Yesterday afternoon, as I was busy with something [which must not have been extremely important since I can’t remember what I was doing at the moment which is critical to the story I am about to tell, and yet was important enough to prevent me from paying complete attention to every detail of the event which was taking place as “noise” in the background], I am pretty sure I heard a “weather expert” from a local TV station giving details and statistics which “proved” that the year 2020 was the “hottest year on record”.  At least, I think that’s what I heard the “expert” saying – as I said, I wasn’t actually paying strict attention.  I certainly remember that I had already figured that this was likely to be the conclusion of our local weather “experts” because of how often I had noticed that they never seemed to miss an opportunity to make mention of the fact whenever a record high temperature had been set throughout the year.  Interestingly, at the very moment this “expert” was assuring his listeners that global warming was in fact occurring, the central heat in our house was running, along with two space heaters, plus a fire in the fireplace, and we were all huddled shivering under blankets.  I guess I should be thankful for global warming – otherwise, I suppose we would have all frozen to death yesterday!    

OK, this is not supposed to be a rant against the idea of climate change.  I, for one, do not have anything like the gigantic breadth of  knowledge necessary to weigh in on such a subject.  It’s possible that someone with the relevant knowledge could take the fact of the relative cold at my house yesterday and use it as proof of climate change.  It is truly amazing what “experts” can prove.

 The point of the story is that there may be times when our actual experience, at least on the surface, might at least seem to differ from what the “experts” believe and say is reality.  And, when that happens, how are we supposed to respond?  Are the “experts” simply wrong?  Or maybe we are experiencing simply an anomalous moment which has no statistical significance in the greater scheme of things?  Or maybe I’m just abnormally sensitive to what is actually simply normal cold weather?   

 It has been my privilege in my lifetime to have known people who lived during that time in our Nation which is known as “The Great Depression”.  There is no doubt that this was a time of enormous suffering, the scope of which we can barely grasp today.  Some of the stories I have heard of the experiences of some of these people are heart wrenching – stories of tragedy and pain and loss.  And I know that similar stories are actually multiplied countless times over for many people during those terrible years.

And yet, I have also heard other stories from those years – stories told from a slightly different perspective.  Stories told by people who hardly knew that there was a Depression going on – not because they had great wealth, but because they had so little to begin with that things barely changed at all when the Depression struck.  The Crash of Wall Street didn’t mean much to them on their subsistence farms.  They had been scratching out a living from the land before 1929, and they continued scratching.  They had been helped by, and had taken care of neighbors and family and friends before, and they kept on taking care of each other.  They worked from “can until can’t”.  And somehow, they made it through – made it through with their dignity and their character and their faith - intact and strong and shining.  Then many of them actually, and all of them working together in some way, literally saved the world.  While they would never say it themselves, the badge of “The Greatest Generation” is rightly placed on them.            

So now we are facing more difficult times.  Climate change, Pandemic, Economic Upheaval, Political problems, Social Unrest, etc.  I wonder how future generations will look back on us and the ways in which we responded to all this?  Will they say we made it through with our dignity and character and faith intact and strong and shining?  I suppose some of our responses have already happened and have already been recorded for all time.  Are we proud of what we’ve done?  Are we happy with what we are teaching the next generation about the best ways to respond to difficult times?  Are we going to change? 

 I believe that it is not too late yet to write a better ending.  I hope you do too.    

~Shepherd Ambrose Ramsey