Have Things Really Changed or Not?

Have Things Really Changed or Not?

By Wayne Hinton

1/31/2015

Many Christians agree that Solomon was wise

And his writings were wise and true.

So what do we do with the words he wrote,

That under the sun there is nothing new?

“Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’?

It has already been in ancient times before us.”

Then how come it is that the TV ads

Repeatedly tell us it is not thus.

When I was young, my mom read poems to me

And I listened closely and studied each.

To me they were as new as they could be

But it was the poems now within my reach.

Each had been around for years,

But for me they were brand new.

And each one I heard helped me

As in this world, I grew.

When mom told me to put on my coat,

I knew not to complain.

She was cold and history told her

I didn't know to come in from the rain.

I started school with others my age

And there I found more new things.

Of course, there was nothing really new

But I was no longer tied to my mother’s apron strings.

Summers were spent with my grandparents

On their farms and stores and fields.

It was all so new to me, but not to them

To grandpa, he was pulling in the farming yields.

Teenage years are new, no doubt.

But are they really so?

Was it as true, as I felt it was,

New to a boy for a girl to say “no”?

Then came college and things were new again.

No more parents for daily guidance, but

The professors seemed to know the dangers

Of us getting into a rut.

Up until graduation from college,

Things were really quite the same.

Every teacher knew the answer

Before they even called out our name.

Now, with a real job so I could pay my bills,

Another set of “new” came my way.

My managers’ project assignments had due dates

I didn't understand, but neither did they.

Since the job had never been done before,

We might have considered it to be “new”.

But after a while, it became clear to me

That each project repeated jobs I already knew.

By now a wedding was in my life,

And everything was going to be “new” again.

We had no idea what we were doing,

Except going where we’d never been.

We had been children ourselves, of course,

And thought we knew how to raise them.

But each one was different and

Equally quite a gem.

When we were teenagers, we knew everything.

Life ahead was going to be effortless.

Now, with the ‘terrible twos’ facing us,

The children each left us breathless.

As our children grew, we saw each stage of their life

Through our own eyes, no matter how much we tried.

The challenges they faced were different than ours,

We wanted to help … to be their guide.

What we didn't see was that, just like us,

All the things they were going through,

Was their first experience with growing up …

To them, it was all brand new.

They did reach the adult stage

Sometimes it was in spite of us.

They got jobs, got married, had kids

Now they put the kids on the bus.

Relating to their job experience

Was another uphill task.

Companies change, they come and go,

We really didn't know what to ask.

Grandchildren are wonderful,

Only grandparents can understand.

If we could have them before our own,

Life would truly be grand.

The teachers are different, the jobs are, too.

Hair lengths change from year to year.

And each time we enter a “new” stage of life

There is a certain measure of fear.

Companies come and companies go,

We don’t have Pony Express any more.

But we do have children and grandchildren.

We still have peace and war.

It was wonderful to see the grandchildren

Play in our large acreage of land.

Just as I had done at my grandparents’ home

When I played and worked and got tanned.

But I am not my grandfather,

And our grandchildren are not me.

Similarities exist, to be sure,

But each must be what they must be.

I am reminded of these changes when I recall

The atmosphere of my youth.

It takes a village to raise a child

Was once a universal truth.

Our neighbors were close, and now they are not.

Extended families were common then.

Now we hardly know people who live

We talk, but I can’t remember when.

Solomon told us “That which has been is what will be,

That which is done is what will be done.

There is no remembrance of former things

And there is nothing new under the sun.

Have things really changed or not?

We have tools not known in history.

But without those tools, what has changed

Still remains a very great mystery.