As Good As it Gets

One of my favorite movies that featured Jack Nicholson was the movie “As Good as it Gets.”

In this film Nicholson plays the role of a neurotic, grumpy novelist who finds himself falling in love with a waitress from a diner in his neighborhood.

In the movie Nicholson struggles with his phobias and eccentricities and becomes a friendlier, more caring individual. As the film progresses and as Nicholson’s character evolves he asks the question, “Is this as good as it gets?”

The world in which we live is certainly better than the world into which I was born. The world is certainly better than the world into which my parents were born.

When my parents were born there was fear of diseases that cause us little concern today. When my parents were born many homes did not have electricity or running water. When my parents were born our educational system was haphazard at best and illiteracy was not uncommon. When my parents were born nearly half of the population of our own country lived in poverty.

By the time I was born the world was a better place. Vaccines had been developed to eradicate many of the diseases which haunted the childhood of my parents. Homes without running water and electricity were rare. Poverty had been tremendously reduced and education expanded.

Yet, there were still daunting issues confronting society when I was born. An entire race of people were sent to the “back of the bus.” Many jobs and professions were closed to women. Technology and communication were limited by today’s standards.
Things have changed in the nearly 50 years of my lifetime. My daughter was born into a different world than the one into which I was born.

We are now a society that affirms the worth of all persons and the advances in technology and communication have been mind-boggling.
Thus, like Nicholson, I am left to ask, “Is this as good as it gets.” I can answer that immediately by saying a resounding no. God has placed within the human soul a desire to improve the world in which we live.

History, if it is anything at all, is the record of humankind making the world a better place. While many of us lament the state of the world in which we live the truth is very few if any of us would like to return to the world into which my parents were born.
A sign of the grace of God is the struggle of humanity to make the world a better place. The old gospel hymn “Will the Circle be Unbroken?” declares, “there’s a better home awaiting in the sky.”
While that truth should certainly be affirmed let us not neglect the present. God’s will is for there to be a better home for all of us here on earth. After all did he not teach us to pray, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”