King of The Mountain

Children can be very competitive as they seek to find  their place in society.  It is amazing how incentivizing a simple gold star on a homework paper can be.  Getting an "A" on a test provides a feeling of worth and affords bragging rights.  Little League trophies, getting the lead in a play, being chosen first when when teams are being formed.  All these are ways in which children gain a sense of their position in society.

In my youthful world of boys striving to assert themselves into an advanced position in our micro-society, there was one defining opportunity: Playing King of The Mountain.  If you could pesevere, holding your place on top of a mound of earth from which everyone was trying to dethrone everyone else by pushing them off the top, you were proclaimed king of the mountain.  The bragging rights were awesome, the self-esteem building was emmence and your position was inconvertable.

However, there was nothing real about it.  It was just a matter of being able to dislodge more kids from a mound than others.  Strength, center of gravity, weight and tenacity were all factors in the test; but one's leadership ability, vision, character, moral strength - all the things that truly measure one's kingly or regal aptitude were not measured.  It was a childish farce, but it was a bunch of little boys trying hard to feel big.  What would one expect?

Surely when it comes to full-grown, mature adults the method of determining one's worth or position in society or a given group of individuals would be based in reality and measurable truth about a particular person.  One would think.

The truth of the matter, however, is that adults tend to be overgrown children in this respect.  Determining one's societal worth generally depends on things like looks, shape, height, ability to make money, celebrity status (regardless of how it is obtained), street address, car driven, ability to spin facts and truth in their favor, etc.  Essentially, adults play an adult but not grown-up version of King of The Mountain.  We don't generally get it.

The truth of being valuable or obtaining a position of importance in society is really very opposite of what we then to chase in our attempt to gain value or determine value.  The truth of value of the self is to become self-less, it is to seek the best for others instead of claiming the best for self.  Jesus put it this way: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all" (Mk 9:35).

The greatest among us are not the ones who seek to be lifted up but those who seek to lift others up.  Consider first of all, Jesus "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt 20:28).  Consider also Ghandi, Mother Teresa and Jaden Hayes.  Jaden Hayes?

Jaden is a 6 year-old boy whose father died when he was four and his mother died last month.  Jaden, instead of allowing self-pity to rule his life, asked his aunt Barbara to get him a bunch of little toys, which he takes to downtown Savannah and gives to people who aren't smiling.  Jaden is still sad about his mother but feels better each time he helps someone to smile.  Jaden is getting national attention for trying to help others who he feels is sad like him.

Just now, I'm thinking that, apart from Jesus himself, Jaden is The King of The Mountain.  Jus' Say'n.