This morning I went out and about for a bit.
I went to the Davenport Public Library to return some books. I had checked out two of them because I am having one of my periodic bouts of curiosity about my ancestry. I'm no genealogist, but I do know that my ancestry is largely German, and most of the Germans in this area are from the Schleswig-Holstein region.It's the part of Germany that is on the Denmark border. One of the books was a very small volume about the people who emigrated to the area as a result of the revolutionary activity in Schleswig-Holstein in 1848. They came here, speaking no English, and worked to build their lives here. Their kids were more fluent in English, but into the 1880s their newspaper was Der Demokrat. They were behind the founding of the Turners Clubs (Turnverein). It took three generations - or more - before the German was fully replaced by English. While this was happening, there were newspaper editorials decrying those who came to this country, took jobs, and didn't even bother learning English. Sound familiar?
After dropping the books at the Davenport Library I drove up Brady Street on the way to the Bettendorf Library. Great thing about a library card in the Quad Cities these days: with it, I can check books out from any public library and most college libraries in the area. The only holdout from the system is Augustana. God only knows what they think they can be so arrogant about. On Brady Street there was a sign that said "Garage Sale." Only, something else obscured part of the sign from my vision, so the sign looked like "rage sale." I wonder what units they'd sell rage in? "I'd like three of those little boxes of rage, please - I think someone's going to cut me off in traffic today." "OK, sir, but for just a little more you can have four of the big boxes of rage, and you can then be a member of the Tea Party!"
A little lesson in Realpolitik. Once someone is elected to office, their mission becomes to get reelected as many times as possible. Never mind "serving the people" or "getting rid of corruption." It's neither of those. It's, "I have power, and I mean to keep it." So, those who holler loudest about pork-barrel politics will be the biggest bearers of pork. (See "McConnell, Mitch".) My only question: do you think the Tea Partiers' candidates will be any different? Seriously? You see Rand Paul, when asked whether he would have voted for the civil rights measures in the '60s, waltz all around the question. A simple yes-or-no question, but the next day his people were accusing the interviewer of trapping him. Poor not-ready-for-prime-time Rand! Or you see Sharon Angle, when asked to explain one of her own comments, running from the reporter like someone had told her her shorts were on fire.
So what would you expect if you elect a lot of Tea Partiers? No more honesty - no cuts in budgets, just rearrangements - and a lot less smarts. Which may be what they really want.
I got to the Bettendorf Library. It's my favorite in the QCA - newer, cleaner, brighter than the others. You check out your books by scanning your card, then laying your books, CDs, whatever, on a table. You point to a screen to say whether you want a receipt. That's it.
One of the books I checked out is entitled 1688. Those familiar with English - or Western - history will recognize that as a seminal date - the year of the Glorious Revolution. I'm looking forward to the read.
So, thus goes my day on this cloudy, rainy, chilly late September day - one of those days when autumn shakes its wrinkled, crooked finger at us and says, "I'm back!"
Notre Dame-Stanford on now. It's refreshing to see two schools play whose athletes are expected to perform academically as well as athletically - whose students don't think "did that in high school" when they hear the word "graduate".
Differences between Notre Dame and Ohio State?
Notre Dame has class.
Notre Dame has classes.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
And if She doesn't?
The other day I read a status by someone who's happy that God blesses those who do Her will. I was happy for this person. She's a family member, dear to her family and dear to me.
But what if God doesn't? What if? (Maybe Heavy Sledding Coming Up warning.)
The Wisdom literature in the Hebrew Scriptures seems to follow two tracks, and these would seem to indicate two separate origins. The inspired Word is, like any other writing, influenced by surrounding cultures, The dominant cultures in the ancient Near East were the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian.
Egyptian society was dominated by the Nile. The Nile flooded periodically, predictably. It left fertile silt for growing crops. It made irrigation easy. Egyptian wisdom literature seemed to be written with an underlying assumption that life is good - the gods are not out to get you. If you do what they want you to do, they will do what you want them to do. They will, unfailingly, take care of you.
You can see this strain of thought in The Book of Proverbs."My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, you will find a future" (24:13-14). You can also see the Egyptian influence in the Song of Solomon, with its beautiful portrayal of sexual love.
