“It’s a Barnum & Bailey world, just as phony as it can be,” begin the lyrics of a very old song. How appropriately they still apply to our present “advanced” society with its advanced stages and sophisticated trickery and chicanery in every facet of “progress.”
As in the olden Barnum & Bailey days of yester-year, distraction remains the primary key to trickery. Take a good look at your top rated TV, video and other multifaceted means and categories of mass “entertainment.” The trickery is not just capitalized upon in entertainment however, it runs the gamut while distracting us from pursuing goals or achieving fullest potential.
Regardless of one’s theory of creation, none can deny the unparalleled beauty of nature nor understand the mysteries of its supernal order. Neither can words describe the bounty of recognizing such beauty and majesty which most are deprived of–by choice or distraction. The disturbing fact that deprivation for many is not a matter of choice but a cruel reality makes deprivation by choice even sadder.
In many parts of the world millions are being deprived of basic food, healthcare and medical supplies while there is an over abundance of each in other parts of the globe, usually controlled by greed and politics. Even in our own land of plenty the disparity exists although on a different scale. This sad situation exists not because of lack of knowledge, technology or scientific development but for lack of concern by those in power for anything but control.
Unfortunately, bounty and appreciation are not synonymous The greater the bounties we enjoy, the less we appreciate them and the more we use them to isolate and exclude ourselves from others, depriving ourselves of so much.
Indelible in my mind will always be, while listening to an interview with the renowned conductor of the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra many years ago, when asked by his interviewer what he thought was the saddest word in the English language, I was amazed to hear him reply “exclusion.” Odd, I thought, was the question; odder still his answer.
Should a physical banquet table of endless prime delicacies be placed before us, what a bounty it would be to freely partake of such and what deprivation should one choose not to. Despite its many faults, life in this American nation is similar to that banquet table, offering much to many who choose not to partake of it while keeping many others back from the table. This deprivation and exclusion comes in many forms and flies many proud flags that stand for social, economic, academic, fraternal, religious and racial exclusion, isolation and discrimination, despite the fact that some altruism occasionally emanates from them.
“The reality of man is his thought, not his material body,” we read from the Baha’i Holy Writings. “Wisdom is the glory of man, not ignorance; light, not darkness…Unless the moral character of a nation is educated as well as its brain and its talents, civilization has no sure basis.”
Therefore, those indeed are blessed who today dedicate themselves to the entire human race and demonstrate dignity in all their acts. (Investigate – 1-800-22-unite)
