I only brought a small portion of the tools I used to own to Panama … but I brought the best. I made sure to include a good quality tape measure; the wide, stiff kind that makes it easy to take measurements on your own. When I needed to the size of our windows, I was very pleased that I had brought such a tool. After meticulously noting all the dimensions of my project, I confidently headed off to the hardware store.I was chagrined to discover that all my measurements were in inches and all the window shades were marked in centimeters. It wasn’t that I forgot to look at the metric side of the tape … my tape doesn’t have a metric side. It was marketed to a minority nation with a lot of people. In all the world, only Myanmar, Liberia and the U.S. have not adopted the metric system. The U.K. uses the metric system for all important international matters, but allows its citizenry to cling to the Imperial past. It’s not easy being Standard in a Metric World. Standard isn’t the standard anymore.
I will grudgingly admit that I’m getting used to metric measurements. I never really was too fond of 32nds and 64ths. I also like the fact that I get to drive at 100 … it’s a constant adrenalin rush for my brain that still thinks in MPH. Despite the fact that we’d spend billions just retooling our gas pumps and changing out our road signs, the U.S. should probably get with the program. We’d seem less pugnacious if we’d stop brandishing our yardsticks. We should go the way of the world.
Still, there are times to hold out no matter how odd you look or how the odds are stacked against you. Right and wrong cannot be determined by consensus. God does not poll his people to determine morality. We must conform to His standard … not the other way around.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:9 and 21
