And That's the Rest of the Story

Some of you know that I occasionally write satire. I mention this because, in the past, when I have done so, there are always one or two readers who get all upset and feel the need to defend the subject at hand (i.e.: Whole Foods, State of California, etal.)

This is somewhat satirical. But it is based on fact. And it explains one of the main issues of unrest in the world today. Now, I know a lot of my readers already are familiar with this, but for those who are not…and for any of your friends who are not…you may want to print this out and share it with them. It is a “light” treatment of a very heavy subject. And it is an issue, which you WILL be affected by, sooner or later. I promise you. So you need to know what the heck it is all about.

Oh, and whether or not you personally believe the “God” part of the story is a moot issue. Because I guarantee you, the peoples involved in this conflict certainly do. And now for the rest of the story…

It is a family squabble. It is all about cousins who hate each other. They have been fighting over the family inheritance for thousands of years. Perhaps if Abraham had listened to his financial advisors and drawn up a Living Trust, this might have not ever escalated to the point it has. But he didn’t, and it has.

Oh, it probably would have, anyway.

As the story goes, about 4,000 years ago, give or take a few, God chose a polytheistic man, living in Mesopotamia, to come away from his homeland to “a place that (God) would show him." Enroute, Abram would be taught all about this God, and be given a geographical inheritance. The “call” included the fact that “all the world would be blessed through him.” So he took his wife Sarai and his father, nephew, and a whole entourage and set out. His father, (who made idols for the locals to worship) probably didn’t buy the whole story that much, fooled around and took too long to keep going, stayed in one spot so long that he died there. (By the way, his name Terah, meant “delay”.)

Anyway, I won’t go into the unnecessary details of the long trip, but suffice it to say that God promised Abram that he would have as many descendents as the sands of the sea and the stars in the sky. And… (this is where the whole world comes in) …that “those who bless this “family” (nation) of people, would BE blessed, and those who didn’t…well, you don’t want to be on that side.

Now the problem was, that for some reason, Sarah couldn’t get pregnant.

God kept promising. They kept waiting. And when a woman gets close to her eighties, she begins to laugh at the whole thing. Sure.

So (somehow she recognized that this was HER problem and not his) Sarai began to try to think of a way to “fulfill God’s promise”. (ALWAYS a dangerous path.)

In those days, if there were no natural heirs in the household, certain devoted servants could become the heirs. Anyway, Sarai “loaned” her maidservant to Abraham to provide a way for God to fulfill His promise.

Now just as an aside, Abram seemed to have a way of...shall we say…giving in to whatever Sarai wanted. Because the maidservant became pregnant immediately, and then at one point had an attitude problem, and Sarai had Abram run her out of the camp. When pregnant, mind you!

God was watching over the whole thing and sent her back. She had a son, named him Ishmael, and God gave promises concerning the fact that he would also have nations in his lineage.

Abram loved this kid. He doted upon him, and when God made special covenant with Abram, Ishmael was part of the household. Abram wanted him to be the main heir.

There was only one problem…a pretty big one. God had promised a son to Abraham and Sarah (their names changed with the Covenant). And God had said that it was through that son that the inheritance would flow. (Can’t blame God that they couldn’t wait for his promise.)

So, when at 90 Sarah finally had her son, they pitched a big party, Ishmael felt rejected (which he was), did some things that riled Sarah up and she did what she had a tendency to do. She was all over Abraham for having this first “child” (‘Scuse me…whose idea was it to begin with?)…and wants Ishmael and his mom to be run off the property again.

Abraham’s heart was broken, but he did as she wanted. Once again God “met” the two out in the Negev just as they were at death’s door, God shows them a well in the desert and makes further promises about Ishmael becoming a nation of hunters who would live out in the desert.

But the land that God had mapped out for the descendants of Isaac, later to become known as Israelites (after Isaac’s son’s name), was pretty well defined. It became known to them as “the promised land”.

You can probably figure out the rest of the story. The only time we know of, that the two brothers came together in agreement was when Abraham died. They both loved him a whole lot.

And they still do. They just hate each other. Now we know them as the Palestinians and the Jews. They are still fighting over the inheritance.

I guess, in a sense, Abraham did have a Living Trust. It was God’s promise to him. And it still stands, boundaries and all, to the descendants of the child of promise. And there is plenty for all. But they want the same thing.



Epilogue: This whole scenario tends to make one feel sorry for the “Ishmaelites” (Palestinians). Understandably so.

