Worn Out And Used Up!

"The world is a beautiful place to be born into if you don't mind some people dying all the time or maybe only starving some of the time which isn't half bad if it isn't you. "  This is a quote from Laurence Ferlinghetti, poet and playwright from his book "Pictures of the Gone  World".   It first appeared in the Chicago Review in 1955.  This was a new kind of poetry that brought us into the changing era of the post wars years of the forties.  The world was changing and so was the way we see it, literally.  The development of photography, movies and television would soon change our view of the world.  It would take on a new reality, it would become a visual reality with all of it's brutality, cruelty, mixed with it, we see it's elegant, alluring creative side.  Like all things in life, it has two sides.  

Our happiness depends on which side we find ourselves on on any given day.  The Chinese have a proverb for how we westerners live our lives, "People in the West are always getting ready to live."  How true that is. My middle daughter once told she did not take many pictures on one of her travel trips because she was trying to live the moment, not record it.  Life here on this earth can seem like living in a second class hotel when we are always striving to live and get beyond ourselves.  I remember saying once that I wanted to live with the so-called losers of life because they seemed so relaxed, but at least I could keep up with them.   As I enter into the later years of my life I have no reason to wear any kind of mask nor pretend to be anyone other than who I really am. 

 Unfortunately we tend to live life backwards and not always forwards, but life goes on and so do we.  The tragedy of life is not in the things we suffer, but in the things we miss, life can be a long preparation for something that never happens.  In the words of Monty Python, "suddenly nothing happened", can sum up a life of disappointment for those who are dissatisfied with their circumstances. These are never satisfied with what  they have and refuse to live in the midst of life no matter how stark or profound it may be.   Life is what we breath, consume and what we contribute back to it.  It is not how many years you live, but how much you put into those years that will define the quality of your life.  

This last week I lost a personal friend who was old enough to die and qualified by life experience to graduate to the next stage of her life.   That stage is called eternity or eternal life, a life that has a new life source, not one that is bound by human limitations or earthly desires.  The Holy Scriptures speak of a life that is at one with God (our creator) in all His holiness and beauty.  A life that is not held back by inner desires of insecurity, shame and the want for something more.  A life that is complete in itself, a life that is self perpetuating and needs nothings except to be connected to the source of all life, God Himself.  One of God's greatest character traits is His humility.  The very fact that God became one with us through the birth of Christ.  That this God would humble Himself and submit to the negatives of humanity so that He could feel what we feel and suffer what we suffer, even death itself.  The story of  God's birth, death and resurrection  is a picture of humility expressed by the ultimate power, God Himself.  It was once said that many men have aspired to be gods, but only one God has ever became man.  

One of our greatest hopes but yet a constant mystery is death, what would life be like without the hope of death?  A hope that brings us beyond ourselves, a hope that points us to something better than what we have.  May we all realize the frailty of life, the weakness of our own bodies and the strength of desire for something more, something that completes, fulfills and lets us live as we've never lived before.  Life is to be spent not saved, when we come to life's conclusion we should be well spent, used up, and every ounce of life in us should have been exhausted and consumed.  We should leave this life on empty waiting for the complete rebuild of all our working parts.  Let us not get in the way of those who are coming behind us in life's pursuit of everything wonderful, rare and exciting.  May we understand that this life is a gift from God and something to be cherished, used and expressed.  May we all reflect the glory of our  Creator and become the expressed image of who He is.   

 

Obama to the rescue

Does anyone else think that time and history are happening so fast that if we go to sleep we might miss some big evet?  Wow.  What a week!  Canada got a new president, so did America.  Talk about a one world leader, President Obama is covering all the bases and looking very Presidential.  The feeling among my American friends and family is one of hope and excitement.  I don't think this feeling of renewal has been seen since the John Kennedy years. That was the last time little children were in the White House and a child looked at the President as daddy!  Makes an immigrant want to go and apply for a Green card.  

The other thing I've noticed is that the media is in love with Obama.  Who would of thought that the media could love anyone, especially a President?  I hope it is a four year honeymoon. My Republican friends are still in shock and contemplating a move to Canada.  Socialism is a scary thought for Republicans, but none the less socialism can work well with big business, especially when big business is broke and needs a bail out.  Now health care does seem to work in every country that is socialistic in regards to their health care systems (even Cuba).  When was the last time any of my American friends smoked a good Cuban grown Cohiba Cigar?  Not since President Kennedy signed that embargo back in 62 while he was puffing on a good hand rolled Cuban cigar.  I just recently got resupplied with twenty-four "Cohibas" from my friends here in Vancouver.  It's nice to know good street people who look after you and are socialistic at heart. 

Life is changing, folks and we had better figure out how to get on board and get with the program.  This new administration has the young at heart on board.  Never have we seen so many young adults wanting to get involved in political and social change.  Now, that is amazing to behold.  I'm not sure I'm a republican or a democrat yet, but what ever I am I like what I hear and see.  

