[Oe List ...] to the elders

[wangzhimu2031 at aol.com]

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Innocents'Day
 
We are not going for the toddler's welfare which is thefocus of tomorrow's Innocents' day in the Christian liturgical calendar.  For biblical scholars familiar with Matthewand Luke, the first was written for the Jews and the second for thegentiles.  Luke bothered to trace Jesus'lineage to the widely known martyr John the Baptist but did not provide muchfanfare in not having a room in the inn; the infant child had to be born in amanger, with only shepherds and angels in attendance.
 
Matthew was writing to the Jews of the synagogue to provethat Jesus was a fulfillment of the prophetic messianic vision, so he was notonly particular about Joseph being a descendant of King David, he also got Magito visit and trick King Herod by skipping town without due notice.  The King then proceeded to have everytwo-year-old boy in Bethlehem and surrounding areas killed, ala the Mosaic tradition of Mosessurviving the Pharaoh's edict of a similar genocide in the exodus story.  Not unlike the family of Joseph of old,Jesus' family also escaped to Egypt and returned only after Herod died.
 
I bother to point out both of these items in Luke andMatthew just so readers know that we are way beyond the literalism that usuallyaccompanies Bible literacy in our time. The liturgical Innocents' day had been observed for the innocentsuffering in the world, mostly those of children in war, disasters, and famine.
 
I focus this reflection on the second group of children,those into 2nd childhood years of which I have suddenly entered.  Since formally retiring after LiaoningProvince of China that owns and runs the Shenyang Aerospace Universityimplemented its book rule on not having foreign teachers over 65 (China stillretains the old life expectancy record that led to women retired at 55 and menat 60 though a revised five year addition has just been announced since almosta fifth of the population are on superannuation), I realized how much of thestereotype associated with second childhood has already become mine.
 
First, there are the body symptoms like the jowl that lookslike that of the turkey forgiven by the WH on Thanksgiving, and the butt thatused to attract approving giggles from the school girls in the elevator when Iskin tight it in body fitting jeans springtime but is now virtually ignored forits non-existence!  The finger dexteritythat keeps dropping things has become only too painfully familiar, and liftingone's body a foot higher on a stool invariably results in vertigo.  Coming along these ways was not our idea ofmaturing into the soufflé of our years.
 
If my vaudevillian incoordination is often a source ofembarrassment and discomfort, the incredible emotional tolerance forpluriformity and diversity almost lines me up with the bleeding heartliberals.  I suppose, the extensivetravel around many rural villages (the urban centers all look alike) around the world for more than adecade, living in many places by choice, the longest of which was residing inSaipan as a religious and secular teacher, left us with enough elbowroom toaccommodate virtually everyone.  But ifthe heart has a chamber big enough for the planet and then some, the memory databasehas become harder to access.  My secondpoint, names of persons and places, dates and events have now come to elude us!
 
Still, as a third, having been impactedby the cognitive overview effect provided by the earthrise photo from Apollo 8in 1968, our intuitive acceptance of the trustworthiness of life as it isgiven, and the compassionate leeway we impose on every humanly invented imageand metaphor, accepts no bounds.
The Wikipedia states it better: The overview effect is acognitive shift in awareness while viewing the Earth from orbit or from thelunar surface.  It refers to theexperience of seeing the reality of the Earth in space understood to be a tiny,fragile ball of life, "hanging in the void", shielded and nourishedby a paper-thin atmosphere. National boundaries vanish, the conflicts thatdivide people become less important, and creating a planetary society with the willto protect this "pale blue dot"becomes both obvious and imperative.
 
Our primary pedagogical admonition is for students to"pay attention" to their existence with their body senses, emotions,intuitions, cognitions, and decisions.  Igive it my naughty twist and arrogate to myself the skill of doing the samewith "playing attention" to distance myself from the commercialconnotation of the previous phrase.
 
Society's blame game, with its cause-effect linear thoughtpattern, lends a susceptibility of the previous generation to charges of benignneglect or senseless cases of willful commissions in the experienced woes ofthe earth. 
 
Of course, there is nothing innocent about secondchildhood.  In fact, the universalresponse among the confident, aware and self-conscious is usually, "Guiltyas charged!"  That is, if one stillremembers the reality of what one is being charged with!
 
And this is where life's grace and compassion isincontrovertible.  Not only does it letyou know and feel that the past is irretrievably done, and in fact, mostlyforgotten; it also wondrously and unconditionally forgives. 
 
Now, if I could only remember where my last thought was . ..
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