While it might sound dull and boring to just do digitizing every day, there is something comforting and supporting in doing this kind of mission. There is peace in my heart and I do not find myself wishing I was doing some other sort of mission. Ah yes, the issues that came before the court and spawned these records, attest to the concept of the Fall and all that it entails.
My lesson in Sunday School yesterday had to do with the signs of the times. One of the signs is social unrest and a prime example of that has been the Occupy Maine group. They have booed and hissed at drivers, threatened drivers, invaded the Governor's front lawn, waved signs, set up camp in the Park (against civil rules),been unceremoniously carted off to Jail for disorderly conduct and trespassing on the Governor's lawn, made a total mess in the park that had to be cleaned up by city council workers and to top it off, they did not seem to have a united front to speak of. Oh yes, each of them had some sort of agenda that he/she was following and the general idea was that they were demonstrating against Wall Street and all the "Money-grabbers" of the world, but I bet that if they had the chance, they also would fall victim to the same mentality that drives the "money grabbers". After all, who does not want 'money' and all that it can buy in this materialistic world? For example - the Occupy Maine group could have used a small fortune to set themselves up with classy tents, good cooking facilities, personal hygiene facilities, decent warm clothes and the list is endless but they set up with a rag tag bunch of tents and lean to's and one of the A frame constructions was set afire by some disgruntled soul.
We are now entering the political posturing for the office of President of the USA and there is political bickering among the presidential hopefuls. Bickering among neighborhoods that are in blight conditions. Problems with welfare recipients and the difference between those who are truly in need and those who could fend for themselves if they wanted to, but it is easier to live on the handout. The Governor of Maine has stirred the pot by saying that the State will cull the lists of welfare recipients and someone suggested that no more checks be mailed out to recipients who cannot pass a drug test.
There are wars and rumors of wars. There are small wars, big wars, religious wars, turf wars and the list goes on. There are natural disasters (Banda Ache, earthquakes in Turkey and other places) and we now know that there is a swath of debris from the Japan nuclear disaster and Tsunami coupled with the building rubble floating on its way towards America. Well, at least they are not going to charge shipping on this delivery, now are they?
The class agreed that in the scriptures the signs of the times are well noted; so among all this gloom and doom how can we achieve peace in our lives? One way we discussed, was to do our best to be prepared for natural disasters, should they strike. The Scripture says that if ye are prepared ye shall not fear. One class member said that she, as a single mother, was unable to split the wood she had so that it would be in useable pieces, and a number of the male members of the church had unexpectedly showed up to her home on Saturday and split the logs and cut them for her. She now has her firewood for the winter and she is prepared. It has given her peace of mind. Another class member noted that we should do our best to store food and clothing etc. against some unforeseen happening. It was a good lesson all round.
As we passed the city park on Friday, we noted that the camp participants were being obedient to the Judge's orders that they vacate the park because they do not have a permit to camp there. However, they left behind a number of bales of hay and one big roll of hay, many chairs (looked like from a dining set) and a bag of various pieces of clothing. when we went by today, the city workers had cleaned the site, but the grass is all dead and yellow. It is so sad to see such an aftermath.
In reality, I suppose, when my class members left church they faced another war. Perhaps they sat down with the Sunday paper and sorted through the advertisements to see what else they could get for Christmas. This is a war of the commercial world and we are all victims of that. After all,mentally, we can only handle one event at a time, and Christmas has pushed all thoughts of the calamities and problems of the world into the background and drowned out the din of war and problems.
So, I am pleased and feel cocooned and protected in the Archives as we work on the digitizing. This is the right mission for us - tailor made so to speak.
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