We Live In Three Worlds

We live in three worlds:

A world of hustle, bustle, lots of shuffle, "Hurry!" "Hurry!" "Now!"

Our world of caring, daring, always sharing, faring....... somehow;

A world grown faster, our world of laughter, and the world hereafter.

© 1998 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved.

We can hardly avoid getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of today's world, and along with other Americans we tend to want service "Now!", answers "Now!", solutions "Now!"

Also as Americans, we tend to have little patience with ourselves and with others. Unlike other cultures, our perspective tends to be "today" and perhaps as much as "tomorrow" far more often than even "next month" or as much as "next year."

We pay a price for that in our international relations and negotiations, in our economics, and even in our wars. "Get in, get it over with, and get out!" That would be fine. It is our American ethos, so poorly understood but often taken advantage of in our dealings with other peoples and powers.

There is a danger that we tend to that approach in our personal relationships with our spouses, our children, and our extended families, as well as in our work. We don't change habits overnight. Children aren't instant learners. The house or apartment doesn't get organized right now, or even today or tomorrow; nor does the long list of "Honey Do's" and the wished for list of "Honey Don'ts" get realized immediately. But we too often expect that life should be like that.

Somehow though, life goes on; the sink is now and then empty, and sometimes things are put away (even where they belong!) And, if we try a little and often, laughter has a place, friends stop by, an email is sent, another is waiting for us, and hearts are warmed.

In the meantime, it takes a lot of caring, even some daring, and some regular sharing can make everything so much easier in the long run, and even in today's short run.

Not everyone will agree to the "third world" my wife and I hope to live in: "the world hereafter," but there are many religions, including ours, for which a righteous, repentant, life well-lived, holds out that promise. Until there is something even better to strive for, we have our eyes set on doing our best to realize that promise.

Unless we choose to live a hermit's life in a mountain cave in Nepal, or build our own home somewhere sustainable under the sea, we will still have to come to some kind of terms with those other two worlds defined as "too much with us, soon and late."

We could at least choose to start with changing our American concept of time. In America we seem to believe that being more than five minutes "early" is "too early," and more than five minutes "late" is "too late." I prefer my wife's Laotian concept. If she is doing everything she reasonably can to "be on time," she considers that she is "on time." It obviously saves her a lot of stress.

I'm still adjusting to the concept.

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Copyright 2011 Demas W. Jasper All rights reserved.