It could be I am simply overworked and weary right now, but I find that I have little more than an apathetic interest in the broad view of the world right now. It is a fine line that one must walk, an acrobatic tightrope of sorts. On the one hand, the broad view is necessary for forward motion to occur – on anything, in any issue. On the other, too much focus on the broad view causes one to lose sight of important trivial details. So a balance must be struck with one eye on the broad view, with the end goal in sight, but with the other eye focused on the details that must be considered and put in place so that one may ultimately arrive at said goal.
Sometimes the balance can be found by looking at both the broad and the narrow views simulatanously, skillfully juggling the two to manage one’s state of affairs with grace and poise. Sometimes, though, one must place one’s total and complete concentration on one or the other view (never forgetting about the forsaken view, merely pushing it aside for a spell) in order to deal with the issues at hand. Generally, one must look away from the broad view for a while and focus on the narrow. The little details of life, the pebbles of minutiae, pile up such that there is a gargantuan pile of rubble in your path, and the general must be forgotten for a time in favor of handling the very specific.
These past few weeks, whenever I attempt to look at the broad view, to focus on the issues and their corollaries, I am blinded and overwhelmed. All I see are conflicts and divisions, strivings and contentions. It’s not that these battles were not there before; they certainly were. The issues and the folks involved in them have not changed. It is simply that I have become more burdened by matters closer to home and so do not have the personal resources available to invest into solving the world’s problems. ((A bit of tongue-in-cheek there, for those who missed it.)) What I know is that I see folks everywhere who claim to be striving toward unity yet who seem not to notice the ‘us-versus-them’ mentality in their own thinking. I also see folks who know they have such divisions in their thoughts and who simply don’t care, nay, who even foster such strife and animosity.
This is, of course, the way of men, the way of a fallen world, and ever will it be so until God completes His work of redemption. For now I must pull back from the fight and tend to matters at home. I may stick a sword in here and there, but it is swung only halfheartedly. It is simply too much for me when those under my charge more immediately require my attention. I have not completely disengaged from the fray; I can still hear the battle sounds of my comrades in the heat of the fight. They hold my place on the line, knowing I shall soon return and lend my strength once again to the greater good of the whole.
