Sledding down the hill

This is a time of great change in our country and in our world. We hear about it continuously on the news.  In fact, the news could almost be defined as ‘the latest changes reported to us every day, all day’.  Our ancestors back in the Paleolithic era lived for thousands of generations without any appreciable change in their culture, but for the last 15 or 20 generations change has been happening rapidly and at an accelerating pace.  

Change is hard, fundamental change is fundamentally hard. But it’s only hard if you resist. If you let go, it’s fun.

I remember the sensation of playing outside in the winter up in Michigan with our sled. Any hill would do. The steeper the descent the more thrilling it was.

We used to sled down a narrow trail behind our house that snaked from the top of the bluff to the valley floor. Our house and the church where my father ministered and the rest of the town was at the bottom, in the valley of the mighty Muskegon river, but the top of the bluff, 400 feet up, was a different world. It was forested and wild and on the way down there were obstacles to overcome, tree branches, ruts, bumps.  At one point there was a precipice where you could fly off into space if you missed the turn. Lying face down on the sled and controlling it with the wooden handles that bent the front runners this way or that, you had to anticipate the next turn and set it up.

It was one of our favorite wintertime activities as kids. We had to share the sled and we had to walk all the way back up the hill so it was a double thrill knowing it was your turn and you got on the sled and dared yourself and your brothers pushed you or you ran and jumped on the sled and pulled your legs in and slid down the hill faster and faster with no way to stop unless you bailed out into a snow bunker.

People are genuinely disturbed about the changes coming their way: our society is changing, our technology is changing, how we live is about to change dramatically. People take that personally. The crazy conspiracy theories, the fear based divisiveness and the anxiety that causes it are all proof of that.  You wouldn’t find this in a happy, content, well adjusted society.  It would serve no purpose.

Maybe it would be helpful to remember playing as a kid and how much fun it was to let go and sled down the hill, cold wind in your face , freezing water in your boots and the cliff of death by your side. We couldn’t wait to do it again.

And you know what else? I don’t ever remember us brothers fighting or arguing when we were playing like that.

It was serious fun.  We were focused on the project.  And I don’t recall anyone ever flying off into the abyss.