Here we are at the end of the year. Three quarters of classes, good times, bad times, peace, mayhem, controversy and resolution have passed us by. It’s been an interesting year writing for the Lantern, and the experience has been very enriching. I’d like to thank some folks who helped along the way. Take this as a “hold your applause until the end” column.
A heartfelt thanks goes out to the editors of the Lantern: Ray, Chris, Brian and the faculty adviser Rose. I’m still marveling at the fact that they actually let me write for three quarters.
They probably don’t quite know what to make of me, but they’ve been more than fair and I appreciate their patience and willingness to let me write what’s on my mind.
I’d also like to thank the talented authors who have influenced my writing the most; JP Moreland, Chuck Colson, Ravi Zacharias, Scott Klusendorf and Gregory Koukl. Koukl, whom I have cited often, has helped shape my columns especially on relativism, abortion, evolution and suffering.
To my awesome friend Dan, thanks for editing my columns during fall and winter quarters. You were great help.
I am grateful to you, the readers, as well. It has been a privilege and a joy to interact both with those who agree and disagree with me. Aside from some who choose simply to point fingers and call names, interaction has been both invigorating and worthwhile.
And this wouldn’t be a complete “thank you” column if I didn’t include Jesus Christ. All words fall short of the thanks I want to give Him. Even when I’ve been a numbskull in life as well as in the Lantern, He’s been my friend and King, sustaining me through it all.
Now, for parting shots.
Columbine survivor Evan Todd, in a speech titled “We are All Columbine,” given in August of last year, put it very well:
“Even before Columbine, my father told me that when a society opens the gates of hell for the pursuit of its happiness, for its pleasures and for its economy, the devil will come out and have his dance with us. We here today were the unfortunate ones who had to dance.
“I believe I have found the problem within America. Each and every citizen can too. All they have to do is look into the mirror every day to find the demon. They can also find the solution in that same mirror. Ask yourself daily, ‘What am I thinking, saying and doing in my life to call out the demons on the youth of my nation?’ In the final analysis, a nation is judged on how it treats its young and its old. Until we return to respecting life as sacred, prepare yourself for more dances, more heartbreak, more death, and more destruction. It also would be wise to look into the future of America. It’s not that hard. The character a nation instills into its youth today, will be the destiny of our nation tomorrow.”
He also quoted a poem called “The Essence Of Destiny:”
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Choose your words, for they become actions. Understand your actions, for they become habits. Study your habits, for they will become your character. Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
Folks, ideas have consequences. That has been the whole point of my columns this year. While I have made my share of mistakes here in the Lantern and I apologize for those, I hope that message has come through loud and clear.
It seems like the solutions that people give to the problems we face are sometimes so superficial. They treat the symptoms, not the disease. We must go deeper.
Our culture, as Dr. JP Moreland points out, has replaced the search for a well-informed character with the search for a flat stomach, substance and depth with a facade, the speech writer with the makeup man, and the truth for a lie. As long as that happens, we will continue to experience the same old song and dance.
Rich Bordner can be reached at [email protected].
