The Self-Made Man (or Woman)

One of the persistent myths in the American psyche is the idea that we are individual, autonomous beings, entirely independent and capable of making independent moral decisions. In some tropes, the myth is further extended to imply that we are self-made, some of us pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps. Those who subscribe to this myth believe they achieved everything on their own. They owe no debt or gratitude to other people. They do not stand on the shoulders of giants, they stand on their own two feet.

I’m here to tell you (just like Jesus tried to do), that it just ain’t so. First a look at WHAT we are: The chemicals contained in your body are worth about $2,000 on today’s commodities market. My 174 pound body contains about $950 worth of hydrogen and about $433 of carbon. In total, I am worth about $2,300 (BBC The Making of Me and You). The concentration of gold in my body is about the same as the average in the earth’s crust or about .0000119 ounces. But my body contains about one third the amount of uranium as the same amount of seawater.

While we are still on fire with this idea, there is enough phosphorous in our bodies to produce millions of matches!  Lest you think that you are the only organism inside that integument we call skin, your body carries almost as much in weight of microbes as your brain weighs! The microbes colonizing your gut, blood vessels, skin, respiratory tract and other organs outnumber the number of cells in your body three to one. They contain far more genetic information than your own DNA and, don’t forget, you cannot live without them.

Jesus referred to people as sheep dozens of times. We are herd animals. Together we can defend ourselves. Together, we can accomplish incredible things in the arts, politics, and in science.  It is our response to fear that separates people from sheep. When sheep feel threatened, they stay in a tight flock to defend themselves. What I have seen of many people lately is that the human response to fear is to grab a gun and lock the doors.

If the church offers only one thing of value to society, perhaps the church can help people stay together when we are afraid.

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