Bridge the Gap

Everyone I have ever met wants something he doesn’t have. And almost every one doesn’t know how to get that something. There must be a reason why we have these gaps in our lives.

Do you think we have gaps so Billy Mays and Vince will have something to do to fill up their days? Neither do I. These fellows seem to want you to think you need something without which you have, so far, been able to scrape by.

Could it be we have gaps so the government can fulfill the wants and needs of citizen and non-citizen alike? It seems that more than 50 million folks recently voted for a president with this point-of-view. Unless this is your first time at Do Not Shrug, you know I have another take on this topic.

Are our gaps the result of some fault in the make up of the universe? After all, the vast majority of the universe can fairly be described as one huge gap! Even Gaia-worshipers think the universe is fault-free. Only humans have faults. (I expect a crusade to rename seismic faults pretty soon; “fault” is too judgmental a name for a natural phenomenon for us accidents of evolution to use.)

No doubt about it, gaps exist for a reason. They were designed. They are intended. We want something we can’t or don’t have because we need to aspire for improvement.
- If we are hungry, we want sustenance.
- If we lack shelter, we want comfort.
- If we thirst, we want relief.
- If we are lonely, we want succor.
- If we feel empty, we want to fill our void.

Perhaps we have a dream of accomplishment, and we want to fulfill our dream. We want to be fitter, faster, more musical, a better sculptor, a better writer, victorious in the boxing ring, the most accomplished sniper, or even reelected to public office. The unfulfilled dream is just as much a gap as the desire of a derelict for a warm bed on a cold night.

Now, what are our options for bridging a gap?
- We can try alone.
- We can try with help.
- We can wait for help.

Trying alone – isn’t that the story of Robinson Crusoe? Or maybe it’s the western myth of rugged individualism? Well, if you actually read Robinson Crusoe, you know that he had a Bible and a lot of flotsam and jetsam at hand, no to mention his man, Friday. And the voyageurs, trappers, woodsmen, and settlers of the American west turn out to be rooted in social structures, too. It’s difficult to be truly alone in any undertaking.

Trying with help - that's what achievers do. Athletes have coaches. Musicians have teachers. Name a vocation, there is a helper associated with it. Christians who try to follow Jesus have the Bible and their church fellowship. Atheists have libraries, universities, and websites. Politicians have pollsters, advisors, and some even have financial sponsors.

Waiting for help - that can work out. There’s a story of a grizzled World War II veteran, standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, who took no action during the abandon ship drill. When confronted, he said he would wait till the water reached the deck then and step off. After all, he said, “That’s what I did when the old Hornet sank.”

Most people who wait for help don’t fare so well. If you can’t read this because “your school failed you,” waiting for the ability to read won’t help you earn a living or pay your rent. If you are waiting for God to buy you a color TV or a Mercedes-Benz (as sung by Janis Joplin), you are unlikely to close that gap. Many New Orleaneans during Katrina, Noah’s neighbors, and the average urban street-dweller share a predilection to waiting, and all suffer for it.

So the effective way to bridge a gap is to exert effort oneself and to have help. Is the way to bridge a gap a clue to the reason for their existence? Do we have gaps because it takes a team effort to close them? Do we have gaps because they can’t be closed without effort from both donor and recipient, buyer and seller, God and man?

I think gaps are God’s gift to the people he loves. They keep us humble. They exist because he leads us to aspire to improve. They require us to cooperate. And the greatest and the least of us must acknowledge our shortcomings if we are to benefit from assistance.