Who are we?

Good afternoon dear reader & welcome to my world for another week. Periodically, given all the reading I will do on any given day, I come across a story which is extremely moving. Such was the position this week. Charles & Sara Ripped met in Wisconsin at what I suspect we would call High School here in NZ & were together ever since. They attended university together & married in 1942 before Charles served in the United States army during World War II.

The couple celebrated their seventy-fifth wedding anniversary last year. Charles was 100 years old; Sara was 98 & had suffered a stroke. They lived together in their home in Napa, California.  1
This week, they died together.

After wildfires ravaged their community, one of their sons discovered their bodies. Charles had fought through the intense heat & smoke & almost made it to his wife’s side. A son found their remains near each other. “My father certainly would not have left her”, he told reporters.

Only metal & porcelain survive in the charred remains of their home ~ coffee cups on a low sill, a porcelain tea set, & two metal chairs side-by-side. The Rippeys are making headlines because their lifelong commitment to each other strikes a chord in our souls. We sense somehow, what they had is what we want. We know there is more to life than what a fire can consume.

Richard Simmons III is founder & executive director of The Center for Executive Leadership. In The True Measure of a Man, he notes we have shifted from a production economy to a consumer economy. As a result, we measure ourselves not by what we do but by what we own.
Our work is a means to our wealth. 

And in a culture driven by social media & instant celebrity, we measure ourselves by how often others measure us. Simmonds quotes Professor Christopher Lasch, who made the following observation of people: “would rather be envied for their material success than respected for their character." And, Marcus Aurelius noted "the true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues." So, I have been thinking; what "objects" should or do we pursue dear reader?

When we begin to actually understand deeply & passionately about ourselves, we can be freed from the need to justify our lives & impress our culture. We are freed to appreciate what we have & what we can become without the need to make an impression on anyone, other than those who count. And we find a life of purpose no fire can destroy.

In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy Loman is fired from his job & takes his own life. His eldest son explains why: “He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong.” His younger son protested: “don’t say that!” However, the older son answers, “He never knew who he was.”

Do you know who you are my friend? Knowing who you are is one of the most important issues in life. Knowing who you are determines the type of person you are, the life you lead, the vision you carry, the faith level you live at, the challenges you will rise to. What you believe about you is a powerful "seed" in setting the course of your future. What you believe depends on what you know.

Make very sure you know who you are today! Your future depends on it.

Thank you for taking the time to be with me once again. I hope my journey may encourage you also. This is Kenn Butler in Paradise, Nelson, with my best wishes for the week ahead. I look forward to being with you all again next weekend.

 
www.kennbutler.com


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