Saturday, September 01, 2012
Random pictures
Look in the mirror
I haven't posted in quite a while. I'm not sure why I'm posting now other than there is something I have been thinking a lot about and just want to get it off my chest, whether or not anyone ever reads it. Anyone who knows me is aware of my disdain for hypocrites. Maybe I am considered a hypocrite in some way unknown to me by someone who has observed me. I try really hard to be a person of integrity because I truly would never want to be someone who expected things of others that I would refuse to do.
In that vein, I have been thinking of attitudes among children and adults that are patently unfair. If you would dislike entering a messy motel room and would complain about the filth, you should be willing to clean your own house. If you don't like cleaning, considering it below you or in some way unpleasant, you have no right to criticize others who are willing to clean, to say nothing of being a hypocrite if you prefer your surroundings clean but are unwilling to lift a finger to make them so. If you poop in the toilet, you should be willing to clean it, unless you truly don't care how dirty and smelly it gets. If you would consider neighbors' yards unsightly if they never mowed their lawn and weeds pop up everywhere, you should be willing to do yard-work. If you like wearing clean clothes, you should be willing to do laundry. If you aren't willing, or you complain about doing it hoping someone else will pity you enough to take over and do it, you are a hypocrite. If you don't like wrinkled clothes, are you willing to set up the ironing board, get out the iron, and remove the wrinkles? If you prefer eating off clean plates with clean utensils, you should be willing to wash dishes. If you like to eat, you should be willing to do whatever it takes to put food on the table: plant and weed a garden, help can or freeze produce, cook, clean up after cooking, even earn money to buy food! If you are legitimately not in a position to do anything for yourself, at least recognizing that it IS your responsibility to provide for yourself should make you more appreciative toward those who provide for you.
In a larger sense, if you don't like the smell of garbage, are you willing to occasionally clean your garbage can so it's not quite so unpleasant for the "sanitation workers" who have to handle it? Are you willing to diligently clean recyclable glass, plastic, and metal so it doesn't make the recycling containers or center so stinky and full of bugs? Do you smile at the garbage handlers and maybe even say "thank you" once in awhile? Do you think you are somehow superior to those who take care of your garbage?
Are you content to claim ignorance too easily so you can eat/drink/do whatever you want when you could make the effort to learn more about what's healthy for your body? Do you try to understand why laws exist or just complain when you discover one that interferes with something you want to do? Do you leave grocery carts in random places in parking lots when you are annoyed at not being able to park in a space you would prefer because there is a cart there? Do you routinely pick up things in stores then decide you don't want to purchase them and, rather than hassle putting them back where they belong, just drop them somewhere saying to yourself, "the store employees will put it back"? Do you grumble about neighbors playing really loud music that you don't like then play whatever you happen to like at whatever volume you want whatever time of day or night you want?
I realize I am ranting. I just can't understand how people can NOT see what feeling superior to others or being ungrateful does for their own personality and, ultimately for mankind in general. There is a little kid's song that says something about "to have a friend, you must be a friend, too". Also, the old Dutch (or whatever nationality) proverb about "if you want a clean village, clean your own doorstep". There are way too many people who expect government, or Mom, or Dad, or neighbors, or store employees, teachers, somebody, ANYBODY else to do what they want done. How can you complain about how unfriendly neighbors or people at church are if You never approach Them? If YOU can't afford higher taxes, how can you justify wanting the expansion or establishment of a government program to provide something you want? If you never bother to thank God for the things He provides for you EVERY SINGLE DAY, how can you justify going to Him on your knees with tears in your eyes when your loved one may be dying or a hurricane is coming or you have lost your job? The world could be a MUCH better place if EVERYBODY took more responsibility for themselves and felt and showed more gratitude to others. I wish, I wish, I wish......
In that vein, I have been thinking of attitudes among children and adults that are patently unfair. If you would dislike entering a messy motel room and would complain about the filth, you should be willing to clean your own house. If you don't like cleaning, considering it below you or in some way unpleasant, you have no right to criticize others who are willing to clean, to say nothing of being a hypocrite if you prefer your surroundings clean but are unwilling to lift a finger to make them so. If you poop in the toilet, you should be willing to clean it, unless you truly don't care how dirty and smelly it gets. If you would consider neighbors' yards unsightly if they never mowed their lawn and weeds pop up everywhere, you should be willing to do yard-work. If you like wearing clean clothes, you should be willing to do laundry. If you aren't willing, or you complain about doing it hoping someone else will pity you enough to take over and do it, you are a hypocrite. If you don't like wrinkled clothes, are you willing to set up the ironing board, get out the iron, and remove the wrinkles? If you prefer eating off clean plates with clean utensils, you should be willing to wash dishes. If you like to eat, you should be willing to do whatever it takes to put food on the table: plant and weed a garden, help can or freeze produce, cook, clean up after cooking, even earn money to buy food! If you are legitimately not in a position to do anything for yourself, at least recognizing that it IS your responsibility to provide for yourself should make you more appreciative toward those who provide for you.
