My sister thinks I'm a big chicken. She has been known to make "bwak-bwak" noises at me when we are sitting on a roller coaster, for instance; conveniently forgetting I am strapped in the seat NEXT TO HER. Afraid? You bet. My sister is not afraid of anything. I think as kids she would have jumped off the roof on a dare ( she may have done that but our childhoods were a long time ago and I can get a little fuzzy on the details) I would have been the one trying to calculate how to jump and how to break the fall, and then decided it was better to be a live chicken than a dead duck.
I like to think that I have a certain amount of courage. I have faced down some pretty terrible things and made it to the other side of them. I remind myself that courage is not the absence of fear,it is being afraid and doing it anyway. Today I am having a test done and I am more terrified than I probably should be. The test itself will probably hurt a bit. The literature on it says it's "uncomfortable" My doctor told me to take a Vicodin before the test, which tells you just what level of "discomfort" he expects. I am going to breathe and get through this. The thing that scares me is the results. Either I will have the disease now or will need to have this test done on a regular basis to see if it develops. I will get the results and consider my options. Ultimately, I am looking at the surgery, it's really just a question of when, not if. I doubt there is really a "good" time for this to happen, but this week it is really important for me to be able to do things. My Bobby turns a year old on Friday and I am looking forward to going to a baseball game with him. We have the tickets. I am making him a cake, per my daughter's request. I don't have time to be out of it.
So send me good thoughts today. I'll check in later and tell you how it went.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Faith and Kim Davis
She's all over the news and social media, so I suppose it's time I tossed in my two cents on the whole Kentucky clerk question.
She's wrong.
My father used to say "your rights end at my nose" . Kim swore an oath to uphold the law of the land and just because her beliefs don't jibe with that law, does not mean that she can pick and choose which laws she is oath-bound to uphold.When the law passed, it was her responsibility to approach her employer and say that she could not do this on moral grounds. It was then their responsibility to come up with a compromise that would allow the law to be upheld without forcing someone to go against their (wrong-headed) beliefs. She's in jail because she continued to defy a court order. She encouraged and instructed her staff to defy the court order. If you or I defied a work directive, we would be fired or at the very least put on administrative leave and sent to another department. Kim and her lawyer are trying desperately to make her a Christian Martyr. I smell a book deal and the talk-show circuit in her future.
I identify as Christian, specifically "Plain-wrap, white bread Christian" but there you have it. There are a lot of people talking about how we practice a "fairy tale religion" and frankly I am a bit more than offended by that stance. In some ways, the non-believers are as bad as some of the more radical evangelicals who preach damnation of you don't believe EXACTLY as they do. I think I am a rather intelligent person. I am also a person of faith. I do not know how someone who had no belief in anything gets out of bed in the morning. I know my faith informs me, it guides me and it give me hope. As the song goes "You've gotta believe in something, if you don't you will be lost." I do not believe anyone needs to believe as I do. I do question some people's interpretation of the Bible. Accuse me of "cherry picking" but here is my interpretation: Harm no one, Help them if you can. Love one another. What is hateful to you, do not do to others. The rest of the Bible is commentary. If you look at the Bible, I believe scholars divide it into three parts; history, poetry and philosophy. I don't take all the philosophical rhetoric to heart, as a lot of it is in direct conflict with other passages. When developing a philosophy of your own, you study what others have said and embrace or discard those ideas as they apply - or don't- to the core of what you believe.
That being said, I hope the Kim Davis situation , and potential situations like hers, can be avoided. The fact that she is using her religion to deny specific rights to human beings whose lifestyle she disagrees with is just plain wrong. What if a fast food worker, whose place of business began selling a product that their beliefs forbade them to consume, decided that in stead of looking for a way to continue to work but not serve that product and denied customers based solely on their beliefs? Now getting a pulled pork sandwich is not a basic human right, but you get the idea. When is one segment of the religious community allowed to dictate what others must believe? Despite what you hear, the Founding Fathers of this country were VERY clear on separation of church and state for that very reason. There is no reference to God in the Constitution. I was always taught America was founded on freedom OF and freedom FROM religion. I hope that is made clear to Ms Davis and others who feel that they have the right to use their beliefs to enforce their biases.
She's wrong.
My father used to say "your rights end at my nose" . Kim swore an oath to uphold the law of the land and just because her beliefs don't jibe with that law, does not mean that she can pick and choose which laws she is oath-bound to uphold.When the law passed, it was her responsibility to approach her employer and say that she could not do this on moral grounds. It was then their responsibility to come up with a compromise that would allow the law to be upheld without forcing someone to go against their (wrong-headed) beliefs. She's in jail because she continued to defy a court order. She encouraged and instructed her staff to defy the court order. If you or I defied a work directive, we would be fired or at the very least put on administrative leave and sent to another department. Kim and her lawyer are trying desperately to make her a Christian Martyr. I smell a book deal and the talk-show circuit in her future.
