Last night, as Ian and I were driving home from visiting a friend downriver, we were talking about the HBO Documentary Tickle. If you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend it. It's seriously messed up and completely fascinating.
Without
spoiling too much of the movie, it ends up centering around someone who
has a tremendous amount of wealth and time and uses that very poorly.
And
it struck me, almost to the point of tears, that to do such a thing
with the valuable resources and time you are given seems to be to be
more "sinful" than the poor person who turns to drugs or crime.
I'm
sure that in some ways the socio-psychological conditions by which both
the wealthy person and the poor person choose to waste their resources
are similar... but for the person who has much to offer the world - to
squander that wealth is far more reprehensible that the person without.
It
sits with me then, that we have an obligation to be wise with what we
have been given. To use the little or vast resources that we have at our
disposal for betterment and not detriment. Do we use our words to build
up or to tear down? Do we use our time to improve or to complain? Do we
spend our energy celebrating another person or belittling them?
When
I look at the legacies those who have gone before us left, the legacies
of those who used their time, money, and efforts to tear down are
rarely celebrated - perhaps in circles for a season, but then they are
gone, tucked away as a part of history we learn to not repeat. But those
who enrich the world, who stand as a force for positive change, their
legacies last both in physical memorials of statues, statutes, laws and
books - but in the hearts of lives changed for good.
We have a choice every day as to how we will spend our valuable resources.
For betterment or for detriment.