Always Cherish, Never Brag

Always Cherish, Never Brag

some insomniac musings by The Overlord Bear/Jem De Ocampo

Of course we’re idiots if we ask for our treasure to be stolen. But we’re even bigger idiots if we don’t fulfill our treasure’s purpose, and that purpose is more than showing the treasure off.

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I look at art and bonds as status symbols to brag about more than God-given treasures to cherish. It’s a sad state that I’ve been keeping myself in lately, and maybe even since my childhood. I think it’s somewhat obvious at best in my memery sense and my online behavior.

Do I have to explain more how that happened, though? I don’t think that’s necessary, see, not with how common such problems seem to me today. At this point, trying to explain more would only be an attempt to rationalize such sinfulness or shift the blame.

And speaking of which, in my struggle to overcome this with my fellow clout-lusting humans, I came upon a realization: I do have to cherish all this awesomeness I have, but I must not brag about it.

Wait, but that doesn’t make sense? Shouldn’t I be a light to the world?

Well, yeah, I should be a light to the world, but if I think that I should blind and incinerate my fellow human souls when I can guide and defend them instead, then not bragging about being a light to the world wouldn’t make sense.

Seriously, wouldn’t we do our best to keep our treasures safe? Why showboat them around if not for a lack of faith, hope, and love?

But what about sharing the joy I have with my treasures with others? And what about keeping them safe from evil?

Yeah, I do have to share the joy there and protect treasures from evil, but all that’s the opposite of bragging. Bragging is when I strive to make others feel bad about not having the treasures I have. Bragging can also be when I make others think that they can’t have treasures they can and must cherish. And of course, bragging is also when I use the treasures I have, big or small, to loathe and abuse myself and others.

Besides, all these treasures we have aren’t things we deserve, considering our history of sin against God, yet He keeps on entrusting them to us. With that, I understand how work can give a person dignity, along with how He always gives us worthwhile tasks. They are difficult, indeed, and they are bound to be humiliating as well one way or another, but despite and even through all that, we humans can find salvation with those tasks.

It’s sad, then, that I live in a world which also usually thinks that being good doesn’t mean much unless one has popularity. It pisses me off that I often end up feeling boxed in by my fellow sinners, too. But all this pain would be pointless if I don’t consider them chances to truly do good.

And so comes the bigger questions: What does it mean to truly do good? What does it mean to cherish treasures?

For one, it means to be virtuous and share treasures to others without expecting anything in return. In other words, be good to others, even if others won’t be good in return. Do unto others what you want done unto you, even if it is clear that others will not do what you want. Now doesn’t that sound like a cross for us to take up as we follow Him?

But what about taking care of myself? How can I do good if my own self isn’t composed enough to handle the work?

That’s why we have to focus on doing our ordinary duties extraordinarily well. I am a human being, not God Almighty, meaning that I’m not expected to do as much as He does, but I’m still expected to do something. Even superheroes have to follow that, or they’d be boring and stupid, especially in the long run. And even God Almighty followed that as He lived here on earth!

So I don’t have to go befriending literally everyone, then?

Everyone’s a unique treasure. There are people who will be swine to our pearls, while there are people who will properly cherish us. There’s no need to be close to literally everyone, but I also have to remember that even those who can’t be so close and precious to me can be close and precious to someone else.

Or in more practical terms, we have to focus on the respective communities and environments we belong to. We gotta be good role models for our fellow locals to form a group of good role models with them, and then we can reach out to the rest of the world. After all, Jesus Christ lived and worked as a Jew in Roman-controlled Israel, and even as He was unfairly put to death by the community He belonged to on earth, He still held enough respect for His origins on earth, living by their traditions and laws and all without compromising His work for the Father. It sounds impossible, but if I’m bothering to believe in the Blessed Virgin Mary, then why wouldn’t I believe in that too?

I won’t say that I don’t find all that work daunting, of course. I’m still struggling with them, too, and I still worry about whether my words are getting the right messages, especially with my tendency to write and even post self-absorbed rants and raves. And I still feel like I have questionable posts that will end up deleted or mocked someday for everyone’s sanity, and I’m pretty sure that deleting and mocking aren’t going to be everything I have to do to make up for all that. But God Almighty and many humans before me always show and remind us that such work can be fulfilled, and that’s why I’m still going for it. I’ve even found myself creating bits and pieces that feel like blessings beyond my own abilities, tiny those bits and pieces may usually be!

Now what are those bits and pieces, exactly? Well, I think I’ll have you wait and look around for now. I don’t think I can call myself a good treasure keeper if I just reveal them willy-nilly!

And of course, let’s also pray for God Almighty to keep on helping us all in properly cherishing the treasures He gave us.