The Fleeting Nature of ...

For the past week my wife Maria and I have been in Athens (and now Italy) meeting our youngest at the end of her study abroad experience in Athens.  The experience has given me time to reflect on the fleeting nature of political institutions and our own earthly existence.  As we walk through the physical remnants of Greek and Roman civilization (and their predecessors), I am reminded that they existed only for a small blip in the earth's chronology.  Visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum reminded me how cities could be wiped out in a day.  Watching the waves wipe out my footprints in the sand reminded me of the fleeting nature of my own life and how 100 years from now nobody will have any memory (and probably no knowledge) of me.  Such is the nature of this human existence.  For my light reading, I brought along Robert Harris' wonderful novel, Pompeii.  And, for my less light reading, I brought along St. Augustine's City of God.  As you probably reminder, Augustine is defending Christianity against the charge that it (and the prohibition against worshiping pagan god's) led to the downfall of the Roman Empire.  He charged some with ingratitude for falling to see blessings in the midst of hardship. 

I was sitting on the beach near Paestum (Greek temples near Agropoli, Italy) this afternoon thinking about this with a post formulating in my head when we discovered that the bag with our passports, wallets, camera, car keys, etc. was missing - stolen from a nearly deserted beach right from under our eyes.  In the midst of the inconvenience, which we are still dealing with, we were sent two angels - a young couple Francesco and Emiliana who were a few yards from us.  They called the police, took me to the police station, translated while a filed the report, went back to the car to get the license number, brought me coffee, brought my wife and daughter water, and brought us back to our hotel - basically giving up their whole afternoon for us.  How should we react?  Upset over our misfortune?  Or, thankful for this couple?  I choose thanks and may I have the awareness and love to give up my afternoon for someone else in need.

BTW - we are having a great time.