Sunday was interesting. I needed to get the Bobcat to Rocky Mount and pick up wood for another man who had cut some trees. My situation is so desperate, I am willing to just pick up wood for it's value. A full trailer load of good logs which are turned into plywood could bring me $200. That is the maximum any load will bring, but something is better than nothing.
I had planned to do this Monday, but bad weather was coming so I upped it a day---to find the rascal had let someone else have the wood without telling me he had changed his mind. What a pile of--I'll just say sorry pulp wood which brings about as much as cow manure!
So I went on to my daughter's house to find only my wife there. It was so nice to have a few hours alone with the woman I love and respect who is protecting our daughter and grandsons.
Daddy had the 4 boys for the day and brought them back about 5:00. The second he saw me a scowl went across his face. I decided to be nice and asked, "How's it going today?" With that he slammed the McDonald's bag full of air and scared the mess out of the boys. He walked off and within a few minutes was leaving muttering. He then, with the most hateful voice said, "I hope you enjoy MY house / MY TV," and slammed the door on his way out. Had he not had his mommas car instead of his hot dog Mustang, I am sure rubber would have squalled for 1/4 mile! Hate was in the air and the boys were terrified.
A little later when they were snuggling and talking the truth came out: their daddy had spent the day saying all kinds of hateful things about my wife and I as his parents goaded him on in front of the boys. All it really did was make the boys evaluate even more who cared about them and what a loving home they were coming back to. We turned out the lights, popped popcorn, and had a good children's movie along with child talk and play until it was bed time.
In a way I am laughing myself to death over this: he had criticized behind our backs only to find both of us being nice to him when he brought the boys in. That was the real source of anger--he knows his family and him are mean and cruel---then he had to see 2 grandparents giving the children only love and control. How sad!
As I drove back home 1.5 hours yesterday I spent most of the journey in thought and prayer. I put in a call to my daughter's attorney and talked with his assistant. They were supposed to have the Separation Papers drawn already, but it hasn't yet happened. They have been paid in full. They advised Sara to be sweet and non-combative so he would be more prone to sign. The trouble is, no matter how nice we all are, he continues awful phone calls and messages with all the horrible female expletives of "b" / "w" / "s" / etc. accusing my daughter of an affair she never even thinks about. The secretary immediately called my daughter to see if more severe things should be done to further protect her. They care about this more than the money involved. This lawyer has been through divorce himself with a abusive wife!
Imagine this: the mother of 4 active boys who gets no help with their discipline or care outside a bag of fast food which makes them worse / a house which never gets all straight because he and his boys think clothes should just be thrown anywhere they take them off / a manager of a Bed, Bath, and Beyond store at Christmas shopping time---and she is out chasing some man!!!! Give me a break. With his bad male behaviour and 4 boys copying him, the last thing she wants is another stupid male. She may never marry again.
I have counseled many women in this situation. To a person, they have all said, "The last thing I care about now is another stupid bully / idiot / self-centered man! If I never have to live with one again, it would be nice!"
Women have a great capacity for love and tolerance, far more than men. BUT there comes a time when they have been abused enough and all love ceases. They might feel sorry for the rascal, but there is no response to attempted hugs or kisses. He thought it was cute to take a picture of his "manhood" and show it to my daughter with an invitation to the marital bed. He might as well have poured a big bucket of cold water over her. It was TOTALLY gross!
The LAST THING she wants from him now is any touching or even being in the house or within sight of her or the boys. He has died as far as she is concerned because love has died. In this sense she has totally fulfilled her wedding vow: It says "til death do us part" and the death of love through abuse is as real as physical death--in many ways, if he went through with his empty threat to "kill himself," it would be kinder and more final. In fact when he said it in a follow up to his hateful recorded message she wisely told him, "Go ahead! Use a long knife or big gun so there will be no big hospital bills or debilitated person left behind to bother me any more!" It is all empty threat--I doubt this one has the guts---BUT NEVER SIT BACK THINKING THIS---he has enough crazy and anger to harm others, if not himself!
I back my daughter 100% on all this! For her sake and the boys this terror must end. Love and family living deserve much more. He is trying to pass on the sick upbringing he had, but my daughter, and us, are moving ahead to get his Demon Possessed personality to the Isolation Ward. Unless he chooses to change after 35 years, all he will do is spread the germs of "I can't love myself" in any relationship he makes.
If he killed himself today, he would be no more dead than with what he has done to love in 15 years of abuse! I pray for him an exorcism of his demon of not knowing what love is because he got only hate and abuse as he grew up.
My daddy always said, "You can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can surely keep him from nesting there."
This was in terms of his poorer than poor upbringing out of which he WORKED! He hitch-hiked to college, peeled potatoes and cut hair to get through, and then worked every day so his family would never experience the Depression era poverty he knew! I did yard work and trim carpentry to get through!
Anyone can grow up in difficult circumstances, but NO ONE has to stay there! If you stay there it is by choice and excuse rather than getting hold of your boot straps and pulling yourself up. Nowadays, race or poverty are somewhat an asset because every expensive tax-paid program is available should you be a minority / poor / uneducated / etc. Don't tell me "you can't help it" because my father and I have proven otherwise.
Just get off your pity pot and get on with life!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Payback is HELL -- divorce update
It is hard to believe a week has passed. I spent the night at my daughters, stayed with her sick twins for the day, had the middle boy come home early from school with my wife having to leave work and bring him. The oldest is the only one somewhat intact, but he has a terribly sullen attitude much like his father these days.
This morning my wife filled me in on yesterday--You're gonna love this!!!!
My daughter's abusive "5-year-old-in-a-man's-body" is now staying with his parents who created this monster with their crazy parenting techniques. He called my daughter to tell her to shut the air vents under the house and turn on a light you have to crawl to since a freeze was coming. Not that he is off right now and knows exactly what to do, but he has to keep his commands going!
Next he starts complaining about how he is being treated:
This morning my wife filled me in on yesterday--You're gonna love this!!!!
My daughter's abusive "5-year-old-in-a-man's-body" is now staying with his parents who created this monster with their crazy parenting techniques. He called my daughter to tell her to shut the air vents under the house and turn on a light you have to crawl to since a freeze was coming. Not that he is off right now and knows exactly what to do, but he has to keep his commands going!
Next he starts complaining about how he is being treated:
- Must be home at a certain time (early, even though he is 35)
- Must make his bed and wipe the shower door to leave it EXACTLY as momma dictates
- If he is 1 minute late to a meal the (usually chicken strips because momma hates to cook) plate will be in the microwave
- Answer all kinds of questions and listen to all kinds of stupid advice from meddling parents.
Payback---indeed it is HELL and this abuser deserves every bit of it!
He would get worse right now from an angry father who has just learned his daughter was grabbed by the hair and had a butcher knife placed to her throat in front of all the boys. He can thank God the separation is in progress and daddy does not have to intervene on that one.
My father, years ago, told me something very important: "When the Bible says, 'Vengeance is mine saith the Lord,' it means it!" I am eternally grateful to my father for pointing it out and telling stories of how it worked out for him. My Baptist preacher experiences have been exactly the same--I left the vengeance to God and it certainly was provided in ways I could never have planned nor predicted if I had taken vengeance into my own hands.
One quick example:
My second Senior Minister church had a group called "the clique" at its core. These people appeared to be faithful church members. They sang in the choir, taught SS, were elected Deacon and other positions. To the quick observer they seemed to be "righteous."
Once there and trying to work with them, I quickly discovered it was all a cover-up for backbiting, illicit affairs, making people with spiritual needs more sick instead of helping them to heal.
