"In your training do not be in a hurry, for it takes a minimum of ten years to master the basics and advance to the first rung. Never think of yourself as an all-knowing, perfected master; you must continue to train daily with your friends and students and progress together in the Art of Peace."
from Art of Peace
Read on and fall sound asleep
I started writing this entry last week but could not seem to build any enthusiasm for the task. Since mid August I have been in some sort of physical and mental funk. My church attendance has faltered and my attention to household needs is on the level of trailer trash.
The good thing, IMHO, is that I am alive and still mobile.
All the monetary and budget talks by the blowhards and demagogues in Congress has focused ma attention on the vast networks of lies and misinformation we are being fed. I remember a time in this country when the highest income tax rate was over 50%. As I remember and as I learn by researching history those high rates did not seem to hurt the rich and almost seem responsible for the vigorous growth back then. That being said I remain a foe of any tax that is imposed on someone just because they are rich. You cannot find a subset of wealthy Americans to tax to cover the entire debt burden without destroying the economic structure.
An Excellent Video on the Tax-the-Rich Mentality is athttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY8LKII_MNA.
My wife and I are reading the play “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” by Shakespeare as part of a group. My wife HATES Shakespeare so having her read it along with me is somewhat of a miracle. The plot is similar to most of his other comedies. This play reads as if a much richer, nuanced stage play was written and then severely pruned. I feel that draft may have been staged and found wanting by the actors causing Shakespeare to hastily edit his revision. The ending is so superficial that I cannot imagine the actors strictly adhered to the written stage play. Or perhaps I am reading into the play something I want to believe.
I bought my wife a Kindle for her birthday. Unfortunately she is having trouble with it loosing connection to our wifi node. I know so little that I am no help and she seems reluctant to enlist help outside the abyss of “shattered manor”. Now that she has an ebook reader I have been competitively driven to seek out on-line books to read on my desktop computer. I tried reading some on my iphone but the print is too small to read easily. Yesterday I finished “Giants in the Earth”. That was assigned reading in Junior College and I hated it. The main female in the story seemed, to me, a callow 19 year old, to be a whimpering coward. Now that I have reread it at age 70 she does not seem to be a coward. She still whimpers too much but I think I would also in that environment. I cannot believe anyone could live through the winter blizzards like they did.
I have found, in all the good books I have read, nuggets of wisdom that apply to other situations. The quote below is from “Giants in the Earth” Book II--Founding the Kingdom, The Power of Evil in High Places, X.
”And now had begun a seemingly endless struggle between man's fortitude in adversity, on the one hand, and the powers of evil in high places, on the other. There were signs of the scourge in the summer of '73, but not before the following year did it assume the proportions of a plague; after that it raged with unabated fury throughout the years '74, '75, '76, '77, and part of '78; then it disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as it had come. The devastation it wrought was terrible; it made beggars of some, and drove others insane; still others it sent wandering back to the forest lands, though they found conditions little better there, either. . . . But the greater number simply hung on where they were. They stayed because poverty, that most supreme of masters, had deprived them of the liberty to rise up and go away. And where would they have gone? In the name of Heaven, whither would they have fled?”
For decades I have sneered at people in desperate straits that live in areas of nearly continuous famine. Many times I have shouted at the TV announcers “Tell the idiots to move. Don’t they know they are living in a desert?” The passage above brought home the thought that sometimes people are TOO poor to be able to move. I guess I am spoiled by the undeniable wealth we have.
I can summarise my live for the last couple months as: nap often, sleep much, watch recorded tv and zip through the commercials, feed the cats including an impossibly cute male orange kitten with a fluffy tail, putter around with the pool, watch my azaleas slowly die in the extended drought, pay bills, avoid any strenuous activity, monitor blood pressure and pulse rate, read journals and magazines, try to add to “The Device”, and wait for ibuprofen to wear off so I can take a couple more to relieve back pain.
Maybe another entry tomorrow.
 | 10/23: O God, thank you for your constant care and your presence with us, especially during our most vulnerable moments. Give us the strength to endure today's challenges. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 10/24: We love you, dear God, because you have first loved us. Hold us close to your heart, and teach us your loving ways. Through Christ we pray. amen. 10/25: Dear Lord God, thank you for Jesus who came to earth to experience the trials and joys of being human. Thank you for understanding us and promising to be with us in all circumstances. Amen. 10/26: Companion of the lonely, may we be still and know that you are God. Amen. 10/27: O God, help us put into practice what we know and what you promised -- that no matter what happens today, we can trust you. Amen. The prayers are from the Upper Room. For your own free E-Mail Devotional visit : http://upperroom.org/devotional/email/ and click on the link “Other Ways to Receive the Daily Devotional” | |
One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, "I'm not going."
"Why not?" she asked.
I'll give you two good reasons," he said. "(1), they don't like me and (2), I don't like them."
His mother replied, "I'll give YOU two good reasons why YOU SHOULD go to church. (1) You're 59 years old and (2) you're the pastor!"
A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest met at the town's annual 4th of July picnic. Old friends, they began their usual banter.
"This baked ham is really delicious," the priest teased the rabbi. "You really ought to try it. I know it's against your religion, but I can't understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden! You don't know what you're missing. You just haven't lived until you've tried Mrs. Hall's prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?"
The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, "At your wedding."
An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps, "Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely.
"The front row, please," she answered.
"You really don't want to do that," the usher said. "The pastor is really boring."
Do you happen to know who I am?" the woman inquired.
"No," he said.
"I'm the pastor's mother," she replied indignantly.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
"No," she said.
"Good," he answered.
A kindergarten teacher gave her class a "show-and-tell" assignment. Each student was instructed to bring in an object to share with the class that represented their religion.
The first student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is a Star of David."
The second student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Mary. I'm a Catholic and this is a Rosary."
The third student got in up front of the class and said, "My name is Tommy. I am Methodist and this is a casserole."
A priest, a minister, and a guru sat discussing the best positions for prayer while a telephone repairman worked nearby.
"Kneeling is definitely the best way to pray," the priest said.
"No," said the minister. "I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven."
"You're both wrong," the guru said. "The most effective prayer position is lying down on the floor."
The repairman could contain himself no longer. "Hey, fellas," he interrupted. "The best prayin' I ever did was when I was hangin' upside down from a telephone pole."
The young couple invited their elderly pastor for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son what they were having.
"Goat," the little boy replied.
"Goat?" replied the startled man of the cloth, "Are you sure about that?"
"Yep," said the youngster. "I heard Dad say to Mom, ‘Today is just as good as any to have the old goat for dinner."
”We have the best government that money can buy.”
Mark Twain
SGGP
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