A new year and new perspective

At the dawn of this new year, I'm starkly reminded of the passage of time and how it seems to accelerate in speed with each year that I grow older. We now find ourselves in the depths of winter, when it seems like just one week ago I was marveling at the bright days and late sunsets of mid-summer. Shortly before that, I was pondering what 2008 would have in store. Now, that year is history, and before we know it, 2009 will be, too.

The passage of time and the aging that comes with it are two fundamental aspects of human existence. In the past year, I received a variety of lessons on these points — seeing family members, friends, and acquaintances coping with the hardships of growing older, and in some instances, coming to terms with the one inevitability we will all face at some point: death. Observing this has been particularly profound: At my relatively young age — and at the peak of my physical and mental health — it is exceptionally easy to develop an illusion of invincibility. Like most people of my generation, I don't yet deal with arthritis, chronic fatigue, short-term memory loss, or general physical deterioration. Given the human tendency to overlook realities beyond one's present circumstances, it's easy to assume I never will face those things.

The notion of living in an intellectual bubble was reinforced for me last Sunday, when at church the pastor held up a newspaper during his sermon. It was peppered with news of the current fighting in Gaza; the ongoing civil war and mass rape of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the economic crisis in America; potentially catastrophic environmental degradation; and political corruption, both here at home and abroad. He asked the congregation to make a deliberate effort not to be removed from the plight facing our world — and to do something about it in whatever way each of us is equipped. It isn't enough to simply write a monthly check, he said, or to assume that there will always be more time to take action on the economic, social, and political crises and injustices we hear about every day.

Such a statement was particularly convicting for me. Like most Americans, I find it easy to forget about people on the other side of the world who face horrors I can't even fathom — war, disease, starvation, natural disasters, and political oppression, just to name a few — because I live in a society where I am well insulated from such tragedies. But I also forget about those who are suffering right here in our own backyard — those who are homeless or hungry, those who are on the verge of bankruptcy because of medical bills they can't pay, those who are jobless, and those who simply struggle to provide for themselves and their families. Likewise, I'm not personally affected by such problems, which makes it easy to overlook or even ignore others who face them. It's easy enough to make my monthly donation for my sponsored child, to occasionally make an extra donation for clean water projects around the world, and to say that tomorrow I might even do something beyond monetary contribution.

Of course, telling myself what I'll do tomorrow operates under the premise that there will always be more time — a false notion that, at my young age, I've gotten used to and comfortable with. Having seen people near and dear to me face the difficulty and pain of aging, I'm beginning to come to terms with the reality that time is not infinite, and neither is the blessing of good health that enables people like myself to live meaningful lives. At the end of his sermon, the pastor reminded the congregation of this fact and implored us not to treat human suffering — both locally and globally — as problems that can always be dealt with tomorrow. A look at the news these days reveals that action on the world's biggest crises cannot be delayed.

As this new year gets underway, and the ever-accelerating passage of time is evident, it's a good word to live by.