To make a long story short they corrupted 2 of my new staff members--literally physically with sexual antics corruption--to the point one had to be forced to resign and the other through his "other woman clique manipulator" ended up in a divorce / job loss / almost successful suicide place.
Guess who got fired as the Senior Minister----ME!!!!
I wanted to hurt several someones for how my wife and children got treated. Their actions were so threatening and hostile I took a friend and a .357 magnum with me after the vote to get things from my office. It may sound like a strange tale to you, but I had to live it.
You will never guess what happened to the "prime schemer" in this little story of having my career and family badly hurt. He had an elder son whose wife was expecting a baby. That young pregnant lady was the daughter of another participant in the "ousting of Gene event." In fact, he moderated the meeting when the church could have rejected my resignation, but the Moderator told them they could not do it because I had submitted it-----HOGWASH!!!
The beautiful child was born. Mommy and child were home alone in the first few days. She had put the baby to bed and decided to take a long warm soaking bath. Her husband came home within a few hours to find his beautiful wife and new mother drowned in her bath tub!
It sends chills down my spine!
Another participant in my pastoral slaughter had his beautiful beauty contestant type daughter in her early 20's fall off the back of a motorcycle into the path of an 18-wheeler which ran over her head! I'm not making any of this up. To a one those who meant evil for me paid a price as vengeance happened within the first year of my leaving!
Payback is HELL---usually it sets straight those awful things hurtful people have done to others who were just trying to do their job / get along / live and honest life.
If anyone chooses to take life in his own hands and exact vengeance, it turns into the kind of awful martyr bombing / plane hijacking / etc. stuff of recent years which has our soldiers by the thousands being exposed to vengeance bombing / roadside devices / etc.
Vengeance begets vengeance ad finitum!
When Jesus advocated returning good for evil / turn the other cheek reactions, he was offering a better way. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. proved that what seems impossible can become so by peaceful protest as hard as it might be to endure the blows, dogs, water hoses, etc. from those presently in charge.
As Christmas approaches, we did get a present from above which gives us encouragement to believe that when God says, "Vengeance is mine," he means it and you can trust it. It is proven to me that my father was right!
Thanks, Dad, I will surely see you again one day. You just got there before I do.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Riding Herd on Buffalos
I loved cowboy movies growing up. They were the highlight of TV as we got our first black-and-white set from Sears in the mid-50's. In fact, a kid who didn't like westerns was pretty much out of luck on any given Saturday. I remember Howdy Doody--it had a western theme? My Friend Flicka was on later with the beautiful black stallion. Finally, was my favorite: The Roy Rogers Show.
I dreamed of owning a beautiful Palomino like Trigger. I asked Santa for Roy Rogers guns one Christmas, and got, instead, a Lone Ranger set of 6-guns while my younger brother got the Roy Rogers set. The difference was brown leather for Roy Rogers and black for Lone Ranger. His guns were light and could shoot caps. Mine were silver and 3 times as heavy. Later on, as a father it came to me that children with identical toys would be fighting all the time so our parents wisely got Santa to bring different kinds or there might be a real killing between the Scarborough boys. They were quite competitive!
I was born on March 23 and my brother came along on March 3 the following year! We were almost like twins without having popped into the world at the same time. Momma later confessed to my wife in her first pregnancy: "Don't you dare believe that old wives tale that you can't get pregnant while nursing a baby. Gene's younger brother Charles is living proof that it is a total LIE!"
My brother and I grew up when life was good. There was no A-C nor power steering. Few people had a TV--much less color. Media was more radio than TV and we spent many a night or sick time from school listening to WSB Radio in Atlanta--"The voice of the South." It's funny how things stick to a child's mind! We even survived riding in a car without seat belts or cell phone distraction! Our parents actually had enough sense to drive carefully and slow enough to be safe for their sake and us children.
Like WSM in Nashville, WSB can still be heard in a scratchy way almost anywhere in the SE United States. I still sometimes tune to 750 AM just to feel like home again. Atlanta was not yet to her first million residents. You could play all over the neighborhood safely. DeBell street in Clarkston was nothing but wall-to-wall children laughing and make believing! Anything you did wrong would get back to momma before we got home, and God help us if we did anything immoral or illegal. There was no "wait til your daddy gets home from that SC farm girl."
She would almost always make us pick our own switches! This was my first adventure in executive decision making: what is "just the right size?" If it is too little and flimsy it could cut you / if it is too stiff and big so it won't cut, it might bruise! Dear God, help me pick the right one 'cause I'm gonna get a whipping soon!
One thing I remember about the westerns were cattle stampedes. Even worse was the dreaded buffalo stampede. Where cows could bash the poor cowboy whose horse slipped, the buffalo would mash them all flat as a flitter. Cows would go around the buildings and boulders, buffalo would go through and leave nothing standing! A buffalo stampede was the most dreaded result of nature's wrath. They would spook at thunder and lightening and come over the hill after my cowboys felt the earth shake as a warning. God help the cowboy sleeping peacefully at night with his innocent herd of cows nearby when the buffalo got loose!
We had a small herd of buffalo residing near us at my last house. It was always neat to take our grandchildren by to see these massive animals. Normally children get to see them only at a zoo, but the Red Oak / Castalia area had our own herd. They were beautiful. On of the things which fascinated our small ones was the time a baby buffalo got somehow under the fence. It's momma was close to pushing down that barbed wire before the farmer discovered the little lost baby. Instead of just the momma cow pushing until the barbs hurt and stopped, a buffalo has such thick hide and companionship no fence stands a chance when the herd wants to get to the other side.
I know now why "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd" was a popular teen song. It stimulated a funny image, but it told a serious truth: try to skate among the hairy beasts and you will get smashed!!!
Now for the application as to why I feel like I am skating in a buffalo herd these days!
Our ECONOMY is a buffalo herd to me. After some 2 years of Depression (notice I didn't say Recession) the buffalo herd of corporate America is getting all the favors, while the small businessman is seeing virtually NOTHING. At last they are talking about "tax credits" and "easier loans," but why has the buffalo herd crushed for so long.
The first response this time in Depression was massive bailouts to financial and investment firms along wit the auto industry. Instead of setting investors back on their feet and customers right, the feet of the buffalo herd crushed them more! The buffaloes running each part of those 3 herds gave themselves bonuses for running their business into the ground.
Did the customer or investor get one red cent???? Not just "NO" but "HELL NO!"
Us American taxpayers now own 61% of GM, but are their products 61% cheaper to the poor fools whose money bailed them out??? Same answer as above!!!
Has the unenforced rules and regulations of the Stock Exchange brought lyers and thieves to justice or removed their securities license from them? Again, same answer as above!!!
How many have gone to Federal Prison for depriving the typical investor of about 45% on average of the value of their investments??? Has my retired school teacher / preacher's wife mother had her portfolio restored. It was wisely managed, but where she had little or non worries, she is in a tight spot now.
I don't like that!!!
I earned a Series 6 Securities license and it wasn't easy. The test is hard and few pass it the first time. I took a course to help me after getting completely buffaloed by the books. The most helpful thing the teacher told us was that most of the multiple choice answers would be similar and more than enough were tricky with very similar answers.
HOWEVER, the way to get passed was to ALWAYS ask a simple queston: Which answer is closest to "Always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to the client."
I did not know all there was to know about equity management, but that 1 major concept above got me passed with a right good score the first time through---truth, whole truth, nothing but truth! I like that.
Our buffalo herd feeding grounds seem to lack too much of the above for some reason. The honest brokers and managers as well as corporate executives tossed that motto out the window and traded it for another:
Always tell the investor what he wants to hear--profits / more profits / and nothing but profits!
This is a dangerous motto.
Did you know EVERY Corporation in America has the legal right to keep 2 sets of books: 1 for the Tax Man and another for the Investor!! Guess which one shows roses and rainbows while the other shows gloom and doom. What happened to truth / whole truth / nothing but the truth? Why are not the same figures shown to both parties--pay your fair taxes and if it is bad, just tell the investor why you have learned and how you hope to improve the future!
I had my Insurance License first and then added the Securities License so I was pretty schooled in 2 professions which call for utmost honesty. That was not a hard push for me because in my childhood westerns--the good guys wore white hats and always told the truth. Even my other hero, The Lone Ranger, who wore a dark outfit had a white horse and white hat both. Roy Rogers nor the Lone Ranger would ever tell a lie to anyone. As soon as they heard about corrupt land barons or dirty business people in a town, they got seriously on their trusty steeds and ran them out.
Now, if Saturday morning cowboys reflected society 50 years later, Roy's immediate response to hearing of corruption today would be: "Let's take a survey to see what the public thinks! I'm not risking getting shot if it's not popular with the people!"
What a wuss! All of us "made in America" kids would immediately switch to the Lone Ranger and never trust Roy again! Forget his beautiful palomino and dog "Bullet" with lovely Dale Evans and Pat Brady by his side. If he tells lies and won't do anything about crime, I will never send in my cereal boxtops again for a decoder ring!!!.
Things in buffalo herd land are so bad today, we haven't even noticed our .50 box of Kellogg's cereal now costs $5 and has air blown into the mash which makes the cornflakes so we get less grain and more air in that "family size box at Wal-Mart."
Meanwhile, that poor farmer raising the grains is getting about the same price per ton as he did 20 years ago! The boys on the Commodities Exchange in Chicago are riding their Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to the airport for their corporate jets to buy oil futures in Saudi Arabia and vacation for $10,000 a day in Dubai at the same time!
My God!!!! The buffalo herd is thundering at us and we have no place to go! As a small businessman I am making 30% of what I did 3 years ago. I finally met another man in worse shape--he makes $300-400,000 luxury cruisers and is making 10% of what he made 3 years ago. His customers seem to be those described above vacationing in Dubai. I guess a large, beautiful, gas guzzling yacht just pales in comparison to a corporate jet and Dubai.
Does it have anything to do with buffaloes thundering down on us?????
I dreamed of owning a beautiful Palomino like Trigger. I asked Santa for Roy Rogers guns one Christmas, and got, instead, a Lone Ranger set of 6-guns while my younger brother got the Roy Rogers set. The difference was brown leather for Roy Rogers and black for Lone Ranger. His guns were light and could shoot caps. Mine were silver and 3 times as heavy. Later on, as a father it came to me that children with identical toys would be fighting all the time so our parents wisely got Santa to bring different kinds or there might be a real killing between the Scarborough boys. They were quite competitive!
I was born on March 23 and my brother came along on March 3 the following year! We were almost like twins without having popped into the world at the same time. Momma later confessed to my wife in her first pregnancy: "Don't you dare believe that old wives tale that you can't get pregnant while nursing a baby. Gene's younger brother Charles is living proof that it is a total LIE!"
My brother and I grew up when life was good. There was no A-C nor power steering. Few people had a TV--much less color. Media was more radio than TV and we spent many a night or sick time from school listening to WSB Radio in Atlanta--"The voice of the South." It's funny how things stick to a child's mind! We even survived riding in a car without seat belts or cell phone distraction! Our parents actually had enough sense to drive carefully and slow enough to be safe for their sake and us children.
Like WSM in Nashville, WSB can still be heard in a scratchy way almost anywhere in the SE United States. I still sometimes tune to 750 AM just to feel like home again. Atlanta was not yet to her first million residents. You could play all over the neighborhood safely. DeBell street in Clarkston was nothing but wall-to-wall children laughing and make believing! Anything you did wrong would get back to momma before we got home, and God help us if we did anything immoral or illegal. There was no "wait til your daddy gets home from that SC farm girl."
She would almost always make us pick our own switches! This was my first adventure in executive decision making: what is "just the right size?" If it is too little and flimsy it could cut you / if it is too stiff and big so it won't cut, it might bruise! Dear God, help me pick the right one 'cause I'm gonna get a whipping soon!
One thing I remember about the westerns were cattle stampedes. Even worse was the dreaded buffalo stampede. Where cows could bash the poor cowboy whose horse slipped, the buffalo would mash them all flat as a flitter. Cows would go around the buildings and boulders, buffalo would go through and leave nothing standing! A buffalo stampede was the most dreaded result of nature's wrath. They would spook at thunder and lightening and come over the hill after my cowboys felt the earth shake as a warning. God help the cowboy sleeping peacefully at night with his innocent herd of cows nearby when the buffalo got loose!
We had a small herd of buffalo residing near us at my last house. It was always neat to take our grandchildren by to see these massive animals. Normally children get to see them only at a zoo, but the Red Oak / Castalia area had our own herd. They were beautiful. On of the things which fascinated our small ones was the time a baby buffalo got somehow under the fence. It's momma was close to pushing down that barbed wire before the farmer discovered the little lost baby. Instead of just the momma cow pushing until the barbs hurt and stopped, a buffalo has such thick hide and companionship no fence stands a chance when the herd wants to get to the other side.
I know now why "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd" was a popular teen song. It stimulated a funny image, but it told a serious truth: try to skate among the hairy beasts and you will get smashed!!!
Now for the application as to why I feel like I am skating in a buffalo herd these days!
Our ECONOMY is a buffalo herd to me. After some 2 years of Depression (notice I didn't say Recession) the buffalo herd of corporate America is getting all the favors, while the small businessman is seeing virtually NOTHING. At last they are talking about "tax credits" and "easier loans," but why has the buffalo herd crushed for so long.
The first response this time in Depression was massive bailouts to financial and investment firms along wit the auto industry. Instead of setting investors back on their feet and customers right, the feet of the buffalo herd crushed them more! The buffaloes running each part of those 3 herds gave themselves bonuses for running their business into the ground.
Did the customer or investor get one red cent???? Not just "NO" but "HELL NO!"
Us American taxpayers now own 61% of GM, but are their products 61% cheaper to the poor fools whose money bailed them out??? Same answer as above!!!
Has the unenforced rules and regulations of the Stock Exchange brought lyers and thieves to justice or removed their securities license from them? Again, same answer as above!!!
How many have gone to Federal Prison for depriving the typical investor of about 45% on average of the value of their investments??? Has my retired school teacher / preacher's wife mother had her portfolio restored. It was wisely managed, but where she had little or non worries, she is in a tight spot now.
I don't like that!!!
I earned a Series 6 Securities license and it wasn't easy. The test is hard and few pass it the first time. I took a course to help me after getting completely buffaloed by the books. The most helpful thing the teacher told us was that most of the multiple choice answers would be similar and more than enough were tricky with very similar answers.
HOWEVER, the way to get passed was to ALWAYS ask a simple queston: Which answer is closest to "Always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to the client."
I did not know all there was to know about equity management, but that 1 major concept above got me passed with a right good score the first time through---truth, whole truth, nothing but truth! I like that.
Our buffalo herd feeding grounds seem to lack too much of the above for some reason. The honest brokers and managers as well as corporate executives tossed that motto out the window and traded it for another:
Always tell the investor what he wants to hear--profits / more profits / and nothing but profits!
This is a dangerous motto.
