Tie a Yellow Ribbon

Running with the Ball

' And if there's no yellow ribbon … I'll stay on the bus … forget about us … and put the blame on me …' So goes a popular song from the 70s … which by today's standards would drive anyone up the wall of pedantry … as if knowing may be of two kinds. One in which we were spoon fed into believing … and another … in which we discover the truth ourselves. Its the great pursuit … and its the life … so far.

Its like the play we set up for a game. In tennis … a person gets to handle the ball once … and that ought to get it over to the other side … you don't get to handle it more than that. In soccer … a player may get the ball … hang on to it … take it through the entire field … but he better put it in the goal. We create such a tolerance on occasion … in favor of individualism ... and it works well … especially when the competition least expects it. Perhaps this is the best analogy … we have yet seen about individualism.

A young man who falls in love with a gal … implies a promise for delivering her dreams … and if he screws up … its possible that she might change her mind about him. That of course … would put him in a position of having to go it alone … and by golly … if that wasn't just the thing to understand her dreams … simply with the love he shared for her.

And in understanding her .. he comes to understand himself. Perhaps we ought to mark that as the first sign on the road to self understanding … she's entirely innocent … it had nothing to do with her … and as the man in her life … we put the blame entirely on us. Its a burden that far exceeds anything we have seen before … but perhaps we were not sure that we are capable of more.

In such a position … the man comes to the waters of life … and looks to God … that he trusted with life and soul. What is a man to do … if God himself lets him down? … and for a moment … in consideration of the true faith he had in God … the man is obliged to give up and quit. If he didn't … then that's a sure sign that his faith wasn't true.

In the story of Pandora's box … the content of the box was obviously known to God but not her. However when she opens the box and realizes that it is only hope that keeps us going … it need not on that account … cause us anxiety … not if our hopes are real. And if we had cause to suspect it … we ought to take a look again at ourselves … and re-discover the basis for our faith … in hope that springs eternal.

In the life thereafter … we are now aware that two people know the contents of the box … God and man … and that is certainly something to work with. And it may start with a review of faith in God … surely we know what faith is? Let's see … its not caviling … its not a way of treating ourselves special … and certainly we are not the only ones being saved while everybody else will burn in hell. Have I missed out anything?

A new hope may rise from the ashes … in the flash of an inspiration … or it may begin with the understanding that we may need to do more … to get to know others … in the way our societies respond to the world. In the cultivation of a new relationship … we find the avenue for new possibilities … that puts our own past in perspective … and enables us to take the ball and run … if we have to.

But before we do that … we may have to do one minor alteration to our past views. It may not be an oak tree … to tie the ribbon on … unless we want love to stand tall and proud and never have cause to renew itself. Never to enjoy flowers that bloom for a day … fruits that we might tire off … or have the birds and insects come share in the sweetness of our disposition. The tree may definitely have to go … but I wonder if she'll tie that ribbon around her hair.

In 2008 Billboard ranked the song as the 37th most popular of all time. In the 21^st century we realize that songs like that take on a new meaning … and in the same way … we must wonder what else has transformed itself. Obviously … we will not be the only people to burn in hell … while everybody else is saved.