The Real Us

To a greater or lesser degree, man is a narcissistic being. Couple our narcissism with the inflated sense of self we are encouraged to nurture and foster even by those who ought to lead us in the ways of the spiritual, and you have a highly volatile, extremely unstable combination.

On the one hand, our narcissism compels us to believe we are better than our forefathers, and that faced with the same decisions we would make better ones. On the other hand, our hubris whispers ever so coyly, that whatever we decide, it will be the best possible decision with the best possible outcome for that particular situation.

We refuse to believe that mankind is capable of repeating the barbarism of past generations, when everything around us is screaming that not only is this present generation capable of replicating the atrocities, it is likely capable of exceeding the violence, brutality, and cold blooded efficiency of those who came before.

Beneath the mask of civility and political correctness we’ve stapled to our faces, there is darkness, swirling and frothing, and when it boils over, we will belatedly realize that man does not change, and in and of himself is incapable of change. We are our fathers’ sons and our mothers’ daughters, and by rejecting the One who can truly change and transform us, we are merely embracing our base nature more tightly than before.

There are those who wave off what’s been happening in the world recently, and excuse it with patented responses like, ‘every generation that gets older thinks the younger generation’s worse.’ Perhaps, to a certain extent that holds true, but the frequency of a thing is just as telling as the reality of the thing itself.

Things that were once rare have now become commonplace, and things that were once fringe have now become mainstream. We can try to spin it however we want, and shift blame to one element or another, but truth remains truth, and the hyper accelerated decay of our present society is undeniable.

We want to believe that the default human instinct is goodness, kindness, charity, and civility. We want to believe that those who would do violence are the aberration rather than the norm, but ever since Cain attacked his brother and killed him out of petty jealousy, it has been proven time and again that goodness, nobility, and kindness are divine virtues rather than human traits.

It is the divine spark within, the selfsame spark this present generation is attempting to snuff out, that makes us noble, and kind. It is the presence of Christ and the transference of His nature to us that makes us good, and absent Him, absent Christ, absent God at the helm of our existence, it is inevitable that the world becomes more like its true self.

We are staring off into the distance, hoping to see the rainbows and butterflies so many preachers insist are just over the horizon, and all we are seeing is the darkness getting darker, and the storm clouds getting more ominous.

Even so, we still cling to the futile hope that our eyes are deceiving us, and that within the tumult of the storm there will be cotton candy clouds and gingerbread houses, because someone on television insisted it will be so.

We either see the world as it is or as we would like it to be. We either prepare for the worst possible scenario and hope for the best, or prepare for the best possible outcome only to be taken by surprise when the worst does occur.

I cannot tell you how to live your life. I can only tell you how He would have you live your life, and knowing that His intent is pure and true, and His desire is to be with Him in eternity I for one would take heed and obey.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.