NEVER AGAIN

Little could we have imagined when we got that greatest deal ever, on that number one fixer-upper, how much of our lives would be spent renovating the 4700 square foot ghetto and landscaping the half acre upon which it was constructed.

The mind is kind and shrinks life’s challenging experiences into manageable memories. However, if I allow myself, I can still visualize the back yard where there was a pile of broken boards where horses were once kept, bonfire pits, twenty plus trashy elms which had to be cut down and removed, and a barren space which we couldn't allow our children to play in because of the abundance of broken glass. I can remember having to seal off all but about 1000 square feet of the house. We spent a few years kind of camping out in the rest of the house consisting of one bedroom, a run-down old service station looking bathroom, an area we called the dorm where our 6 children slept, a kitchen which would have been condemned by every inspector and a living area where we spent most of our at home time, while I tore the insides of the rest of the house apart and rebuilt it room by room.

Standing on the front lawn looking at the freshly painted, newly roofed house which we had for 14 years lovingly called home and jokingly called the ghetto. I audibly sighed, ‘Never Again.’

If we learn by our mistakes and difficulties I am sure there was enough learning taking place during those 14 years to last me through this life time and several more.

For multiples of that 14 year period that we were entangled in our ‘Never Again’ dream house, I have been involved in the renovation of people lives, both my own and the meaningful others that my family, church and occupational contacts have made part of my life. Innumerable times I have sat in sessions discussing decisions which had made temporary and sometimes permanent shambles to lives. Almost as often I have reminisced about the joy which comes from starting anew and how it could be hastened had we all just firmly resolved and continued in a state of ‘Never Again.’

How much time, money and hurt would be saved by the addicted having firmly decided and determinedly lived lives of ‘Never Again?’

How many families would be able to enjoy harmonious happy hours together, if conflicting members had forgivenly decided, ‘Never Again?’

How much stronger would neighborhoods, communities and nations be if contentious parties decided to bring about resolution of problems by doing what is right rather than in their own self-interest and determined to live lives of ‘Never Again?’

How many scenes of blood and horror would be dissipated if nations honorably decided and determinedly lived the creed of ‘Never Again?’

Alas, and for a semblance of peace of mind, long ago I came to realize there is little that can be done by an outside influence to change the choices and activities of the inhabitants of our world.

But, wondrous glory, I also know there is a great deal each of us can do to improve the quality of our own lives.

The key to change from sadness to joy in all of our lives, transforming negatives into positives, may lie in our ability to become practitioners in the philosophy of ‘Never Again.’