I am currently in the line up to receive a promotion into the sales-research-marketing department where I work. I have been working in the warehouse for just under a year now. When I was initial told about this position I informed them that I was interested, but I was sure there were more qualified candidates. I was told that my 2-ish years experience in a similar field was plenty, and since I had a B.S. I met the education requirements. I laughed, and reminded them that a B.S. in Theology is hardly a sales associated field. They said a B.S. is a B.S.

Then there is my brother. He has been with the same company for several years. They have given him a few pay raises (nothing substantial), but will not make him full time and will not promote him to a shift lead because he does not have a college degree. Although he has been with the company longer than I have been with mine, and has gained more experience related to a lead position in his field than I, his lack of a college diploma keeps him from a leadership and/or FT position.

That. Is. Ridiculous.

If this was the difference between an IT phone operator and IT Manager understandable, but we are talking the difference between a retail team member and retail shift lead. The retailer, whom shall remain nameless, is not Nordstrum’s or a Dillards; we are talking the middle-class Wal-Mart.

I was an Asst. Manager for Dollar General for around 6 years. I was hired on as an Asst. Manager with only a H.S. Diploma at the time. Every skill I learned, I learned on the job. By the time I left Dollar General, I had managed at 9 stores in KC Metro (I was in high demand as a fill in), and 1 in Nashville. I was involved in the hiring and firing process, and I can assure you that even the Manger position doesn’t really require anything higher than a H.S. diploma. Even then, I promoted people into Asst. Manager positions with no GED or HS Diploma on merit and tenure alone.

There is, of course, the opposite issue. I know people with a college degree in precisely what a job is looking for, but won’t hire them because they have no experience. How can they gain experience if no one hires them?

Employers need to rethink the requirements for certain positions. From personal experience, in an employer and employee position, experience, for a non-field specific job, is far more valuable than generic education of any kind. Character is actually the most important quality. I would rather have a positive, consistent, employee willing to learn with no HS Diploma or GED, than a B.S. in the field that is bitter and lazy.

I recently read an article along the lines of “7 Things Science Still Can’t Explain”. Several of the items were interesting. We know more about space than our own ocean; there is a spot on earth were you can stand and all sound disappears. One item in the list stopped me: science still can’t explain human consciousness.

Today, I returned from a funeral for Rev. Billie Christensen. 97 years old, married for 72 years, 2 children, 5 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren. He pastored numerous churches, preached many a sermon, served in the navy in WWII, and was as close to a modern-day saint as any anyone has seen.

I began to think about that article after the funeral. It is the great paradox that has plagued humanity as long as their have been philosophers. The modern Zeitgeist would have you believe that man is an accident of an impersonal cosmic force aeons in the past, yet the same modern attitude mandates the uniqueness of humaniy and desires to protect it in its various expressions, opinions, etc. That is an irreconcilable philosophy. Meaningless existence and meaningful existentialism cannot exist as equals within philosophical thought. Either we are a product of chance, environment, and apersonal circumstances; from, of, and by nothingness and destined thereto, or human existence, consciousness, and experience is something unique, worthy, and even sacred.

As a Christ follower, I believe all people, Christian or not, are unique, dignified, and special beings. I do say Christ follower, a true student and adherent of the Christian Scriptures because people have greatly confused what the Holy Bible actually says about human worth. Allow me to set the record straight with a series of verses straight from the Scriptures, and then conclude with the worldview/philosophy I have held to.

“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.”

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”

“Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker;”

“but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”

Jesus, getting ready to raise Lazarus from the dead, cried at the funeral. Why? Because human life is a sacred, special thing. You, I, and everyone is a unique, special, scared, and important being. Whether or not you or anyone else recognizes your humanity and sacred human existence is immaterial, you have intrinsic, infinite value.

And despite the Zeitgeist, and philosophers, and nihilist banter, they would be as quick to defend human rights and dignity. Why? It is because deep down we all recognize one fundamental, inescapable, and beautiful truth: we have value and it is dependent on no external circumstance, experience, expression, or approval. It. Just. Is.

Do we all agree? No. Some folks tuned out the moment I even mentioned Christian Scriptures. But regardless of your race, religion, politics, economic situation, ancestry, life choices, or any other factor you are special. We cannot continue propagating a fatalistic, serendipitous, existentialism, while living in an era teeming with the exaltation of human consciousness and expression.

Rev. Christensen, and his life, and his legacy mattered. Whatever I may do, or have done matters. Whatever you do or may have done matters. Be the best you. Shine. Love your fellow, special humans. Be patient. Be peaceable. Be compassionate. Be interested.

I believe you were created, as everyone  was, is, and will be, for a unique purpose. Placed in history at a precise time. Find it. Embrace it. I believe you are loved by a creating, thinking, feeling God.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

You cannot look forward to an uncertain future.

Desiring the past cannot bring it back.

Benjamin Franklin seemed to think the two certainties of life were death and taxes; Einstein played on this quip and determined it was the universe and human stupidity that were infinite. I suggest instead the two irrefutable principles are an uncertain future and an inaccessible past.

Although we know these two things to be true, we cannot seem to embrace either reality. I have found myself caught between these two cliff — a song, a picture, a phrase will bring back the “good ole days” in my mind. High school, college, anything earlier than fall 2016. It makes me happy, yet sad at the same time. This nostalgia feels like a sweet sensation, but is really an addictive drug. That “sweet sorrow” and longing always leave me wanting for something that is already past. Although I know that those things cannot return, I keep longing for them. I fulfill the words of the “prophet” Gotye, “You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness”. It isn’t that these feelings and memories are bad, but that they need to be taken in the proper context. Those things provided contentment at that time, and provide a basis for reflection.

They are, however, in an inaccessible past.

So, I look eagerly to the future. My pay raise starts in July. I will likely receive a promotion before the end of the summer. I begin to get excited as I see the light piercing into the darkness, heralding the other end of the abysmal tunnel I have traversed for to long. Yet as I consider the present, and recent events, I also am filled with cynical dread. If the events of the past few months have taught me anything, it is that life can throw a curve ball at your blind side, 100 mph, and then come kick you while you are down with a studded, steel toe boot. I also begin to feel overwhelmed by the obstacles I know still lie ahead, as well as the ones I am currently climbing. It is all so draining and daunting.

I cannot say I am pacified by the remaining option: the present. The present has all the sting and residual sorrow of the past with all the fear and anxiety of the future. If I take the “good ole days” and combine them with the “shining future”, I can cope in the present. Take things day by day. “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Sufficient indeed.

Prayer, coffee, and positive thinking — the sun always rises.

In the mean time, I need to contribute what I can to the people around me who also have their “good ole days”, “dark pasts”, dreary days, cheery days, anxious futures, and bright tomorrows. As Charles Dickens aptly said, “No life is wasted that is spent lessening the burden of another man.”