The Next Batch
My experiences with The Ten Commandments continue. Let’s look at the next four.
You will have no one to gods before me.
You shall not have any graven images and bow down nor serve them.
You shall not take my name in vain.
Keep my Sabbath.
Honor your mother and your father.
Don’t murder.
Don’t commit adultery.
Don’t steal.
Don’t bear false witness against your neighbour.
Don’t covet your neighbours house, wife, ox, or any thing of his.
Number five. Honor your mother and father. My mom was my best pal until I gave up drinking in my twenties, then things shifted dramatically. There was a sabbatical period of a couple years and I wondered how I could honor her if we didn’t even talk. But there came a day when it turned around and we build a real friendship on solid ground. Then five years later she asked if I’d look after her when she was palliative. I was profoundly humbled and honoured. That year shaped me. It was the single most important thing I had done until to date.
These day’s teenagers are not only divorcing their parents clogging up our judicial system but murdering them and wiping out their whole families. But given todays children are being being seeped in the harshness of video games, movies and thrillers its no wonder, they have forgotten how to honor their parents. My how far we have come in such a short time.
Number 6: Don’t murder. Simple enough but covers a wide gamut. When this decree starting sinking in, I had a hard time killing anything – houseflys, ants, or bees - without a red flag but thankfully it balanced out. Although I still catch-and-release even Paper Wasps.
Don’t commit adultery. Sounds like common sense and easy enough but I fell into a one-night pothole with this one in my twenties. Fair warning to anyone playing with the idea: once the bells and whistles are in gear, a bobcat can’t stop that train. And it’s amazing the smooth talk, the lies and the ease with which I slid down this black diamond run. I refrained at 11 o’clock, thinking myself smug for doing so but it took two years of burning guilt to overcome that episode. The thing I learned then was to nip any lustful thought long before it even have time to germinate. Because once was sprouted, it is only a matter of time before action. God knew what he was doing when he designed this one let me tell you.
Number Eight, don’t steal. Again another fairly common sense one but we have to test the limits and make sure. In the height of my unrestrained life, I resided in Whistler. It was winter, and I was living common law with a not-so-ambitious fellow. Hence I wore the pants in the family so to speak, since it was my pay check keeping us afloat. With the snow over our basement suite windows we ran out of firewood one night. We had already burned the wooden ironing board before I could swallow his suggestion of taking a few armloads of seasoned, dry birch from our neighbour’s perfectly erected lean-to by the road. Trying to convince myself the neighbour wouldn’t mind since I knew his wife well, I could only do one trip on account of my conscience sounding alarms. I’m glad I learned that lesson deeply. I never again was even remotely tempted to steal.
So that’s wraps up the second portion of my intererpation.