After the Cold War
The following story is reported to be true, but cannot be
verified: After the "Cold War" was over, a squadron of
Russian pilots was invited to participate in tactical war
games at a U.S. Air Force base. A gala dinner was planned by
the Base Commander. Thinking to relax the guests, he offered
a WW II toast to open the meal. Smiling, he lifted his glass
and said, in Russian, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow
you may die." The Russian pilots became very quiet and they
hardly ate; most left quite early. Thinking they didn't care
for the food, the Commander asked a Russian pilot what went
wrong.
"Well, comrade commander," he said, "I thought it was going
well until your toast. I don't know what you were meaning to
say, but what came out was 'Feast, drink and make happy, for
tomorrow we will kill you'." No matter how you translate it,
it doesn't make for good advice to live by, though it
certainly fits in with our culture's view of the purpose of
life. "Live it up! We're all going to die soon, and you
can't enjoy anything beyond the grave, so just focus on
bringing yourself pleasure without regard to what is right
or wrong."
It sounds very modern, but it's been around a long, long
time. In fact, Paul said it was a philosophy that might make
sense if there was no hope of a resurrection for us.
"If the dead do not rise, 'Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die!'" (I Cor. 15:32b).
But knowing that there will be a resurrection and a judgment
and an eternity to follow, we know that there has to be more
to guide our lives than just the satisfaction of personal
pleasure.
So go ahead and eat and drink (and even make merry), but be
careful not to take God out of the picture, for tomorrow you
may die.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.
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