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George Carlin Doing Stand Up
Fair Use see Wikipedia "George Carlin"
"Jesus is coming...look busy!

George Carlin and The Paradox of Our Time
The late George Carlin is well known for his list of seven "dirty" words you cannot say on television. His stand up act revealed a shrewd discernment of the human condition within a society that sometimes makes no sense at all. On Facebook and in countless e-mails, some say he also left us the following inspiring and motivational message of hope and learning to deal with life's obstacles. Though Carlin was often inspiring in his astute observations of occasions of social paradox, when asked if he wrote The Paradox of Our Time,  he denied it, calling it "a sappy load of shit."  Varying versions of "Paradox" have been circulated on the web since Jeff Dickson posted it in his  Hacks-R-Us forum in 1998. He didn't write it either. Neither did an unnamed Columbine High School massacre survivor, the Dalai Lama, or Anonymous.
The actual author is former Overlake Christian Church pastor in Seattle, Dr. Bob Moorehead. His essay was published in 1995 as part of a collection of prayers homilies, and monologues gleaned from his radio broadcasts and sermons, entitled Words Aptly Spoken. Ironically, the author of what has been passed around the internet as being so inspired as if it were sacred writing, later resigned from the church he'd built under a cloud of scandal. Under 30 years of his pastoring, it had grown from under a hundred members to more than 6,000 and he was well-respected until allegations were made that in the 1970s, he'd touched or fondled male members of the congregation. In 1998, the same year Dickson posted Paradox on his website, church elders accused him of sexual impropriety, and then initially exonerated Moorehead in the results of their initial investigation, but him. A year after he resigned after they withdrew their support, reporting that new evidence was discovered that showed he "did violate the scriptural standards of trust, self-control, purity and godly character required for the office of elder and pastor."  It appears that the greatest paradox of  Moorehead's conservative preaching was his condemnation of homosexuality. It's still an inspiring motivational essay, however.
The Paradox of Our Time

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less; we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, yet less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgement; more experts, yet more problems; we have more gadgets but less satisfaction; more medicine, yet less wellness; we take more vitamins but see fewer results. We drink too much; smoke too much; spend too recklessly; laugh too little; drive too fast; get too angry quickly; stay up too late; get up too tired; read too seldom; watch TV too much and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values; we fly in faster planes to arrive there quicker, to do less and return sooner; we sign more contracts only to realize fewer profits; we talk too much; love too seldom and lie too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; we've done larger things, but not better things; we've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice; we write more, but learn less; plan more, but accomplish less; we make faster planes, but longer lines; we learned to rush, but not to wait; we have more weapons, but less peace; higher incomes, but lower morals; more parties, but less fun; more food, but less appeasement; more acquaintances, but fewer friends; more effort, but less success. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; drive smaller cars that have bigger problems; build larger factories that produce less. We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, but short character; steep in profits, but shallow relationships. These are times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure and less fun; higher postage, but slower mail; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes, but more divorces; these are times of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, cartridge living, thow-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies and pills that do everything from cheer, to prevent, quiet or kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stock room. Indeed, these are the times!

~ by Dr. Robert Moorehead

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