Off my chest

 Gotta get stuff off my chest.

1. No slam dunk, no long putt sunk, no long touchdown pass, no bicycle kick is as difficult or a beautiful as a masterful and well-written sentence.

2. How can a high school baseball game take up more news airtime than a major art exhibit?

3. I’m about Britni Griner-ed out. Yes, she should come home. Maybe Paul Whelan will come home on her coattails. Paul Whelan served his country as a Marine; Britni Griner served herself for personal gain. And what about Mark Fogel? Britni is just one more example the undue influence and privilege celebrity buys. Think of how much time and effort have been expended as a result of her carelessness.

4. Fear is not always a sign that something harmful is imminent. Sometimes fear is a message that it’s time to face a challenge and grow. We accept and even enjoy entertainment that is filled with murder, blood, brutality, hangings and stabbings, but we get upset if we see two individuals of the same gender kissing.

5. Men in entertainment dramas always throw things, solve their problems with alcohol, accept any chance to be unfaithful, hate their fathers and behave like assholes. Why is that?

6. Why do we spend massive amounts of money and energy trying to solve the social problems we create by not investing in families and quality education for all children?

Lists

 This is National Make Your Lists Week

SUNDAY

Make a list of all the things you could accomplish if you didn’t watch a Bengals game.

Mental

 Each of our brains, through our experiences, builds a unique architecture that we use to process the world we encounter. What we take in and process becomes our reality. Though reality is different for each of us, we tacitly accept the existence of a common reality just to ward off chaos.

This sense of reality is often shaken when we or those around us experience a mental illness. Hearing voices, hallucinations, depression, schizophrenia, paranoia, anxiety and phobias are all conditions which impact the experience of reality.

Mental illness has long been a taboo subject, but its recent manifestations among young and old are forcing us to talk openly and honestly about it.

More time

 More Time

Could I have made more time 

For love, love was crowded out

By work and by routine, the mundane

Requirements of getting on with it

To have squeezed in more 

“I love you,” even in the cracks

Between necessities

When love was surely 

A necessity of its own

Or pulled you close to me

Holding tighter, longer

Or not pecks, but Hollywood kisses

And making sex everything

That came before

Jesus

 There’s the Jesus of the New Testament. The Jesus of the wise parables. Jesus the teacher. Jesus who came to save mankind. Jesus the Son of God. Jesus crucified.

I wish I could have known the Jesus trudging through the dust, the dust of the homeless, the fallen and the desperate. The Jesus on fire with the spirit and the uncertainty of his calling. The Jesus who constantly had to overcome fear to live out his mission. Jesus who had to confront his humanity in his own sexuality. Jesus who understood the weakness of power and the humility of victory.

The New Testament Jesus is above me, but the other Jesus is in me.

Beauty

 In a recent post I suggested that all disciplines in school be taught as languages, aiming to give each student the ability to “speak” effectively in these disciplines.

I changed my mind. Now I think all disciplines should be taught as expressions of beauty. That might guarantee that we think more about truth, integrity and the sublime.

Forget

 Forget the hungry and the homeless.

No human being should have to bend down to put on a shoe.

Every human being should have eyes that sparkle.

We should get anything we want delivered to our doors.

Integrity? Courage?

No, pretty faces and fit bodies are what we’re after.

And the challenges of heroes?

Well, maybe if they dress up and entertain us.

How

 Brutality, murder, corruption, environmental racism, financial crime, abuse of power, spousal abuse, sexual abuse. The list of illegal and inhumane behaviors is endless. Yet every one of the perpetrators of these crimes began as an innocent child. How does the path from birth to evil happen so many?

sex

 

January 6

Watching the January 6 Hearings reminds us that integrity can still exist in Washington, DC.The first responders, the committee members and the witnesses all showed us that it’s possible to have the courage to tell the truth despite what consequences may come.

This also reminds us of how much integrity and courage are lacking among our Senators and Representatives, for whom truth has long lost any value.

None of us is an expert on all things. We identify those who take on the various jobs that are required for government to function effectively. We trust them to do their jobs. When this trust begins to be questioned across the board, government falters.

When we vote for those who represent us, we must make certain that they are persons of character and integrity, not just political ideology.

 

Which

 Which has had the greatest impact on human civilization: the mind, the hand or the penis?

