Sunday, April 29, 2007

Perception

Last night, while at a function for area Presbyterian women, I overheard a portion of a conversation which struck me kinda odd. One woman was talking about spending time at a second home they owned out in west Texas. In the course of the conversation, she mentioned that she was so glad to be back in Beaumont because things were so green and lush around here and so dry and brown out there. It wasn't that long ago that everyone in the Golden Triangle area was devastated because of how bare things looked after the hurricane.

Isn't it amazing how quickly our perceptions can change?

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Comment on a Comment

A friend of mine left this comment on another site:

I don't think our world will ever know peace in our lifetime. It's sad but true. We've taken away so may values that are needed for peace that my generation the one that's causing all the violence may never stop. We need to go back to the little things like opening the doors for strangers, saying ma'am and sir. Put things like prayer and the pledge of allegiance back in school. All opinions set aside the fact is the generations before mine weren't as violent, I hate to see what kind of people come out of younger generations. It just seems like when we said prayer's and the pledge of allegiance, when we didn't have violent video games, when our parents could spank us for being bad, when we had to earn/work for the money that bought the newest set of legos the world was a better place.

Here's my comment on her comment:

Peace in our lifetime? You're right. It won't happen. I fear it is part of the human condition for violence to exist somewhere in the world at all times. However, I would not put the lack of peace at the feet of your generation. Violence has existed in some form or fashion since Cain killed Abel.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with whether there is prayer in schools or the Pledge of Allegiance is said daily.

To put things into perspective, when I was growing up, the war in Vietnam was escalating and the Cold War was really heating up. In the early 60's, there was a very real concern that global thermonuclear war would break out to the destruction of all humanity. When I was a teenager, there were several protest groups who chose to use violence as a way to get their message across - American terrorists, if you will. Hijackings were happening left and right. Serial killers whose rampages were televised across the nation, and the first of the school shooters, Charles Whitman, killed 16 people and wounded 31 at the University of Texas in 1966. (Oh! and btw, we had a prayer/devotional and said the pledge daily.)

It seems to me that part of the sense of escalating violence in the world today is due to the ubiquitous nature of the public news system which exists 24/7. If you must find something to televise or fill your website around the clock, then even the first hint of a violent situation ends up filling hours of airtime, over and over again. The technology, and the fact that there were only 3-4 broadcast stations for so many years, did not lend themselves to "all the news, all the time". Even so, when something like the serial killer who came through Beaumont in the early 80's and raped and killed the mother of two of the children at the day care center where I worked, it was carried on the news with breaking news updates as new information was available, up to and including the final minutes when the police trapped him at the Canadian border and killed him when he wouldn't surrender.

As a result, those mentally ill individuals who perpetrate such violent acts as what happened at Virginia Tech this week take advantage of the situation to gain their few minutes of fame, even to committing suicide in a national forum. From their deluded point of view, they will live on in infamy and will leave this life at the pinnacle of their notoriety. Just look at all of the copycat attempts which began to pop up across the country this past week. In this environment of heightened awareness, even a failed attempt gains a visibility which the attacker would not otherwise have.

As to prayer in the schools, it still exists. Just think of all the frantic praying which happens as the test you've not prepared adequately for is handed out or the presentation you're uncertain about is about to start! What has changed is that the schools no longer sponsor the prayers of a particular religion. Look at it this way, what if you (or your child) were Christian in a system where every day the prayer of the day was Buddhist or Hindu or Islamic? That was the concern of our founding parents when freedom of religion was established in our Constitution. Our country has never been completely one religious faith (note that Thomas Jefferson included a Koran in his library) and is designed to honor the faiths of all her peoples.

I'm of the opinion that our behavior tends to operate on a long, slow pendulum and goes from periods of limited violence to extreme violence over time. If you do some historical digging, you'll find that even in colonial times, the adults were concerned about the deteriorating behavior of the younger generation, noting coarse language and coarser behaviors occurring. In time, the behavior gets out of hand and society begins to apply correctives.

As to spanking children, I believe that violence begets violence. What is of significance is that inappropriate behavior receive appropriate consequences. Spanking teaches that it is all right for a significantly larger, more powerful person to inflict damage on the smaller and weaker.

Violent video games are a whole 'nother kettle of fish. I truly wrestle with this one. There's this part of me which says playing these games inures one to the actual harm being inflicted on another, if such action were to happen in real life. Yet if such were so, my generation would be equally involved in the same level of violence as yours (and probably is if you take a measured look at the violence in our world globally), since we were exposed regularly to the violence of cartoons, westerns, the Three Stooges, and war movies. We seem to believe that the same media which advertises in order to get us to buy various and sundry products is not capable of influencing our behavior when it comes to inflicting harm on others. The jury's still out on this one.

