SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO THINK ABOUT
FROM A POSTING ON FACEBOOK
This posting will be a little different and something to think about. I am a person of faith myself and a Christian but this site is not a “religious” site in the accepted understanding of “Faith Based” sites. I am not going to “preach” to you. If you don’t consider yourself a “religious” person you can just look at this as the practical or “smart” side of the Ten Commandments. If you are a committed atheist you might find the Ten Commandments, if followed, a path to order and peace in your life.
Whether you are a person of faith or not, most of us have at least heard of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses and they are the “base” of multiple religious practices from Jews to Christians to Islam. They are found on many public buildings including the United States Supreme Court. You will find a list of them at the end of this piece.
What the above got me to thinking about is the simple fact that if ALL OF US lived by the Ten Commandments every day we would no longer need locks for our doors, or lawyers or police or jails or courts of law. And, as a bonus we would all be happy and content with our lives.
Most of us are familiar with the most commonly quoted Commandments…… Love God, Honor your parents, Don’t lie, Don’t Steal, Don’t kill ……
But the more I pondered on the above it dawned on me that the one Commandment that is perhaps the “sneakiest” and creeps up on us in subtle ways to steal our happiness and satisfaction with our lives is the Tenth Commandment….. Thou Shalt Not Covet. In my simple thinking that translates to “Thou Shalt Not Lust After Things You Don’t Have”. I linked that thought to something quite profound my wife once said that stuck with me. She said: “People don’t realize that the key to happiness is not “having what you want” but “wanting what you have”.
In other words, the “key” to happiness and contentment is to stop the endless search for the next toy, or car, or boat or your neighbors wife or anything else advertisers offer and the belief that “he who dies with the most stuff, wins” leads us to. If you watch television or pay attention to ads or billboards you will find what virtually all of them have in common is, that no matter what they are selling, from “Happy Pills” to food products to cars to whatever, all the consumers of their goods have a big smile on their face.
There are many ads on television offering cures for medical “problems” I have never heard of that depict people with sadness on their faces till they get the latest “Snake Oil” cure and by the end of the ad are smiling and happy. If you can see or read all the small print at the bottom of these commercials you will find that many/most of them have potential side effects including nausea, headaches, kidney damage, liver damage, etc. etc. etc.. Hard to read them all as they scroll by quickly.
My point in the above is that “the world” is trying to convince us that if only we had the latest, greatest “Shiny” thing out there we will find joy and contentment in our search for happiness. And, all of it can be bought with a credit card with a 20% interest rate.
I say the above knowing there are folks out there who find joy in pursuing the latest, greatest, shiniest toy and that is just fine as long as it brings them the happiness they are seeking…… for some there is joy in the quest. For others they could have a swimming pool filled with gold coins and it would never be enough. For me, I have found contentment, peace and joy in not lusting for the things I don’t have. My daughter tells me that I am the hardest person she knows to buy a gift for because I don’t “want” anything.
The point of this little writing is that perceived properly the Ten Commandments were not given to “spoil our fun” but when followed bring contentment and peace in our lives. You may not agree but it is something worth thinking about.
As I said in the title – Something Different To Think About.
Bob Bandy – November 2024
