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Ginny told me that the following year—2015—was going to be the Jewish year of Jubilee; an event that transpires every 50-years. During this time, those who were bound by slavery would be set free; and the land would not be worked, but rather left to rest for a year. Coincidentally, this would be the year that I would be 50; would be “released” from my service commitment; and I would not “work" for an extended period of time. This was just too much of a coincidence for me to dismiss…I had to dig deeper into an unknown area. With the only long-lasting Jewish influence in my life being an unwilling ritual a few days after my birth, I was forced to turn to the internet for some specifics. Here’s what I found:
The English word “jubilee” comes from the Hebrew word “yovel” meaning a “trumpet or ram’s horn.” These rams’ horns were blown on the Day of Atonement to announce the start of the Year of Jubilee... The word jubilee should not be confused with the word jubilation which comes from a Latin word meaning to rejoice. The year of jubilee was no doubt a time of great jubilation, but the similarities of the two words are a coincidence. For many years before The Exodus, the Israelites had been slaves in the land of Egypt, without freedom and without possessions. When they reached the land of Canaan, Joshua divided the land among their tribes and their families… so that each had his own inheritance.
Every adult male among them became a land owner. This land was a permanent possession that could never depart from his family. If a man became poor he could sell part or all of his land… but only temporarily. It would always revert to him or his descendants at the “Year of Jubilee.” If he became even poorer and was unable to pay his debts, he could sell himself into slavery, and work to pay off his debts. Again that slavery could only ever be temporary. When the great “Day of Atonement” in the “Year of Jubilee” came he became a free man once again and repossessed his inheritance. The most unusual observance that God commanded the Israelites through Moses was… the keeping of the Year of Jubilee. For most people this celebration occurred only once in their life time and for many not even that, as it occurred …only once every 50 years. At this Year of Jubilee, all Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery were set free… and all land that had been sold reverted to its original owner. This meant that the Israelites could not ever be in permanent slavery; nor could any Israelite permanently lose his inheritance! [Source: www.pray4zion.org/TheComingShemitahJubileeYear57745.html]Wanting some additional clarity, I reached out to my trusted confidant, mentor, teacher, Old Testament scholar, and dear friend—Dr. (Rev.) Robert Gibbs—to get a clearer picture of this event. Robert replied:
"Jubilee was a time in each generation to reset the economy back to the way God laid it out when Israel came into the promised land. God gave every tribe, clan, household land and of course the means to earn a living. But if the family hit hard times, their inheritance could be traded for cash. There were two ways to do that; first, the land that God gave you could be leased, and second, the children could be indentured to other Jews. But every Jubilee, every thing went back to the rightful family that had received it from God. So, the Jubilee is a time of great celebration for those who've been living in debt because all debts and leases are cancelled, and all (Israelite) servants are set free. This protected a family from losing God's inheritance if some head of the family was a drunk who would sell all the land and leave nothing to his kids."Although the first explanation uses the term “slavery,” it was not an “abducted-and-sold” slavery; but rather a self-induced slavery; whereas the individual forfeited his family’s property and/or freedom for something tangible (i.e. cash, clothing, bling, etc.). This sounds a lot like our modern credit system; where you can get the tangible stuff now (i.e. $40K sports coupe) and promise to keep providing your creditor with labor—either directly or with the language of labor…money—until the debt is paid in full.
Since we don’t have a Year of Jubilee in our society, those with financial advantages (born rich) will most always possess monetary leverage over those who are financially disadvantaged (born poor). When coupling the financial disadvantages of the poor with the questionable practice of over-extending credit to those within this demographic, one can easily see how an individual can fall into a lifetime of financial slavery. This realization saddened me. I know that (accountability wise) “it’s their choice;” but (humanistically) “nobody wants to be a slave," right? I thought on this for months, and I finally found my conclusion: freedom requires constant work, personal accountability, and increased risk.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” — Benjamin FranklinIf my family and I are indentured servants to a prosperous individual, they will provide the basic necessities to ensure I can continue my servitude. I am an investment to them, and they have the responsibility to ensure their investments are well cared for — "protecting their investment." I may not be provided all of the "essential liberties" that Franklin spoke of, but I will be provided enough to keep my laborious servitude abilities intact. If I break the law, my owner (initially) answers for my actions. The risk of losing basic essentials only comes into play if the owner becomes impoverished as well.
Conversely, if my family and I are released from indentured servitude by the aforementioned individual, the onus for providing ALL basic necessities for my family is now upon me. Any transgressions of the law will be directed solely to me, and the risk of failure in providing for my family is also on me. The responsibility has shifted from the “owner” to the “freed slave.”
Of course this decision can have a lot of contributing confounders involved. If you or one of your family members have a significant health issue, the continued servitude may be a better play. If your professional skill-set peaks at the working-end of a shovel, your age and market demand for this type of work may lead you back to your former “employer.” So upon further pontification, I can see where someone would be “freed” by law, but then voluntarily return to slave status—which was an option for freed slaves. For me, this was the most fascinating aspect to this whole process; a free man willingly submitting himself back into a life a slavery. This sounded like an improbable scenario, but then I realized that I had once been freed from slavery and had the opportunity to return to the servitude of my owner.
*****
On a nondescript day in the Fall of 1992, I awoke just before sunrise and began a ritual that I had practiced for nearly a decade. I sat up in bed with my feet on the floor and reached for my smokes. I slid a Marlboro Light out of the soft pack—leaving the remaining 17 for the “daily drama” that would certainly require their assistance—and lit it with my flat-black (“murdered-out” in modern terms) Zippo lighter. I took the usual long draw as the cherry-red end slowly expanded towards the filter. Deep into the lungs, I felt the familiar fullness of smoke that would soon reward me with the nicotine dose that I was craving. I exhaled the lung-filtered particulate into the bedroom air, and looked at the cigarette. I sat there for a few minutes; just watching the terminus coal slowly burn it’s way towards my hand. As it reached the halfway point, I held it up closer to my face; gave it one last deep look; and put it out—cold turkey. I never smoked another cigarette again in my life.
