Friday, February 24, 2006

Another Day

I really don’t know whether I brushed my teeth this morning electrically or electronically. Fortunately, I know that there is someone out there who knows the correct answer to this question concerning such subtle nuances of the English language. I, on the other hand, am more interested in the fact that I used an electric toothbrush to brush my teeth. This partially defines who and what I am.

Such knowledge is of interest to me. Once that I figured out my birthday was day one of dying—literally—I compulsively began a quest for the meaning of life. Some of the answers are to be found in the thinking of philosophers and theologians, but others are to be found in explanations for why I do what I do; why I think what I think. Meaning, I am coming to understand, requires purpose.

We bleeding-heart liberals are being encouraged to go to our movie theatres this weekend to watch Why We Fight, “a documentary that examines the human costs, beyond the battlefield casualties, of feeding so much of our country’s resources to the Pentagon.” I extend this invitation to my readers:

http://action.truemajority.org/TrueMajority/join-forward.html?domain=TrueMajority&r=Y1Asfl91fX4p&

Your interest in this movie might be heightened by first visiting:

http://newamericancentury.org/

I am particularly interested in this organization’s Statement of Principles and its signers. After years of deliberation I can no longer dismiss theologian Rosemary Reuther’s agreement with David Ray Griffin’s book, The New Pearl Harbor, “that examines dispassionately the case for complicity by the Bush administration in the attacks of September 11th, 2001.”

http://www.rototillerman.com/C1326782256/E1797254343/

I ask now to please be excused so that I may eat a little lunch, watch a little television, and go on about the business of living/dying.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Prayer for Peace and Justice

Mary has this posted on our refrigerator:


Lead us from death to life,
From falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope,
From fear to trust.
Let peace fill our hearts,
Our world, our universe.
Let us dream together,
Pray together,
Work together,
To build one world
Of peace and justice for all.
--The Upanishads



A good prayer. I'm going to work at making it mine. Amen.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Miracles Do Happen!

A miracle happened thirty-six years ago today. Sight unseen, Mary James agreed to go with me to the Valentine's Day Dance at Nebraska Wesleyan University. This may not seem quite so miraculous until one realizes that this meant an Alpha Gamma Delta was actually going to go out with a nerdy independent (the "i" is not capitalized because I wasn't even a GDI). The event was the culimination of elaborate arrangements made by my friend who was also dating an AGD (thanks Neal and Vickie). Thanks to my Colorado license plates and my $59.95 K-Mart 8-track, the deal was sealed and it has been M&M ever since.

That original miracle led to others: Mary said "yes" to my proposal of marriage, then Rachel, and then Rebecca. I am truly blessed among all men! Thank you, Mary, for taking a chance on me those many years ago. It was the happiest day of my life, and each day since has been unbelievably happier. I love you! Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, February 10, 2006

Woe is me!

Q: What is more obscene than a SUV?
A: A SUV being driven by someone talking on the phone!

I can't help it. I'm becoming increasingly ashamed to be an American. I am well aware of the "love it or leave it" sentiment, and I am daily giving more serious thought to leaving. It's the escapist aspect that bothers me most, but I am failing to see any way that I can personally stop the greedy lust that is accelerating the decline and deterioration of what was once (even in my living memory) the greatest nation on the face of the earth.

Obviously, I am still incensed by George W. Bush's hypocritical announcement that America is addicted to oil. The fanatical Right of which he is a part has thrown billions of dollars down the rat holes of "war" on drugs and terrorism, but has done no more than pay lip service to our disgusting consumption of petroleum. My uncle, who farmed some 10,000 acres in eastern Colorado, needed trucks, tractors and heavy equipment to raise crops that fed us all. But the soccer mom rolling along in her Cadillac Escalade just because she can destroy any tin-can-Toyota that gets in her way is the fossil-fuel-junkie that George is oblivious to.

We proclaim to the world that we are a Christian nation, but in truth we are Consumers worshipping at the altar of greed and power. It is so painfully obvious that the people of Africa would be the focus of neo-conservative attention if they but had the oil we crave. Alas, they suffer despots and dictators without U.S. attention because we are too busy contriving weapons of mass destruction as an excuse to invade the countries that have the fix for our addiction. The most pitiful and offensive thing is this: it's just the way we want it! Tell me anything and I'll believe it, just as long as I can dominate the highway with my gas guzzling Hummer.

What I don't understand is why more of us aren't standing up to this obscene hypocrisy that will eventually be the demise of all that we love and honor. Diogenes the Cynic was looking for an honest man three centuries before the birth of Christ, and were he alive today he would still be looking. In spite of the corruption and scandal that is being revealed on a daily basis, we will return the same politicians to Washington, D.C. save the few inept souls that find their way into disgrace and/or prison.

There are opportunities to make a difference. We can, if we choose, change things for the better. For example: we can sign the Pledge to MOVE AMERICAN BEYOND OIL at http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/beyondoil/action.asp?step=2&item=53292
It's not a big thing, but rather one small step toward restoring the sense of integrity that will allow us to sleep at night, and to tell our children with a straight face that there is still something noble about being an American.

Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)

Friday, February 03, 2006

The 12 Steps

Let's say that I am addicted. The first giant step toward recovery is to admit to myself that I have an addiction, that I am powerless over it, and that it is making my life unmanageable. Denial is the powerful force that will repeatedly thwart my efforts to make and accept this critical admission.

If, however, I am successful, I need to believe that there is a power greater than myself that can restore my sanity (insanity--in this context--is the misguided belief that I can persist in negative behavior with the false hope that it will for some inexplicable reason have a different outcome).

When I come to such a realization, the third step is to make the decision to turn my life--my will--over to that Higher Power.

The authenticity of such a decision will be revealed by my ability--my willingness--to conduct a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself. If I am unable to do this openly and honestly it means that I have not really completed the first three steps and that I need to revisit them as often as is necessary to empower me to look at myself as I really am.

The proof of truly knowing myself will be in my admission to the Higher Power, to myself, and to another human being, the exact nature of my wrongs.

Next, I need to be entirely ready to allow that Higher Power to remove these defects in my character.

The sign of that willingness, of course, is to humbly submit my shortcomings to the Higher Power with the unequivocal belief that It is perfectly capable of removing them.

At this point the process will lead me to make a list of all the persons I have harmed, accompanied by a willingness to make amends to them all.

This will mean making such amends directly to those I have wronged, whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

To maintain my recovery from addiction will require that I continue to take an ongoing personal inventory of myself, and to promptly admit whenever I am wrong.

It will also require that I seek to improve my conscious contact with the Higher Power through prayer and meditation, praying only for knowledge of the Higher Power's will and the ability to make it mine.

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, I will be moved to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all of my affairs.

"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology." -- George W. Bush, 2006 State of the Union

Bush is, as they say in Texas, full of shit.