Our Hardest Times; Birth Of The Next Greatest Generation?

Passover for Jews and Holy Week for Christians come this year during what has been projected as the most death-dealing week of the 2020 pandemic.

We are descending into an abyss without the normal physical embrace and comfort of extended family, friends, and community. There is no coincidence that these two most sacred observations coincide with what might well be one of the hardest of times. We are even restricted as to who can remain at the side of a dying loved one. And funerals are conducted when many can only attend online. Perhaps the truth we are being shown is that the most terrible things always yield to new beginnings. Could it be that our descent into darkness is leading to freedom from bondage and rebirth? Maybe the Next Greatest Generation is taking form.

It's hard to grasp that we must endure difficulties in order to fully triumph.  This is unfathomable in our modern world that rejects and honors only success and celebrates only strength.  We have been laboring under a Post World War II illusion that life is measured by achievement after achievement and continual accomplishments. 

There has been both a spoken and unspoken understanding that we should be climbing from one height to the next. The real struggle, descending into depths and failure, known well by The Greatest Generation, has been rejected.  Nowadays we love to celebrate the emancipation of Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt and the empty tomb on Easter Sunday.

But waiting with bitter herbs while ten plagues destroy everything is not so uplifting. Sitting beside the tortured sacrifice on a bloody cross as dark clouds gather is not a place we wish to linger. Yet, turning away from pain and loss makes it almost impossible to accept the reality that hard times are harbingers of a phoenix who rises from his own ashes with renewed power and beauty.

“You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.
”

— ~ Ernest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises)

The most terrible things that have happened always yield to something transformational.  I think about Auschwitz and The Holocaust with ghastly images and unimaginable misery. Their devastation cannot be undone. But from the ashes of horror came a homeland for Israel along with awakenings to our inhumanity from people like Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, Viktor Frankl, and so many others.  We have been challenged to change. 

All of us are flawed in one way or another.  Never on a road of continual achievement and success, we travel downward into the place where we find out who we really are.  We find salvation on the same journey that Jesus takes with his cross and on which the Israelites find freedom.  But we must choose.  We can travel downward to receive wisdom and peace or we can run forward grabbing for whatever gives us temporary happiness.

By medicating with drugs and washing away reality with alcohol, money, sex, gambling, food, and entertainment, we flee from anything that hurts.  This flight from ashes is not anything akin to rising from them.  We are missing the point. 

For when we allow ourselves to experience dreams which have turned to dust, grieve losses and admit our failures, we are empowered to become a new creation.  We will have learned the lessons of humanity just like our ancestors.  We will have an appreciation for the suffering of others.  We will be endowed with a strength that comes from compassion rather than aggression.  We will rise.  We will rise. We will rise. Welcome to the Next Greatest Generation.

With Gold Dust at My Feet

“Grab your coat, and get your hat, leave yourworry on the doorstep.  Just direct yourfeet, to the sunny side of the street.” ~ Dorothy Fields

The lyrics from ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’ were composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields in 1930 as the world was plunging into the Great Depression.  The words gave hope and were heard across the country for years.  The song became a jazz and big band standard.  It is widely believed that the stock market crash of 1929 was a symptom of deeper and more systemic problems than the events leading up to the epic day it all tanked in September.  The nation certainly did not leave worries on the doorstep.  Instead, we entered into a period of isolationism which included punitive tariffs.  The result was catastrophic.

Lessons of the Great Depression and theoptimism of ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’ are available to each of us inour own struggles.  Hard times come andthey also go.  We can choose to isolate,withdraw, protect ourselves at the expense of others and hide with our head in thesand, or we can choose to connect with families, friends and the community.  We can absolutely find ways to help oneanother, and persist with an optimistic ‘Can-Do’ attitude.  Of course, no good comes from ignoring theproblems that we have.  Things areresolved by taking a positive approach toward solutions.  But we need each other to make ithappen.  Let’s reach out and lend a hand.

“No pessimist ever discovered the secret ofthe stars, or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the humanspirit.” ~ Helen Keller

A Walk in the Desert

“The absence of God’s love makes us like a dry desert land without water, and thus we treat our neighbors harshly, fearing we have no love to spare.” ~ Guy Consolmagno

The droughts, times with little rain and scorching hot days, leave us feeling empty and anxious.  Lake levels drop, plants wither and die, animals venture out in search of anything to quench their thirst.  An uneasy quiet settles over the land.  We endured a seven year drought in the Upstate of South Carolina not long ago.  It was pretty uncomfortable.  People became testy and on edge as everything outside seemed to deteriorate.  At one point, the flooded river valley which has become Lake Hartwell dropped so low that old roads appeared which had been under water for decades.  Recreation and tourism slowed and almost halted.  Two years ago the welcomed rain began to come.  Over time, everything was restored and the beauty of the area returned. We have even started to forget how desolate it was.

Emotional and spiritual droughts have strikingly similar effects on our insides. Emptiness and anxiety leave us feeling dry and forsaken.  God seems to have abandoned us.  When this happens, we withdraw and isolate.  The love we have seems to dry up and we hoard whatever is left for fear of losing even the most essential elements of affection.  Unlike the droughts of nature however, desert times of the soul and spirit are more misconception than fact.  Hard times are no delusion, but the sense of abandonment and loss of God’s love is only an illusion.  It is as abundant as when everything in life was going well.  We are promised this without exception.  We are never alone.  We are never ignored.  We are never without resource.  There is an endless underground spring of hope that will fill our hearts in time.  The healing waters will return.  My friend, Bill Scott used to remind me that ‘Things come to pass…not to stay’.  We can be assured of that.  There will even come a time when the drought is a distant memory.  Life is always wonderful…even when it seems otherwise.

Robert Kenneth Jones is an innovator in the treatment of addiction and childhood abuse.

In a career spanning over four decades, his work helping people recover from childhood abuse and addiction has earned him the respect of his peers.

His blog, An Elephant for Breakfast, testifies to the power of the human spirit to overcome the worst of life’s difficulties. We encourage you to visit and share this rich source of healing, inspiration and meditation.

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Bob Jones’ blog An Elephant for Breakfast