Under the headline I borrowed for today’s post, the New York Times recently ran a (fluff?) piece premised on this explanation: “What are the things we do today that will seem embarrassing or otherwise regrettable to our future selves — the stuff that will make us cringe when we look back on how we lived our lives in the early 2020s? More than 30 people from academia, fashion, media, the arts, and business weighed in.”

The future? Many of us have looked back a few decades with embarrassment or regret for something we did or wore or believed.  It’s harder to look forward and wonder about how we live now might cause future regret or embarrassment.

Among the 33 human and one chatbot responses to the question, were some that gave quick answers, sometimes with tongue in cheek, sometimes not.  A short answer sampler:  crocs, pet strollers, the monarchy, and plastic bottles.

I’d say “amen” to a couple of the more detailed thoughts on future cringe:

• I strongly believe that selfies on social media will be something we will look back at with embarrassment.
• There’s this feeling that we are all somehow terminally unique and more important than any other beings, and we’re broadcasting that uniqueness by what we like and eat and listen to and look like and wear. I think that will be super embarrassing. I’m super guilty of it. I know all about food and wine and esoteric music and bands from the 1970s or what have you. And it’s, like, come on, you’re just a middle-aged bro!

One answer takes a stab at technological progress: “I’ll be embarrassed that I didn’t believe in teleportation. Embarrassed that I wasn’t excited about going to the moon.” Continue reading →

I don’t like them.  But I don’t have to get mad.

Statues are in the news again, but this time not those that are being torn down.  Rather, a couple of new statues have been unveiled, and I don’t like either of them.  At least not now, and likely never.

You may have heard of the “Embrace,” a bronze statue honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., recently dedicated in its new home in the Boston Common.  Conservative cable news hosts and Twitter influencers have made all sorts of unkind and sometimes lewd comments about the statue. People are mad about it.

Can’t say I like “Embrace.”

This week’s New York Times has another story about a statue temporarily placed on the roof of the state appellate courthouse in Manhattan. She is called “NOW” and is described in the Times article as “a shimmering, golden eight-foot female sculpture, emerging from a pink lotus flower and wearing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s signature lace collar. Staring regally ahead with hair braided like spiraling horns, the sculpture, installed as part of an exhibition that opened last week, is the first female to adorn one of the courthouse’s 10 plinths, dominated for more than a century by now weathered statues representing great lawgivers throughout the ages — all of them men.”

I can’t say I like “NOW.” Continue reading →

You may remember that for the past year or so Becky and I have had the privilege of working with an Afghan family evacuated from the country as Kabul fell to the Taliban.  We have become friends and our friendship extends far beyond those who offer help and those who receive help.  Ask about the meal they shared with us last week!

But we still help.

Throughout this past fall and now into the winter, we spend less time with English lessons and more time with culture lessons.  It is encouraging to watch our friends successfully navigate daily encounters with the bureaucracy of government and schools and banks.  They are doing well.  But every so often something comes up that requires some inside-the-culture attention.

Late last spring our friends were able to purchase a used car – and what a good thing that has been.  A 6-month/6,000-mile warranty was included in the purchase price.  Fortunately, they’ve had no need to make a claim against the warranty. The car runs well. Continue reading →

Document storage in our garage

Whataboutism. They say the word has been around since the 1970s, but I cannot recall hearing in much until the last few years. It is way overused, but I like it. I like the word, not the practice. 

Merriam-Webster defines whataboutism as “the act or practice of responding to an accusation of wrongdoing by claiming that an offense committed by another is similar or worse.”

We learn whataboutism at an early age – in the sandbox or on the playground. When a teacher or a parent catches us in some misdeed, we are quick to look around and point to a sibling or playmate. “What about Sally?” Timmy asks, seeking to deflect blame and attention from himself.

Whataboutism comes as second nature for the politicians in their sandboxes. We see it all the time and more and more often.

A political leader is accused of some wrongdoing – often an accusation that has all the signs of being true – and we say, “Yeah, but what about_________.”  If you are not sure about the issues involved, filling the blank with the names Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton – or John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe — will probably do. Continue reading →

This being the Twelfth Day of Christmas, there’s time for one more thought about Christmas. I won’t be writing about twelve drummers drumming, however.

I have a confession to make, though not a confession in the sense of an admission of guilt. This confession is more of the “here I stand, I can do no other” sort:

I don’t much like the new Christmas song everyone likes.

The Christmas Eve worship service we attended began with the new song. I vaguely remember hearing it last year and it seemed to be everywhere this year, the perfect song for our dystopic times. Intentionally provocative, the song is called “O Come, All Ye Unfaithful,” an unapologetic play on the title (and the tune) of the old hymn of similar name.

The song, from Sovereign Grace, first hit the Contemporary Christian Music charts in 2020 and has become ubiquitous. It spoke to a Christmas of lockdowns and now to our post-Covid world. Continue reading →