In politics a week is a very long time.  As Ronald Reagan once said, "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession.  I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." One last political statement,  "Deep down he is shallow."  One of my favorite political statements. 

Hot Chocolate and Storytelling

When Brad Pitt tells Eric Bana in the 2004 film Troy that "there are no pacts between lions and men," he is not reciting a clever line from the pen of a Hollywood screenwriter.  He is speaking Achilles' words in English as Homer wrote them in Greek more than 2,000 years ago in the IIiad. The tale of the Trojan War has captivated generations of audiences while emerging from its origins as an oral epic to written versions and ,finally, to several film productions. The power of this story to transcend time, language and culture is clearly evident.  The power of a story written or told has a lasting impact and forges our beliefs and history forward while remembering our past.  Hear any good stories lately?

Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of history. Anthropologists find evidence of folk-tales everywhere in ancient cultures, written in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian (it can even be found in "Rap Music").  People in societies of all types weave narratives, from oral storytelling in primitive tribes to the millions of writers churning out books, television shows and movies.  Storytelling is a human universal, and common theme in tales throughout history and all over the world.  We have a natural affinity towards storytelling and these are clues that reveal our history and the roots of our emotions and empathy.  A stories narrative has power to influence beliefs and how we analyze these stories reveals how we learn to accept new ideas.  The spoken word is more powerful than the written as it can take on personality and character. While the pen is still mightier than the sword, the written word or recorded word leaves much to the interpretation of the reader.  Ask any biblical scholar. 

As our ancestors were learning to live in groups or tribes they developed the ability to accept complex social relationships through story speaking.  Living in community requires keeping tabs on who the group members are and what they are doing. Thought this development storytelling became the method of keeping and spreading this information.  To this day most people spend most of their day conversing through personal storytelling and gossip.  Storytelling encourages social cohesion and serves as a valuable method of passing knowledge to future generations.  The imaginary world of stories may serve as a proving ground for vital social skills.  Spoken stories tend to draw a person out, unlike written stories that can tend to isolate us from the group and weaken our ability to socialize amongst real people.  When I have a good book I tend to hibernate in the recluenjss of my private world and fantasies.  

Can you imagine the impact that computer games and software are going to have on society in the next one hundred years?  The isolation work ethic they bring to society, for good or bad.  What type of impact will this have on how the next generation fits into the scheme of life lived socially, out amongst the group.  

A couple of years ago a good friend of mine (Mike Meeking) who has since went home to be with the Lord. Invited me to attend the children's festival.  Amongst all the skits, plays and street performers was a story teller.  He was in a jesters costume and had captivated a group of about twenty-five children between the ages of five and ten.  They were absolutely held spellbound by this story teller.  They were hanging on to every word and and the story he was telling them.  He had entered their world and held them captive or was it the other way around?  I'm afraid that storytelling is now on the endangered talents list.  What a loss it will be.  This blog is somewhat of a oxymoron as I'm writing about the lost art of storytelling.  Maybe we should meet for Hot Chocolate and I can tell you a story or two.  Just let me know when.  One last thing, when was the last time you had a really good deep dark hot chocolate.  The thick rich kind that needs a drill motor to keep it stirred?  I'm off to fix me one right now.  Come tell me a story and I'll fix the chocolate.  PS - My editor (Linda) is in California visiting her mom and sisters so cut me some slack on any mistakes.  

Hey, pull your pants up!

The other day while I was in my bank, I saw this teenage kid in the line up with his pants sagging so low I was sure his pants would be around his ankles by the time he finished his banking.  Can someone please explain to me why this is still around?  Why have we not told these kids to pull their freaking pants up?  I've seen all of the fruit of the looms that I care to.  Why does this stuff anger me so?  Good question.  I need a good answer.   

Where did all this come from and why is it still around?  I'm certain it has something to do with some rapper fashion going back to the early 90's.  Will this style ever leave? It's 2009 and I still see butts at my bank and shopping mall. In analyzing this butt sagging fashion statement, my conclusion is that it is the modern youth culture's statement of rebellion.  Whereas in my generation youth marched in protest against war and government, now they simply pull their pants down in some kind of protest against the establishment.  

I'm sure we can find some psychologist who will say that we need to help these kids deal with their rebellion and allow them to express their rebellion in a healthy way.  Baloney!  Pull  your freaking pants up because I do not want to see your ugly bum at the shopping mall next Christmas.  

Our youth of today are the most privileged generation in history.  They have more opportunity, more leisure time, easier standards, less work, and more stuff than anyone - ever.  All we ask as adults who are giving you this easy life style is, PULL YOUR PANTS UP!       

Let's Talk Weather

Let's talk weather.