Did you know EVERY Corporation in America has the legal right to keep 2 sets of books: 1 for the Tax Man and another for the Investor!! Guess which one shows roses and rainbows while the other shows gloom and doom. What happened to truth / whole truth / nothing but the truth? Why are not the same figures shown to both parties--pay your fair taxes and if it is bad, just tell the investor why you have learned and how you hope to improve the future!
I had my Insurance License first and then added the Securities License so I was pretty schooled in 2 professions which call for utmost honesty. That was not a hard push for me because in my childhood westerns--the good guys wore white hats and always told the truth. Even my other hero, The Lone Ranger, who wore a dark outfit had a white horse and white hat both. Roy Rogers nor the Lone Ranger would ever tell a lie to anyone. As soon as they heard about corrupt land barons or dirty business people in a town, they got seriously on their trusty steeds and ran them out.
Now, if Saturday morning cowboys reflected society 50 years later, Roy's immediate response to hearing of corruption today would be: "Let's take a survey to see what the public thinks! I'm not risking getting shot if it's not popular with the people!"
What a wuss! All of us "made in America" kids would immediately switch to the Lone Ranger and never trust Roy again! Forget his beautiful palomino and dog "Bullet" with lovely Dale Evans and Pat Brady by his side. If he tells lies and won't do anything about crime, I will never send in my cereal boxtops again for a decoder ring!!!.
Things in buffalo herd land are so bad today, we haven't even noticed our .50 box of Kellogg's cereal now costs $5 and has air blown into the mash which makes the cornflakes so we get less grain and more air in that "family size box at Wal-Mart."
Meanwhile, that poor farmer raising the grains is getting about the same price per ton as he did 20 years ago! The boys on the Commodities Exchange in Chicago are riding their Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to the airport for their corporate jets to buy oil futures in Saudi Arabia and vacation for $10,000 a day in Dubai at the same time!
My God!!!! The buffalo herd is thundering at us and we have no place to go! As a small businessman I am making 30% of what I did 3 years ago. I finally met another man in worse shape--he makes $300-400,000 luxury cruisers and is making 10% of what he made 3 years ago. His customers seem to be those described above vacationing in Dubai. I guess a large, beautiful, gas guzzling yacht just pales in comparison to a corporate jet and Dubai.
Does it have anything to do with buffaloes thundering down on us?????
Sunday, December 6, 2009
How about the Homosexuality Issue?
http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9802&Itemid=9
The above link will get you to the State Baptist paper of Texas--The Baptist Standard.
Their editor, Marv Knox, had more guts than most anyone else to bring the debate in "Southern Baptist homophobia land" to the forefront.
Rather than do a long blog on this issue, I invite you to read the article and commentary. About half way through those comments, I stepped in to say what does not need repeating here.
I welcome your comments on this very important issues here since the commentary is now closed at the Baptist Standard.
I simply applaude Marv Knox for his courage and not saying the things expected to be said if one is to remain editor of any state baptist publication these days.
The above link will get you to the State Baptist paper of Texas--The Baptist Standard.
Their editor, Marv Knox, had more guts than most anyone else to bring the debate in "Southern Baptist homophobia land" to the forefront.
Rather than do a long blog on this issue, I invite you to read the article and commentary. About half way through those comments, I stepped in to say what does not need repeating here.
I welcome your comments on this very important issues here since the commentary is now closed at the Baptist Standard.
I simply applaude Marv Knox for his courage and not saying the things expected to be said if one is to remain editor of any state baptist publication these days.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Divorce Can Be Good
Divorce is at high levels in American society. I suspect there will be quite a bit more as the economy worsens. While some are saying we are turning around and it is getting over, I don't see it where I live.
Much of the little remaining optimism is covered by the fact Unemployment Benefits have just had another 90-day extension. You cannot imagine the jump in the workforce statistic of "unemployed," nor the people who would be in soup kitchen lines and living in tents, if that part of the picture were treated without extensions.
Unemployment Insurance if really a misnomer. True insurance spreads risk over all the holders of policies with a given company. With "Unemployment Insurance" each person getting it draws against what was paid in by his employer. When the funds run out, guess who gets the bill? The former employer!!!!! If government legislates extensions, they are only making a former employer pay for that extension.
Hey, dummy, the employer did not lay off the employee because he could afford to keep him/her! What will happen when the employer cannot pay the tab? As one tax enforcement officer told a struggling small business owner who is my fellow traveler in the struggle: "About 90% of businesses which go under, do so over tax issues." WOW!!!!!
Now to the real issue: DIVORCE.
America is at about a 50% level of marriages failing for years. One of my professors years ago asked the class: "Why is there such a high divorce rate these days?" There were many speculative responses, but none which were as accurate has his statement after the discussion.
His answer was: "We have so much divorce and so few good marriages BECAUSE so few children have grown up witnessing a good marriage!"
We think we can be clinical about life. Many children hate their parents' fighting and fussing and declare, "I will never do this when I get married!" But, like a moth to a flame, they marry a lovely person by falling in lust (everyone who marries has lust which should turn into love), live together in marriage for 1-2 years, and then recreate exactly what they witnessed as children!
I always asked couples coming to me for pre-marital counseling a simple question: "What do you think of you prospective In-Laws AND tell me the truth!" Most couched their answers in nice terms for the sake of keeping things good with their prospective mate. I'm not sure how many told me the absolute truth. Too many people lie to their minister/counselor!
Then I would explain why I asked the question: "Believe it or not, if you don't like your bride's mother, she will become more like her than you can imagine in a few years! The same is true if you don't like your husband's father!" Think long and hard on this until we meet again to discuss the meaning of the Wedding Ceremony and your vows to one another in the sight of God and those attending your wedding.
We have been fortunate with two children that there hasn't been a divorce----until 3 weeks ago! Our daughter called to tell us of the troubles she was having. It was bad enough that she has 4 boys ages 12-5. The "age 5" part comes in fraternal twins! Yep, they had 2 boys already and tried for that little girl----who turned out to be twin boys! You could have knocked all of us over with a feather as ultra-sound took a look into her womb.
What is the problem?
The bottom line is that our daughter married a seemingly nice young man who was raised in a terrible home. It was so bad his mother, when he was 3-5, often penned him to the floor and held him down while spitting and yelling in his face about how awful he was. It went on when a second child arrived and was treated as if he could do nothing wrong. My son-in-law was raised with the most awful abuse anyone could imagine.
His parents were the model of what not to be as a parent: abusive / non-loving / premarital pregnancy forcing them to wed / always focusing on "things" they could possess and gifts they could give without giving the most important gift of parents: a relationship of love and consistent guidance of that child's behaviour. It was so bad his grandmother did more than her share of positive child rearing. Then he would have to return to hell on earth with his parents. You might excuse his problems IF he were willing to work on them and do better. He has NOT!
Now my daughter, after 15 years of abuse, is seeing awful behaviour in her sons. They are disrespectful. Their language is awful and gets them in trouble at school. They have been kicked out of 2 daycares, mostly because their father cussed out the teachers. He thinks his boys saying 4-letter words and hurting each other in quarrels is "cute." My daughter is trying to raise, not just 4 active boys, but a grown child in addition who makes promises, but never follows through to make a long-term change.
Two years ago she showed up at our door with the boys and packed bags because she had found drugs hidden in the house: marijuana / cocaine. Her message to him at that time was "clean up your act or I won't be back nor will the children." He made promises, but in recent months he is smoking pot non-stop to hold down his demons. She even ignored it because it mellowed him so every night the monster did not walk through the door of the house. That monster has gotten larger and the nice guy can hardly be found. He even put a bruise on the middle child's arm which he showed to his teacher.
