|
Thursday, June 05, 2008
 |
The family coach-pitch allstar
9:40
-
1 Comments - 0 Kudos
- Add Comment
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
|
Luck O' the Irish?
"Let me tell you something. In here, hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can get you killed."
-- Red, speaking to Andy in "Shawshank Redemption."
Despite those words to Red in my favorite movie of all time, I have decided to allow myself to get my hopes up ... again.
For decades I have dreamed of seeing Ireland. I don't know why that particular country, but it is the place I dream of seeing.
I've come close to getting there, twice. But in both cases everything went down in flames, and my heart was broken.
Here's to hoping the third time is a the charm. I've been invited to go on a peace-building mission for two weeks this fall. A family has volunteered to house me, and someone is taking care of the group's (there are four of us) meals and transportation while we are "in country."
I have to find a way to get there. And air travel is not cheap. I have to come up with about a month's pay (or more) for airfare.
The Kansan has offered a little bit of money to help me if I blog and upload spotted galleries when I am there. I have, of course, agreed to that. But I still have a long, long, long way to go.
I am daring to dream. I'm letting myself hope. And I am doing all I can to keep a positive attitude. I just know that somehow this will happen — that money will magically appear on my doorstep and I will be able to go on this mission.
C
12:30
-
2 Comments - 0 Kudos
- Add Comment
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
|
Joel 2:25-27
"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten —the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm —my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other."
14:20
-
0 Comments - 0 Kudos
- Add Comment
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
|
Life is ... OK
Just like it has done seemingly all spring, it's raining again tonight. It's no wonder I see the signs of depression all around me ... not just in me, but in other people too. The rain has a habit of dragging people down. Oh well.
Life has been really busy as of late, which is easily evidenced by my lack of blog entries. It's partly because I have found someone really good for me that I love very much, and I am convinced she is "the one."
I don't remember the exact reference, but I have taken solice in some Old Testiment verses Pastor Joan shared at her ordination service a few weeks ago. The basically say that after being through heck and back, God will fill you with blessings. I went through heck and back. And right now I feel like I have been given the blessing.
For the first time in a long time I feel loved by a woman. I feel like I am involved in a healthy relationship -- one that is a give and take, one that I get as much (or more) support as I give. It feels good!
Anyway, life has been good, though eventful.
I could complain a lot, but it wouldn't do a whole lot. The last two days have been wild -- someone hacked my yahoo! account, and I saw the carnage of a fatal car accident this morning. The kid who died was only nine days from graduating high school.
But I can't bring the kid back, nor can I change that someone chose to invade my privacy and possibly others in my address book.
22:09
-
0 Comments - 0 Kudos
- Add Comment
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
|
A frustrating trend
During the past few weeks I have been at several public hearings, during which I have noticed a very disconcerting trend.
We as a people are becoming more and more polarized, and less and less able to listen and comprehend.
Three public hearings come to mind — a special use permit hearing at the city level, a waste-to-energy contract hearing at the county level, and Kansas Corporation Commission hearing concerning a new power line at the regional level.
In each case "concerned citizens" came to the hearings to "get answers to their questions."
I wish that's really what was going on out there. But what is really happening is people come with an agenda, and they really are not looking for answers. We have forgotten that a conversation requires a speaker and a listener who switch roles once in a while. We all would rather just be speakers, and forget the listening part.
To get answers and to better understand what might be happening and why, one must be willing to listen.
Sitting in the back row, elbowing your buddies and cracking jokes while others are talking doesn't qualify. Assuming you know all there is to know on a given topic doesn't qualify either.
Civil discourse, like that our forefathers relied on, is all but dead. The extremes are yelling at each other, never listening and never trying to make a compromise. It's quite frustrating.
So, how does a president bring us back to the time of civil discourse? What policy can create change?
I believe undoing something Ronald Reagan did is a step in the right direction. Undoing his dismantling of the equal time policy is a step in the right direction.
The equal time policy said the airwaves are public, and because of that, equal time must be given to opposing views. Reagan did away with that FCC regulation, and look at what we have as a result.
Broadcast news is no longer fair or balanced. Talk radio is filled with the extreme right and extreme left. The majority of the American public —those who are somewhere in the middle, really are left out.
Debates are no longer about presenting your view, then listening to the other guy and finding some place in the middle where everyone can win.
We are now an always or never society, a society of I win and you lose, rather than a sometimes and we can both win society.
Those people, the majority who walk in the middle, are called boring and wafflers. They are put down and degraded.
Look at the Iraq conflict for example. It's either stay the course until ultimate success, or pull out as soon as possible. Where's the middle? Maybe a combination of the two is the best way. Maybe rather than sending more troops, we should send more relief workers — more teachers, doctors, nurses, agricultural workers and peace teams protected by our military. Maybe a slow withdrawal as those relief workers help get the country up and running is the way to go.
But our debate doesn't allow for that. It's all or nothing.
Bringing back the equal time policy isn't as difficult as one might think. At some point every network has to use airwaves — even if that's the uplink to a private sattelite and the redistribution to the ground. Besides, all we would be asking so-called journalists to do is their job which is fair and balanced reporting.
11:00
-
0 Comments - 0 Kudos
- Add Comment
|
|
