Authenticity

The poet Alfred Tennyson said, “knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
It is so refreshing to find a person of wisdom. We all can find knowledge, when I was young it was the Encyclopedia Britannica, now most of the knowledge of the world is at your fingertips, awaiting to be rescued, on the screen of your computer. Every book, (even the library of the British Museum) every author, every artist, transparency of the world, but it is the wise person, man or woman, who can digest all this knowledge available, an incalculable formula, and come out with an authentic, learned, time-tested result.

The authentic is not easily found, amidst the reproductions, the imitations by skilled scam-artists. Disputes over canvas hanging in galleries are almost commonplace, it takes a skilled eye to recognize the brush strokes, the integrity of the real. No one wants a blind doctor, so I have spent most of my mature life doing other things: securities, real estate, collectibles. In the antique-collectibles business I tell my assistants (on whose eyes I must depend), “the collectors with whom we do business know what they are doing. They do not spend big bucks on fakes, they want the authentic.” If you are selling an antiquarian, first-edition book, a malformed letter in a word, better be on a certain page. It is better to have a precious stone with a flaw, the stamp on a piece of silver, every letter on a certain recording, every flaw line in a map better be genuine. The best friend of a collector is the magnifying glass, the world has become accustomed to scam-artists, it does not cost to read about them, but it is a desperate expense to be taken by one.

It is refreshing indeed to find authentic politicians, those not wishy-washy, politically correct in everything they say. It is refreshing to find authentic Christians, even people of character, those who know they are a new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5). Those who know that pornography is not sex, that booseing and bantering is not a social life.

The Amish came to Pennsylvania in 1730, more so than most, they have tried to separate themselves from the world. The world of ease and progress, instead of zippers they have buttons and snaps, instead of vehicles they have horses and buggies. But, on going down the highway at night on their wagon or buggy, they will have a large light on the front of their buggy, so that the horse will see where they are going. It is difficult to live in the world, not divorced from the world. It is difficult not to encounter the unauthentic, physical, secular or spiritual.

God expects an attitude adjustment with the saved as well as the sinners. Hating the sinned, it is so easy to turn away the sinner. It is difficult to be in the world, but not of the world...to be an authentic new creation in Christ.

I was telling one of my friends about picking up a hitchhiker, I hitchhiked so much in my youth trying to get around, I hate to pass anyone. I picked up a man (let me say in beginning that I am very particular about my car; the sign of a real man is a clean car), and without asking, the man lit a cigarette and flicked the ashes on the floor of my car, not even using the ashtray. I stopped my car and asked him to get out, I knew anyone with so little intelligence would not understand my explanation for my wanting him to exit. My friend told me about picking up a stranger, a hitchhiker; my friend, a smoker, offered the rider a cigarette, the rider said, “if god wanted me to smoke, he would have made me with a smoke stack.” My friend stopped his car and said,”if god wanted you to ride, he would have made you with wheels.”

When do we show our authenticity about everything? Do they just assume the present, world-accepted position, “anything goes”? Where are the boundary lines? Where are the accepted rules of behavior? Do we fail to authenticate anything?

We're in the flesh, nothing very saintly about any of us, many of us get through life just name-dropping. Not who you are, but who you know. Never knowing the struggle, doing everything necessary for the position. The most authentic action of any person is to show appreciation, a very rare action anymore. It is so cheap to hear someone in a fast-food place say, “have a good day.” Most of these people could care less what kind of day you have. When you give a large gift anywhere, anytime you do expect some sign of appreciation, shall I tell you how many scholarships and awards I have given and never been shown any form of recognition from the recipient?

A grandmother told me recently that she did not have one child, one grandchild to mention her final arrangement to her. It would make me feel so good, to know they are concerned about my concern. Maybe they just think the city trash department will come and pick me up.

The last years of your life cost more than all the rest put together, you should have learned by now not to depend on your government, I could tell you the uselessness of trust departments of banks, or your church.

One of my neighbors died, one of the most wonderful men I have ever known, graduate of Williams college, long life of service to his community. There were three people at his funeral: myself, his neighbor on the other side, and the man who cared for him in his last years. Not one member of his family, not one member of his church.

Authenticity is not just in things, antiques, stamps on silver, stamps on gold, paintings on canvas signatures, notary public signatures, but authenticity with our dealings with those created in the image of God, our fellow human beings, whether related or not. Authenticity extend to business practices (doctors, lawyers, realtors, bankers, accountants, licensed professionals on whom you should be able to depend), authenticity extends to politicians (those who profess to be concerned about you, enough for you to vote), authenticity extend to pastors, preachers, fellow believers. If the believer is not authentic, he is no better than the unbeliever, the agnostic or atheist who does not pretend to have character or integrity.