Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: July 23, 2005
Good Sabbath
July 23, 2005
Harry Potter strikes again and isn't it grand, that a thick book is read by boys and girls and their parents. J.K. Rowling has been blessed by a kind God who created a world of Muggles and wizards. Yesterday I helped with the prelude to a gang summit (scheduled this Autumn) which brought together youngsters who had studied the gang tragedy and produced a power point presentation on the subject, with clarity, sadness yet enthusiasm.
In the select audience were representatives of police, probation, district and city attorneys, faith-based ministers, as well as the sponsoring organization, the California Endowment and the Bronze Triangle, three communities east of the downtown ballpark. The inspiring Gale Walker is the leader of the Triangle, as well as mother of two fine young men. She speaks with a quiet fire and works with summoned patience so that things get done, for effectiveness is the primary accomplishment of leadership.
Fran and I had gone to Disneyland the day before, to be with wonderful friends, Ralph and Trish Goodson, to visit with the great musician and leader of the USC marching band, as well as the College All Star Band which he has conducted for 26 years, at Disneyland.
It was a terribly hot and humid day, with thousands of kids and parents and some devilishly mischievous and spoiled brats. Old people had to watch where they stepped or they would be sprawled out with a broken bone or two. Fran and I were too nervous watching all of this and decided to head home after listening to the marvelous band. We knew that the horse races had begun in Del Mar and the commute home would be terrible, so we wanted an early start.
Conclusions: the traffic was ok; the band outstanding, our air conditioner worked; we had happy talk and thank God, Fran was fine for all of that heat. Tonight we will rejoin Trish and Ralph at the Hollywood Bowl, along with Art, the great conductor, and thrill to patriotic music.
Dear God:
I awaken with a new day and night before me,
I thank Thee for all that I am
And all that I wish to become.
If some 11 million books can be printed and sold so soon afterwards, can we do the same with the book of living?
If a world of imagination, witches and wizards can ignite the rich potential of young minds, can we find the same possibilities among our teachers, coaches and parents? The answer is "yes!", when the parents take time to nurture the young, giving them attention and guidance. But there are too many who do not, finding that they are too busy or impatient or ill to carry out this obligation and blessing. They find excuses, blaming police, teachers, weather, poor pay and myriad others for their own failures. I understand that many excuses are well-earned, that they are real and disabling, but the parent must overcome excuses and reasons, for parents sculpt a young mind and perhaps their combined future, rather than a distant God or Madam Fate. So much is in their power and our hands, where God placed it all.
A few of the most beautiful quotes that came out of the youngsters'
PowerPoint presentation were:
"All we need to do is respect other people."
"We want to use our respectful heart"
"We should teach youth to love each other."
(I can send you others if you write to me.)
After it was over, two hours raced by so fast, so many officials came to congratulate the community and wished for follow-up, which of course, will happen. There will be a charrette between the young and the police which will ventilate and humanize each side. Confusion is when people demonize each other (as in politics), see each other only under stress, and don't have the opportunity to sit down and discuss thoughts and solutions with each other, when the "we" versus "them" becomes "us".
Imagination is a terrible thing to waste, for we all have it hidden away; we just need to remind each other to find and use it. Failure is no excuse-just a convenient explanation for not trying. In 1870, after finally creating the light bulb that worked, after thousands of experiments that failed, reporters asked Tom Edison how he felt to have failed so many times?
"I have not failed", he answered, "I just found 10,000 ways that didn't work."
Failure lights the pathways towards success as Abe Lincoln, Winston Churchill, FDR and Michelangelo found. We are all in line with failure, but make it temporary and a strengthening rather than the final chapter.
I leave you in the hands of God and yourselves; good strong hands, as you build your souls, deed by deed, failure by failure, and achievement that becomes your truth.
sandy
