Authority VIII

... and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law ...

 - From Nehemiah 8

There's a general understanding, that defiance and willfulness are immature attitudes.

Sure, in our times, we celebrate people that are "being themselves," and that do or say whatever they want, regardless of what others think.

But that rings hollow . . . because there is always a crowd of people urging on such destructive and unkind behaviors. We would not be willful, or "independent," unless there was an approving crowd.

You wonder if ancient Judah, during it's downfall, had similarities to modern America. But we don't need to wonder, because it's almost certain that they did. Historians that study the rise and fall of civilizations have always noted this common tendency of societies: to attain a level of wealth and freedom, only to squander it by rejecting the attitudes and practices that produced the wealth, and freedom, in the first place.

The dog always goes back to its own vomit.

We reject our elders because they represent something old to us. We don't believe them when they say it was better when they were kids. But wouldn't they know what they're talking about? Were we there to see for ourselves, and prove our elders wrong?

The older our elders get, the weaker they get, and the fewer. It becomes a safe bet, that you can reject their example, and therefore topple your leaders, with impudence and ease. But why? So that we can be in charge? What's this driving impulse to control others?

Things have to get really bad . . . but then a generation comes along, like that of Nehemiah. They dust off some old tome, and get someone to read it to us . . . or we read it for ourselves. And we're frustrated that our grandparents left us such a mess, by rejecting the teachings of their own grandparents.

When you reject those in authority, or your elders . . . you end up rejecting the good with the bad.

And it's a logical impossibility, that they didn't have something good to pass on to us.