But remember that God made specific promises. And human intervention jumped the gun. God did not change His plans, but has provided for all and cares for all. But down through history, this struggle has continued. Only God can sort it out. And He will.

But that is another story.

A Letter to My Granddaughter

Dear Johnnie Lynne…Brandy mentioned that you were worried about Global Warming. I would like to put your little mind at rest a bit.

You wouldn’t know this, but in the late 1980’s there was a much publicized book entitled “The Coming Ice Age”. It was written based on scientific facts and studies, and for a few brief years had everyone preparing to be suddenly thrown into an Arctic lifestyle.

Crops would be impossible in areas now farmed, some animals would become extinct; certain cities would be uninhabitable, and life would change dramatically.

I don’t even remember what happened to all that, but it died out. Then scientists began to discover the problems with the Ozone layer, they began to put 2 and 2 together and now we have this incredibly frightening hypothesis being promulgated in all areas…especially in academia…so that little kids don’t have any other thing to base their thoughts on, regarding climate change.

I predict that this will “blow over” (that’s a pun) in a few years or a couple of decades at most. Something else seemingly scary, will take its place.

Many other scientists are saying these other things already: Global Warming comes in cycles. The earth has had periods of warming and cooling since the onset of time. The Ozone Layer has been decreasing for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It is an on-going process. We are in a very warm climatic period right now. (One might also notice that we have just had one of the most severely cold winters on record in many parts of the world.)

We constantly hear about air pollution. Johnnie, even I can remember when air pollution was a hundred times worse than it is now. The main thing we have polluting the air today is gasoline emission. A hundred years ago, all homes were heated by coal and wood burning fires. All factories around the world belched out black smoke and soot from tall smokestacks in abundance. Large cities were places where many people developed lung disease. They had places called “sanitariums” where they would isolate people to treat their lung conditions. Many people moved to places like Arizona, New Mexico…not just to retire…but in order to breathe clean air.

When I was a kid, we burned all our autumn leaves in bonfires in the street (and it was great fun, by the way.) But it made a lotta (good smelling) smoke in the fall. This is prohibited by law now.

When we first moved into the Los Angeles area, the DAILY smog (some days worse than others) was so thick and odorous that you couldn’t see the surrounding mountains when you got within about a hundred miles outside of L.A. On the worst days, (and few were good days…only when the winds were blowing) kids could not play outside. Even at school. The smog would burn your eyes and nose and make you cough.

Since then, we have developed excellent legislation against excessive exhaust emissions. Coal, oil, and wood burning fuels (among others, kerosene, etc.) have been replaced by hydroelectricity; solar generators and clean energy producing systems. The air in our cities is a thousand times better. Large cities such as London, Pittsburgh, Paris …and many others…are a far better place to live than they were a century ago.

We have problems with our trash and rubbish disposal sites, which need improvement. And we are working on all these. But a hundred years ago, people just either burned their own trash or at times threw it out into the streets. Some towns would have it carried off to a “city dump” where it piled up out in the countryside somewhere. Now we have “landfills” and cover them with good topsoil.

So as a matter of fact, things are much better; not worse. But some folk have an agenda. Sometimes it is a political agenda; sometimes a financial agenda. And for some, it is an ideology.

The bottom line is this. All your life, there will be one big scary thing after another. Do you remember the Y2K scare? (Well, probably not. You were about five years old then.)

All the computers in the world were supposed to malfunction because they supposedly did not go beyond the year 1999 in their programming. They would not work correctly when the year 2000 rolled around, and the whole world held its collective breath to see what would happen at the stroke of midnight….even fearing that airplanes (which run by computers) were going to crash. At first, I thought it was a joke, but when so many people took it seriously; started stockpiling food, batteries and other necessary things; ministers started preaching to their congregations to be prepared…. on and on…. we all got a bit caught up in it.

Nothing happened. NOTHING.

Just always remember: Although we see so much evil and craziness, ultimately God has never let go of the controls of the universe. There is a verse in the Bible that says that He made all things and by Him all things are (still) held together. He is that undiscoverable “energy” that holds all the molecules and atoms of this world together to keep it from flying apart. And He will keep the earth’s ecology balanced, until He is ready to let go. And when that happens, I don’t want to be here anyway. There will be a better place to be.

Don’t be scared. My step dad would have said, “Marcia, this is just a ripple in the stream.” And I am sure he would have been right.