My wonderful grandson, Sebastian!!!
It's a wonderful planet -- most of the time. It's a wonderful life - for most of us.
Wonderful means…….Full of Wonder? I am full of wonder. Wonder at the majesty of the universe, the vastness of space, the marvels of evolution of elements in stars, and then of life on our planet. Wonder at the varieties of plants, wonders at the intelligence and sentient nature of animals, wonder at the strength of human courage in the fact of adversity.
I hike though the woods, and I am full of wonder at nature. I pause at a photo essay in a magazine, and I am full of wonder as I imagine the lives of the people….six billion of them on the planet, knowing so many things I don’t know, facing so many things I will never face.
That leads me to compassion. I don’t claim to be a”saint” in any sense, but with all my heart I want to be the best humanitarian I can possibly be. Nearly twenty years ago I read Ron Sider’s Christians in an Age of Hunger, and it affected me profoundly. Although our budget was very tight in those days, I saw how fortunate we in the western world are compared to the millions of people in abject poverty in the third world. I immediately began to sponsor children in Mexico and Africa, and as my children grew older and less dependent, I began to give more to Care, Oxfam, FINCA, and other organizations that enable us to help our fellow human beings meet basic subsistence needs and get a foothold to climb mountains of economic difficulty that face them.
I am committed always to giving at least 10% of my gross income to the less fortunate, and when my mortgage is paid off at some grand future date, I look forward to doubling and tripling and quadrupling my giving. I wouldn’t call it “wonderful,” except that that finishes the alliteration of my “Wild and Wacky, Wise and Witty, Warm and Wonderful” self-styled description. I do know, thought, that I want compassion for the world’s needs to be one of the hallmarks of my life. Years ago I got personalized checks with these words above the signature line: “Integrity, compassion, pursuit of truth.” They summarize the mission statement I wrote for my life. Compassion is at the center.