He Just Snapped

Once would be too much, but rarely does the day pass that we don't hear how someone just snapped, always with tragic consequences. Why is this happening more and more? Do you think this is a derivative of our social movement from community to individuality? Would anyone deny we are becoming more and more pre-occupied with self?

Last week Lily and I were raking up leaves. We filled our large dumpster and even another refuse container. They were wonderful in the spring and summer and beautiful when golden, but now, brittle brown all over the lawn they were a nuisance. The can was their fate.

If asked, I think we could all describe what the good life looks like. Is it Taylor Swift? Is it Brandon Roy? Is it Jay Leno? Would anyone say it's Nick Vujicic? We clearly see the surfer on top of the waves, but we have blind eyes when it comes to the sharks swimming below. Are we but purblind angels who deceive ourselves? Are we like those leaves? Is the lottery our only hope to fulfill some kind of Bucket List before we hit the can?

Are we so ' all alone' in our pain that all we know to do is take our lives and the lives of others? Is that some desperate cry for attention, for help, a last hurrah before we end our life and the lives of others? Do you really think this is the point of our existence? Why are we so afraid to ask ourselves why?

The leaves were beautiful when they were connected to the tree. When they lost that connection they became a nuisance. These people, people like you and me, did they lose their connection? Did they ever have a connection? If they loved someone more than them self would this have happened? If they loved God more than them self would this have happened? If the love inside each of us was stronger than the anger, stronger than the hate, stronger than the selfishness, stronger than the jealousy, would these things happen?

I know nothing. I am not a psychologist or a sociologist. I'm just an older guy who asks himself a lot of questions. I observe and I wonder.

I have a web page I call inspiration. It has links that others have sent me to many people and web sites that inspire me. I would like a lot more. There are many-many people who do amazing things with their lives, despite their circumstances and their limitations. How are they different from those of us who snap? Are these folks connected to the tree? Do they have a support system? Do they have people who love them? Are they in community?

You know, we look at the Bible from an individualistic perspective, but wasn't the Bible written from a community perspective? Can it really be understood apart from community?

Would anyone deny that technology and science are powerless to keep us from tearing one another apart? Are the terrible things we do to one another only a symptom of something deep within us? Shouldn't we be looking deeper to see what keeps us apart? Is that the whole point? Were we created NOT to be apart? The leaves are at peace when they are connected to the tree. Despite everything that happens to us, maybe if we were connected ....