Good

 We are good at making human beings, but we aren’t very good at quality control.

Charity

 

Dementia

 As human beings live longer, the number of individuals experiencing dementia is increasing. Dementia patients are lost in their own world, disconnected from day-to-day reality in their own particular ways. But the experiences of the caregivers—spouses, children, relatives—are very real.

This work is emotionally demanding, watching the loved one disappear. This work is physically demanding, taking full charge of the household and the demented loved one.

The love that was sexual is gone. The love that was intimacy is gone. The love that is mutuality is gone. What’s left is love that is not often talked about—the love that is loyalty and duty. This is a love that comes out of compassion and commitment, that expects no return.

Authentic love is always tested.

Box

 We talk about thinking outside the box, the box that is individual to each of us. The bottom of that box is the measure of our understanding of the roots of things. The top of the box is the measure of the breadth of our spirit. The sides of the box are the measure of our understanding of our own humanity.

2060

 Science and society in 2060

By 2060 every man will be able to live to 150 without experiencing any ED. As a result, all women will commit suicide before age 80.

Humans will live in villages based on sexual preferences: the kinky group, the Bonobo group, the LBGTQ group, the swinger group, the traditionalists group.

Water, air and chemical pollution and food additives will be so toxic that boys and girls will start puberty at the average of 8 years old.

A man can choose to be fitted with a temporary artificial womb and an implanted embryo in order to experience child bearing.

Serve

 No one should assume a position of power until they have learned to serve.

Young people

 There has been a great deal of research and news reporting on the increase in anxiety, depression and mental health problems among young people. Suicide is increasing and there are not enough therapists to provide the needed help.

I look at a different possible approach to the problem. Attention to spiritual development leads to building a value system that gives meaning to life, relationships and work. It’s those who have these values that demonstrate integrity, courage and compassion in their lives.

Young people are drowning in messages to acquire material wealth, career success, status—to be good consumers living a life of comfort and achievement.

Young people need affirmation of their humanity and spirituality. 

Nice

 If you can’t love your neighbor, at least be nice. After all, it’s fun to be nice.

Webb

 Webb

Seraphim and cherubim must now 

Work overtime to keep heaven’s 

Machinery lubed for its dying

And living galactic concoctions

They have been flying at us

At the speed of light for light years

Beyond our comprehension

Now a gift of Webb’s eyeball

As enticing and mysterious as God

A sea of nebula, stars and galaxies

A dance of light and energy

As prone to death as we are

As fascinating and complex

As we could be 

If we tried a little harder

Dutiful Wife

 Dutiful Wife

My cat is in stress

My kids are depressed

I am distressed

And my husband is always horny

My kids have the flu

My dog has it too

My life is a zoo

And my husband is always horny

The sitter has quit

My kid had a fit

My life is just shit

And my husband is always horny

I’m half time at work

My boss is a jerk

My kids love to twerk

And my husband is always horny

So I’m in the pew

Asking what can I do

I don’t have a clue

And my husband is always horny

But this is the life

Of a dutiful wife

To smile through the strife

And my husband is always horn

Cat stress

It’s damned hard to be concerned about Ukraine and gun violence when you have to worry about getting help for your cat’s stress or for getting that stubborn bit of body fat cool sculpted off. And then there’s the task of daily moisturizing and remembering to schedule your appointment for eyelid rejuvenation. Sometimes it’s just hard to be an American. 

Evil

 Every human being has the capacity for evil. But some embrace it and seem able to live with it almost effortlessly—Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, the Sacklers, Bernie Madoff, sex traffickers, the list goes on. 

Is this kind of evil simply one aspect of the human condition? Is goodness too weak to break through evil? Is either good or evil the innate state of humankind? 

We have many laws, processes and organizations to try to deal with evil once we find it. Do we know anything about how evil roots itself in a person?

It takes the effort, commitment and courage of the many to fight the evil of a few. Can we learn how to build decent human beings? Because, until then we can’t build a world of justice, respect and equal opportunity.

Dartboard

 Think of yourself as a dartboard. Corporations are throwing darts at you relentlessly. They hope to hit a bullseye every time because you are the target of their carefully aimed projectiles. They have spectacle darts, bling darts, celebrity darts, envy darts, misleading darts, vanity darts. If they don’t make a bullseye, they will keep at it until they do. Every little imperfection in the dartboard is a record of a dart aimed at you.