I identify as Christian, specifically "Plain-wrap, white bread Christian" but there you have it. There are a lot of people talking about how we practice a "fairy tale religion" and frankly I am a bit more than offended by that stance. In some ways, the non-believers are as bad as some of the more radical evangelicals who preach damnation of you don't believe EXACTLY as they do. I think I am a rather intelligent person. I am also a person of faith. I do not know how someone who had no belief in anything gets out of bed in the morning. I know my faith informs me, it guides me and it give me hope. As the song goes "You've gotta believe in something, if you don't you will be lost." I do not believe anyone needs to believe as I do. I do question some people's interpretation of the Bible. Accuse me of "cherry picking" but here is my interpretation: Harm no one, Help them if you can. Love one another. What is hateful to you, do not do to others. The rest of the Bible is commentary. If you look at the Bible, I believe scholars divide it into three parts; history, poetry and philosophy. I don't take all the philosophical rhetoric to heart, as a lot of it is in direct conflict with other passages. When developing a philosophy of your own, you study what others have said and embrace or discard those ideas as they apply - or don't- to the core of what you believe.
That being said, I hope the Kim Davis situation , and potential situations like hers, can be avoided. The fact that she is using her religion to deny specific rights to human beings whose lifestyle she disagrees with is just plain wrong. What if a fast food worker, whose place of business began selling a product that their beliefs forbade them to consume, decided that in stead of looking for a way to continue to work but not serve that product and denied customers based solely on their beliefs? Now getting a pulled pork sandwich is not a basic human right, but you get the idea. When is one segment of the religious community allowed to dictate what others must believe? Despite what you hear, the Founding Fathers of this country were VERY clear on separation of church and state for that very reason. There is no reference to God in the Constitution. I was always taught America was founded on freedom OF and freedom FROM religion. I hope that is made clear to Ms Davis and others who feel that they have the right to use their beliefs to enforce their biases.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Saturday morning coffee thoughts
It was quite a week and I am reflecting on it, as well as trying to wrap my head around the week ahead.
A while back I took a promotional exam and yesterday I found out I did not pass. I was disappointed, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I did not really want the job and here's why:
1- The job is mostly supervision. I HATE supervising. Chris observed that I am more of a hands-on get-it -done kind of person. I hate having to monitor and correct people's work.
2- I really like working at the Library and there is no job in that classification- that I can see- in the Department. At this stage of my life, do I really want to go somewhere else and learn a whole new language of a new job? Probably not.
3- Stress is NOT my friend. While a little tension can make life interesting, I have seen the job above me and I am not sure the "cost" is worth the recompense. Both the supervisors who work over me work longer hours and are always on call. I can turn my phone off, they are salaried and can't.
4- I am facing some health challenges. If things get bad, this is NOT the time to be trying to acclimate to a new position.
I need to realize that God ( or the Universe) has his plans and I need to see that although it may be not what I wanted, that it will be better in the end.
Reflecting on a recent encounter with an old friend, I realized that sometimes people from your past are in your past for a reason. It wasn't an uncomfortable meeting, and this person is perfectly charming, but I realized that the thing that had made us friends at the time was not enough to hold a friendship together in the Now. While I may see this person from time to time, actively pursuing a deeper friendship is no longer on the table. As we get older, casual friendships fall away. Trying to maintain ties is difficult if the ties were tenuous to begin with.
Planning dinner with good friends this evening. I have NO idea what I am making ( except for a roast chicken) I am hoping the grocery store will provide some inspiration. I had better get my tail in gear here. I have "Saturday stuff" to do.
A while back I took a promotional exam and yesterday I found out I did not pass. I was disappointed, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I did not really want the job and here's why:
1- The job is mostly supervision. I HATE supervising. Chris observed that I am more of a hands-on get-it -done kind of person. I hate having to monitor and correct people's work.
2- I really like working at the Library and there is no job in that classification- that I can see- in the Department. At this stage of my life, do I really want to go somewhere else and learn a whole new language of a new job? Probably not.
3- Stress is NOT my friend. While a little tension can make life interesting, I have seen the job above me and I am not sure the "cost" is worth the recompense. Both the supervisors who work over me work longer hours and are always on call. I can turn my phone off, they are salaried and can't.
4- I am facing some health challenges. If things get bad, this is NOT the time to be trying to acclimate to a new position.
I need to realize that God ( or the Universe) has his plans and I need to see that although it may be not what I wanted, that it will be better in the end.
Reflecting on a recent encounter with an old friend, I realized that sometimes people from your past are in your past for a reason. It wasn't an uncomfortable meeting, and this person is perfectly charming, but I realized that the thing that had made us friends at the time was not enough to hold a friendship together in the Now. While I may see this person from time to time, actively pursuing a deeper friendship is no longer on the table. As we get older, casual friendships fall away. Trying to maintain ties is difficult if the ties were tenuous to begin with.
Planning dinner with good friends this evening. I have NO idea what I am making ( except for a roast chicken) I am hoping the grocery store will provide some inspiration. I had better get my tail in gear here. I have "Saturday stuff" to do.
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