When all is working well I can sit before my computer where the websites are being continually updated and I only have to “refresh the screen” to read the latest updates.  Occasionally, I sit and refresh my brain and have flashbacks to yesteryear and the many experiences and people who have either crossed or walked the road of life with me. Unlike the computer I cannot read the latest updates.  I have a burning desire to ‘refresh the screen’ and see the people as they are today and reminisce, laugh, and if need be apologize for the antics that seemed appropriate when they occurred.  A much larger REFRESH would be to have a change in the screen of our lives as it is in the nation and country.  An interesting exercise would be to ask yourself “what would I like to “refresh” in today’s world.  To you the reader, “What would you change if you had a ‘refresh’ button?”

Each day I have a morning walk on the campus of the University of the South.  Invariably I meet several students either on their way to breakfast or to classes.  I am always amazed at the large number of IPhones that appear to have each student captivated.  They manage to walk and dodge each other without the slightest acknowledgement or greeting.  I decided to “refresh’ this scene and began speaking with a “Good Morning”,  or, “Make it a great day!”  I went so far as to stop one student who was dressed in walking shorts (temperature was 38 degrees)  and a light shirt and told him; “I spoke with your mother this morning, and she told me to tell you to wear a coat and long pants”  You should have seen the look on his face.  Immediately I started laughing as did he as he responded, “sounds just like my mother.” After a couple of weeks of this morning behavior, students began to smile as they met me and would invariably say ‘morning Dr. ‘C’.  Why do I tell this story? 

If we do not want to be dominated by technology, we have to become a more human society. I think we need to emphasize the  human aspect to all facets of our lives as a counterweight to all of the technology advances.  If you think about what a human being is, we exist because of brains, soul and heart.  While we can replicate the brain through technology, we can never replicate the heart, which is passion and compassion. And the soul, which enables us to believe. The human side of our existence is being eroded and gradually moving to the background.  So my first “REFRESH” is a new human renaissance and let it begin with me.

Who are you? A legitimate question with a questionable answer.  We as a people and as a nation are having an identity crisis.  We don’t know who we are.  Pluralism has replaced individual identity. Political correctness has made us question what to say and when to say it.  We have lost our moral compass.

Michelangelo, mallet and chisel in hand, stood before a large rock which was to become what now is the famous statue of David.  An onlooker asked him, “How do you know what you are going to sculpt?”  Whereupon, Michelangelo replied  “I know what I am going to sculpt. It is just a matter of getting all of the unnecessary ‘stuff’ off of it.”  This brings me to my second REFRESH.  How do we get all of the stuff off; the humanism, relativism, materialism and all of the other ‘isms’ and get to the baseline of who we are.  My second refresh button would bring us back to the Story of life—return to Him and hear the stories fresh and anew.  Each person would take up the story of life and remember it and go forward.   It’s important we emphasize the human dimension and the values we stand for. ……….REFRESH!!!

Grace and Peace

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