Mesopotamian society was dominated by very different rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. They flooded too, but much less predictably than the Nile. In good years, the Euphrates (the Tigris was unusable for irrigation because it runs in a deep bed) flooded, and if the irrigation efforts were well coordinated a good crop could result. Other years, they would be all organized - only, no flooding. Other years, they would be organized, and the Euphrates would flood - and keep coming, and keep coming. In either case, mass starvation resulted.
Is it any wonder that the Mesopotamian societies thought the gods were out to get them? If you read the Mesopotamian creation account you see some similarities to the Genesis accounts (e.g., the seven-day time frame), but in the Mesopotamian accounts the creation of this world is a result of hatred - hatred toward the creation, warfare among the gods. In Genesis, the key differentiator is the phrase "and it was good." It's repeated like a drumbeat: "And it was good!" And forget that warfare among the gods. Genesis has only One.
At some point, the question arises as I asked earlier: "But what if you do everything God ever asks of you - and then bad things happen? What if you are God's obedient servant, yet the one thing you want most in life eludes you? What if you have what you wanted, and it's taken from you?" What if you're Job?
The Mesopotamian influence clearly shows in Job and in Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." And thus, the interplay between the two strands of thought: "If you do good, good will be done to you." "Fine - but what if not?" And here's the answer God gives Job: "Who do you think you are to even ask?"
Some years ago Rabbi Harold Kushner published a book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. He posited three traits commonly ascribed to God: he is all-loving, omniscient and omnipotent. Kushner took suffering as evidence that we have to give up one of the three traits. Kushner gave up on the omniscience; he regards the universe as being a largely random thing. I am not there. I would rather think that I lack some understanding, rather then think of God as less than all-knowing.
Long way to say this, I know, but in the end suffering, pain, loneliness are a mystery. My question to myself: Can I make them into a gift to God instead?
Love your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out!
But what if God doesn't? What if? (Maybe Heavy Sledding Coming Up warning.)
The Wisdom literature in the Hebrew Scriptures seems to follow two tracks, and these would seem to indicate two separate origins. The inspired Word is, like any other writing, influenced by surrounding cultures, The dominant cultures in the ancient Near East were the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian.
Egyptian society was dominated by the Nile. The Nile flooded periodically, predictably. It left fertile silt for growing crops. It made irrigation easy. Egyptian wisdom literature seemed to be written with an underlying assumption that life is good - the gods are not out to get you. If you do what they want you to do, they will do what you want them to do. They will, unfailingly, take care of you.
You can see this strain of thought in The Book of Proverbs."My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, you will find a future" (24:13-14). You can also see the Egyptian influence in the Song of Solomon, with its beautiful portrayal of sexual love.
Mesopotamian society was dominated by very different rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. They flooded too, but much less predictably than the Nile. In good years, the Euphrates (the Tigris was unusable for irrigation because it runs in a deep bed) flooded, and if the irrigation efforts were well coordinated a good crop could result. Other years, they would be all organized - only, no flooding. Other years, they would be organized, and the Euphrates would flood - and keep coming, and keep coming. In either case, mass starvation resulted.
Is it any wonder that the Mesopotamian societies thought the gods were out to get them? If you read the Mesopotamian creation account you see some similarities to the Genesis accounts (e.g., the seven-day time frame), but in the Mesopotamian accounts the creation of this world is a result of hatred - hatred toward the creation, warfare among the gods. In Genesis, the key differentiator is the phrase "and it was good." It's repeated like a drumbeat: "And it was good!" And forget that warfare among the gods. Genesis has only One.
At some point, the question arises as I asked earlier: "But what if you do everything God ever asks of you - and then bad things happen? What if you are God's obedient servant, yet the one thing you want most in life eludes you? What if you have what you wanted, and it's taken from you?" What if you're Job?
The Mesopotamian influence clearly shows in Job and in Ecclesiastes: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." And thus, the interplay between the two strands of thought: "If you do good, good will be done to you." "Fine - but what if not?" And here's the answer God gives Job: "Who do you think you are to even ask?"
Some years ago Rabbi Harold Kushner published a book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. He posited three traits commonly ascribed to God: he is all-loving, omniscient and omnipotent. Kushner took suffering as evidence that we have to give up one of the three traits. Kushner gave up on the omniscience; he regards the universe as being a largely random thing. I am not there. I would rather think that I lack some understanding, rather then think of God as less than all-knowing.
