photography by davin risk
1: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life, 2 a: to feel regret or contrition b: to change one’s mind
Sometimes there is a shot across the bow and sometimes it is followed by a direct hit. In either case there is a warning.
We have that warning and it matters little what happens next. With a warning, we are wise to reconsider our worldview and what in our lives receives our care and thoughtfulness and what is also neglected.
What is this warning? Well even though it is portrayed in the most erroneous fashion just about anywhere one may look, we are apparently facing an economic and financial sea change where the next few years may be something beyond what was experienced in the great depression. It is a real enough warning and if one is grounded in historical facts and in the evidence before us, the warning is indeed clear and severe.
I contacted several people recently to invite them to support a local school board member who was bucking the system and trying to reduce taxes on the local population. He was to be censured at the next school board meeting. Only three of the twenty or so people that I invited actually showed up and only one of those spoke in this board member’s defense.
Surely, it is time for us to repent.
The warning to this particular school board is that they appointed a new person who by his own admission was antithetical to most of their dearly held beliefs regarding the proper role as a school board member. They appointed him anyway and inflicted the warning upon themselves. To their own consternation, they now find themselves with someone on their board who puts principles above the statist approach. He considers his position as first a public servant where it is implicitly realized that he has a responsibility to tend to the good use of stolen money and encourage restraint when it comes to stealing any more. He is as sensitive to the needs of taxpayers as he is to the needs of the students. Last on this list of priorities are his fellow board members. This is how it should be by any rational calculation.
Should they perhaps consider changing their view of things by employing this rational calculation?
I would say yes; it is time for them to repent.
I surely do hope to be spared the direct hit. I hope this for my friends who would not attend or who would not speak. I hope this for my friend on the school board and I hope this for his fellow board members too.
In any case, the warning remains. It is time for a new view of things or rather for a view that has stood the test of time. Indeed, it is time to repent.
