A mother went shopping at a large grocery store
with her young son in tow. In the foyer area were the typical
attractions to make a little extra money; an electric Hobby Horse, a
Claw Machine (that never picks up one of the stuffed toys),
a couple of video games and a PAY Weight Scale…in addition
to the rows of grocery carts (Buggies…if you live down South!)
While his mother was getting a cart the boy
watched a very large man step on the Scale and put in a coin. The
man didn’t notice the Out of Order sign taped to the side
of the scale. The boy watched the needle rise on the scale and stop
at 50 pounds. He walked over to his mother and pointed at the man.
“Look Mom, a hollow man!”
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As I look back over my 70 years I can remember
numerous hollow people I have encountered. Some were
hollow
spiritually, some emotionally and some mentally. I remember one such
mental case when I was a PFC at a Nike Hercules missile site; my
first assignment out of Basic. We were both on every Duty Roster the
1SG could find. One night we were both on guard duty; me at the Fire
Control HQ and he at the Launcher Site a quarter of a mile away. He
was patrolling between the fences, guarding the missiles with the
‘nuke’ warheads.
At about 2 a.m. I heard a distant POP, and knew
it sounded like a weapon had fired at the Launcher Site. Minutes
later the Duty Officer went speeding through the front gate toward
the Launcher Site. The next morning the 1SG got us all in formation
and told the details and warned us about the 45s we carried on
Guard. He said the guy on guard had gotten bored walking the
fences and started playing with his 45. He had heard that in
close combat you should never press the muzzle against an
enemy soldier because compressing the barrel acts as
another Safety and the weapon will not fire. So, he decided to try
it. He pressed the muzzle against the middle finger of his left hand
and…blew his finger off! He was the same guy who, weeks earlier, had
been given an Article 15 for trading the spare tire of the Admin
Pickup for gas at a station, because he forgot to get the credit
card before he headed for Battalion. Definitely… HOLLOW!
Women have accused men of being emotionally
hollow, probably since Adam and Eve. Men are notorious for
being reluctant to share their feelings the way women would
prefer. A friend of mine related when, as a teenager, he watched his
dad give his mom a Valentines gift. After a big build-up by his dad,
his mom opened the gift – A Bathroom Scale! When his mom left the
room, crying, his dad said…WHAT?! She’s been wanting one! All
too many of us can identify with that one.
Spiritual hollowness is harder to define,
determine or admit…because we all have our own interpretation of
what it means to be…spiritual. I can’t intelligently
discuss the issue for other religions, but even among Christians
there are wide disparities of thought about what it means to be
a good Christian. So, I have to use the SOP for
Christians…THE BIBLE. In the Old Testament book of Proverbs,
Solomon is cautioning against hanging out with evil men. In verse 7
he says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is
he.” In the New Testament, in Romans 10:10, the Apostle Paul
said, “For it is with the heart a man believes unto
righteousness.” So, spiritualness has less to do with what you think
or say or even do…it is all about what you believe…in the very
HEART of
who you are…your soul. I asked a friend once if he knew that he was
going to heaven when he died. He said, “I hope so.” Well, as my dad
used to say…”HOPE is not a strategy!”
Looking at the SOP for
Christians, one of the best ways to determine how spiritual
you are is to read everything about the life of Jesus and strive to
be like Him. A good summary of how he felt about life can be found
in Matthew Chapter 5, in the famous SERMON ON THE MOUNT.
In OCS we were taught to follow the SOP…so,
FOLLOW IT!
Max Holt, Class 02-67
Association Chaplain
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