better. But if you\’ve taken them for granted, probably for the worse.
Tim\’s second rule: “Catch people doing good things.” Sometimes, when I hear people sounding off, I wonder if there\’s anything good going on in the world. Rarely do I hear conversations filled with praise.
It\’s easy to find fault. And finding fault, laying blame, distances the speaker from the act. By contrast, praise associates the speaker with the act.
Particularly in the political arena – at any level: municipal, provincial, or federal. If I write favorably about, say, Gordon Campbell\’s promise to limit university tuition increases to the rate of inflation, everyone will assume that I\’m a card-carrying Liberal Party supporter – even if I think the Liberals have the integrity of a chameleon crossing a plaid tablecloth.
And yet people are constantly doing good things for each other. As a BC tsunami survivor said, after it was all over, “I was amazed at how people were willing to put themselves in danger to help people they didn\’t know whatsoever. There were some serious heroes out there.”
Tim\’s third rule: “You are the difference.” Perhaps it\’s fitting that the tsunami survivor was a UBC grad. Because UBC\’s motto, I recall, says something similar – Tuum est, It\’s up to you.
That\’s difficult. Especially for a natural recluse like me. I\’d rather hide behind my computer screen than get out there and interact with real people with sweaty hands, bad breath, and addictions to everything from pot to power. I\’m afraid of getting hurt if I open up too much. I\’m afraid of rejection if I push too hard. I\’m afraid of becoming a crashing bore…
But Tim Schroeder says, “You are the difference.”
Two hundred years ago, philosopher Immanuel Kant coined his Categorical Imperative: "Act only [in such a way that] you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."
Translated into more modern English, “Suppose everyone in the world acted as you intend to act…”
Suppose everyone waited for someone else to act. Suppose everyone withdrew from involvement. Suppose everyone was afraid of getting hurt…
Yes, I am the difference. So are you.
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Copyright © 2002 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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