Helping others, treating others with respect, living within our means and treating ourselves with respect, well, I think those are part of that pendulum swing I mentioned earlier. I believe there will come a point (and I think we're getting close to reaching it) when the majority of people will be fed up with the way we treat each other and a new level of respect and building community will be started. It won't look quite exactly the way it did 60, 80, 100 years ago, but it will fit our time and our situation. If each of us keeps doing our part toward making the world a better place, the pendulum will swing a bit faster. Nope, we won't achieve peace throughout the world, but our little corner of it will probably become a bit nicer.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

In the News

Has it really been almost 2 weeks since last I posted? Guess so! Things got a bit busy, what with the son-ly person heading to California right after Easter and meetings and recuperating and house repair and all. Then, most of this week, I was at our presbytery's annual post-Easter clergy retreat - sans electronics (mostly). It was a truly good and much needed break, filled with laughter and naps and good food and healing.

Then we had to return to the real world. I ache for the families and friends of those who died at Virginia Tech, yes, even the shooter's family. The repercussions, the video, the commentary seem to reverbrate unceasingly. There is so much that is incomprehensible, which boggles the mind. What is it about the time period around April 19th? So many vile and incomprehensible experiences seem to have that date in near proximity. Is there something in the air that makes people snap? Is it just coincidence? Who knows?

And now, there are potential copycats popping up in communities across the country. Or is it just that we're more aware of them now that we have Virginia Tech in our range of vision daily? So far, security has been sufficient to avert the attackers or keep the carnage to a minimum (ack! I hate to think this way.). There's this part of me which wants to take every person who might remotely even consider taking up weapons and harming people and locking them away in an appropriate mental institution for treatment, and then forcing them to take the meds or do whatever it takes to keep such violence from occurring again. But then, how do you determine who those persons might be? So, what else can we, should we, must we do? Even if we were to ratchet down on access to guns, someone in Cho's state of mind would find some other way to perpetrate violence against others (and ultimately him/herself). There are no easy answers to this one. *sigh*

On Thursday, Mom and I buried KittKat in her backyard, a good place in the sun near where the birds and squirrels used to drive PsychoKat nuts. Then the dog promptly dug KittKat's box back up. Just being a dog. I guess she wanted to nibble KittKat's neck, just like she used to.

Housely progress is occuring. The appropriately sized check from the insurance arrived during the week, so I ordered and scheduled the shower repairs yesterday and went to schedule the door replacement today. Dead and dying tree removal is scheduled for Monday. People are coming to finish up the exterior painting and fix the fence sometime next week. WOOHOO!! But I'm not going to get too excited or predict a move-in date. I'm afraid something else will come along and trip me up, if I do.

Well, it's time to get ready for tomorrow, bulletin to prepare, sermon to write, clothes to wash (a favorite pasttime *she said sarcastically*). Prayers for healing continue rising, and may the world find some way to be filled with peace.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Chronology of a Hellacious Week

I generally love Holy Week. It's a hard week for pastors if you do any of the extra worship services, but there's something about following Jesus and the disciples from the triumphal entry to Jerusalem through the Last Supper to the crucifixion to the dark waiting hours to the Resurrection which is so enriching.

This past Holy Week, however, was the week from hell.

Monday started out just fine. I had a lot to accomplish, but it was a glorious day and I wasn't rushed to get anything done. Then Mom called to tell me my cat was sick. At the time, I wasn't particularly worried. Cats, like people, sometimes get stomach viruses, so you just give it some time and it goes away. Mom doesn't do "sick cat" very well, so I got periodic semi-frantic calls during the day.

On Tuesday, Mom called in the morning to say that KittKat wasn't doing any better. I had things I had to do, but some of them could be done from Houston, so I told Mom to call the vet and I'd be in town about 3pm. Rush to office, fight computer there, but got the two things that had to be done on Tuesday finished, then headed to Houston, while frantically trying to locate a pianist who could play for our Wednesday choir rehearsal and Maundy Thursday service, since our current pianist had to work those nights. Fortunately, that mission was accomplished by the time I reached Winnie.

