They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore. If you live in California, that’s what you’ll say about a gas-powered car beginning in 2035. If you were ever a fan of some of the sitcom offerings that held their 30-minute weekly primetime slots back in the ‘70’s, you would remember the All in the Family styled humor as cultural cynicism that poked fun at the way people were, in real life. They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore…

Case in point: Chico and the Man. Set in an East Los Angeles barrio, Jack Albertson played Ed, the crusty old white alcoholic who owned the run-down car-repair in which the series was set. Scatman Crothers was Ed’s black friend, Louie. Freddie Prinze – as Chico – was the comedian at the center of that half-hour universe: he was the young Hispanic mechanic who walked into Ed’s garage looking for a job. On display each week was a collection of cross-generational and cross-cultural relationships that showed dysfunction on the surface and sincerity at the core. For four seasons, guest-stars were a reflection of urban multi-ethnic richness…

Chico kept his cool and held life loosely as he viewed every incoming issue through the lens of his limited task description as Ed’s junior-mechanic. When anything extraneous came looking for him to get involved, his response was instant: “It’s not my job, man!” That signature come-back was imported from Prinze’s on-stage stand-up act, but it fit. He knew how to set – and, monitor – his limits. 

John Townsend and Henry Cloud co-authored the classic book: Boundaries: When to Say Yes; How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life is the legitimate development of Prinze’s laugh-line. Their insights are life-giving: without some knowledge of your appropriate limit-lines, there’s no way to manage the borders of personal responsibility while finding peace and contentment in your own space.

I’m watching our out-of-control society – midway through 2024 – and listening to unrelenting updates on domestic and global catastrophes – both natural and political – hearing the reactions of people around me who don’t know how to process. Handwringing is inadequate given the terror within the threats; self-medicating and mud-slinging are symptoms of a widespread pandemic. 

I wonder if Chico’s wisdom is a prescient prescription for our times: “It’s not my job, man!” might refine – and, sustain – some personal order set against society’s chaos. The constant vibrations from digital devices are screaming for attention: another crisis somewhere; what are you going to do?

The wisdom is Solomon’s from 3000 years ago, but it is more reliable than your favorite biased newsfeed in 2024:

“What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment.” 

“Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-25, 5:19-20)

So, the Wisest Man who Ever Lived (not Buffett or Musk) knew that cultural craziness would always be an issue. Tragically: the greater the sense of personal responsibility, the heightened peak of anxiety. How do wise people operate from headlines to deadlines, day after day?

My counsel, based on wise writings: embrace your personal job description. Nurture the health of your family. Satisfy the expectations of the people who pay you, whether boss or customer or both. Vote every time there’s an election. And, find and fulfill your role in God’s Great Commission plan for our fallen world. Having done your best each day to advance those agendas, sleep like a baby…

Bob Shank