Like A Dog Chasing Its Own Tail
My work on my history of firefighting in Jacksonville has progressed to 170 pages so far. I wanted to confirm a fact related to the Great Fire of 1901 when over 400 acres of the city burned and over a thousand homes and buildings were destroyed.
A hundred years after the 1901 fire, in the year 2001, the Jacksonville Historical Society published a glossy, coffee-table sized book by Bill Foley and Wayne Wood; this fine book is titled The Great Fire Of 1901.
It is a definitive history of that fire.
So naturally when I wanted to check out a particular fact for the book I’m writing, I turned to those pages. I wanted an authoritative answer to my question. So I checked the bibliography at the end of the book to see where Foley and Woods had come up with their information.
Guess what I found?
To conform the information I want now, I’m to check the book Men Of Valor, the Fire Department history book which I myself wrote back in 1986.
They cite me as a source!
This strikes me as so funny.
To find out what I want to know, I’m to consult me.
Isn’t that ridiculous?
How can I find an authoritative answer to my question when I’m the authority and I don’t know diddle-squat about the subject?
Years ago, Bill Foley, now deceased, and I often used to talk after our fashion (Bill was a mute) about Jacksonville history. I don’t recall that we’d ever discussed my Fire Department history; so I was really surprised to find my book cited in his book.
What a nice honor.
I’m inordinately pleased.
But, naturally this odd situation reminds me of a verse of Scripture where St. Paul addresses the issue of authority.
The Apostle says, “We dare not … compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise …
“For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth”. —— II Corinthians 10:12-18
In moral situations if I compare myself with myself, I come off pretty ok.
After all, who do I know that’s nicer than me?
I measure up to my measure because it’s mine.
When I compare myself to myself, I find my self incomparable.
King of my hill.
Lord of all I survey.
Top dog.
But that top dog chases its own tail.
If the standard I measure by is me, then that’s a pretty low standard.
If the standard I measure by is other people, then I come off pretty well there too because deep in my secret heart of hearts I’m convinced that I’m as good as anybody, better than most. I have reasons for the things I do.
After all, those poor people are dying. Just a matter of time and they’ll be gone. They are only part-time temps. They hardly count at all. Of course I’m better than them.
However, if God is the Standard, if His word is the authority, if His approval and commendation is the only thing that counts, then …
How short we fall. How we miss the mark. How ridiculous we look proclaiming our own puny claim to righteousness.
That boils down to proclaiming, “I am right because I am me”.
No wonder we need a Savior.
No wonder it took an act of God to redeem us.
So yesterday the historical society book I turned to as authoritative cites me as an authority.
What were those people thinking?
Makes me wonder if some books just ought to be burned.
Please, visit my website for more www.cowart.info and feel free to look over and buy one of my books www.bluefishbooks.info
posted by John Cowart @ 4:57 AM
2 Comments:
It's interesting that you mention how being "top dog" is supposed to mean something. I was just pondering this expression the other day, and came up with the answer... one may be "top dog", but one is still a dog.
Thanks for the thoughts to ponder, John.
And this is exactly why we have to be so careful about believing everything we see in black & white. People are so ready to believe it "because someone wrote it, therefore it must be true, because, Gosh, you can't write something if it isn't true, can you?" Like they believe there's some kind of Truth Police checking all the facts of what everyone writes. Sheesh.
Of course, this is exactly why we always need to check into the facts that we are being given, whether from the pulpit against what God actually says (in the Bible), or in the mainstream by looking into who is saying it, what their motiviation might be, what others have to say on the subject, etc.
Congratulations on being an 'authority' you believes in checking his facts.
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