What is going on? What happened to "Global Warming"?  I think we know.  The masterminds in marketing missed the boat and the phenomenon of "climate change".  Here are the facts. We've not seen the driveway for three weeks, finding a place to park in Vancouver tops any New York parking reality show.  The toilet is frozen, the sink is backed up and the cat hates us.

With all this white stuff piling up in Vancouver one would think the same was happening to our soon to be famous ski resorts in Whistler BC.  The future home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Not so.  The nasty white stuff has skirted around the Whistler Village similar to a destroyer making it's way through a mined harbor. 

Vancouver has proven its inability to cope with any snow build up.  Our side streets are like Olympic bobsled runs with no room for spectators.  Even the type of snow that dropped on us is worthy of mention.  It has the substance of bread dough gone bad.  A shovel full weighs close to fifty pounds.  That is more exercise than any true Vancouverite wants to engage in.  So it sits, piles up and is starting to give our beautiful city that Alberta cold storage look.  

Something you might not know: Snow is commonly formed when water vapor undergoes deposition, which is when water vapor changes directly to ice without first becoming a liquid, high in the atmosphere at a temperature of less than 32' F  and then falls to the ground.

Snowflakes are made of ice crystals.  Each snowflake is six-sided and made of as many as 200 ice crystals. Snowflakes form in clouds where the temperature is below freezing.  The ice crystals form around tiny bits of dirt that has been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind.  As the snow crystals grow, they become heavier and fall towards the ground.

Even with that information this winter has lost its romantic feel and is slowly turning even the best of us into winter boycotters and complainers.  I've noticed a lot more yellow spots in the snow than usual.  Could we be getting bitter about it?  My snow shovel is two inches shorter than it was last year.  We here in BC buy the plastic ones.  I know that sounds stupid to you real snow dwellers.  We are learning to adapt, and for us that means staying home watching the movie channel .We know that this type of "climate change" is only temporary with warmer weather on the way.  Yep, warmer weather means rain.  Something we look forward to seeing again.

Happy New Year (I think)

What's up with the Happy New Year stuff?...I can handle a Merry Christmas as it represents the incarnation of God  into man, (something by the way, that no other supposed god has ever desired to do.)   I did some research and found what I think might be the origin of the New Year.

In 46 BC the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first celebrated January 1 as the new year's day.  Janue was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Caesar felt that the month named after this god (January) would be the appropriate "door" to the year.  Caesar celebrated the first January 1 New year ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee. Eyewitnesses say blood flowed in the streets.  In later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies - a ritual they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.  

Now, that is the origin of the New Year celebration, but a lot more went on as this holiday was taken over by English Kings, Popes and the confusion of calendars and powers.  It went from being held on Jan 1, to March 25.  One being Caesar's version and the other the early Christian version called Announcement Day celebrating the announcement by the Angel Gabriel that Mary would be impregnated by God.  Eventually Pope Gregory XIII brought us back to the Julian calendar and the new year was again January 1.  Pope Gregory, also brought us that trendy little year, what we now call Leap Year.  The Julian calendar had an 18 hour miscalculation to it,  and we thought Y2K was weird, this little mix up was going to throw the universe into total chaos, but Pope Gregory made an adjustment in our calendar and we are now safe and the cosmos is running as ordered.   

For any of you that woke up this morning with a head ache ,now you know the reason why.  One last note on the January 1 thing.  The early Christians celebrated January 1 as the day Jesus was circumcised.  Not that that day was the actual day, but it was chosen to celebrate the event.  Can you begin to see why history, tradition and politics can really screw things up?

I have to accept this New Year thing due to the fact I need order and do need to know what year number to write on the one check a month I write to my church.   Currently, we do not have a cash machine in the lobby. Writing checks are as common as showing your high school diploma when you apply for a job.  Nice to have but rarely used.  

2008 is not going down as a good year for most.  For me I'm just happy to be alive, enjoying what ever comes my way.  As Jack Nicholson once said about his life, "another day another $5000,000".   Oh, to be so charmed.  I do hope some things do change in 2009, like never hearing the word "Green".   If another corporation announces it is going Green, I'm lighting a set of tires on fire in my drive way.   How about "bailout"?  The term was once reserved for crooks and really bad people, now it is the reward for being a incompetent, overpaid, out of touch Executive.  We have a new form of economic terrorism, weapons of mass financial destruction.  Held by the terrorist organization known as, Justice for the overly wealthy and lazy.   One good thing that 2008 did for us was it brought an end to the "election" mania that began as far back as 2007.   I now suffer from election Bolemia.  When ever I hear anything concerning an election I purge immediately.   I do believe that if God intended us to have elections He would have given us candidates (old joke I know, but it fits). 

It does appear that that my post are a tad on the negative side of things, what do you think?  Negative, is defined as something that  is in denial, disagreement or refusal.  I think I'm safely in the that zone on these matters. As an observer one must see "what is" and learn from "what was".  Adlie Stevenson said: The definition of free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular".