Reflections on Assumption (8/15/2013)

This was an old draft, but I found it and liked it, so....

This morning I was not scheduled to be at school until 10 am, so I took the opportunity to attend Assumption services. It was a nice service, and offered an opportunity to meet the new parish pastor. He gave an interesting and clear homily, and seemed to be someone who will be good for the parish.

We sang one of the few songs Catholics both know the words to, and can carry the tune - Hail, Holy Queen. We're not as musically inclined as the choir in Sister Act, or, for that matter, any Protestants, except the Episcopalians and Unitarians, so we sang the sedate version. It sounded good - not great, but solid and filled with fervor.

Assumption is one of those holy days that drive non-Catholics (and SOME sorta-Catholics - those ones that say "I was RAISED Catholic" or "I'm really spiritual, but don't go to mass, because you can worship God anywhere" - although they never seem to take the time from important things like sports and Facebook to actually do that worship thingy) nuts.

Assumption drives them nuts because they think it's about treating Mary as a God, not a person.

Well, it's not. It's more about giving her due as the person that made the Redemption all possible - she didn't have to agree. But she did, and was given the distinction of having her body taken into Heaven, without having to decompose after death like the rest of us. Interestingly, the Church has never actually said whether she died, or was taken before death.

Why treat her so special?

Come on, folks, who of us doesn't think their mom was the best! Oh, sure, our moms were flawed human beings, but we all realize the sacrifices they made for us, and the unstinting love they had for us - even when we acted like butt-heads.

I like to think of it as a just reward for having had to see her son crucified - it must have been awful to watch him suffer. And for not holding it against Jesus after the Resurrection (Jewish Mother Moment - "Oh, sure, Mr. I Can Walk on Water, you couldn't let me in on the plan? Do you know how I felt? Oh, that doesn't matter, who am I? Just the woman who had to ride a camel, deliver in a stable, and you didn't even give me grandchildren!").

It Was a Good Day

I accompanied my husband to a job fair - not for me, I really like the place where I am at, and plan to stay there until I retire.  I was there because we were going to meet with our semi-adopted son later, which we did.

I used that time to ferret out who to talk to in the school district about setting up some professional development - my husband and I have done so in the past, and we wanted to start doing so in SC.

Other than that, I did something I seldom do - other than a few targeted inquiries about registering at a conference this summer, and checking my personal email - I did not "plug in" today.

Didn't seek out internet news, didn't even watch the local or national news.  If war was declared, I missed it.

I may do that regularly once a week from now on - just stop grabbing all of the "news" and "information", and live IRL.

I've Always Thought the Fridge Was Out to Get Me

Admit it.

You can't pass the fridge without wanting to open the door.  It's seductive, enticing.  Practically screams, "You WANT me.  You NEEEEED me."



 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as I can tell, there is no other reason that I'm so overweight.  It must be a plot.

Well, your fears have been realized - the appliances ARE out to get you, and the fridge is the prime suspect.

Day 3 of Enforced Bed Rest

I'm still home, taking it easy.  My arthritic knee is still experiencing inflammation and pain.  With pain meds, and anti-inflammatory meds, I am improving, but S-L-O-W-L-Y.

I've been on a movie binge:

• Live Free & Die Hard


• Working Girl


• Sneaker

The last, I'm watching now.  One of the few really accurate and interesting movies about technology.  A more recent favorite tech movie is The Net (horribly outdated - tech is moving fast).

It's funny.  Many of the 60's and 70's Liberals/Progressives have become wealthy.  They ARE the Establishment.  Yet, they persist in positioning themselves as SJW (Social Justice Warriors), whose only aim in life is to help the "Little People".



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like this poster.  I may make it my new motto.

The More Things Change...

...The more they stay the same.

This is a link to a post by Jay Nordlinger referencing a talk by Dorothy L. Sayers - in 1938.  She sounds remarkably sensible - her views correspond quite well to that of current-day Conservative women.  Funnily enough, in the early days of the feminist movement, she was considered an icon.  I first read about her in Ms. Magazine - those were the days, before they OD'd on PC nonsense, and decided that Republican women weren't REALLY women, but cross-dressing men who "identified" as women, WERE.

Re: who is a woman - I felt as though I'd fallen down the Rabbit-Hole when I read of the pressure for producers of "The Vagina Monologues" to include cast members with penises - or, as they call themselves "transgender women".  Funny - I thought the definition of WOMAN specifically excluded those people with penises.

Look - if you still have an "outie", you are, by definition, a MAN.  Until you completely transition, there is NO justification for calling yourself a woman.

BTW, it REALLY irritates me that those who originally were men put on a parody of womanly behavior that is akin to white people in blackface - exaggerated, over-the-top stereotypical actions - eyelash-batting, roguish eyerolling, pinkies extended, hip-swinging silliness.

What REALLY is a woman?

• Strong - able to shove an 8-inch diameter sphere through a TINY hole in childbirth.  And, several years later, do it again.


• Fiercely protective of her family - willing to cut the heart out of someone who hurts her child.


