Recently I’ve been letting go of some things. I sold a Harley motorcycle, my 65 Ford Comet, my 4-wheeler, and my Mohammed Ali and Rocky posters. O.K, so those last two items didn’t bring as much money as the first three. In fact, I was a little insulted that the lady at the consignment store wouldn’t even accept them as giveaway items.
I didn’t want these iconic posters to end up in the trash. Surely someone could be inspired by Rocky standing at the top of the seventy-second step of the Philadelphia Museum with his arms raised in victory or Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston after a first round knockout in 1965, confident of his dominance over his opponent.
As I was leaving the store I saw a mother with a young son and I took advantage of the opportunity. I began to explain to her that I had these gifts I’d like to give to her son. I told her the posters were a bit worn but they still had lots of good years of use left. If she’d allow it, he could have one or both. Her answer caught me off guard.
“He doesn’t know who Rocky or Muhammad Ali are.” I looked at the lad for signs of conformation and I could tell he didn’t have a clue. As if to try and justify that I wasn’t old or out of touch with this young generation, I tried to explain that Sylvester Stallone was starring in a new move called “Creed,” where the former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. She wasn’t moved or impressed, and her son wasn’t either. I left the store feeling old, but I’d learned a lesson: The icons of today in sports and movies are tomorrow’s memories and for some, they are not remembered at all.
In a “USA Today” opinion piece, John S. Dickerson uses the lens of history to give us some perspective on our current political climate and what we might remember about it years from now. He reminds us that we no longer give much thought to people like Barry Goldwater, who made huge waves in a Presidential contest over fifty years ago. Consequently, fifty years from now he says people will have a difficult time remembering names like Trump and Sanders, unless one of them becomes President, of course.
Here’s another example. He said that when Kanye West announced he was teaming with Paul McCartney on a song, some of Kanye West’s fans were tweeting and wondering, “Who is Paul McCartney?” Of course, many from my father’s generation would be asking, “Who’s Kanye West?”
The heart of Dickerson’s article reminds us that one person has transcended this problem. He is a man who said that his “kingdom was not of this world” when the populace clamored for a new political leader. Yet this man “never built an election headquarters, never solicited an endorsement and spent more time with the poor and socially outcast than with the ruling class.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/03/26/donald-trump-jesus-christ-easter-millennials-celebrity-christianity-column/82205578/
“This weekend, one-third of the world is gathering to remember Jesus of Nazareth in Easter services. Close to 2.2 billion people will gather on every continent, recalling the only cultural leader who claimed to be a gentle lamb, a just king, and a ruling ‘King of Kings.’ One in three living people will gather in basements, prisons, fields, cathedrals, ships, truck stops, village huts and living rooms to remember him. ” (Ibid)
I wonder, will that little boy that I met in the consignment store be one of them? If I’d had a poster of Jesus in my hand that day and offered it to him, would the mother’s words have been the same? “He doesn’t know who Jesus is.”
We cannot assume people know. Even though Jesus has proved he has staying power, each new generation must have someone to introduce them to Jesus, or as far as this boy is concerned, he will be no different than Mohammad Ali or Rocky.
That is the reason the Apostle Paul’s words are as true today as they were nearly 2000 years ago: “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14 NIV).
That is the reason the Apostle Paul’s words are as true today as they were nearly 2000 years ago: “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14 NIV).