It would be nice to turn the music up and ignore the noises I can hear outside. It would be nice to watch dumb shows that don’t scretch my mind instead of reading books like Silent Spring or Pig Tales that keep me awake and make me itch. Itch, as in, I cannot ignore them. It would be nice if I didn’t write, and people didn’t read, and I could just be what they call a cog in the machine, or what the kids call a NPC – a non-player combatant that is in a video game and has absolutely nothing to do but stand in place or maybe move a bit but is never a main character – an NPC engages in no action, no heroism.
If I didn’t go outside, I wouldn’t get bit by a mosquito or be worried a snake might be behind every leaf and under every log. If I didn’t plant a seed, I wouldn’t have one occupy my mind and I certainly wouldn’t be sad when one wilted. If I didn’t listen to the birds sing, I wouldn’t know when they don’t.
But I’m not supposed to be that person.
(you’re not supposed to be that person, either)
We are supposed to observe, to help, to read, to learn, to listen, to act. If we do not, somebody will, and can that somebody be me? or you? No, they cannot. There is a gap where I should be, where you should be, where we should be, and we need to fill in that gap.
It would be easier to be a non-player. It could look like a cat on the lap and a brownie to eat and watching shows for hours. But to what end? Of course, we need some downtime, we don’t need to feel guilty for that, but it’s easy to spend more time there than where it’s hard, where we might get stung, and where the sun may give us a few more freckles.
I’ve been down and out for a while, due to legit issues (a knee injury, for example), but that’s not really a good excuse for being out of commission. So here I am. There you are. Let’s be the ones who will repair the wall and stand in the gap (Ezekiel 22:29).
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