• Hard-working - at home, and outside.  Will work incredibly boring jobs without complaint, coming home to cook, clean, monitor homework, do laundry, and get ready to do it again the next day.


• Caring - protective of the weak or defenseless.


• Intelligent - both academically (girls are far better students, on the average), and intuitively.  When a woman says that "she has a feeling" about something, listen to her - she likely picked up on small things, without consciously noticing, and made conclusions - all while doing something else simultaneously.

That is NOT a weakling, nor a giddy fool.

Feeling Old

I'm hobbling around today, thanks to a bad knee (osteoarthritis and a torn meniscus).  This week, I had a bad flare-up of the problem, and on Tuesday, I finally gave up, went back to the doctor, and got some heavy-duty meds.  And, a few days off work.

It's a grim prognosis - if it doesn't get better, surgery is in the future - either for repair of the meniscus, or complete knee replacement.  Either option has a healing time of about 6-8 weeks, and physical therapy, as well.

After this weekend, I'm going to get serious about weight reduction.  Just 20 pounds off the knee would make a huge difference.  I'm going to re-arrange my bedroom to have some space to stretch and exercise while watching TV.

While I'm sidelined, I plan to work out the upper body - I can use the Bowflex and resistance bands (I promise to be careful, and not injure myself like Harry Reid).

Disbelieving the Actually Raped is NOT the Worst Thing...

...it is EQUAL to the other terrible possibility - that of wrongly accusing, and publicly smearing, an innocent man as a rapist.

Naturally, the "rape culture" crowd never even consider the position of the wrongly accused:

there were two potentially bad outcomes here, not just one. It would, of course, have been terrible if Jackie’s story were true but nobody believed her. But it would also have been awful if the charges were untrue and the alleged perpetrators had been unfairly maligned. That it never crossed the minds of the howling mob that their targets may in fact be innocent — and, indeed, that Sabrina Erdely cannot bring herself to apologize to those whose lives she has damaged — is perhaps the most worrying, and illiberal, thing of all.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416530/fighting-against-rape-culture-means-never-having-say-youre-sorry-charles-c-w-cooke

Bold-face mine.

Another story about group-think - the current "issue" in Indiana with the RFRA.

Just how far will the pro-SSU group go to force Christians to go along with what they consider a grave sin?  Will they force the baker, at gunpoint, to bake the cake?  Will they just be satisfied to force him out of business, destroy him financially with fines and lawsuits, and drive him to living on the streets?

Will they send in the SWAT team to collect the fines?  Will they send him to prison for refusal to pay the fines (this already happens with the poor and men who are unable to pay child support - whether or not they are the father)?

Ironically, one of the most vocal opponents of Indiana's law, on the grounds that a business must offer its services equally to all, is Tim Cook, head of Apple.  Why is this ironic?  Because his company rejected an app that supported a viewpoint he disliked - that marriage is for men and women only - it's called the Manhattan Declaration App.

When Discussing Gay Rights or SSU...

...always respond by saying, FIRST, that:

• I hold the same beliefs, in this regard, as do Muslims - you aren't a Muslim HATER, are you?


• My views are in line with most pastors of African-American churches - you wouldn't want to imply that Black people are wrong on this issue, would you?


• I hold the same views as did Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama, when he was running for election & re-election.  And, BTW, I supported President Bill Clinton's stand on this issue, and his wife's, as well, when he passed legislation during his term.

An End to Same Sex Marriage

The name, that is.  We who are traditionalists must STOP using that name (or, for convenience, the initials - SSM).

Instead, what we CAN do is to recognize the state-endorsed institution of SSU - Same Sex Union.

The word marriage needs to be reserved for the traditional participants - 1 man, 1 woman.

So, try to remember:

SSU - for YOU, and YOU, and (maybe) YOU!

We're in Henry VIII Territory Now

Our  "Progressive" media ha begun to attack, not just those who openly disagree with them, but also those who refuse to take a stand.

I'm remembering that wonderful play, A Man for All Seasons.  From that 2nd Act, when Sir Thomas More is asked to swear an oath, but is silent:

MORE (With some o f the academic's impatience for a shoddy line o f reasoning) Not so, Master Secretary, the maxim is "qui tacet consentire." (Turns t0 COMMON MAN) The maxim of the law is (Very carefully) "Silence gives consent." If, therefore, you wish to construe what my silence "betokened," you must construe that I consented, not that I denied.

CROMWELL Is that what the world in fact construes from it? Do you pretend that is what you wish the world to construe from it?

MORE The world must construe according to its wits. This Court must construe according to the law.

And, so, Mike Krzyzewski, the coach of the Duke team, has refused to comment on the Indiana Religious Freedom law, just passed.  He was, in short, silent on the issue.

And, for that, for refusing to say what he believed, he is being pilloried.  I won't be surprised that the Leftists start mandating Loyalty Oaths - that ALL should swear that they will agree to - even more - hold as HOLY WRIT the rightness, the goodness, the perfection of Same Sex Marriage.

Refusal to so swear will be used as evidence at their dismissal hearings.  It will all be for "the good of the children" and other such specious excuses.  What it will really be about is organized bullying of the non-conforming.