Sometimes there is no why ... and no because

Monday, April 30, 2007

Excerpts

from Bob Herbert's recent op-ed in the New York Times, "Hooked on Violence" -- for those of you without TimesSelect:

I had coffee the other day with Marian Wright Edelman, president of the
Children’s Defense Fund, and she mentioned that since the murders of Robert
Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, well over a million
Americans have been killed by firearms in the United States. That’s more than
the combined U.S. combat deaths in all the wars in all of American
history.
“We’re losing eight children and teenagers a day to gun violence,”
she said. “As far as young people are concerned, we lose the equivalent of the
massacre at Virginia Tech about every four days.”
[. . .]
Those who are interested in the safety and well-being of children should keep in mind that only motor vehicle accidents and cancer kill more children in the U.S. than firearms. A study released a few years ago by the Harvard School of Public Health compared firearm mortality rates among youngsters 5 to 14 years old in the five states with the highest rates of gun ownership with those in the five states with the lowest rates.

The results were chilling. Children in the states with the highest rates of gun ownership were 16 times as likely to die from an accidental gunshot wound, nearly seven times as likely to commit suicide with a gun, and more than three times as likely to be murdered with a firearm.

Only a lunatic could seriously believe that more guns in more homes is good for America’s children.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

The Bible Blogger has reached the book of Ecclesiastes, and included the following quote I've never really noticed before. So I'll include it here for all of you. As he notes, Chapter 4 is a remarkable discussion of love and family.

I'm quoting from the Holy Bible: New Analytical Edition -- it's the one that belonged to my grandmother. The cover is well-worn, cracked, and threatening to come off, and some of the pages are in there precariously, but it's beautiful. There's a sticker inside the front cover that lists "Soul-winning Bible verses", and the first few pages are covered with her notes from various sermons. The Bulletin from Sunday, June 5, 1966 marks Psalm 6 -- along with the bulletin from her brother's funeral, on June 9, 1966, when he was just 52. My grandmother kept these items for almost 30 years, until her death in 1992. And it's filled with marginal notes, and underlinings in many different colors. My grandmother was a complicated woman -- she'd had a hard life, she wasn't always fair or kind, but she believed strongly in the power of God's word, and the need for us always to reach out to those in need around us. Even when she had little, she gave of what she had and opened her home to those who needed a place to sleep. And she told me, when I was 9, to read my Bible every day (not that I've followed this teaching well, always, but I think of her when I do remember. And of Mom, who always said, even if I don't read anything else, to at least read the chapter of Proverbs for whatever day it was. And who has led by quiet example every single day that I've known her.)

So here is Ecclesiastes 4:8-12.

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail. Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.

Anyway, I usually get hung up in the "For every thing there is a season" section of Ecclesiastes (or Koheleth), but this text is a lovely expression of our human need for one another. Not just in the context of marriage (as the B.B. discusses it), but also in our friendships.

The Bible Blogger also mentioned an article on marriage, written in 1997 by a man who had just lost his wife.

And finally, I was talking to a friend who mentioned Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" -- I think I probably cut the conversation a little short by going off on a tangent, but have found an interesting online resource.

Blessings and peace....

Addendum: I found a poem my grandmother had cut out of the newspaper and kept in the Bible. Who knows how long it's been there. Here it is:

I shall not pass this way again,
But far beyond earth's where and when
May I look back along the road
Where on both sides good seed I sowed.

I shall not pass this way again,
My wisdom guide my tongue and pen,
And love me mine that so I may
Plant roses all along the way.

I shall not pass this way again,
May I be courteous to men.
Faithful to friends, true to my God,
A fragrance to the path I trod.
---- Clarence Urmy

Saturday, April 28, 2007

The things that make me think....

I love it when I come in contact with things that challenge my faith and challenge my belief, and make me think about where it is my fundamental beliefs come from. Why do I accept the truths that guide my decisions every day, and what exactly are those truths?

Here are a few I've been thinking about today:

* Slate.com has published excerpts from Christopher Hitchens' new book God is not Great: Religion Poisons Everything. The arguments are well-written, challenging and thought-provoking.

* I've recently read Go in Peace. It's a discussion of the sacrament of confession intended for Catholics. But it's been a fun and intriguing read for me, because it necessarily addresses a number of tenets of the Catholic faith I've wondered about. I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting, and found myself unable to put it down. There were many things that conform very closely to what I believe, but also many things to which I had a strong, visceral reaction; not really that much about which I felt neutral. Food for thought.

* Last night I saw "The Ninth Day", a Volker Schlöndorff production. It was incredibly well done, and explores the life a priest who is released from Dachau for nine days. The movie asks us to consider what beliefs we hold so dear, we would be willing to die, even if escape were offered to us. If you watch it, check out the interview with Schlöndorff on the DVD. The main character is portrayed by the same actor, Ulrich Matthes, who so disturbingly and convincingly portrayed Joseph Goebbels in the 2004 film about Hitler's last days, "Downfall".

Not sure what it means, but Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" came on while I was writing this entry, so I will include the lyrics here for you:

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Copyright © 1979 Special Rider Music