The Last of Old Hillbilly Wisdom

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
(Ecclesiastes 1:11)
This is the last installment of my copy of Old Hillbilly Wisdom:
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Good judgment comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgment.
Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
Most times, it just gets down to common sense.
***
Another day, another dollar, they used to say. In some parts of the world, a dollar a day is still a decent wage—but not here and not now.
Here and now—that’s where we live. I know and most of us have read that it is imperative to know history. Not mis-history, but real history.
On our school bookshelf, we have world history books that span our known world history across the centuries. We also have American history that begins with the early settlers coming to this country. History can also be local as in state and city history.
History deals with many different aspects of life but in most cases, we are interested in civilizations and the people contained therein. For instance, there have been many volcanoes in the past, but Pompeii piques our interest because of the civilization it covered.
Historians on occasion use or abuse scriptures. It depends on whether they believe in God or not which path they take. Several years ago in doing research I came across a historian discussing a certain artifact discovered in an archaeological dig. The artifact looked like a child’s toy designed like a camel.
The particular person was saying it couldn’t have been from the era of Abram (Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. (Genesis 11:27))
Of course, Abram became Abraham, and so forth—However, the professor said it couldn’t have been made in Abraham’s era, because he said, Abraham wouldn’t have known what a camel looked like.
That was some circular reasoning if ever I read it. And it was so dumb. I don’t even know where that person came up with such a stupid idea. It isn’t told us specifically that when Terah and Abram left Ur that they ladened their camels to travel but I am assuming camels were amongst the many animals that went with them.
But by the time Terah died and Abram and Sarah made it to Egypt they came out with camels. (And he (Pharoah) entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.) (Genesis 12:16) Camels were common animals and would have been known at that time.
Prejudice is the act of pre-judging. The thing about history is civilizations have risen and fallen. Many inventions have been invented through the ages and we tend to prejudge that previous cultures were more primitive and not as advanced as we are.
What we fail to realize is that no matter, if you take a horse carriage or a modern automobile, the people of the era, are still basically the same through the ages. Our clothes may have changed but our hearts haven’t.
“As Time Goes By”
You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate
It’s still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by—
In other words, humanity is engaged in the struggle of life—the same old story—hearts full of passion, jealousy, hate, love, desire for power or glory, or in the end whatever the individual may desire. That’s why it’s listed in the constitution as “Pursuit of happiness.”
Ecclesiastes 1:
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.