Be Civilized

“Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones. 
“But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
“A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said. We are at our best when we serve others.  Be civilized.”  – from Dr. Ira Byock, in his book on palliative medicine The Best Care Possible: A Physician’s Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life (Avery, 2012).
Mead, the renown American cultural anthropologist, shared something from her knowledge of history of civilizations and her observations of human behavior, a truth for us as we live on this side of heaven.
Genesis 1:26-28 states that we are created in the image of God and are blessed by God. God expects goodness from humans, even despite our sinful disobedience and desiring to go separate ways from God. What Mead stated about humans and civilization is that, at the end of the day, we need each other and are partners together to best navigate this life we lead.
When the chips are down and we have no where we feel we can turn, we know that we always have a loving God who is with us, who never abandons us, and with whom we can turn. In this, we also know that God calls other fellow human beings to be there for us when we fall on difficult times. 
We know that God does not need us, for Jesus died all alone on the cross. But God can and does call us into the pathway of another—to care for them, to support them, to help and love the other. At the highest place in the animal kingdom, humans have that going for them. 
We do not leave the one who is injured to their own demise. Civilized societies tell us that this is not what humans do. Rather, we are silently listening to another’s story, sharing with another a hard journey, sympathizing with a health woe, driving someone to the clinic for care, or being present at the end of life.
This is a good life.  This is a hard life sometimes. It ought to be a caring life—both acted upon and received.
PHOTO:  Pastor  Chad Christensen  Trinity Lutheran Church  West Concord and Dodge Center United Methodist Church