In a larger sense, if you don't like the smell of garbage, are you willing to occasionally clean your garbage can so it's not quite so unpleasant for the "sanitation workers" who have to handle it? Are you willing to diligently clean recyclable glass, plastic, and metal so it doesn't make the recycling containers or center so stinky and full of bugs? Do you smile at the garbage handlers and maybe even say "thank you" once in awhile? Do you think you are somehow superior to those who take care of your garbage?
Are you content to claim ignorance too easily so you can eat/drink/do whatever you want when you could make the effort to learn more about what's healthy for your body? Do you try to understand why laws exist or just complain when you discover one that interferes with something you want to do? Do you leave grocery carts in random places in parking lots when you are annoyed at not being able to park in a space you would prefer because there is a cart there? Do you routinely pick up things in stores then decide you don't want to purchase them and, rather than hassle putting them back where they belong, just drop them somewhere saying to yourself, "the store employees will put it back"? Do you grumble about neighbors playing really loud music that you don't like then play whatever you happen to like at whatever volume you want whatever time of day or night you want?
I realize I am ranting. I just can't understand how people can NOT see what feeling superior to others or being ungrateful does for their own personality and, ultimately for mankind in general. There is a little kid's song that says something about "to have a friend, you must be a friend, too". Also, the old Dutch (or whatever nationality) proverb about "if you want a clean village, clean your own doorstep". There are way too many people who expect government, or Mom, or Dad, or neighbors, or store employees, teachers, somebody, ANYBODY else to do what they want done. How can you complain about how unfriendly neighbors or people at church are if You never approach Them? If YOU can't afford higher taxes, how can you justify wanting the expansion or establishment of a government program to provide something you want? If you never bother to thank God for the things He provides for you EVERY SINGLE DAY, how can you justify going to Him on your knees with tears in your eyes when your loved one may be dying or a hurricane is coming or you have lost your job? The world could be a MUCH better place if EVERYBODY took more responsibility for themselves and felt and showed more gratitude to others. I wish, I wish, I wish......
Monday, July 30, 2012
Whatever I can do....
Today was not one of Mom's better days. It is so hard watching my mother disappear, ever so slowly. I find myself wondering why a loving Heavenly Father allows human bodies to go on long after the soul who has inhabited them has, for all intents and purposes, gone. They sometimes fade in and out for several years or sometimes there is nobody there when you look in their eyes- maybe they can't even move. This can be the result of an injury or simply degeneration from a disease or old age. I wonder what purpose can be served by their continued existence. Are those of us who are still able-mind and bodied to learn something? I'm trying to learn how to avoid the condition at all costs but my rational thinking forces me to acknowledge that I may not have a choice. I'm sure those who experience such a condition never requested it. Every day when I go to visit Mom I see people who have had severe strokes or accidents or are suffering dementia. I so admire the people who work there to take care of all the broken people who need so much. I try to be friendly to all the patients and appreciative to all the employees. I wish I could do more but - what? All I can do is pray that if I ever end up like these people, there will be someone willing to change my diaper, deal with my delusions, and try to be patient with me. For now, I'll just keep praying to know if and when I can do anything to help anyone.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
THIS is family.
 |
| We just finished an awesome family reunion. We were blessed with excellent health, safety, and weather. Our last night there, one of the older girls lost her class ring on the beach. The older kids all tried to find it with flashlights but it was too dark. The next morning, nearly everybody in the family was out there doing all they could to help find the ring. |
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Sets and subsets
Most people in the world would acknowledge that love is a powerful force. Being a Christian, I have read and continue to study scriptures which refer to love, probably the most famous being Christ's admonition to "love one another even as I have loved you". The ancient Romans had specific terms for different types of love, recognizing that love for a parent is not the same as love for a friend which is not the same as love for pink flowers, etc. I have found that opposing opinions, while creating dissension which makes me uncomfortable, also motivates me to analyze exactly what I believe/feel/prefer and why. As I am exposed to different people's concepts of love, I have come to an analogy that I want to share with whoever might be interested. In terms of the arithmetic concept of sets and subsets, love would be the large all-encompassing set. Hate would be a separate circle, a separate set. Inside the circle/set of love would be all the many types of love, one of which would be the love in a marriage. (Love between two people who are not married but simply living together wouldn't be included because it doesn't involve the same commitment or deep covenants. It might be really passionate and feel like it will last forever but if it doesn't inspire the covenants with witnesses so it really isn't the same.)
