Wednesday July 21, 2010
Investing in the future
By Jim Taylor
Why do we plant trees?
Not for any immediate benefit. Most trees, when they first go into the ground, are scrawny saplings that need constant attention – water, fertilizer, staking, pruning….
When we first moved to our present property, it was a horse pasture. We planted an oak, a maple, a mountain ash. It took years for them to mature enough to fulfill our vision for them.
Since then, we’ve planted many more trees – among them a dogwood and a golden locust. Last year, I added a hawthorn. The local deer nibbled off its first five years of growth. Some shoots are coming back. It will take about 15 years before it beautifies that corner of our yard.
I may not be around to see it happen.
But I still plant trees, as an investment in the future.
Planting children
Why do we have children?
Not for the immediate joy they bring us. Newborn infants are the most self-centred creatures in existence. They can do nothing for themselves. They demand that we look after them.
And they’re expensive. Still, if they get through their teens, most become fine adults.
Children are probably our primary investment in the future. But it takes children even longer than trees to mature.
Deferred self-interest
And why do we do good deeds?
When I was young, Scouts promised “to do a good deed every day.” Good deeds generate no immediate return either. I derive no personal benefit from donating to my list of charities. Or from mowing a neighbour’s lawn. Or from giving a ride to a stranger caught outdoors in a rainstorm.
Perhaps that neighbour will repay a favour, some day. But I’m not likely to see the stranded stranger again.
Almost by definition, a good deed is given away, with no expectation of getting anything back. It may require self-sacrifice. It may even penalize me. If I help a struggling writer improve her columns, she’s hardly likely to share the income she eventually earns. Indeed, if she gets really good, she might displace me.
Then why do we do it?
The Dalai Lama praises disinterested altruism as humanity’s highest virtue. But I don’t think altruism is truly disinterested.
We do expect a return. Even if we don’t live to see it.
Immanuel Kant’s famous “Categorical Imperative” asks, loosely translated, “What would the world be like, if everyone acted like you?” It’s usually interpreted in the negative, to deter people from committing anti-social acts. But it applies equally well to the positive. Imagine a world in which everyone told the truth, dealt fairly with others, refused to exploit the vulnerable…
I choose to be honest, because I believe that a world in which people are honest will be a better world than one in which everyone lies, or cheats, or steals.
In that sense, a good deed is ultimately self-serving. It’s an investment in the kind of world we want the world to be.
And so I plant trees, encourage children, and do good deeds whenever I can. Because I still believe in the future.
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Copyright © 2009 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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Your Turn
The only substantive comment about last week’s column, which tried to think about God as a grandparent, came from John Hatchard of New Zealand. John mused on the idea of when we starting holding children responsible for the consequences of their actions. “Many years ago I was studying with Paul Solomon…One day he talked about the Jewish Bar Mitzvah ceremony. This ritual marked a moment of transition from childhood to adulthood when they had, from that time on, to take responsibility for everything they thought, felt and did…
“My own son was approaching his 14th birthday and I remember that this
explanation deeply impressed me. As I have watched him grow over the years and get on with his life very successfully, I get the impression that he really took what I had told him [about the Bar Mitzvah] on board.”
The other letters were laudatory. Wayne Irwin wrote, “Both beautiful … and brilliant!” and then signed it, “Grandma Flora and Grandpa Wayne”. Steve Roney wrote, “Jim, this is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read.”
Thank you both.
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NEW PARAPHRASE AVAILABLE
I write paraphrases so that I can understand the Bible. And one of the most bewildering books, for me, has been Revelation.
Then one day my minister suggested that I was reading it wrong. I was concentrating on the prophecies, the interpretations of the visions, the explanations of the symbols. I should be reading it as a verbal painting.
Without most of the speeches and proclamations, Revelation turns into a massive visual tapestry, an epic narrative. In most of my paraphrases, I have tried to replace archaic metaphors and images with more modern ones, and to replace desert based illustrations with some that we who live in more northern climes might find more familiar. I have not done that this time. I have simply excised the blather that gets in the way of John’s magnificent panorama of rebellion and victory.
I’m offering this paraphrase of Revelation on the honour system, the same way as my other paraphrases (except for Psalms, which you have to order through the publisher). If you want to examine my paraphrase of Revelation, just write me. I will send it to you as a Microsoft Word file. If you decide you want to keep the paraphrase, you send me a cheque for $5 Canadian; if you decide it’s not worth that much, just delete the file and send nothing.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
To comment on something, in these columns, send a message directly to me, at [email protected].
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You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net.
I write a second column each Sunday, called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justic issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a note to [email protected]
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PROMOTION STUFF…
If you know someone else who might like to receive this column regularly via e-mail, send a request to [email protected]. Or, if you wish, forward them a copy of this column. But please put your name on it, so they don’t think I’m sending out spam.
For other web links worth pursuing, try
- Charlene Fairchild’s United Online site,
- David Keating’s “SeemslikeGod” page
- The Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity home page
- Alan Reynold’s weekly musings, punningly titled “Reynolds Rap,”
- Wayne Irwin’s “Model T Websites.” a simple (and cheap) seven-page website for congregations who want to develop a web presence
- Alva Wood’s satiric stories about small town attitudes and bumbling bureaucrats are not particularly religious, but good fun anyway; write [email protected] to get onto her mailing list.
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