Long way to say this, I know, but in the end suffering, pain, loneliness are a mystery. My question to myself: Can I make them into a gift to God instead?
Love your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Book burning
I am thinking about that pastor in Florida who wants to burn the Q'uran. Then he doesn't want to burn it. Then he - well, he didn't really say he wouldn't, he just said he was suspending the event.
Please, Rev. Terry J. You've had your 15 mnutes of fame. You didn't deserve it, you've done nothing whatever to warrant it, but you've gotten it. Now get the hell off my stage. You're not worthy to have your 15 minutes extended, but you seem to want to milk it for all it's worth.
There are many considerations that would make this action wrong. First, as has been pointed out by many who would know, we have troops in a place that would be terribly offended, even to violence, if this happens. If you thought there was an uproar over Danish cartoons of Muhammad, just wait until you burn Islam's sacred text. Pal, this isn't an abstract to me. I have a son-in-law of whom I couldn't be prouder who is deployed in the Middle East. If you put him in any more danger than he's already in, then may you roast forever, you sorry simple egotistical b-----d.
Gee, did my temper run away from me for a minute?
There is another reason that I don't want this person - or anyone else - burning Q'uran. I am Catholic, but not a cradle Catholic. I didn't come to the Roman Catholic Church until adulthood - age 39, to be specific. I have been in other denominations. I don't name those other denominations much. My reticence about them derives from respect for them. I am what I am for a reason. But, to say I'm Catholic and that I'm not whatever it is I used to be could be taken as a denigration - at least an implicit one - of what I was. And I will not go there unless pushed.
The way you identify yourself spiritually is very close to the core of who you are. If your core is different from mine, then we each owe the other respect to that core. If we're grown up enough about it, we even owe each other a celebration of the other's core. It means everything to them.
So I am not Jewish. I do not want the Talmud burned. (I don't want Torah or the Tanakh burned, either, but those are part of the Christian holy texts.) Many have died martyr's deaths with the sh'mah - from Torah - on their lips: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."
I am not Mormon. I do not want the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine and Covenants desecrated or burned. Although I do not regard these as sacred texts, millions do. Many of my family are among these, and they and their faith deserve my respect, and I hope they feel the same about my Catholic faith.
And I am not Muslim. I do not want Q'uran burned or otherwise harmed. It is the sacred book - near to the core of the values - for about a billion people. The huge majority are not the Wahhabi radicals; the nations with the largest population of Muslims are not even in the Middle East. You do Islam - and yourself - a disservice if you paint the entire Muslim world with one brush. You do not have to be a Muslim to respect their faith, values and lives.
And THAT'S why I have issues with the good reverend. Not that he would pay any attention.
As always, I'd love - and respect! - your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out for a few.
Please, Rev. Terry J. You've had your 15 mnutes of fame. You didn't deserve it, you've done nothing whatever to warrant it, but you've gotten it. Now get the hell off my stage. You're not worthy to have your 15 minutes extended, but you seem to want to milk it for all it's worth.
There are many considerations that would make this action wrong. First, as has been pointed out by many who would know, we have troops in a place that would be terribly offended, even to violence, if this happens. If you thought there was an uproar over Danish cartoons of Muhammad, just wait until you burn Islam's sacred text. Pal, this isn't an abstract to me. I have a son-in-law of whom I couldn't be prouder who is deployed in the Middle East. If you put him in any more danger than he's already in, then may you roast forever, you sorry simple egotistical b-----d.
Gee, did my temper run away from me for a minute?
There is another reason that I don't want this person - or anyone else - burning Q'uran. I am Catholic, but not a cradle Catholic. I didn't come to the Roman Catholic Church until adulthood - age 39, to be specific. I have been in other denominations. I don't name those other denominations much. My reticence about them derives from respect for them. I am what I am for a reason. But, to say I'm Catholic and that I'm not whatever it is I used to be could be taken as a denigration - at least an implicit one - of what I was. And I will not go there unless pushed.
The way you identify yourself spiritually is very close to the core of who you are. If your core is different from mine, then we each owe the other respect to that core. If we're grown up enough about it, we even owe each other a celebration of the other's core. It means everything to them.
So I am not Jewish. I do not want the Talmud burned. (I don't want Torah or the Tanakh burned, either, but those are part of the Christian holy texts.) Many have died martyr's deaths with the sh'mah - from Torah - on their lips: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."
