Yesterday’s spiritual exercises asked us to read Genesis 1:26-2:9 (the creation myths), and “consider yourself as God’s creation, as an incarnation, or image of God in a particular time, family, and place.” It also asked us to “rejoice in the fact of your existence as God’s creation, even amid the complexities of human life.”
I immediately thought about Louis C.K.’s interview with Conan O’Brien where he does a funny bit about everything being amazing and nobody being happy.
We live in an amazing, amazing world and it is wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots because this is what people are like now…I was on an airplane and there was high speed internet, that’s the newest thing I know exists, and I’m sitting on a plane and they say open up your laptop you can go on the internet and its fast and I’m watching YouTube clips… I’m in an airplane!
And then it breaks down and they apologize the internet isn’t working and the guy next to me goes “Ppph, this is bullcrap.”
I love that clip because Louis C.K. astutely points out how little appreciation we have for the world around us.
I thought a lot about how lucky I am to be born when I was and to live the life the way I have until this point. Being born in America was lucky. Actually I was born in South Korea on an American military base but I’ll still count that as “America.” But I could have easily been born in North Korea and had a terrible life.
Because I have it so good and because I’m very fortunate, I felt guilty when thinking about my own feelings of dissatisfaction. What right do I have to complain when kids in Syria are being slaughtered? Is it ok to feel unfulfilled by my job when so many people lost theirs and are unable to find work?
Appreciation and guilt seem to go hand in hand.
I then started thinking about what my obligation is to others.
Because I have been blessed with so much, due to luck or God or whatever you want to call it, how do I make the best use of my gifts?
I hoped Catholicism month would give me clarity, but it has brought up more questions than answers.
Hopefully they’re the right questions.