Now, I figured it would be just a short jaunt, so didn't make any plans to stay overnight. WRONG! The vet hydrated KittKat, gave her something to calm her stomach, drew blood, and told us to watch her to see how she's doing. Did I mention that Mom doesn't do "sick cat" very well? So I spent the night in case we had to catch the cat in the morning.

On Wednesday, KittKat looked a bit better and was claiming the high ground again. The test results didn't show anything dire, so I returned home. Or that is, returned to the church to put together the bulletins for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Managed to get Thursday and Saturday finished, but the printer ran out of ink before I could print Sunday's bulletins. Choir practice went well, but nothing was certain about the brass ensemble.

On Thursday, I get a phone message that my choir accompanist probably wouldn't be able to be at worship on Sunday. ACK! This means that the brass ensemble has fallen apart as well, since two of the accompanist's family members were in the ensemble. DOUBLE ACK! Call the organist, who will gladly play for the choir, but that still leaves me in a bind about the Easter fanfare. About 4:30, my mom calls to say KittKat's doing worse, and I encourage her to take her to the vet ASAP. About 5:00, I get the call asking me about putting her down. Maundy Thursday service starts at 6:00. Needless to say, the Maundy Thursday service was a tough one. Then my son decides that there won't be a fanfare for Easter and wants to take the 'safe' route by getting the organist to play a prelude. I'd already told the organist 3 times that he wouldn't need a prelude, so had a minor meltdown to go along with the horrible day I was already having. My son decided that he'd do something brassy for Easter. (Thanks, son!)

On Friday, I arrive at church with printer cartridges to finish up the bulletins, and the printer completely craps out. It won't even let me put the new cartridge in. At this point, I still have the Good Friday meditation on "I thirst" to complete. Throwing my hands up in the air, I head to the house, write most of my meditation (and then get stumped on how to end it).

In the afternoon, I meet with my church member who was helping me get the lilies we needed for Sunday ... except the place where we were to get them was out! ACK! Took a detour to buy a new printer, then headed on the prowl for lilies. We managed to find 7 at one place and took them back to the church. My member was going to continue the hunt, while I got ready for the Good Friday service. We get to the church and she has a flat tire. A very flat tire. *sigh*

On Saturday, I head to the church to finish those unfinished bulletins. Install the new printer without too much difficulty. Print out the bulletins, only to discover that our old printer settings wouldn't work on the new printer. Thinking I'd made all the necessary changes, I began copying Sunday's main bulletin. Oops! WRONG AGAIN! In order to get the stupid thing to format correctly, I had to completely redo the bulletin. Thank God for cut and paste! I didn't have to actually type everything, just a few hunks of it.

My lily-finding church member managed to scrounge up enough lilies and they arrived at the church, so that was ready for the grand procession on Sunday morning.

Getting ready for the Easter vigil, I suddenly couldn't find the small candles we use at Christmas. It didn't help any that the weather had turned horrendous on Saturday and the temperature was heading toward the basement. The vigil starts outside with the lighting of new fire, so we could light those candles I couldn't find. If we had to move that inside, the fire alarm system would go off. Not a good plan. Someone else managed to find the candles and we had our fire-starter stand just outside the door to get that going. After that, the service went well.

Headed home, then to eat with the son, then to finish up the sunrise service and our regular worship service before heading to bed. Hit the pillows about 1am (not bad for me, actually) with the alarm clock set for 5:45am. That's right, people! A.M.!

I woke up at 6:38am - eight minutes after the sunrise service was to start! I don't think I'll repeat the language used at that point. Fortunately, because the weather was still yucky, not many people showed up for the service. I cried. Then headed home to get ready for the main service.

When I returned to church, the sun came out and it was a glorious morning. My son and his trombone-playing compatriot met to see if they could put something fanfare-y together for the prelude, and went through about a half-dozen pieces before getting something they could both play. The organist arrived. The choir rehearsed. And we went through the service without any hitches, unless you count the ingenious youth who managed to 'do the impossible' during my time with young disciples. But then, resurrection is impossible, too, so I managed to make that fly.

While I wouldn't want another hellacious week for Holy Week in the future, I will say this for it: it's the first Easter Sunday since I began as a minister where I have truly been able to relax and enjoy the worship service. In the grand scheme of things, it could have been much worse.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Requiem for a Kat

She was a little stray, probably abandoned as a kitten. Some friends found her and rescued her when she somehow managed to climb her way into the cabinet of their rv. I brought her home about eight years ago.