Marriage involves many aspects of relationship including but not limited to: friendship, counseling, learning and teaching, support in various forms (such as financial, moral, physical), recreational partners, co-nurterers of offspring, comforters, job sharing, and on and on. God made us with the ability to reproduce, as long as there is a male and female. He also made us with a physical desire to enjoy the pleasant sensations attendant with sex. That desire is at different levels in different people and at different times in our lives. Biologically, it assists in reproduction. If sex wasn't so pleasant, why would people do it when the result could be undesirable, e.g. diseases, pregnancy which causes great discomfort for nearly a year for females to say nothing of the agony of birth, offspring which can interfere with plans the adults have and cost lots of time and money? Sex is a biological function but humans are more than biological entities. We have an element that doesn't exist in other living things. Many animals come close because they seem to feel emotions toward others of their species as well as other species. But humans are unique in their advanced state and that is because we are not just creations of God, we are His children, His offspring. Sex is so powerful in that it allows us to conceive and produce more biological entities which will house the spirits of other offspring of God. Sex also causes us to attach ourselves to others emotionally as we grow and develop in a mature love as opposed to just lusting physically or coveting the undivided attention of someone. It grieves me that sex is portrayed in media as simply a recreational activity that "sometimes" leads to a decision to make a commitment. When sex is not in the subset of love called marriage, it is not truly in the larger set of love. It is a different element altogether. If sex is not for the purpose of reproducing or for bonding a male and female longterm, it is destructive. Growing up in the 60's and 70's I tried to go along with the cultural attitude of free love or "if it feels good, do it". But I soon realized that it was "fun" for the body (biological entity) but it raised havoc with the mind, emotions, and spirit. There is more to us than physical reactions. If we don't acknowledge that, we cause ourselves grief.
Marriage involves many aspects of relationship including but not limited to: friendship, counseling, learning and teaching, support in various forms (such as financial, moral, physical), recreational partners, co-nurterers of offspring, comforters, job sharing, and on and on. God made us with the ability to reproduce, as long as there is a male and female. He also made us with a physical desire to enjoy the pleasant sensations attendant with sex. That desire is at different levels in different people and at different times in our lives. Biologically, it assists in reproduction. If sex wasn't so pleasant, why would people do it when the result could be undesirable, e.g. diseases, pregnancy which causes great discomfort for nearly a year for females to say nothing of the agony of birth, offspring which can interfere with plans the adults have and cost lots of time and money? Sex is a biological function but humans are more than biological entities. We have an element that doesn't exist in other living things. Many animals come close because they seem to feel emotions toward others of their species as well as other species. But humans are unique in their advanced state and that is because we are not just creations of God, we are His children, His offspring. Sex is so powerful in that it allows us to conceive and produce more biological entities which will house the spirits of other offspring of God. Sex also causes us to attach ourselves to others emotionally as we grow and develop in a mature love as opposed to just lusting physically or coveting the undivided attention of someone. It grieves me that sex is portrayed in media as simply a recreational activity that "sometimes" leads to a decision to make a commitment. When sex is not in the subset of love called marriage, it is not truly in the larger set of love. It is a different element altogether. If sex is not for the purpose of reproducing or for bonding a male and female longterm, it is destructive. Growing up in the 60's and 70's I tried to go along with the cultural attitude of free love or "if it feels good, do it". But I soon realized that it was "fun" for the body (biological entity) but it raised havoc with the mind, emotions, and spirit. There is more to us than physical reactions. If we don't acknowledge that, we cause ourselves grief.
