Last Thoughts before First Primary (Probably) 12/15/2011

I started out as a Thaddeus McCotter supporter, with the yard signs to prove it.  When he dropped out,  I never really got behind anyone, but didn't think the media-types were fair to Herman Cain, and I still don't believe his accusers.  I believe he suspended his campaign knowing he could protect his family from the slander and resulting pain.  Even so, Cain had a real issue with the foreign affairs learning curve.

So now what to do?  Rick Santorum is now my first choice.  "Foolish," you may say.  He has been hanging in the 5% or less column so long, no sane person thinks he is viable.

Hope and Joy

As my students left the final exam today, I had the rare experience of hugging or shaking hands with each of them.  This has been a rare class.  I've had two this semester, but today was the end of the best of the two.

Here's how today went:

First, when I arrived an hour before the exam, I found several students sitting in the commons area of the building.  I told them the room was open and they could come and study there if they liked.  They did.  They came, but other than the occasional question, shouted out and answered in chorus, they mostly talked among themselves.  On a State University campus, most people make friends in their frats, sororities, and dorms.  These people bonded in my speech class.

Second,  as the class was filling, more students than seats, somehow the conversation came around to buffaloes.  I mentioned Larry the Cucumber's Water Buffalo song, YouTube was engaged, and many sang along.  With ten or more minutes to go before the final, the atmosphere became more like a party than a study session.  We listened to "I Love my Lips" followed by Barbara Manatee.  Imagine a 24 year old atheist hippie who was raised on the road hearing Veggie Tales for the first time!

Then it was time for the test.  As each left, I shook hands or hugged them,then thanked them for their work.  They thanked me too, but that was less important to me.

I have grown to love each of them, as a light for the future.  Some of them advocated for a return to courtship rather than dating  (because women like Balls, as in ballroom dancing.).  Some of them advocated for sexual abstinence.  Some advocated for support of the Occupy movement.  Some for Romney.  Some for Cain.  Some for Tea Parties. Some for phantom time. Some for Darth Vader for president because he's a family man.  Two advocated for using a shake-weight, and actually drew abs on one's belly!

 Every young person I meet seems to understand that he or she has more to do in college than drink and play.

That gives me hope. They give me joy.

And so one last video for my students.  They don't know my pen name.  They may never see this.  Consider it a prayer of gratitude:

Thank You Very Much!

I begin to hope for our future because these young men and women give me joy.  I hope my readers can do the same.

Merry Christmas and a very happy and hopeful New Year!

Why I believe Herman Cain

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?    There's something about serving food and drinks that can bring out the concupiscence in otherwise modest people.  I remember being told to dress a little sexy to increase my tips.  I remember having a customer reach inside my apron top as I delivered his food.  I remember my manager asking the customer if there had been a problem when I refused to return to the table.

Restaurant people can be really sleazy.  Not all of them, but sometimes.  Even, and maybe especially in high-end restaurants, trollops of all sorts, male and female will work the lounge. Some of them rise through the ranks and become members of the National Restaurant Association.  If you are a woman at a convention run by the NRA, you may be tempted to dress like a sexy hostess.  That would be your choice.  If a normal man gives you a compliment, and you don't want him to, you may feel uncomfortable.

Then you have two choices:  1.  Smile, say thank you, and forget about it, or 2.  ruminate on it, feel offended, and lawyer-up.

A  non-sexual gesture that made you feel uncomfortable may remind you of times when you were truly violated, but that is not the real offense.  You were treated like a serving wench  in your past, so radar may be a little touchy.  And it may just be misguided.

Black men like Herman Cain have been treated in this country like they are always on the make.  This was one of the more common accusations that could result in a lynching not too long back in our history.  For as sleazy as the high-end restaurant business can be,  the family restaurants tend to be far less so.    So Herman Cain was associated with a pizza chain, not the places where vixens hunt.  At least that was true until he was president of the NRA.  But most people are not likely to lose core principles when they change jobs.  Isn't that the reason we hoped for change that never came with our current president.  (Not that I thought he would change, nor did I commit the mortal sin of voting for him.)

Today Herman Cain said he was aware of a severance package given to his accusers.  He did not say he was aware of a settlement.  I know several people who have received severance packages.  A severance package is not an omission of guilt. 

The accusers can't come forward unless someone is willing to release them from their non-disclosure statement.  That would be the best thing that could happen for Herman Cain.  I believe that would show their allegations to be completely false.  After all, they would have to describe the  non-sexual gestures that made them feel uncomfortable. 

I'm tired of women on the media wearing low-cut dresses and too much make-up telling me that men should be able to make eye-contact when women are talking.  If a woman wants to avoid feeling uncomfortable in the presence of a man, maybe she could just dress modestly.  Or if she dresses to attract attention, she should accept the consequences. It takes two to tango.  Don't attract attention if you don't want it.

Persecution Can Lead to Joy

I'm feeling validated today. Several websites I follow are finally starting to post articles about the abuse of the First amendment and persecution of the Catholic and Christian faiths.  They waited until the puss was oozing out of the sore to talk about it, but at least the USCCB via the leadership of Archbishop Dolan, and the bishops in Illinois are finally starting to fight back.  Checkout Our Sunday Visitor for a brief review.  Of course they speak of persecution as just starting.  Talk about having a head in the sand.

Nobody likes to whine, and nobody wants to argue the slippery slope.  But you see, thoughts become words, words become actions...  When I think, "Hey, consenting adults can do what they want,"  what I'm saying is that actions don't have consequences.  That is obviously a false statement. 

