So what about the foundation of a person’s life and how it serves to guide his or her identity?
In a recent writing assignment, a student of mine observed that when a political leader tries to lead people without possessing certain fundamental moral qualities such as honesty and others-centered responsibility, that leader’s life is a little bit like a shirt with buttons in mismatched button holes, all the way from the bottom of the shirt to the top.
It was an apt thought as I further pondered this topic of identity and the foundation/applied side of it. Thinking about not only political leaders – but all types of people in general – a life without a solid moral compass is a little like a house with a slanted foundation or a dress shirt with an askew buttoning job.
The main difference, perhaps, is that many political leaders and other celebrities live lives that are far more often on wide public display. The rest of us generally display our flaws and weaknesses to a considerably smaller crowd.
Having a solid foundation gives us a level place on which to build all of the other applications of our identity: the choices we will make; the things we will decide to invest money, time, and energy into; the direction we will veer at each fork in life’s road. But if our shirt gets buttoned in the wrong hole from the very beginning, we are far more likely to get off on the wrong foot or set off in the wrong direction – and stay there for most of our subsequent days.
And yet…analogies are rarely perfect…
In this case, though some things can’t be undone, learning how to lay a new foundation and rebutton the shirt correctly some years down the road gives us a chance to start fresh. In other words, by some miraculous grace and much discipline, the mind can be transformed. Renewed.
…Thank God for that.