She had an interesting miaow, so I named her KittKat, 'cuz she meowed in skat There was always something a little bit skittish about her. The Great Idabel Ice Storm at Christmas, 1999, which happened a couple of weeks after she was spayed, discombibilated her. A tree limb poked its way through the roof, and she and the dog spent the night there alone that first night. After the storm, she gained a new name - PsychoKat.

She never did handle change very well. When we moved, and were down to the last stuff before packing dog and cat into the car to head south, my son was packing some of his things away. He came into the living room with a startled sound in his voice, "She hissed at me! That cat hissed at me!" Apparently, KittKat decided that my son was responsible for all of the current chaos in her life.

She used to play with the dog, attack her, then flop on the floor for the dog to nibble her neck. Her favorite places were up high, so she could look down on things. She never did quite figure out sliding glass doors. She'd sit looking out the window, then attempt to attack something on the outside, clonking her head.

Before Her Horribleness roared through in 2005, cat, dog, and I went to Houston for vacation. I had a few days back home, then a week long trip to make, so I left KittKat at Mom's. She never made it back home.

KittKat was fine until Monday. On Monday, she started vomiting and couldn't stop. The vet gave her some fluids and stuff to calm the vomiting, which helped a bit. Blood tests revealed only that she was dehydrated. The tests didn't reveal why. She got a bit better, but wasn't interested in eating and wouldn't drink. Today she began vomiting again - green stuff.

If she'd been here with me, I would have tried a bit long. But Mom couldn't handle it, and I couldn't make it to Houston to get her. The vet thought her heart was enlarged, since she was breathing kind of rough, too. (What scaredy-kat doesn't breathe weirdly when out of her environment?) So this afternoon, I agreed to put her to sleep.

I don't know if I made the right decision, but it was the only one I could see at that moment. Right now, it just hurts.

So - here's to KittKat, who kept me company and 'talked' to me in the mornings and made me laugh. Goodbye, little friend.

I think I'm going to go and cry some more.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Outraged

In today's Beaumont Enterprise, one of the editorials is by an out-of-state pundit who writes about the "lessons" learned in the process of getting a bazillion pine cones removed from his yard. Mark Rutledge contracts with his six-year-old daughter to pick up the pine cones at 5 cents per cone, partly because he wants to teach his daughter about the value of earning one's money upon learning that she's gleaned about $90 via birthdays and tooth fairy and other sundry non-employment income.

After a bit of nudging, she gets down to the task and ultimately rakes in about 300 pine cones, or $15 worth. In Rutledge's view, that's a bit too much money for a first-grader to earn (based on his own memories of it taking a bit longer for him to earn that much money as a child). So, he asks her how much money she has and learns she's already in possession of $92. Then he makes this offer: "Tell you what, I can pay you a nickel a pine cone like we talked about. Or I can give you enough money so that you've got an even hundred." What six-year-old wouldn't think the even hundred would be the better deal?

Here's what I emailed him:

Dear Mr. Rutledge,
I believe you are very lucky your daughter hasn't learned how to multiply yet. I'm hoping she doesn't remember this experience when she does. If so, she'll realize that you swindled her out of $7.00, legitimately earned, I might add. You made a verbal contract with her to pay 5 cents per pine cone. In that contract, you did not stipulate any limits. Then, when the total came to more than what you wanted to pay, you pulled a bait and switch on her, based on the fact that she probably wouldn't be able to figure out that you actually owed her a heck of a lot more (from a child's point of view).

What you did was unconscionable. There was no way a six-year old would be able to calculate the difference between 5 cents per pine cone and "enough money so that you've got an even hundred", and you, as an adult, knew it. You took advantage of your child and should be ashamed of yourself. She did the work she contracted to do, admittedly very much like a six-year old with moaning and groaning along the way, but she did the work. Can you imagine the lesson you would have taught her if you had given her the $15? Just think of how hard she might work in the future if she'd gotten the just reward that she'd earned - for just a little bit of extra effort, my time is worth $15! Wow! Who'd ever have imagined that?


Isn't this the reason we established child labor laws, so that our children wouldn't be taken advantage of? I'm still seeing red!

Monday, April 02, 2007

Slightly Absurd


Kick Off Earth Day


That's the subject line of an email from Sojourners Magazine. In case you don't know, Sojourners provides "progressive Christian commentary on faith, politics and culture". I get e-updates on various issues regularly. Today is no exception and that's what the subject line said.


Where'd my brain go this morning? I immediately began a list of people I'd like to kick off Earth, and wondered what the date of this wonderful event would be.


After a few names, I realized it was about preparing for Earth Day. Oops!