“Change. What we need is change!”
That word and sentiment, or a jillion variations of them, work well as political campaign slogans. Toss the rather plastic word out there, and most folks immediately think of some fairly solid and even specific improvements in their circumstances, though slick politicians usually get away with mouthing “change” in vaporous terms.
Of course, there’s always an exception. Something really specific. Chickens.
I found myself thinking of the old political slogan that promised voters “a chicken in every pot.” That is change, positive change, if your cookpot is normally chicken-less. So, vote for Herbert Hoover, urged an ad paid for by Hoover supporters (not an ad created by him) during the 1928 election, and there’ll be “a chicken in every pot” and, they enlarged on the promise, “a car in every garage.”
Do a very little research and you’ll find that, though he was wise enough not to promise it (writes Brian Burrell in American Heritage), King Henry IV of France (1553-1610) said, “I want there to be no peasant in my realm so poor that he will not have a chicken in his pot every Sunday” (Wiktionary).
I need to dig some more to find out how that went for Henry IV, but I already know that 1929’s stock market crash resulted in many fewer chickens, pots, cars, and garages, a lot of misery—and nothing good for Herbert Hoover.
“Change” is a one-syllable word, slides off the tongue easily, and once launched, leaves the taste buds with a nice “finish,” the sweet taste and mild buzz of a quick nip of virtue.
Hmm. I didn’t really mean to teeter into an alcoholic metaphor, but here we are. And sometimes I do wonder what our society has been drinking.
Don’t we know that “change” isn’t confined to a positive direction, and that we need to be careful which direction we choose? Starting the day by hanging your little toe on a bedpost counts as change. So does a flare-up of hemorrhoids. I don’t plan, without some serious thought first, to hold up a sign recommending “CHANGE.”
If you mean “change” politically, I’d personally (forgive me) love to see a presidential election where Elmer Fudd and Jabba the Hutt are not our options yet again, and we might actually elect someone who could at least “move the needle” positively with some genuine combination of integrity, character, discipline, and wisdom. That’s a change I could go for and one we should insist upon.
What occurs to me, though, at this moment in June, is that, if we really want positive and amazing change that truly matters, we can let chickens and pots and presidents simmer on the back burner for just a bit. You see…
I can hardly imagine a change that would bless this land more than for each of us who are fathers to ask the Father of us all to help us fill that role as we should. To do that, we need God’s help. We don’t have to be perfect, but we do have to be present.
What would better bless this land than for fathers to ask for their Father’s help to love their children and, yes, do so with a combination of integrity, character, discipline, and wisdom?
Being a real father has more to do with unselfish and committed love than with loveless and self-centered procreation. I’ve always loved the words of the amazing leading man and famed “stereotypical Latin lover type” Ricardo Montalbán: “A great lover is someone who can satisfy one woman her entire lifetime and be satisfied with one woman his entire lifetime. It is not someone who goes from woman to woman; any dog can do that.” He meant it. He and his first and only wife were married for sixty-three years (until her death).
A real father “mans up” and makes the practical choices to genuinely love his wife and his kids more than himself.
A real father knows that love, to be genuine, must be freely given and can’t be earned, but that genuine respect must be earned and can be received in no other way.
A real father knows that his wife and kids will forgive many flaws and failures if they know they have his heart.
“What we need is change! We need to change the world!”
Can you imagine a more practical and beneficial change in our world than to have more fathers who truly seek to love their families humbly and unselfishly? We desperately need many more committed fathers than we have, but even a few more in each of our communities would change them immeasurably for the better.
Guys, do you want to change the world? Start at home, and make sure your heart is there. No accolade the world offers could mean more than the respect of the family you’ve chosen to genuinely love.
You’re invited to visit my website, and I hope you’ll take a look there at my new “Focus on Faith” Podcast. At the website, just click on “Podcast.” Blessings!
Copyright 2023 by Curtis K. Shelburne. Permission to copy without altering text or for monetary gain is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.