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Kryptonite
I saw a New Yorker cartoon today where Superman is talking to a lady in an office. He says: "Will I be penalized for not having health insurance if I'm young and actually invincible?" It brought a smile to my face until I thought about kryptonite. Yeah, even the Man of Steel was really not invincible. Sadly, or maybe not, it takes some of us a long time (and a lot of pain) to grasp the idea that we are not invincible. Often youth can be both a blessing and a curse.
My parents were exceptional encouragers - it was a long time before I understood that there were things in life that I could not accomplish. They deposited in me a strength and belief in my self that motivated me when I was young. Yet sometimes a substance like kryptonite is the vessel that shows us that we are weak and in need of One who is stronger. So often humility is forged by the painful rays of a very deadly substance that shows us that we are not invincible.
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It's the curse of the young in many ways. I have a cousin who lost a son who had just graduated High School playing chicken with a train. A few drinks and he thought he was invincible. How tragic that young people are so allured to "speed" (as in driving fast, etc.) Somewhere along the way, I guess we learn the balance of what we are really capable of. Maybe that "besetting" sin is our Kryptonite. Good thoughts Bob.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wanda. In my younger years my kids said I had a lead foot. These days I am happy to go a bit slower. ツ
DeletePerhaps we should consider the consequences of the ontological training in our youth. Today, we tend to tell young people how wonderful they are, and that they can "be anything they want to be." I was taught that willful or not, I was a sinner whose only value could be found in submission to God. Well, who's to say what I might have been; or what today's youth will be?
ReplyDeleteGood points vanilla. Speaks to me of the balance needed in raising children.
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