Social services visited. They pulled the children aside at school and quizzed them so they had to explain to fellow students why then had to talk with the lady. They interviewed in the home, but were not shown doors and walls dented by daddy's fist. They tried to put on a good image and explain the bruise as just a father jerking his son off a battery run motorcycle because he was going too fast and not doing what daddy said.
Now that my daughter has had enough, he checked into a drug rehab program--which he left after 4 days claiming he had gotten good enough to leave and they had given him pills to mellow him out--NOT. It was a bald-faced lie with smile on face. His mother called my daughter after having made the statement in the past that "I don't know how you have put up with him so long." This time she was encouraging my daughter to make amends because "after the children are gone you will have only each other."
That was the wrong question! My daughter began to think, "Do I want to put up with this worsening abusive rascal by myself for the rest of my life. I think not!!!!" Most women think more deeply than that childish man wants them to think. Out of her fogged mind, having been told she was a whore / slut / bad housekeeper / bad cook / bad (you name it), she only saw bad behaviour worsening with her boys under the influence--of, not drugs yet, but a father who does not know the meaning of love.
If you cannot love yourself, you can't love anyone else! How tragic.
We are supporting and encouraging now after 15 years of staying out of their business. Where my wife and I had listened to her "vent" and encouraged her to keep on trying, we now say, "It is time for the big bully to go." At this point we are finding out about horrible things which have been hidden for years or minimized.
Our daughter is a wise and determined lady who felt like she could handle her problems without constantly crying on her parents' shoulders. She told just enough to let us know she was unhappy. Had she told me that years ago he grabbed her by the hair in front of their children and held a knife to her throat, there would have been no need for this divorce. I would have cured or killed him with my bare hands or those of the law enforcement officers of our county!
NC has an automatic 48-hour incarceration of any abusing spouse law. Further, a Peace Warrant, can give serious jail time for one who violates the specified distance from the abused spouse. We may be lax on some crimes in NC, but this is not one!
The situation is so bad right now my wife is helping with the children as well as having present a second set of eyes bearing witness to whatever might happen should he return home. The most important thing is a second person who is loving and wise helping those boys calm down in their hell of inconsistent behaviour on the part of their father. What proves beyond a shadow of doubt that separation is needed for a year, probably to be followed with divorce, is the fact my wife witnessed the 12-year-old come in from a time with daddy this week to tell his mother she was a slut/whore! He got a serious talking to by Gam and he better be glad PaPa wasn't there!
I "abused" my son's posterior when he was about 4 for disrespecting his mother. I came in to find a ruckus going on in his bedroom with my wife over him laid on the bed trying to get her dog brush to his nerves running straight from the behind to the center of a child's brain. She was loosing to that squiggling and foot/hand flailing child. Daddy had no problem, with his strength, tickling that special nerve!
Before I gave him his lesson I stooped down to look him straight in his evil little eyes. I told him he was going to get a spanking he would remember for the rest of his life, AND if I ever saw it again what he got now was the T-I-P OF THE I-C-E-B-U-R-G (slowly and distinctly spoken so he knew I meant business) as to what it would be if I had to spank him again.
My son got the message which was applied until real tears came to the eyes of that hard-nosed rascal. His approach with momma was to take her licks without crying so it made her even madder and made her quit. A wise father does not quit until the job is done. After the lesson I let him lay his head on my shoulder hugging him until the tears quit flowing. I told him how much I loved him and how I wanted this never to happen again from here on out.
IT NEVER DID. Just like with my father, one jig danced at the end of his punishment tool was enough to make me promise I would never do it again (nor would I punish my child in such a way). All head strong children need someone to set them straight before the Juvenile Justice System has to try and deal with them. It is usually a failure because the child had gotten away with too much up to that time, and no one cared enough to straighten them out.
Head strong children, just like me, can almost guarantee they will have a head strong child. In fact, head strong people are the ones who endure frustration to conquer the challenges of life. As long as they don't become so successful as to ignore this own head strong offspring, there will be continuous generations of wise and resourceful people to keep this world going.
How many "successful" people do you know who don't have spoiled children who squander everything their parents made with bad behaviour / drugs / alcohol / abuse / even spending life in prison for murdering someone?
Much of the little remaining optimism is covered by the fact Unemployment Benefits have just had another 90-day extension. You cannot imagine the jump in the workforce statistic of "unemployed," nor the people who would be in soup kitchen lines and living in tents, if that part of the picture were treated without extensions.
Unemployment Insurance if really a misnomer. True insurance spreads risk over all the holders of policies with a given company. With "Unemployment Insurance" each person getting it draws against what was paid in by his employer. When the funds run out, guess who gets the bill? The former employer!!!!! If government legislates extensions, they are only making a former employer pay for that extension.
Hey, dummy, the employer did not lay off the employee because he could afford to keep him/her! What will happen when the employer cannot pay the tab? As one tax enforcement officer told a struggling small business owner who is my fellow traveler in the struggle: "About 90% of businesses which go under, do so over tax issues." WOW!!!!!
Now to the real issue: DIVORCE.
America is at about a 50% level of marriages failing for years. One of my professors years ago asked the class: "Why is there such a high divorce rate these days?" There were many speculative responses, but none which were as accurate has his statement after the discussion.
His answer was: "We have so much divorce and so few good marriages BECAUSE so few children have grown up witnessing a good marriage!"
We think we can be clinical about life. Many children hate their parents' fighting and fussing and declare, "I will never do this when I get married!" But, like a moth to a flame, they marry a lovely person by falling in lust (everyone who marries has lust which should turn into love), live together in marriage for 1-2 years, and then recreate exactly what they witnessed as children!
I always asked couples coming to me for pre-marital counseling a simple question: "What do you think of you prospective In-Laws AND tell me the truth!" Most couched their answers in nice terms for the sake of keeping things good with their prospective mate. I'm not sure how many told me the absolute truth. Too many people lie to their minister/counselor!
Then I would explain why I asked the question: "Believe it or not, if you don't like your bride's mother, she will become more like her than you can imagine in a few years! The same is true if you don't like your husband's father!" Think long and hard on this until we meet again to discuss the meaning of the Wedding Ceremony and your vows to one another in the sight of God and those attending your wedding.
We have been fortunate with two children that there hasn't been a divorce----until 3 weeks ago! Our daughter called to tell us of the troubles she was having. It was bad enough that she has 4 boys ages 12-5. The "age 5" part comes in fraternal twins! Yep, they had 2 boys already and tried for that little girl----who turned out to be twin boys! You could have knocked all of us over with a feather as ultra-sound took a look into her womb.
What is the problem?
The bottom line is that our daughter married a seemingly nice young man who was raised in a terrible home. It was so bad his mother, when he was 3-5, often penned him to the floor and held him down while spitting and yelling in his face about how awful he was. It went on when a second child arrived and was treated as if he could do nothing wrong. My son-in-law was raised with the most awful abuse anyone could imagine.
His parents were the model of what not to be as a parent: abusive / non-loving / premarital pregnancy forcing them to wed / always focusing on "things" they could possess and gifts they could give without giving the most important gift of parents: a relationship of love and consistent guidance of that child's behaviour. It was so bad his grandmother did more than her share of positive child rearing. Then he would have to return to hell on earth with his parents. You might excuse his problems IF he were willing to work on them and do better. He has NOT!
