Yesterday I was typing up the “locals” from the Caddo paper, 1928, when it occurred to me that they sound just like the “tweets” and “status updates” of today. My husband laughs when he reads the locals, but honestly, how is “Miss Frances Lyle and her mother left Saturday for a visit with friends in Oklahoma City” any different from what we would post on FB? The current report would be complete with photos, video, and perhaps some shopping notes, but the essence is the same. We want to share what we do and think with others. And we’ve been doing it for generations. It’s just the means and the speed that has changed.
This morning while I was making coffee I mulled over more news of the past few days. Several local reports of accidents, especially those at the lake, have ended with “alcohol may have been a factor”. The national news has been filled with the usual tales of politics, economic gloom and doom, scandal and pornography, war. New warning photos are going to be put on cigarettes. Unemployment is rising. We are losing the war on drugs. Urban violence is increasing. On and on and on…What it all boils down to is the age old adage that “the more things change, the more they remain the same”. While this quotation is attributed to Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the concept comes from the Bible.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
We like to think of ourselves as modern and progressive and tolerant, and we like to think that our electronic gadgets and our fast cars and our brilliant ideas make us superior to previous generations and privileged to enjoy more freedom and comfort and convenience. However, despite our advancements and inventions the basic problems of society: violence, lust, greed, addiction, jealousy, etc. still plague us. Nothing has really changed since Biblical times…only the means and the speed with which we hear about it. Sad…
You know I can’t leave you in a negative mood for the day, so I will end with my own positive spin on Ecclesiastes. Just as the evil nature of man endures through each generation, so does the good. At least as we fight the good fight and try to improve our little corner of the world we know what we are up against and that the Bible offers us clear examples of how to defend ourselves against evil. Hope and faith and strength aren’t new either!
Have a good day!
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