CNN

 CNN (curmudgeon news network)

News update

1. Britni Griner does not deserve the treatment she is getting from Russian authorities. But she went to Russia because “she needed to supplement her income.” She was careless. Her wife expects a visit from President Biden. The news identifies other Americans, like Paul Whelan, who have long been held in Russian jails, but then goes right back to Britni. What? Just because they are not celebrities?

2. The families of gun incident victims are given news coverage, which is fair and reasonable. But it can get excessive and intrusive. The news needs to be going after all of the legislators who block effective gun control legislation. Also, after the prayer services, there needs to be action services.

3. If we live in a country that has a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” how can we treat our children so badly, live with so much violence, let so many people go hungry and homeless and allow the few to control so much of the wealth?

Gift

 To show someone that you've paid attention to them and cared about them for who they really are is a gift that costs nothing but has great value.

God

 God is not as simple as yes or no. God is not a being with endless superpowers. God is not an elusive shapeshifter. God is not the answer to all our questions. God is not the honest denial of God. In fact, God is not even God.

God is the placeholder for our deepest spiritual yearnings. God is who we’ve been driven to know since the first human burial. God is our thirst for eternity. God is our hope that human beings really mean something.

Don’t look for God in the wrong places. Don’t blame God for not meeting your needs. Don’t expect God to do your work for you. If God will appear anywhere, it will be in you.

medals

 How many of us watch the Presidential medal ceremonies for the highest achieving military and civilians? These awards are for bravery, commitment and life achievements of these individuals. The networks don’t typically cover these events fully, and often cut away to other stories.

Yet how many of us watch entertainment awards shows with their glamour, costumes, celebrities and spectacle?

The one is about what the honorees have given and the sacrifices they have made. The other is about what the honorees will get out of it.

What are our values?

No matter

 Get it hard. Stick it in. Enjoy the ride. Plant the seed. Your job is done.

So what if your partner bears the burden, gets the life sentence, becomes a felon, loses her dreams.

Responsible

 If we are responsible and committed citizens, then the government is really us. If we are lazy, distracted and inconsistent as citizens, then the government is a disconnected entity that we can blame and complain about.

We expect the government to take care of all of our problems, like drug addiction, homelessness, violence, obesity, child abuse, family planning and more. Yet we are responsible for these problems ourselves, if only by inaction or neglect. We build billion-dollar stadiums that often sit empty. We don’t vote. We want entertainment that is filled with sex and violence. We don’t pay our teachers and public servants for the work they do. We are numbed by consumption. We live lives of excess in the face of climate change.

Passing laws and throwing money at the problems may help some. But the real task is to support and enable citizens to develop a set of values that help them act with responsibility and good citizenship?

Sexual expression

 Civilization is the history of human beings experimenting with all kinds of ways of being human beings: ways to dress, to eat, to build, to love, to act, to play. We are a species driven by chance, curiosity and possibility.  Certainly true of sexual expression. There is no form of sexual expression that we see openly today that has not been practiced through time. Sexual expression is nothing to be afraid of or ashamed of per se.

Problems arise when sexual expression is not responsible and/or results in harm to others. The law can punish behavior, if it has the will. How does healthy sexual expression become the norm in a culture which is so pervaded by fear, confusion and unhealthy messages.

Soul

 The soul ascends upward

Yet there is no upward in the vast universe

The soul disperses

Breaking into molecules of spirit

Searching to accumulate again

Perhaps as consciousness

The soul is life being the essence of life

The soul ascends outward

Leaving behind the ugliness it could not cure

Without a single sensory clue

We know the soul is gone

My body

 My body’s message, a new life

Seed planted, a serendipitous conception

Now my body legislated, help not included

This is a life sentence

While I live the life sentence of a poor woman

I can give my baby up, but the law

Is a feckless parent, distracted 

By bureaucracy

That doesn’t know how to cuddle 

Law can guarantee my child a mother

An easy life or sustaining love

No legislator will send me a card

On Mother’s Day, or ask me if

My child lives a decent human life

The father starts this child thinking

That’s enough for manhood

The law agrees, it has no desire 

To make him pay up 

Or ask himself what “father” means 

Intimacy wasn’t enough to get him  

To the sonogram, and what did 

“I love you, baby” really mean

Anyway