The Way I See It

^{The way I see it, we as human beings learn mainly from experimentation.}

^{Oh no, I am not downplaying the significance of all of the wonderful theories written in the popular books of the past and present, but ‘hands on’ knowledge has its very special place.}

^{Rewind to over fifty years ago and just let me remind you that I grew up in an age of competitive brands.}

^{I mean I outlived the era of MILO and OVALTINE; ENO and ANDREW’S LIVER SALTS; BRYSON and COLA, and the like.}

^{It was also the precious age of the penny bread.}

^{Well I newa!}

^{So, in those days, having a radio in a family home connoted some degree of prestige and having a huge radio in the home, was something you could boast about to your friends.}

^{Well, we were dirt poor, but somehow, my father and mother invested in a huge radio. I don’t remember the name or brand but it was one of those radios with the image of a dog on the front.}

^{Any of my older readers know what I am talking about? Do I have a witness?}

^{Well, it brought to us news and mostly preaching and gospel music, because ‘Ma’ wanted us to grow up right.}

^{Of course she was not aware of the many times when they were not around, that we changed the station to hear a bit of the Mighty Sparrow and others.}

^{So, on this particular day, some of us arrived in the living room, to see the precious boom box, looking all naked and exposed.}

^{Someone or something had ripped into the ‘sacred’ object and literally took it apart.}

^{When my infuriated father got involved, it did not remain an unsolved mystery for too long.}

^{It was soon discovered that one of my brothers, (who will remain unnamed, for the purposes of this class), was apparently so curious about the radio that he wanted to see the man who kept talking inside if it.}

^{So, in order to find the man who was talking inside the radio, he virtually dismantled it. Of course he aint find the man yet!}

^{What he did find however, was the end of my dad’s trusted belt!}

^{And so, hands on knowledge may not be enjoyable from the outset but it sure helps us to make wise choices in the future, if we are willing to learn from such experiences.}

^{What is interesting about us as human beings, is the fact that normally we are given set instructions, by which we are supposed to be guided.}

^{You are told not to do certain things, or to do certain things, whether by your parents, teachers or other community members. Sometimes you are given the rational for the instructions and sometimes not.}

^{The higher authority expects you to follow the instructions and comply, even if you are not totally aware of the real significance of it all.}

^{You have heard that ‘curiosity kills the cat.’ Well, if a cat is traditionally known to have nine lives, you can see how many times we would have died for our FASTNISS!}

^{Rewind to the era of Adam and Eve. They had free access to ALL of the fruit trees in the garden-well, except for that one placed in the midst thereof.}

^{I mean, imagine they could have eaten all of the golden apples they wanted; grafted and Amory Polly mangoes; sweet guinips; plums…you name it but Eve gravitated towards that tree in the midst of the garden and lusted after the fruits theron.}

^{Having travelled on the Devil’s territory, he was able to convince her that she would ‘not surely die’ and then the first sin was committed and we have not stopped sinning since.}

^{The good thing is that my parents eventually got a new radio and were able to explain in their own limited way, that the man was not really inside the radio but by man’s creative genius, through God, they were able to get his voice transmitted through that boom box.}

^{So, my brother was never more inclined to seek to dismantle the new treasure, because now he knew better. So too, Adam and Eve were given the opportunity to seek pardon for the transgression and that GRACE has been also offered to sinful us today.}

^{The question is: Are we willing to accept that unmerited pardon, known as GRACE?}

^{I think that that is indeed the way we need to go but of course we are probably God’s most STUBBORN and HARDHEADED created beings.}

^{But by his grace, we can change that mindset; learn from our many mistakes and live to please God in a real way.}

^{That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?}