> I am often reminded of the passage when Jesus asks Peter to feed his
> sheep. After three times answering "yes," Peter is confronted with
> those sheep: the poor and wretched. Jesus says that is we do
> something to/for even the least of these, we do that to/for him as
> well.
Several years ago, the thought came to mind that Jesus was helping
Peter after Peter's having denied him three times when he asked him
if he loved him the same number of times. (I could possibly be
wrong.)
If that is so (not that I'm wrong), I wonder how many other
"obvious" considerations are not held in common.
As an example of "obvious" considerations not held in common
Yesterday, I was walking in the parking area of a convenience
warehouse, and out of my peripheral vision saw a family. My intent
at the time was to get a Coke, and to give them plenty of room. As
happens in a daily manner, in the midst of my evasive action, the
older (than 10 yrs old) females in the group started raising the
level of their voices and in my mind Forrest Gump is playing ping
pong. "Look at us." "No." "Yes." "Can't make me." "Will." Will not."
I imagined bringing up the topic with others and thought that others
should be aware of the process - because it's within common
experience. And yet it seemed that people would say, "no, things
really don't happen that way."
Somehow within the same sequence of thoughts the word "animation"
came to mind. I have heard my pastor say "animation" while preaching
and have thought about how to do animation and how to use it in
computer programming projects. When "animation" came to mind in
regard to how those females were acting, I started laughing. No one,
it seems, could believe the earlier account, yet everyone might
believe in animated action. "Why, I've never heard such animated
conversation!" Maybe in our society, with the physical nature and
real-life historic cost of intimacy, female instinct tends to
communicate through animation. Men, with less to lose in terms of
instinctive behavior, may not tend to be so indirect.
If that observation is possible, then here we have a very
significant, predictable, possibly life-changing cycle of behaviors,
that we may not have seen exactly. It's like "The Purloined Letter"
(I think) where something was hidden through being kept in the open.
Also, if the observation is true, and it is for me, then it was
something I heard in preaching and understood more fully at another
time. If "animation" had not been made a "warm" topic for me, I'm not
sure that I would have held it highly enough in thinking to get this
application.
And here's where my real view comes into the conversation. The
scripture says that "real religion is to visit the fatherless and
widows". I hope that there will be respect for others in the
"learning organization". Religion and virtue are not irrelevant.
Have a nice day
John Paul Fullerton
jpf@myriad.net
--"John Paul Fullerton" <jpf@mail.myriad.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>