Merry Christmas Potpourri, Day 2 of 12

There is so much to report and contemplate about Christmas this year.  My sister questioned the lifelong work of my father because he is a psychiatrist and the DSM no longer recognizes narcissism and homosexuality as disorders.  Dad's response was, "I have no response to that."  Understand that as a Catholic psychiatrist Dad has participated in exorcisms, and fought the wave of atheism rampant in his field.

My nephew and Godson Johnny had a Christmas crisis.  His sister Grace prodded him with questions regarding his belief in Santa.  He said,  "If Mom and Dad have been lying to me about this all along, then I have to run away."  More to come.

Some dear friends came to visit family and we convinced them to spend a few hours with us.  Our son was bereft when their boys didn't come along.  The baby was a beauteous example of tiny girlhood.  The parents, including us, caught up on the latest and fell back into the friendship that cannot be broken by time or distance.  There is something so deep and wonderful about the depth of love in friendship.  No wonder C.S. Lewis listed it among the Four Loves.  I love them so.  There is no way to lose that bond, but we sure wish it was more frequent.

This was a weird Christmas gift exchange.  We decided to exchange only 'As Seen On T.V.' gifts.  We came home with a kangaroo keeper, a cookie maker,an open-it, a swivel sweeper, and two pairs of dust mopping slippers.  The exchange was a laugh out loud scream, and I strongly recommend it as a theme for any family.  However, there were no snuggies exchanged, and 4 kangaroo keepers.  A word to the wise... Dig Deeper,  and don't discount the importance of the immortal words, "But that's not all.  You'll also receive..."  A selection of gifts exchanged are advertised below...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good Night!

Public School Pedo***** are no Surprise!!!

 Certain words have been censured in order to complete this post!  I would like to link you to the London Daily Mail, but I cannot.  I would like to link you to the Creative minority report, but I cannot.  I would love for you to read an article about  ped**hiles in public schools before your read the post below, but I cannot.  You see,  every attempt I make is scrubbed for content.  Find the story.  Read it.  Then read below:

This is, sadly. old news. Even if the number of offenders who have previous convictions were kept out of schools, those who are sex**lly attracted to children will be attracted to jobs that allow contact with children.

Psychiatrists will often tell you that ped**hiles are incurable. That is why the Diagnostic Service Manual has dropped pe**philes from their list of disorders, unless the pe##phile's own life is hurt by his/her actions. It doesn't matter if there are others who are hurt, only the pe##phile. This is the same reasoning used by the DSM to deny hom**exuality, incest, best**lity, and a host of other abhorrent practices as being disordered.

The ultimate goal of those who protect destructively deviant sex**lity is to force us to keep our eyes on the red herring. It goes like this:

"See that Catholic priest? He chose to never have s** again. Isn't that weird? Everyone has s**. It's as normal as breathing. Even the Chileans in the coal mine had to be having s** with each other because, well, you can't live without it can you? Boys will be boys and that means they never think above their waist for more than a few seconds at a time. Given the choice between food and s**, most men would choose..."

Sorry for the Harry Reid-like mention of the Chilean miners. This kind of insanity drives me nuts.

We live in a culture of death: Death to commitment through fruitless s**, death to love through meaningless s*, death to friendship through the assumption of s**, death to children through the assault of s**...

The truth is, most people throughout history have lived without sex for most of their lives.  They started to have s** when they were fertile, and the ceased to have s** when they were not.  With the onset of fertility came responsibility.  We remember Casanova because he was an exception.

Do we really want to make the exception the rule?

The Humbly Suspicious Thoughts of St. Joseph, Model Husband and Father

During the Middle Ages, when Passion and Mystery Plays were performed by guilds for whole towns, The York Mystery Cycle presented Joseph's dilemma as a combination of both Suspicion theory and the Humility theory.  His lines before the appearance of the Angel, as I recall, go something like this:

"Oh God, I'm sorry I've been so foolish.  Why would I think that a pretty young thing like Mary would be interested in an old coot like me?  My hair is gray and my beard is scraggly. I wouldn't have the energy to be the kind of husband a young woman wants these days.  I'll just quietly send her away, and do my best to provide for her so that she and the Baby don't come to any harm."

So he is suspicious of Mary's fidelity, but humbled by his recognition of his own inadequacy.  Rather than punishing her for what this play presents as Joseph's doubt's, he decides to send her away.

I wish I could do justice to how funny Joseph's lines are.  Every  man in the audience would have howling at Joseph's lament.

So maybe the answer is not suspicion or humility, but both as part of the human condition.  It certainly makes for a deeper performance by actor's, and is a more human response.