If I say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,"  I'm failing to see the imminent threat.   This is why oppressors will claim that expressing our religious beliefs is hate speech.  Bullying programs now focus on acceptance of GLBTG agenda.  People have been bullied for a long time.  Are you a bully if you tell a lesbian parent that painting her son's toenails pink is a bad thing to do?  (www.foxnews.com)

How do we combat persecution?  One, pray. Two, call it what it is.  Three, be joyful in faith, and expect others believe as well.  I've spoken before about the inherent discrimination that is encourage by the separatist thinking of diversity trainers and multicultural enthusiasts.  Their primary goal seems to be to tell Catholics and Christians to shut up and take it.  Even Catholic University is being sued by Muslim students who expect to be given a Christ-free place to pray.  On a Catholic campus.  With Catholic in the name of the school.  If they wanted a Christ-free place to worship, perhaps they should not have chosen a Catholic school.

Since I teach at a state run university, I used to be silent and kind of apologetic about my beliefs.  Now, in conversations with my students, I will make natural references to my life, and sometimes these include a reference to something religious.  For example, when a student asked how my weekend was, I said, " There's this beautiful little girl named Molly who colored a picture for me during Mass on Sunday.  Here, I have it in my purse."

This is not an in your face defense of religion.  It is simply a statement that it is a part of my life, and gives me joy. My students know I'm a baby stalker.  (That's what my son calls me.)  I see a baby, and I am immediately on a mission to get that child to give me a smile.  I have the same mission with the young adults I teach.  I want them to smile.  I want them to laugh.  I don't want them sitting in my class trying to figure out what my agenda is.  I want them to know I accept them, warts and all, and pray for their well-being.

I can do all of that with out checking my faith at the door. In fact, I do it better when I don't check my faith at the door. Pope Benedict XVI once said, "Each of us is the result of a thought of God.  Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."  Sometimes when faced with a troubled student, or a difficult colleague, I may ask God, "What were you thinking?" But they are probably asking the same question about me.

I accept them, but I don't want to celebrate their warts.  We are all fallen creatures, but legislating and protecting and glorifying sin only hurts the sinner.  So I intend to be joyful in this time of persecution.  I will love the sinner and hate the sin.  God willing, and with God's help.

A Slow and Steady Apocalypse

I have friends and relatives who think that the world is facing a minor chastisement by God.  In the course of this minor chastisement, at least a third of the world's population will disappear.  I know that many people would be bothered that 1/3 of the population dying would be considered a 'minor' chastisement.  But for these believers, it is significantly fewer people than, say, were killed when Noah and his family were the only survivors.

The who, what, and where of such punishment is the subject of news stories and private blogs all over the place.  So is the why.  We will be punished for failing to follow God's word, for a lack of faith, for tinkering with life to preserve the breath of those who are ready to die, and killing those who are ready to breathe.  We will be punished for our pettiness in dealing with others.  We will be punished for thinking about our hatred of others, rather than our love of neighbor, and our need for mercy.  We will be punished, and should be for all of the above, as well as our sins of omission.  I see a man or woman walking down the street, carrying groceries, children, or simply struggling to walk, and I keep driving with my empty minivan, because, you know, they could hurt me.  My lack of care for my fellow man is at the center for why I will be punished.  I deserve it.  I can take it.

It's the HOW of this that is my center of speculation.  Sometimes I read blogs and articles that seem to reflect a notion that the coming chastisement, which I do not doubt is coming, will come in some big way.  Comets will crash to earth.  Earthquakes will devour rivers and mountains and whole populations.  Storms will get wild and kill willy-nilly.  Fire, floods, hail, plagues...

It seems to me more likely that God will try to show us, in his mercy, that our punishments will be consummate with our crimes.  We didn't fall into sin over night.  We will descend into our punishment with an equal pace.  ---Disclaimer:  I am no prophet.  I am simply talking about what I believe, knowing God in His mercy will give us as much time as possible to turn ourselves toward Him.

My last post was about parish festivals and paranoia, but it was also about an expectation of vain self-centeredness.  If you, like me, have always been a bit preoccupied with how white your teeth are, how tan you skin is, how perfect your hair color, how skillfully applied your make-up, then you know that the perfect punishment would be the slowly apparent inability to counteract the aging process.  You may even find that the remedies you've used to preserve youth will accelerate your aging.  Wouldn't that be a perfect punishment?

What if you have always allowed abortion to continue through omission?  What if you never spoke up when you encountered a friend or colleague who was about to have an abortion?  What if you were a politician who voted for abortion rights, while being 'personally pro-life'?  Your slow, quiet, legislative support would be matched by what kind of punishment?  Maybe you would simply find yourself sterile.  Maybe you would have no grandchildren.  Maybe you would be lied to about your culpability in the culture of death as you blithely assumed you were being saved by the prayers and counseling of a priest who wanted to use your influence, rather than save your immortal soul.

I think we are in the midst of a slow drip of chastisement.  We didn't get here with 50,000,000 babies killed in a single nuclear attack.  We got here with one woman at a time choosing to quietly go to a clinic and convince herself that the baby didn't really exist yet, and her finances were inadequate to raise the child anyway.  It's been a slow drip of sin.  It will be a slow drip of punishment.

We are seeing it now.  Good faithful people are finding themselves infertile.  Because they are strong, prayerful, and faithful believers, God steers them to adopt the children who would be otherwise killed.  In this respect, God's mercy is both painful and healing.

Maybe that is what we can expect.  God's mercy will be painful and healing.  Kind of like when you get a bad burn, you will hurt for a while.  It may even hurt to the point that you can't imagine being able to tolerate the pain much longer.  In the end, you will survive the pain, live with the scars, and know that you shouldn't play with fire.