journaling

I've decided after viewing the journal linked below that I have not even begun to mine the possibilities for growth afforded by the web journal process. See for yourself....http://www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull/

the history channel

Janet Jackson?!! Good Lord why are we so upset about an exposed breast? Turn on the history channel if you want to see something that no one should be allowed to see. I'm watching a report on Japanese cruelty in WWII. Japanese soldiers we're being interviewed about their role in the atrocities committed against the Chinese back then. One man told of a gang rape of a young woman who had a baby with her. Instead of killing her after their evil deed, they brought her and the baby with them on a long march. As they marched, the woman got progressively weaker. The soldiers were asking what they should do with her. One soldier grabbed the baby and threw it over a cliff. The woman jumped over after her. Problem solved. I know, this stuff has been going on since we came out of the trees, before that too. WHAT IS THIS?!! Are we just animals with a little more brain power? The evidence points to yes. Why am I watching a TV show about such evil deeds? Why are they presenting a show about such evil deeds? Is anyone but me watching? If everyone in the world WAS watching, would it make a difference? Excuse me for ranting. It just hit me a little hard thinking about all the evil in the world and how we (at least we men) seem to be programmed for violence. We are all headed for the same fate, it's just the inconvenience of having some human dictate when that day will be that seems so unfair. So let's all go back to our normal routines and try not to let it all get to you. If you help someone along the way, good for you, but don't let yourself be fooled into thinking that the problem of evil has been lessened.

Huh?

My band had a gig today playing for the local March of Dimes walk-a-thon. We have known about the gig for many months. The bass player, who booked the gig, has been reminding us for weeks. He sent an email yesterday reminding us. We were supposed to be there at 8 AM this morning. So this morning I get up completely oblivious to the fact that I am supposed to be getting ready for the gig. I have a leisurely breakfast, start watching Sunday Morning on CBS. Then I get the call. "Where are you?!!" OOps!! I hustled and got there in time to start so it wasn't a disaster, but my bandmates had a field day teasing me every chance they could about my terrible memory. The funny thing is I don't feel that my memory is so bad, but today kind of shocked me. How could I have forgotten? I am starting to think that I may have inherited my mother's memory problem. She developed dementia in her nineties. It was very sad to watch her slowly become completely disoriented, paranoid, fearful, depressed, incompetent. She knew it was happening and was not able to accept her condition. So I laughed along with the guys teasing me but in the back of my mind I am wondering what might happen.

I'm not afraid ...

I'm not afraid of dying, I'm just afraid of dying now. I have been putting off reconciling myself with God. I'm quite sure that the road to heaven requires me to to be totally honest with myself and with others; to surrender myself completely to God's will; to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause. I'm just not ready for all of that and the prospects of my ever being ready for all of that do not look good. "Seek first the Spirit".... yeah, right. I say and sing that with fervor at the proper times noting with pleasure the admiring glances and imagined praises for me that I have placed in the minds of any and all who might be watching. All is vanity. If I die now, I will kneel fearful and ashamed before the judgement of the Lord.I used to chew Bazooka gum as a boy. Inside each wrapper was a Bazooka Joe comic. One that I remember to this day had Joe listening to a soapbox speaker. A look of fear comes across Joe's face as he listens. He yells to the man, "When did you say the earth is going to end?" The speaker says "Six billion years." A look of relief then comes across Joe's face. He says, "Whew! I thought you said six million!" There is no tomorrow, there is only today. I know I said that yesterday but I still believe it. I only wish I believed it enough to take that step toward Him that God is waiting for me to take.

Anybo...

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Love and Death on the Today show

The Today show had an interview with the family of a young woman who was killed in Iraq. There are two more sisters also in the military who have to decide whether or not to go back. Because I also listen to right wing talk radio just to balance things out politically, I wonder if there is a left wing bias to the national media when I see such interviews. Is there an agenda in these interviews? Are they attempts to galvanize public opinion against the war or are they sincere attempts to see the war objectively from the eyes of those most tragically affected by it? I do not watch Fox news regularly because I can't stand the personalities and because the right wing bias is so blatant, but I don't think they do interviews like this. Would that be because they see NBC doing them and peg them as left wing propaganda and don't want to be a part of it? Do they feel that the real cost of war is something that while tragic, is something that we must pause to remember but not allow to weaken our national resolve. I suspect the latter. Love and Death fill our senses every day. All our actions spring from these two sources. All my questions come from the place where these two meet. Where is the truth? Is the death of this woman a terrible tragedy that should make us all contact our congress person and demand an end to U.S. involvement in this war? Is the death of this woman a terrible tragedy that should make us all contact our congress person and demand more troops to put the screws to those evil bastards who perpetrate such violence? Is the death of this woman a senseless tragedy that implicates us all as sinners in need of true repentence? Is the death of this woman the act of a true patriot and hero defending with her life the freedom that we all enjoy and take for granted? Is gender involved in making this a national story? Will there not be a movie made about this because she was not as beautiful as Jessica Lynch?Where do you stand?

JWs

At my job there is a man who is a Jehovah's Witness. I spend two hours with him every day during the changeover from day shift to night shift. He has begun his mission with me and others at work to save us from eternal damnation. Because of his proselytizing I have done a little research into the JW organization. I believe that the word "cult" accurately describes it. They are certainly well meaning people, but they have no tolerance for discussion with sound rebuttals to their belief system. He gave me some literature which I read and I found rebuttals for all the inconsistencies. I made a list of websites that answered the false claims of his literature and asked him if he wanted to look at them. He said ther was no reason for him to get involved with "apostates". So it's OK for me, who he knows is a practicing Catholic, to read his literature which refutes the basic tenets of my faith, but he has no time to read or think about anything that might contradict his faith. That tells me that his faith is based on sand and would be easily washed away by the truth. I plan on telling him that I no longer want to hear his proselytizing. There really is place for it in the workplace.