We Should Be Weeping

Lori in Rhode Island writes about weeping. What she wrote is the saddest and truest thing I've read all week. I hope you will go to her blog and read her precious words of today.


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We Are Cultural Schizophrenics

We have become cultural schizophrenics. On one hand we decry the violence that occurred Saturday in Arizona. On the other hand we love "violence" as entertainment. We love it, I say! We pay big bucks to watch violence at the theaters and in our living rooms.

Our heroes punch each other, beat each other to a pulp. stab, shoot, kill and nobody gets arrested. Nobody goes to jail. No consequences.

Isn't that a bit unrealistic?

If I slap my neighbor in the face I can be charged with assault. If I slap my toddler, I can lose my kid to the system. (I'm too old for that...my toddler is in her 30s, but you get the picture.)

But not in Hollywood. No, Sirree. In the movies there is no consequence to breaking someone's nose. Nor killing in the most vile way. If the killing is done by the "hero", the "hero" goes away unbothered by the consequences of his action. If the violence is done by the "bad guy", well, then the solution is that the "good guy" kills the "bad guy". And the "good guy" doesn't even come under investigation for his action!

Folks! That is not Reality!

I'm wondering...when is Hollywood going to step up to the plate and recognize the great impression they have on young, impressionable minds who are sitting in front of the TV without parental supervision.

You say, "But...the parents are supposed to supervise and explain and discuss and blah, blah, blah."

I say, "Where is the village in this scenario?" Where is our society teaching our children the ramifications of using violence against one another? Parents and teachers tell them one thing (don't hit!) and television tells them another (hitting and killing solves problems). You figure out which will have the stronger message.

We have accepted into our midst the glorification of violence. We've let Hollywood teach our children as to what is acceptable behavior towards one another. We sit passively by and say, "It's only a movie."

And, lest we be accused of that dirty word "censorship", we swallow it all...hook, line and sinker. We have a knee-jerk reaction to a false concept of "censorship". God forbid that we censor. We have a right, after all, to say/write/portray anything we want. It's in the First Amendment, right? Isn't that right?

And yet we do censor. We censor anyone who threatens the President or a Member of Congress. We censor anyone who says the word "bomb" in an airport. (Try that one and see how much freedom of speech you have.) We censor calling each other certain names. We censor the words coming out of a first-grade teacher's mouth. If that teacher uses profanity (especially repeated profanity) that teacher will be out of a job. We censor a loud filthy mouth in a family restaurant. We stop the ruckus by calling the police and charging him with disturbing the peace.

Even Mark Twain is being censored! We Do Censor!

And while we condemn children calling each other names (bullying) in the school setting, we don't dare "censor" the television programs where insults, name-calling, hitting, killing are all done in the name of "entertainment". After all, if we were to do that, we'd be limiting someone's "free speech rights", someone's "creativity".

Don't you think it odd that "censorship" has become as holy as the Holy Grail?

And isn't it odd that "morality" has become a dirty word?

Am I crazy, or has the entire society turned itself upside down?

P.S. When a bookstore refuses to sell the crummy book you wrote last week...well, that is NOT censorship. NOT!

Today's Verse is Isaiah 5:20. Click on the reference to read the verse...unless you consider the Bible worthy of censorship, that is.

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Lennie Joins the Band and the Band Becomes "Art"

Debby of "Life's Funny Like That" commented yesterday about the strangeness of "time" and how we are each, every one of us, wrapped up in time, living out our lives, connected one with another.

Time takes us forward, one step, two steps, three. There is no going backward. We can "look" back, but we can't "go" back.

Debby was kind enough to mention my new blog, "Lennie's Diary" wherein we read the sparse words of a 16-year-old (soon to be 17) boy from Wakefield, Nebraska, in the year 1898.

If you, Dear Reader, have not yet visited Lennie, please click here to read the latest in his 1898 diary and how the Wakefield Cornet Band became "art" nearly a century later.

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A Two-Year Pie Out On the Deck

I betcha thought this cold and snowy weather was good for nothng, didn't you? You Were Wrong!

As you can see, the snowy deck (actually, it's a combo of sleet and snow) makes a good cooling pad for the apple pie I baked this morning. It's 13 degrees and I figure that'll cool this pie down right fast.