Jubilee. I had been freed.
This was all self-inflicted. I willingly chose to take up smoking. I was raised in a non-smoking house. My mother was a Public Health nurse. My sister was a member of the Junior Virginia Lung Association. I had watched my beloved grandfather whither away from the effects of smoking-induced emphysema—restricted to a bed or tethered to an oxygen cylinder. I willingly chose to forfeit my money, my health, my property (depreciated by burn marks and smoke smells), and (due to certain social norms between smokers/non-smokers) my friends. I was a willing slave — a "chained smoker."
When I quit, there was no Jubilee celebration at the Walker house. I knew what turmoil lie ahead, and it all came to fruition. My withdrawal from nicotine made me unbearable to be around. When Kristy quit 2-weeks later, we had a situation that almost required the United Nations to get involved. I became distant to my “smoking friends” who I use to visit a few times each day at the “employee-approved cancer exposure lair.” I feared that I would replace the tobacco-to-lips habit with a Twinkie-to-lips habit and start to gain weight. My biggest fear was how to handle “life” without a smoke. These cigarettes had been there for me. They helped me cope with the stress of my initial indoctrination into military life at basic training and technical school. They helped me handle the stresses of living away from home for the first time in my life. They helped me through the stresses of being sent off to war. They helped me through a divorce, and through the unexpected death of my best childhood friend. I was willingly moving myself into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory; and I was accepting the work, accountability, and risk of this decision.
*****
Twenty-some years later I find myself at another Jubilee Crossroads; except this time I’ve been afforded the opportunity to take a break from the deadlines and in-boxes, and dedicate some quality time to performing a retrospective assessment of my own life…more specifically, things that can potentially enslave me and my family—both now and years to come. I’m not going to disclose all of the specific items that I’ve decided to personally address, but there are some broad topics that I evaluated in my efforts to ensure I remained honest and accountable across all aspects of my life.
- Debt: Who do I owe and how can I get from under their “financial servitude” as quickly as possible. While indebtedness is certainly managed differently today than it was in biblical times, the fact still remains that my creditor has a “right” to my labor (wages) and/or property (collateral/lien). Until I become debt free, someone else owns my stuff…I'm just maintaining their stuff (for free).
- Vices: Parts of my life still remain unbelievable to me. I have stayed in the finest hotels (to include King Fahd’s Palace); enjoyed the finest cigars, scotches, and wines; and played the odds at the most opulent casinos in Vegas. Although we view these items as “occasional treats" versus “staples," I took a hard look at this category, as personal vices have the potential to destroy…quickly. My childhood barber Wilbur Templeman said it best; “A bottle of liquor and a weak man has ruined many a good lives.”
- Leisure time: Do I spend too much time on my hobby or individual activity? I have a finite number of hours remaining on this planet. How can I best utilize my time for the benefit of a more fulfilling life for both me and my family? We had a head-start on this in Okinawa courtesy of AFN. The lack of quality programing took us from being an “all-channels” satellite customer to occasional Netflix viewing. We’ll still have a TV, but we will define how much “mainstream access” we will allot with our precious time.
- Relationships: Are there relationships in my life that have a degree of toxicity to myself or my family? Reality is…some relationships you choose and some are chosen for you. Regardless, all of our relationships should be beneficial to both parties. This can be a bit uncomfortable in certain situations, but if relationships become one-sided, then that relationship will most likely began to feel like work…with no paycheck at the end of the week…which sounds a lot like slavery.
- Expectations: I once had a dentist who didn’t want to be a dentist. His wanted to be a ship builder at the greatest ship building company in the world. Unfortunately, he was expected to follow the wishes of his parents to become a dentist. He became a successful, competent, well-known, well-respected dentist. I never saw him smile. The one event that we both looked forward to each visit was me leaving. We have been blessed with a strong cadre of friends and family; so we will inevitably have the expectations of others thrust upon us. We just need to make sure that they build our character while not shackling our lives.
- Dreams: I have no issue with dreams. In fact, I encourage people to “dream big,” as big prizes don’t come in small packages. The caveat that I have here is to not let the dream dominate the other parts of my life. We want to have a successful and sustainable farm once our current travels come to a close. While we want the farm to thrive, we need to make sure that we don’t sacrifice any of the aforementioned areas (debt, relationships) just to make sure the farm succeeds. Many gold prospectors spend all they had looking for the big score; only to die alone in poverty.
- Other “Stuff:” Over the past few decades, we have accumulated a lot of stuff. We like our stuff, but if it requires us to buy a bigger house or build a storage area for our stuff, then we are a slave to our stuff. “Stuff you own ends up owning you.” - Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), Fight Club
So there it is…my Year of Jubilee synopsis. I realize that I’ll be a work-in-progress until my last breath, but I’m more interested in living the life of a free man than one who is in constant servitude to others (people or things). I'm not ditching friends or selling all my stuff; but I am taking inventory of all the things in my life. I encourage all who read this to at least consider an honest introspective assessment as to “how free” you are. What you do with that info is yours alone to decide, but you’ll decide with “eyes wide open.” It will take time. You will be uncomfortable. It will be worth it.
I'm indebted my sister Ginny and (Rev) Robert Gibbs for helping me find this place in my life...but that's an indebtedness that I'll willingly submit myself to.
Happy Jubilee!!!
wWw