Now my daughter, after 15 years of abuse, is seeing awful behaviour in her sons. They are disrespectful. Their language is awful and gets them in trouble at school. They have been kicked out of 2 daycares, mostly because their father cussed out the teachers. He thinks his boys saying 4-letter words and hurting each other in quarrels is "cute." My daughter is trying to raise, not just 4 active boys, but a grown child in addition who makes promises, but never follows through to make a long-term change.
Two years ago she showed up at our door with the boys and packed bags because she had found drugs hidden in the house: marijuana / cocaine. Her message to him at that time was "clean up your act or I won't be back nor will the children." He made promises, but in recent months he is smoking pot non-stop to hold down his demons. She even ignored it because it mellowed him so every night the monster did not walk through the door of the house. That monster has gotten larger and the nice guy can hardly be found. He even put a bruise on the middle child's arm which he showed to his teacher.
Social services visited. They pulled the children aside at school and quizzed them so they had to explain to fellow students why then had to talk with the lady. They interviewed in the home, but were not shown doors and walls dented by daddy's fist. They tried to put on a good image and explain the bruise as just a father jerking his son off a battery run motorcycle because he was going too fast and not doing what daddy said.
Now that my daughter has had enough, he checked into a drug rehab program--which he left after 4 days claiming he had gotten good enough to leave and they had given him pills to mellow him out--NOT. It was a bald-faced lie with smile on face. His mother called my daughter after having made the statement in the past that "I don't know how you have put up with him so long." This time she was encouraging my daughter to make amends because "after the children are gone you will have only each other."
That was the wrong question! My daughter began to think, "Do I want to put up with this worsening abusive rascal by myself for the rest of my life. I think not!!!!" Most women think more deeply than that childish man wants them to think. Out of her fogged mind, having been told she was a whore / slut / bad housekeeper / bad cook / bad (you name it), she only saw bad behaviour worsening with her boys under the influence--of, not drugs yet, but a father who does not know the meaning of love.
If you cannot love yourself, you can't love anyone else! How tragic.
We are supporting and encouraging now after 15 years of staying out of their business. Where my wife and I had listened to her "vent" and encouraged her to keep on trying, we now say, "It is time for the big bully to go." At this point we are finding out about horrible things which have been hidden for years or minimized.
Our daughter is a wise and determined lady who felt like she could handle her problems without constantly crying on her parents' shoulders. She told just enough to let us know she was unhappy. Had she told me that years ago he grabbed her by the hair in front of their children and held a knife to her throat, there would have been no need for this divorce. I would have cured or killed him with my bare hands or those of the law enforcement officers of our county!
NC has an automatic 48-hour incarceration of any abusing spouse law. Further, a Peace Warrant, can give serious jail time for one who violates the specified distance from the abused spouse. We may be lax on some crimes in NC, but this is not one!
The situation is so bad right now my wife is helping with the children as well as having present a second set of eyes bearing witness to whatever might happen should he return home. The most important thing is a second person who is loving and wise helping those boys calm down in their hell of inconsistent behaviour on the part of their father. What proves beyond a shadow of doubt that separation is needed for a year, probably to be followed with divorce, is the fact my wife witnessed the 12-year-old come in from a time with daddy this week to tell his mother she was a slut/whore! He got a serious talking to by Gam and he better be glad PaPa wasn't there!
I "abused" my son's posterior when he was about 4 for disrespecting his mother. I came in to find a ruckus going on in his bedroom with my wife over him laid on the bed trying to get her dog brush to his nerves running straight from the behind to the center of a child's brain. She was loosing to that squiggling and foot/hand flailing child. Daddy had no problem, with his strength, tickling that special nerve!
Before I gave him his lesson I stooped down to look him straight in his evil little eyes. I told him he was going to get a spanking he would remember for the rest of his life, AND if I ever saw it again what he got now was the T-I-P OF THE I-C-E-B-U-R-G (slowly and distinctly spoken so he knew I meant business) as to what it would be if I had to spank him again.
My son got the message which was applied until real tears came to the eyes of that hard-nosed rascal. His approach with momma was to take her licks without crying so it made her even madder and made her quit. A wise father does not quit until the job is done. After the lesson I let him lay his head on my shoulder hugging him until the tears quit flowing. I told him how much I loved him and how I wanted this never to happen again from here on out.
IT NEVER DID. Just like with my father, one jig danced at the end of his punishment tool was enough to make me promise I would never do it again (nor would I punish my child in such a way). All head strong children need someone to set them straight before the Juvenile Justice System has to try and deal with them. It is usually a failure because the child had gotten away with too much up to that time, and no one cared enough to straighten them out.
Head strong children, just like me, can almost guarantee they will have a head strong child. In fact, head strong people are the ones who endure frustration to conquer the challenges of life. As long as they don't become so successful as to ignore this own head strong offspring, there will be continuous generations of wise and resourceful people to keep this world going.
How many "successful" people do you know who don't have spoiled children who squander everything their parents made with bad behaviour / drugs / alcohol / abuse / even spending life in prison for murdering someone?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Krampus
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Krampus
I picked up a copy of National Geographic for December. It has an article about something I had not encountered before. The link above gives the essential information. It is a strange new--rather resurrected--practice.
As I read about this, my psychological analysis kicks in. It bespeaks the "split" nature of personality I cited before with Reaction-Formation Psychosis being the basis of much modern religiosity.
Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, was a resident of Vienna, Austria. It is in the area where the Krampus roamed at his time. That time was one of great turmoil in philosophy / medicine / political unrest. It was the era which generated Karl Marx and his ideas of a government where the workers ran things with committees and all material goods should be shared equally. Out of unhappiness comes deeper thought and insight.
We are in a similar era today. All sorts of religions are in direct conflict. Americans are trying to say we must be a Christian country despite the clear constitutional demand that Congress shall make no laws concerning religion. We are certainly in a war tantamount to the Great Crusades! Conflict is everywhere.
Add to this conflict scenario the economic struggles which are world wide and you have pressure on most of us which causes our demons to come out like Krampus. The masks are scary and bespeak several people I have met lately. They have a demon within which lurks beneath the surface of their personality!
Freud posited 3 aspects of personality which are basic: Id / Ego / Super Ego.
According to his theory of personality the Id is our selfish self. It seeks to get what it wants when it wants it. There are no bounds on the lusts of the Id!
The Super Ego is exactly the opposite. It gives our personality a super human perfection. It seeks good and success. It treats people with the same good goals that Jesus prescribed: Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
The Ego is the balance point trying to encompass both Id and Super ego. A balanced person has a sense of self that incorporates some of the Id and Super Ego and recognizes their existence. In short, Ego is the present moment self trying to maintain control of the excesses of Id and Super Ego.
Another concept of Freud was the importance of dreams. In our dreams, he posited, we are freed of normal conscious restraints. Each dream has strange objects which symbolize those things which are troubling the Ego--usually a conflict between Id and Super Ego. Out of these dreams and using hypnosis, Freud tried to help people understand themselves. His favorite questions were: "What does this mean to you?" "What was that symbol in your dream representing out of your past history?"
Freud started by trying to help himself in his terrors. He advocated that every practitioner should have therapy himself on, at least, a weekly basis. For him, the therapy was essential and a never ending process. Like many people in my Abnormal Psychology class years ago at Emory, the main reason for them studying was that they had emotional and personality problems driving them to the edge of sanity. As I looked around the classroom and witnessed the discussions and interaction, I concluded: about 10% of us in this class are normal--the rest be a little crazy!
Our professor, in the first lecture, stated clearly that as we studied the abnormal classifications that everyone here will find some of these things in his/her mind because none of us is perfect. If any of you find yourselves severely troubled by any of this, make an appointment and let's talk privately--I mean it!!! This is important!
