Choose Strong
For Tim.
It was 18 years ago and in the basement of a Baptist church
where I first read that famous line. The Lord Jesus said
similar things, e.g., whoever wanted to be the first here on
earth should be the last in the kingdom of heaven, and I had
no trouble figuring out that He favored the "meek."
After all, I came from a culture that believes 柔弱勝剛強.
"Inherit the Earth" sounded pretty good, too, although it
was not clear how that was executed out there,
except in martial art movies. It nonetheless left a mark.
While practicing being meek, some Westerners seemed just as
clueless for the inheritance part. Over the years, I heard
Garrison Keillor joked about it in his show, A Prairie Home
Companion. Quoting the line and faking disappointment, he
bleated: "But all we've got so far is Minnesota!"
Truths have lives and take on deeper meanings when one
pays attention. This year, Jordan Peterson told us what he
learned from Bible Hub. "Meek" was not the best translation
of the original (Greek). According to his reading, the word
refers to people who know how to wield the sword but
choose to sheath it.
This reminded me of some other phrases in the Tao, e.g.,
知其雄，守其雌. The ancient Chinese wisdom seems to
encourage people to have both the strength to enforce and
the sense to restrain. It was a thrill to find a place where
the East meets the West in wisdom, especially after some
confusion. It made sense now and it might yet make better
sense later.