Oh, I could place the pie on the countertop to cool, but that would slow down consumption considerably. This late in the year it's pointless to begin practicing patience.

(Don't worry, Mom! I baked a small one for you as well.)

On the the New Year.

Last week, as I printed out my 2011 calendar, I hand-printed at the top of each monthly page the following statement. I read it on someone's blog (yours?) but I can't remember where and I liked it. Here it is, as printed in red on my calendar.

"We will prayerfully await the unfolding of God's ordained will."

The statement is a reminder that regardless of what 2011 brings, whether ease or discomfort, we are always and still and forever in the providential hands of our Lord. God is our provider, both for things physical and spiritual. He causes us to lean faithfully upon Him. And in that leaning, He gives us peace.

May your New Year be filled with the Peace that only He can provide.

Now...heading for apple pie! Even though it's early in the day I think we can extend this pie out into the next year. A two year pie! How about them apples!

P.S. Don't forget to check in on Lennie tomorrow.

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Upon Which I Tell You About Lennie's Diary in Year 1898

These days nobody writes anything on paper. It's email or twitter or blogs or whatever. And little of it is printed out for posterity. (Sure, you think just because it's on the Net that it is forever! But that's what you thought about your VCR movies, too!)

We have in our possession a shoe box full of letters that Hubby's mother wrote home to her mother. A huge lot of them. But this post is not about those letters.

Instead, I am writing about Hubby's grandfather's diary. It was a simple little pocket-size book with a couple lines set apart for each day. Each day in 1898 Lennie (his name was Charles Leonard) wrote succinct notes about his day. He was seventeen. He was in high school and worked on the neighbor's farm. He played in the town band and liked girls. His transportation was either a horse or a bicycle. There were no cars yet.

I have a fondness for Lennie. My hubby very much resembles him physically, and although I never met Lennie, I'm thinking their personalities were similar as well.

I hope you will click over to Lennie's diary and follow along as I post his daily notes nearly 113 years later.

And, maybe, perhaps, it will inspire you to begin a diary of your own.

Happy New Year, Everybody! Happy New Year!
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Today's Word: succinct [səkˈsɪŋkt] adjective
Definition

1. marked by brevity and clarity; concise

2. compressed into a small area

My Brother is Always Good for a Snirkle!

I make up new words. Today's word? "Snirkle!" It's sort of a cross between a giggle, a smirk, and snarky laughter. Today I snirkled!

Earlier today....a phone conversation with my brother. In regards to our family gathering for Christmas. And food thereof.

• Me: "The fruitcake is almost gone.
  

• Me again: "But I'm going to make another."

• Brother: "Oh, No!"

• Brother again: Oh! I mean "Wonderful!"

My brother is always good for a snirkle.

P.S. I am not always good a making up new words. I googled "snirkle" and guess what! It's already taken. It's a candy bar, of all things, that originated in 1920. Man! Am I behind the times! Snirkle, snirkle!
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How Can We Not Celebrate!!!

One of the blogs that I follow is J.C. Ryle Quotes. You might ask, "Who is J.C. Ryle?"

A partial answer is that J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) was a prolific writer, preacher, pastor, husband of three wives (widowed three times) and the father to five children.

After being in Pastoral ministry in England for 38 years, in 1880 (at age 64) Ryle became the first bishop of Liverpool, England and remained there for 20 years. He retired in 1900 (at age 83) and died later that same year at age 84. (You can read a longer, albeit short, biography at this website.)

I'm appreciative of the J.C. Ryle Quotes blog because I can daily read clear, convicting words by Ryle. Today's quote is as follows (emphasis mine):

Christianity is a religion built upon facts. Let us never lose sight of this. The first preachers did not go up and down the world, proclaiming an elaborate, artificial system of abstruse doctrines and deep principles. They made it their first business to tell men great plain facts. They went about telling a sin-laden world, that the Son of God had come down to earth, and lived for us, died for us, and risen again. The Gospel, at its first publication, was far more simple than many make it now. It was neither more nor less than the history of Christ. ~ J.C. Ryle

And so it is, that at Christmastime, we are celebrating exactly that! The Son of God, has come to save us from our sins. The Jesus of history now sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes on behalf of His people.

How can we not celebrate!

Merry Christmas! And Hallelujah!

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