Now back to Kampus.
The mask worn by the participant is hideous and scary. The reveling going on right now across Europe has a high amount of intoxication accompanying it. The purpose is to scare children into being good so Santa brings toys rather than the switches in the bag of the Kampus. Before the day of Freudian understanding, pagans used this practice to "get the demons out." Once demons are out and looked at, we can begin to acknowledge their presence and put them in perspective.
What troubles me in recent years is the dispersion Fundamentalist preachers are putting on Halloween. The costumes and spooks of All Hallows Eve deal with the same fears and worries of children. It is simply a way to make spooks fun and get candy from adults. As children go up and down the street, there are fun things to make their hair raise without killing them. It is similar to a roller coaster ride. In your heart you know you are safe despite things that go bump in the night!
Too much is being put out these days as scare tactics. We have seen them in abundance over the National Healthcare debate. George Bush used this tactic to the max by saying Sadam Hussain has "Weapons of Mass Destruction." In reality most of this amounts to "Weapons of Mass Distraction" so we have to fund and follow the leader of the US Government. Thereby, we sanction our soldiers using our Weapons of Mass Destruction applied against the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan who are killed by what is called "peripheral damage." Too often, our own soldiers are the victims of a bomb or artillery shell gone awry. Everyone is scared in war and innocent people die a bloody death.
In reverse, this is exactly the purpose of the Terrorist. The events of 9/11 now have us held captive with fear. We stand in long lines at airports for searches. The citizens of New York and the Pentagon employees go to work every day with hidden fears every time a plane passes close overhead. We are living in a current environment filled with fear!
Back to the Freud Id/Ego/Super Ego idea: Our fearful Id is putting massive doses of Adrenaline into our bodies. There are more panic attacks these days. We hear news reports of murder/suicides. We rejoice that the Oregon State killer of cops was cut down yesterday, but we can't help but wonder who will be next. In many ways we become our own worst enemy through fear!
If you keep watching the storms and hurricanes on the Weather Channel, you are obsessing on hidden fears and using the stories to scare them out of you. My mother lives in Atlanta where there is a murder or robbery every day. She acts as though each one happened right outside her door although she lives in a fairly safe and sane neighborhood. At age 91, she, like many elderly people, are filled with fear. However, at the same time she has a deep faith and trust that "God will take care of you." Remember that marvelous hymn. My daddy sang it often as he shaved getting ready for another day of trying to minister to people with deep troubles.
What I am saying is that, as Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." The disciples were quizzing him on when he would return. They thought they could not exist without him. Jesus told them, in essence, "Quit relying on my presence. The Kingdom of God is IN YOU!"
God gives each of us the ability to cope if we rely on his Spirit and trust He will provide a way. The Kampus is awful, but it can be controlled by the centered person. With God's help, the Kampus is just a pretend costume designed to get the evil spirits out into the open so it can be seen a discovered to be---just a drunk in a silly mask and costume!
I picked up a copy of National Geographic for December. It has an article about something I had not encountered before. The link above gives the essential information. It is a strange new--rather resurrected--practice.
As I read about this, my psychological analysis kicks in. It bespeaks the "split" nature of personality I cited before with Reaction-Formation Psychosis being the basis of much modern religiosity.
Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, was a resident of Vienna, Austria. It is in the area where the Krampus roamed at his time. That time was one of great turmoil in philosophy / medicine / political unrest. It was the era which generated Karl Marx and his ideas of a government where the workers ran things with committees and all material goods should be shared equally. Out of unhappiness comes deeper thought and insight.
We are in a similar era today. All sorts of religions are in direct conflict. Americans are trying to say we must be a Christian country despite the clear constitutional demand that Congress shall make no laws concerning religion. We are certainly in a war tantamount to the Great Crusades! Conflict is everywhere.
Add to this conflict scenario the economic struggles which are world wide and you have pressure on most of us which causes our demons to come out like Krampus. The masks are scary and bespeak several people I have met lately. They have a demon within which lurks beneath the surface of their personality!
Freud posited 3 aspects of personality which are basic: Id / Ego / Super Ego.
According to his theory of personality the Id is our selfish self. It seeks to get what it wants when it wants it. There are no bounds on the lusts of the Id!
The Super Ego is exactly the opposite. It gives our personality a super human perfection. It seeks good and success. It treats people with the same good goals that Jesus prescribed: Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.
The Ego is the balance point trying to encompass both Id and Super ego. A balanced person has a sense of self that incorporates some of the Id and Super Ego and recognizes their existence. In short, Ego is the present moment self trying to maintain control of the excesses of Id and Super Ego.
Another concept of Freud was the importance of dreams. In our dreams, he posited, we are freed of normal conscious restraints. Each dream has strange objects which symbolize those things which are troubling the Ego--usually a conflict between Id and Super Ego. Out of these dreams and using hypnosis, Freud tried to help people understand themselves. His favorite questions were: "What does this mean to you?" "What was that symbol in your dream representing out of your past history?"
Freud started by trying to help himself in his terrors. He advocated that every practitioner should have therapy himself on, at least, a weekly basis. For him, the therapy was essential and a never ending process. Like many people in my Abnormal Psychology class years ago at Emory, the main reason for them studying was that they had emotional and personality problems driving them to the edge of sanity. As I looked around the classroom and witnessed the discussions and interaction, I concluded: about 10% of us in this class are normal--the rest be a little crazy!
Our professor, in the first lecture, stated clearly that as we studied the abnormal classifications that everyone here will find some of these things in his/her mind because none of us is perfect. If any of you find yourselves severely troubled by any of this, make an appointment and let's talk privately--I mean it!!! This is important!
Now back to Kampus.
The mask worn by the participant is hideous and scary. The reveling going on right now across Europe has a high amount of intoxication accompanying it. The purpose is to scare children into being good so Santa brings toys rather than the switches in the bag of the Kampus. Before the day of Freudian understanding, pagans used this practice to "get the demons out." Once demons are out and looked at, we can begin to acknowledge their presence and put them in perspective.
What troubles me in recent years is the dispersion Fundamentalist preachers are putting on Halloween. The costumes and spooks of All Hallows Eve deal with the same fears and worries of children. It is simply a way to make spooks fun and get candy from adults. As children go up and down the street, there are fun things to make their hair raise without killing them. It is similar to a roller coaster ride. In your heart you know you are safe despite things that go bump in the night!
Too much is being put out these days as scare tactics. We have seen them in abundance over the National Healthcare debate. George Bush used this tactic to the max by saying Sadam Hussain has "Weapons of Mass Destruction." In reality most of this amounts to "Weapons of Mass Distraction" so we have to fund and follow the leader of the US Government. Thereby, we sanction our soldiers using our Weapons of Mass Destruction applied against the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan who are killed by what is called "peripheral damage." Too often, our own soldiers are the victims of a bomb or artillery shell gone awry. Everyone is scared in war and innocent people die a bloody death.
In reverse, this is exactly the purpose of the Terrorist. The events of 9/11 now have us held captive with fear. We stand in long lines at airports for searches. The citizens of New York and the Pentagon employees go to work every day with hidden fears every time a plane passes close overhead. We are living in a current environment filled with fear!
Back to the Freud Id/Ego/Super Ego idea: Our fearful Id is putting massive doses of Adrenaline into our bodies. There are more panic attacks these days. We hear news reports of murder/suicides. We rejoice that the Oregon State killer of cops was cut down yesterday, but we can't help but wonder who will be next. In many ways we become our own worst enemy through fear!
