There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over -- and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its validity or its past importance in our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving on, rather than out. The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well. It's hard to recognize that life isn't a holding action, but a process. It's hard to learn that we don't leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office. We own what we learned back there. The experiences and the growth are grafted onto our lives. And when we exit, we can take ourselves along - quite gracefully. --Ellen Goodman
Okay, so what does this mean to the rest of us who aren't yet at retirement age? I think she states something quite well. When any stage in life comes to a close, I have me. I've always had me, but if you are like me, you have a struggle with things changing. Go check out the book, Who Moved My Cheese which talks about change, and our resistance to it.
There are two things to consider here:
1. We are not alone in resisting change (There's another book of interest with the title, Nobody Moved Your Cheese! which might be worth considering, too).
2. Life isn't a snap-shot, or as she stated, a "Holding Action"
But, I have another viewpoint on #2.
Once when my now 15-year-old was about 2, we went hiking in Utah's Color Country (Utah has some of the best places in the world to hike). We came upon a depression in a very large rock -- so large that we were walking on it -- and my little son started playing in water that had collected there from the season's snow and rain.
As he was playing, a young couple quickly approached him. They were dressed in posh hiking boots, shorts (anyone who hikes in Utah's desert country in shorts is a certifiable lunatic, IMHO), with day-packs, complete with leather hats and all the trappings which back in those days showed them to be nutty tree-huggers.
They began to berate him for touching the water, because his skin oil was killing the micro-organisms and "other life" in the water. Since he was too far away, having followed the older kids ahead of his slow parents, there was nothing I could do but hear mumblings, and then find out what they had said from his older siblings.
I was enraged that a pair of fools had done this, but that's another story. We've been on that trail several times, and sometimes the pools are wet, and most of the time they are dry.
My point is this: In order to believe the tripe the green wackos spew, you have to believe all of life is in a Holding Action, or as I said above, a Snapshot rather that a changing, powerful creation that has all the tools and wonderful gifts from a Divine Creator, to grow and literally to heal itself.
God, after all, has said himself that he's created the earth with enough to take care of everyone and to spare. (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/104/17#17)
My primary concern for the "Earth First" crowd, is they don't believe in God, thus are left to the "arm of flesh" (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/2_ne/4/34#34 and http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/1/19#19) for their "salvation" which isn't any salvation at all, as we know.
When I was a youngster, I was blessed with enough wisdom to have an epiphany which taught me that there weren't any people around me who weren't loved by God more than me. I learned there weren't people around me that were loved LESS by God than me. That mighty realization taught me that I couldn't trust any "man" to lead me. I had to rely on the Spirit, or "The Light of Christ" (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/moro/7/18-19#18 and http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/28/14#14 and http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/88/7#7), not to mention God's chosen servants.
So what's the conclusion?
Liberals who believe in evolution and that protecting the environment is the ultimate worship of their god are fools who will have their world come crashing down around them.
and
We must put our trust in God, from whom all life flows, and from whom all our blessings and gifts come.
And Yes, I'm Karl
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