I am not Mormon. I do not want the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine and Covenants desecrated or burned. Although I do not regard these as sacred texts, millions do. Many of my family are among these, and they and their faith deserve my respect, and I hope they feel the same about my Catholic faith.
And I am not Muslim. I do not want Q'uran burned or otherwise harmed. It is the sacred book - near to the core of the values - for about a billion people. The huge majority are not the Wahhabi radicals; the nations with the largest population of Muslims are not even in the Middle East. You do Islam - and yourself - a disservice if you paint the entire Muslim world with one brush. You do not have to be a Muslim to respect their faith, values and lives.
And THAT'S why I have issues with the good reverend. Not that he would pay any attention.
As always, I'd love - and respect! - your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out for a few.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Rosh HaShana
L'shanah tovah! To a good year!
Tonight at sundown starts Rosh HaShana. It's commonly called the Jewish New Year, but the observance of this New Year holiday bears no resemblance to the noisy Bacchanalia that marks December 31 (or the regrets that follow on January 1) or the explosive celebration of the Chinese New Year. Tonight at sundown it will be the first day of the month Tishri in the year 5771.
Tonight at sundown - in these parts, just a few moments from now - starts Rosh HaShanah. It begins a ten-day period of somber reflection, of the recognition of where we have gone wrong - of resolving to do better. Christians who observe Lent will recognize the parallels. After the ten days, the Days of Awe, comes Yom Kippur and the party of all parties. But for now - reflect, repent, resolve to do better.
In that spirit, my apologies. I apologize if, at any time, I have belittled you, made you feel less than the wonderful human being, worthy of all respect, that I think you are. To my family, I am sorry for the times that I have been either emotionally or physically absent when I was needed. To my coworkers, both inside and outside of my company, I deeply regret all the times I have let you down, not been or done as you expected. To my friends, I deeply value your friendship, and I am sorry for every instance in which I have disappointed.
On a personal level, the upcoming weeks are a somber time for me, absent any religious consideration. Between September 12 and October 2 are the anniversaries of my Mom's death, my Dad's birthday, my mother-in-law's death and my Dad's passing. I try very hard to remain approachable during these weeks, but I know that I can be a bit more waspish than usual, more distant, less communicative. Again, I apologize to you if this affects you.
"Happy Rosh HaShanah" would be a terribly inappropriate greeting for this day. More common is the phrase I opened with: L'Shanah tovah. That's a short version of "L'Shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem": "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year".
So, from me to any who are reading, my wish for you: L'Shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem.
Peace, and thanks for hanging out for a few!
Tonight at sundown starts Rosh HaShana. It's commonly called the Jewish New Year, but the observance of this New Year holiday bears no resemblance to the noisy Bacchanalia that marks December 31 (or the regrets that follow on January 1) or the explosive celebration of the Chinese New Year. Tonight at sundown it will be the first day of the month Tishri in the year 5771.
Tonight at sundown - in these parts, just a few moments from now - starts Rosh HaShanah. It begins a ten-day period of somber reflection, of the recognition of where we have gone wrong - of resolving to do better. Christians who observe Lent will recognize the parallels. After the ten days, the Days of Awe, comes Yom Kippur and the party of all parties. But for now - reflect, repent, resolve to do better.
In that spirit, my apologies. I apologize if, at any time, I have belittled you, made you feel less than the wonderful human being, worthy of all respect, that I think you are. To my family, I am sorry for the times that I have been either emotionally or physically absent when I was needed. To my coworkers, both inside and outside of my company, I deeply regret all the times I have let you down, not been or done as you expected. To my friends, I deeply value your friendship, and I am sorry for every instance in which I have disappointed.
On a personal level, the upcoming weeks are a somber time for me, absent any religious consideration. Between September 12 and October 2 are the anniversaries of my Mom's death, my Dad's birthday, my mother-in-law's death and my Dad's passing. I try very hard to remain approachable during these weeks, but I know that I can be a bit more waspish than usual, more distant, less communicative. Again, I apologize to you if this affects you.
"Happy Rosh HaShanah" would be a terribly inappropriate greeting for this day. More common is the phrase I opened with: L'Shanah tovah. That's a short version of "L'Shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem": "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year".
So, from me to any who are reading, my wish for you: L'Shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem.
Peace, and thanks for hanging out for a few!
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