If you keep watching the storms and hurricanes on the Weather Channel, you are obsessing on hidden fears and using the stories to scare them out of you. My mother lives in Atlanta where there is a murder or robbery every day. She acts as though each one happened right outside her door although she lives in a fairly safe and sane neighborhood. At age 91, she, like many elderly people, are filled with fear. However, at the same time she has a deep faith and trust that "God will take care of you." Remember that marvelous hymn. My daddy sang it often as he shaved getting ready for another day of trying to minister to people with deep troubles.
What I am saying is that, as Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." The disciples were quizzing him on when he would return. They thought they could not exist without him. Jesus told them, in essence, "Quit relying on my presence. The Kingdom of God is IN YOU!"
God gives each of us the ability to cope if we rely on his Spirit and trust He will provide a way. The Kampus is awful, but it can be controlled by the centered person. With God's help, the Kampus is just a pretend costume designed to get the evil spirits out into the open so it can be seen a discovered to be---just a drunk in a silly mask and costume!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Was there an ancient Nuclear Holocaust???
Below is an interesting blog. My friend, Dr. Jim Willingham, is one of the most interesting individuals I have met through "blog land." He is an older gentleman who was, at one time, an agnostic--if not an athiest. Jim's early life was full of trauma including a murder/suicide in his own family. We began on opposite sides of a Biblical Recorder discussion--each accusing the other of having starkly different views on theology and other issues.
I was bold enough to give out my email address and Jim quickly started communicating. We still have distinct differences of opinions, but Jim always brings to me some fascinating philosophical viewpoints. This web site is one of his latest!
http://philosophicalanthropology.blogspot.com/2009/11/ancient-atomic-wars.html
For years, I have noticed the similarity between the biblical account of the Tower of Babel and a rocket which might reach up to God as opposed to a tower for the same purpose. The motivation for that human building project was similar to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden. The Bible writers knew nothing of rockets, but they knew about building great monuments and towers trying to get closer to God.
Now, bring this to our modern era and the supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction used by the Bush Administration to convince the American public of why we had to invade Iraq. It is strange how we went from 9/11 to Osamma ben Laden to Sadam Hussain to Al Quida to Afghanistan, now moving toward Pakistan. We are getting deeper and deeper into a quagmire of East vs. West somewhat similar to the Holy Crusades.
This is dangerous territory!!!!
We, as a nation, are hated by many people who view us as intrusive warmongers who send the troops and our own Weapons of Mass Destruction against any who seemingly oppose us. I would have to admit they pretty much have their viewpoint affirmed. My most startling evidence is some Apache gun camera footage sent to me by my son's best friend, Scott, who is a Crew Chief on the Fighting Eagles squadron at Seymour-Johnson AFB in Goldsboro. They have recently been deployed to Afghanistan and just lost a crew to what is seen presently as "mechinical failure" and no time to bail out. Our soldiers are, indeed, dying on foreign soil today.
The gun camera footage shows men and trucks on a bridge. Interestingly, none of the men is carrying a visible weapon. As the footage rolls you hear the voices of the crewmen over the radio: "The one behind the post. Put the sight on him. Smoke him! Put the sight on that truck--there is a man under it! Smoke him!"
With each "smoke him" command the gattling gun opens up and the body is blown into mush! It is not pretty!
If that were your relative obliterated on a bridge with not enough body parts to bury, would you love the American military???
I am not sure US soldier lives, supposedly given for freedom, are not lives given to let the US possess the massive oil reserves of the Middle East. It will not be the first time we have been given an official rationale for war when money and profit were the real motives.
If you have seen "W" from Oliver Stone, it shows clearly the back room discussion as George Bush was considering waging war against Iraq. According to this movie, based on history, the discussion was clearly over oil rather than existing "WMD." So far, even our spy satellite technology has not produced any evidence of such weapons in Iraq! Those birds can see and photograph objects as small a 1' from space!
Now, another reality seen often in the news: We have trained scientists in nuclear technology who are in N. Korea which has a weapon--there is more talk of such nuclear physicists working in several Eastern countries!
What could be the result???
It doesn't take much imagination to forsee smuggling of parts / assembly in a large city / holocaust when the trigger is hit! Just as 4 planes were hijacked in a coordinated event, the same could happen in multiple cities.
Is it possible history is repeating itself and we could blow ourselves back into caveman days?? Is it possible the genetic material from dinosaurs could be mutated by atomic radiation into a backwards evolution so that man no longer rules the earth and the "Thunder Lizards" make every day a walk through a literal house of horrors???
Think about it and comment if you please.
I was bold enough to give out my email address and Jim quickly started communicating. We still have distinct differences of opinions, but Jim always brings to me some fascinating philosophical viewpoints. This web site is one of his latest!
http://philosophicalanthropology.blogspot.com/2009/11/ancient-atomic-wars.html
For years, I have noticed the similarity between the biblical account of the Tower of Babel and a rocket which might reach up to God as opposed to a tower for the same purpose. The motivation for that human building project was similar to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Eden. The Bible writers knew nothing of rockets, but they knew about building great monuments and towers trying to get closer to God.
Now, bring this to our modern era and the supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction used by the Bush Administration to convince the American public of why we had to invade Iraq. It is strange how we went from 9/11 to Osamma ben Laden to Sadam Hussain to Al Quida to Afghanistan, now moving toward Pakistan. We are getting deeper and deeper into a quagmire of East vs. West somewhat similar to the Holy Crusades.
This is dangerous territory!!!!
We, as a nation, are hated by many people who view us as intrusive warmongers who send the troops and our own Weapons of Mass Destruction against any who seemingly oppose us. I would have to admit they pretty much have their viewpoint affirmed. My most startling evidence is some Apache gun camera footage sent to me by my son's best friend, Scott, who is a Crew Chief on the Fighting Eagles squadron at Seymour-Johnson AFB in Goldsboro. They have recently been deployed to Afghanistan and just lost a crew to what is seen presently as "mechinical failure" and no time to bail out. Our soldiers are, indeed, dying on foreign soil today.
The gun camera footage shows men and trucks on a bridge. Interestingly, none of the men is carrying a visible weapon. As the footage rolls you hear the voices of the crewmen over the radio: "The one behind the post. Put the sight on him. Smoke him! Put the sight on that truck--there is a man under it! Smoke him!"
With each "smoke him" command the gattling gun opens up and the body is blown into mush! It is not pretty!
If that were your relative obliterated on a bridge with not enough body parts to bury, would you love the American military???
I am not sure US soldier lives, supposedly given for freedom, are not lives given to let the US possess the massive oil reserves of the Middle East. It will not be the first time we have been given an official rationale for war when money and profit were the real motives.
If you have seen "W" from Oliver Stone, it shows clearly the back room discussion as George Bush was considering waging war against Iraq. According to this movie, based on history, the discussion was clearly over oil rather than existing "WMD." So far, even our spy satellite technology has not produced any evidence of such weapons in Iraq! Those birds can see and photograph objects as small a 1' from space!
Now, another reality seen often in the news: We have trained scientists in nuclear technology who are in N. Korea which has a weapon--there is more talk of such nuclear physicists working in several Eastern countries!
What could be the result???
It doesn't take much imagination to forsee smuggling of parts / assembly in a large city / holocaust when the trigger is hit! Just as 4 planes were hijacked in a coordinated event, the same could happen in multiple cities.
Is it possible history is repeating itself and we could blow ourselves back into caveman days?? Is it possible the genetic material from dinosaurs could be mutated by atomic radiation into a backwards evolution so that man no longer rules the earth and the "Thunder Lizards" make every day a walk through a literal house of horrors???
Think about it and comment if you please.
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