Reflections by Maxie Dunnam

Maxie Dunnam is just another old man, turning 90, seeking to make a redemptive difference in a needy world. 

As I write that, it is difficult not to suspect that some people might sometimes be saying it. 

These are tough, trying days. I believe we have a reached a crucial moment in human civilization. The institutions upon which we have become dependent, around which our lives have been ordered—education, business, medical services, the penal system, organized religion, government — have each in some ways been revealed as inadequate, a few of them perhaps beyond renewal and repair. In any case, they have not been equal to their promise.

We are dissatisfied with things as they are. And while dissatisfaction is as old as the human race, I believe we have reached a crucial moment in human civilization. Atomic bombs are not just more powerful weaponry. Electronic computers are not just more complex adding machines. Neil Armstrong was more than a latter-day Columbus setting foot on the moon. 

At the deepest level of our beings there is a gnawing yearning. The institutions upon which we have become dependent, around which our lives have been ordered – have each in some way been gradually revealed as inadequate. They have not been equal to their promise; they cannot fill the need and longing in us. We are dissatisfied with things as they are, we have reached a crucial moment in human civilization. 

Dare I even think it? Maxie Dunnam is not just another old man turning 90, seeking to make a redemptive difference in a needy world. What can I do? What must I do? What will I do?