Friday, June 15, 2012
War or peace
I love to learn but I have come to understand that not everybody does. There are far too many people who would prefer to simply be comfortable or have a "good time". Too many people think that learning things requires going outside their comfort zone. I truly believe that education is essential to anyone who is interested in doing any more than taking up space on the planet. This does NOT mean that everybody needs to attend college and acquire a degree. There are people who have a degree who are every bit as ignorant and ego-centric as some high school dropouts. To me, education is curiosity, empathy, meditation, and hard work. I have been enjoying some recorded college lectures on a variety of topics. The professor who recorded a series on events in history that have changed the world pointed out that there have been 4 "great teachers", namely Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus Christ. None of them wrote any books; their students or followers recorded their words. None of them waged a war or anything like unto it in order to force their ideas on anyone else. They all spent a lot of time observing, listening, pondering, then would share what they came to understand with others. They all taught 4 basic life principles essential to happiness, peace, and success: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation. Wisdom is the ability to understand and make good use of information and intelligence. Justice is the awareness of making things fair, doing unto others what you would have them do to you. Courage is the determination to stand by what you know to be true, have integrity, and live according to what you learn despite the consequences. Moderation is avoiding going to extremes in behavior or speech leading to divisiveness, hatred, even war.
There have been many wise people who have lived on this earth. There have also been many foolish people. I realize that not everyone has yet acknowledged that Jesus is the Son of God, our Mediator, and our Savior. They will some day. But for now, it would behoove everyone to at least be aware that many wise (not just LEARNED) people have come to a consensus that we can all live together if we follow some basic principles that promote peace, understanding, and greater wisdom for all. Martin Luther King read about and followed the examples of Jesus as well as Ghandi. He was a catalyst for major societal changes without killing, oppressing, stealing, or cheating. There is a saying that anyone who refuses to study history is doomed to repeat it. We surely do cause any and all tragedies throughout history to be repeated when we improve technologically (science, medicine, transportation, communication) but refuse to advance our basic nature to challenge, rebel, contend, be greedy or cruel, or to be just plain selfish. People are just as dead whether they have been killed with a club or a nuclear bomb. People are just as unhealthy if they try to cure themselves with blood-letting as they are if they refuse to stop smoking or consuming copious amounts of alcohol. People are just as ignorant if they burn all books without reading them as they are if they have access to literature but spend all their time watching junk entertainment. Why can we not learn and advance? We each have the freedom to be whatever kind of person we want to be. When we fall short of learning and implementing principles of goodness and wisdom, we are wasting time- stuck in our infantile stage as potential great beings. If anyone reads this and understands what I'm trying to say, let me know.
There have been many wise people who have lived on this earth. There have also been many foolish people. I realize that not everyone has yet acknowledged that Jesus is the Son of God, our Mediator, and our Savior. They will some day. But for now, it would behoove everyone to at least be aware that many wise (not just LEARNED) people have come to a consensus that we can all live together if we follow some basic principles that promote peace, understanding, and greater wisdom for all. Martin Luther King read about and followed the examples of Jesus as well as Ghandi. He was a catalyst for major societal changes without killing, oppressing, stealing, or cheating. There is a saying that anyone who refuses to study history is doomed to repeat it. We surely do cause any and all tragedies throughout history to be repeated when we improve technologically (science, medicine, transportation, communication) but refuse to advance our basic nature to challenge, rebel, contend, be greedy or cruel, or to be just plain selfish. People are just as dead whether they have been killed with a club or a nuclear bomb. People are just as unhealthy if they try to cure themselves with blood-letting as they are if they refuse to stop smoking or consuming copious amounts of alcohol. People are just as ignorant if they burn all books without reading them as they are if they have access to literature but spend all their time watching junk entertainment. Why can we not learn and advance? We each have the freedom to be whatever kind of person we want to be. When we fall short of learning and implementing principles of goodness and wisdom, we are wasting time- stuck in our infantile stage as potential great beings. If anyone reads this and understands what I'm trying to say, let me know.
Friday, June 01, 2012
Boy Scouts of America
When my sons were in Boy Scouts, I thought it was a good program and did what I could to support their participation, including paying for Scout camp, serving as a den leader, and attending functions,etc. Ammon wasn't particularly interested in going for his Eagle. James might have but his life was so busy- OUR family life was so busy- that it just didn't make the top priority list for him to achieve the rank of Eagle. Now I realize that the achievement of Eagle is pretty important. It is evidence of time and effort and persistence in a worthwhile accomplishment. I'm sorry I wasn't more supportive of my boys making Eagle. I don't know whether the three boys in the picture above will make it to Eagle but I hope they do. But anyway, I'm really glad they're active in Scouting even if it makes their lives a little hectic at times. Currently, all 9 of the boys I call grandsons are active in Scouts. I'm glad.
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