Now that I’m over 60 years of age, I think I have some knowledge of people.
More than 30 years ago, my father used to say that he was a student of human nature. Naturally, being in my twenties, I scoffed at his pronouncement. I probably didn’t even have a reason to doubt what he said. When you’re in your teens and twenties, you doubt whatever is said by anyone older than you … unless they’re famous and long dead.
Of course, it turned out that I became what I consider a student of human nature. Anyone older than 50 has had experience with many personalities. Most of us absorb and contemplate — even on a subconscious level — what we’ve seen and learned about people.
And, what I cannot comprehend is how people can not accept that we have a Creator –– a power far more immense than we are –– and, especially, an afterlife.
I understand that people may think that they are smarter than the “sheeple” who follow a faith, especially if they were raised to think that this current existence is everything and that there is nothing afterwards.
But, if these same people open their eyes to everything that surrounds them and everything their bodies can do, isn’t there a shred of wonderment?
When a loved one dies and they see butterflies plunge into their faces, cardinals appear in their yards, birds hovering nearby, light flashes in their homes, electronics or electricity acting oddly, or feel pinches on their bodies, don’t they at least wonder?
Why would someone be so close-minded as to deny hope? I guess that’s what I wonder about the most.
I just wish people who don’t believe in an afterlife had hope. If this is all that there is, there are times when you’re tempted to give up. But if you look around for proof of an afterlife and find it, then you’ll know that this is just a trial period. When you start a new job, you realize that you’re on probation for a certain amount of time, and you plough through, trying not to think about it, but doing your best so that you’ll be kept on permanently.
That’s what I consider this life to be. No matter how great a life someone else seems to have, he or she is undergoing huge trials. We may not know about their problems, but none of us get through this life without experiencing pain. Doesn’t it make sense to think that it’s all for a purpose? Otherwise, some of us would skate through life. But nobody does.
And, whether you believe in an afterlife or not, you have to believe that your behavior affects others. As a person of faith, I have learned that nothing is more important than love. As trite as that sounds, it just means to consider and respect others, even if you don’t understand them or like them.
I’ve found that the people I know who have no faith in God or an afterlife still want to be good people. I suspect that they just want to contribute positively to the future, which is an admirable desire. I just wish they knew that they were also contributing to their future in the next life.
But, maybe they are not ready to acknowlege that. There’s always the next life.
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