Preposterously Impossible Hypothesis #8: “On the fence.”

Have you ever climbed a fence? Probably. What kind? Have you ever climbed a barb-wire fence? Fun. Wooden rail fence? Breeze.

This notion of fence sitting is insanely popular today. People are so non committal. Few people really have the intestinal fortitude (THAT MEANS GUTS) to stand for, agree to, take ownership in, or to live up to anything. They skirt big issues, ignore anything confrontational that is actually of value, and waste time squabbling over absolute ridiculousness. I realize of course that there are exceptions to this, but those are certainly not the norm. Most people in this day and age are just not engaging.

And why should they? Has society shown them anything that is worth engaging in? Pop-culture? Social bliss? Material acquisition?

In fact, the bulk of what we ARE encouraged to participate in, decide on, or stand for on a daily basis is nothing more than worthless. I really like the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon was no dummy. Over and over again he recounts how incredibly meaningless all this stuff going on around us really is. It was true then and it is still true.

Few things clamoring for our attention are of any lasting value. Seldom will you be given the chance to plant your feet, steel your resolve, square your jaw and refuse to back down for something of any lasting eternal quality.

However, every so often that chance arises. In today’s society, more often than not, we are all too content to ignore what is black and white. We strive for the grey. The hot topic, well we don’t want to get burned so we just keep our distance. Cold reality, that’s no good either so we drown ourselves in media and the mundane meagerness that results from a life of mediocrity.

What are we left with? We’re left with a culture that at a moment’s notice will flare up over something inconsequential while all the while ignoring travesty with cold indifference. This hodge-podge of social temperament results in a lukewarm stink that assails the nostrils of God.

There is no fence. It is an illusion put in place to keep you from choice. There is either victory or defeat, black or white, yes or no. Those comfortable striving for the middle merely lack the quality required to stand firm.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly . . . who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.” – Teddy Roosevelt

“So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” – Revelations 3: 16 NIV