OUR ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE 21st CENTURY

By Kayms99  11/30/08

I am fortunate… I was born in one of the most prosperous, powerful and opportunistic places in the world…. the United States of America… AND at a time in history when the most amazing inventions of convenience and luxury have come to be, all of which happened within decades of my birth! It’s truly amazing to think about… with the thousands of years of history on this planet it wasn’t until recently, literally “yesterday” on the grand scale, that the most significant and profound contributions to civilization have occured. Before the 20th century and for thousands of years, transportation was basically three ‘snail’s pace’ choices… via animals, wind or our own two feet… for thousands of years, communication; relaying information to one another, was also slow and required much patience… instantanious contact at a distance was a fantasy only to be dreamed about.  And as for our entertainment we had to leave our homes or pick up a book or other periodical.  These are just a few of an endless list of examples.
But today… in this time in history… well, to put it bluntly…we are absolutely spoiled!  We have all of the conveniences and luxuries that anyone could desire… and combining that with the amazing advances in medicine that have given us the ability live longer lives, we are a truly blessed generation, in a TRULY blessed country.  What are the chances of living in this special time in history?…. just look at the earth’s time line, it is very very long and just one tiny spot on that line is where all of these ‘unimaginable’ world changing advances took place.  And of all of the billions of people who have ever lived on this planet, we are the ones who get to experience this uniquely special time.    And too.. what are the chances to be born in this country…out of all the other places in the world…there are still places on this planet where you would never know that these modern advances exist. Where there is no prosperity or opportunities and no cause for hope that things would ever get better. Why wasn’t I one of the unfortunate ones to enter this world in a country where there isn’t enough food and the odds are against me ever reaching adulthood?  Why was I so blessed while others were doomed since the day they were born?

As a Christian, these are especially profound questions. I know, as the Bible states, that God is a just and fair God. He loves us all equally and does not show favoritism. My faith tells me that even though the circumstances in life sometimes are extremely unfair, that God, in His wisdom, has a plan and in the end all wrongs will be righted.  One of the many blessings of being a Christian is knowing this truth.  When things happen thru out our lives that are unfair and hurtful, sometimes in the most horrific way, it is a comfort to know that God will right the wrong. He will do it His way and in the time he chooses but His will, WILL be done.  That is a belief that I have at the very core of my being. I have no doubts about that.
  So with this in mind, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that the ones who are doomed in this life will be rewarded in the next. God will right the wrongs that have befallen them.
And then the obvious next question would be… what is to become of us, the ‘blessed’ ones, in this life? And not just the blessed but the UTLIMATELY blessed?  Will God punish us for being blessed?  Of course not. Remember, we are judged by what is in our hearts. And it is also important to remember that what is in our hearts manifests itself in our actions.

Now to refer back to my earlier observations of our extremely blessed generation in an extremely blessed country…. again, we are not only blessed with unprecedented freedoms and prosperity but the most amazing inventions in world history. These inventions, along with our freedoms and prosperity enable us to go anywhere in the world in what seems like the blink of an eye compared with less than a century ago.  Communication with someone on the other side of the world can happen now in truly and literally the blink of an eye! And with the exception of flight, what we have come to know as the common television is the most unbelievably amazing invention that I’m sure no one in history has ever even imagined.
  With these and other amazing inventions, we now can see events thru out the world literally as they happen. We can “attend” a Royal wedding.  We can see people all over the world celebrate the start of their new year!  And we can also see, for the first time in human history, first hand and up close, the suffering and tragedy that our fellow human beings are endurring in other parts of the world. We can HEAR it in their voices and we can SEE it on their faces.  I wonder how many times this scene has played out in American livingrooms: us sitting on our comfortable sofas, in climate controlled environments, remote controls in hand, the aroma of  delicious dinners in the oven, watching the horrors that are befalling others in our world in that very same moment? How should we feel about this imbalance in life… should we feel guilty? Is it our fault? Can we stop it? What can we do… what should we do?  These are very personal questions that all of us will eventually have to answer. Did we make the right choices? Did we do what we could, not just knowing but SEEING the desperate needs of others? Or did we just change the channel and replace those sad thoughts with our own worries, about truly minor issues in comparison, that are going on in our buffered and pampered lives?   Jesus said in Luke 12:48  …”From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked”.  How are we, again, in the most blessed generation, in the most blessed country, living up to his declaration?

Our lives on this Earth are also like the “blink of an eye” compared to the eternity that is ahead of us. The unfortunate ones that have suffered here are going to be rewarded on a far greater scale than that which they have suffered.  And for those of us, the “blessed ones”,  who have been given more, what is going to be our eternity and rewards if we do not take on our worldly responsibilities?  Much has been given us…and as a result we have an even greater, deeper knowledge of the needs of others…so..is not much more being asked of us?  Clearly it is, just as Jesus said. 

So, in this 21st century, and in this great country, we are truly blessed but also truly responsible…. and at this point, I would like to recommend a great site for readers to visit…. CNN’s Impact your world site – just one convenient click will get you there,  http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/?iref=impactglobal …   and with just a few more minutes of your time and a few more key strokes, you can help your fellow human beings who are not as blessed and who are in desparate need of our help at this very moment.   Here is the organization I chose to help this time around…. my check went out in the mail yesterday.   http://www.medsandfoodforkids.org/index.html    This is truly the big picture everyone … the bottom line of life.  How will we measure up?