So today in synagogue, we have the day of atonement. And we pray to be better people, and for tolerance and, and a world of peace. We speak about “sins of injustice” such as waging war upon others or trying to use violence to change things.
And I come out of syngague, and into a world where sins of injustice are presidential policy, and a madman shoots children in Amish Country, and an art teacher loses her job–her contract terminated–apparently because a parent complained that their child had been exposed to nudity…during a class trip to an art museum (the school board claims “other reasons” were involved, but this is an award winning teacher of 28 years’ standing; the claim rings false.)
The problem with a day of pondering one’s own sins and shortcomings is that it prompts you to resolve to try and do better…and then you come out into a world aligned against such philosophies. It says something when the only place where utopias exist are in the pages of a prayer book…or fantasy novels.
PAD
• 
It may well be true Utopias only exist in print but, as long as we continue to strive to be better people, we can hold out hope the world will become a better place. It will never change if we give up trying.
We must work on ourselves as individuals and our immediate environments. One person can’t change the world, but if enough people care, change will follow. I won’t get started with my opinions on presidential policy, as I will be talking all day. But I think the strongest battle that American citizens face is the ignorance that is rampant. Recently someone said something that really bothered me: “If the people in Iraq don’t care what happens to Americans, why should I care what happens to them?” I think the sins of the few, as is so often the case, is being taken out on the many. This needs to change.
Well, much like anything else that requires an open mind, art is obviously evil too in the minds of many.
When I see stories like the one PAD is talking about regarding the teacher, I thank God that my own experience with school administrators has been so good. I’ve had at least 7 different principals so far and I’ve never had reason to doubt that any one of them would back me up.
The idiot in this particular case actually approved the trip and is now trying to make her a scapegoat for whatever bug that one parnet had up their hindquarters. Thank God for the internet–I doubt this will stand.
Those who might like to send an email to the idiots…um, to the concerned parties, check out the info on this page: http://www.miserywatch.com/2006/09/why_this_countr.html
It’s usually best not to lead off your email with “Hey, Jáçkášš!”. I usually find it more effective to take on a tone of sorrowful indignation, like it’s shaken my faith in the fine folks of Texas to discover that they allow such complete morons to walk the Earth, much less run schools.
Oh, but starting with “Hey, Jáçkášš!” is so astonishingly appropriate in this case…
I am truly amazed at … actually, scratch that. I’m saddened, but not especially amazed.
TWL
I bet nothing would have ever been said, if the kid had seen carved up bodies, with their innards hanging out, injected with polymer and put on display. But show the beautiful form of a naked human body, something everyone has, and they go ape-crap. Religion has done it’s number on us since A&E realized they were naked. You are born like that, but god forbid that anyone see you like that after the first hour.
Anyone notice the irony in what PAD said? Bush claims to be one of the most devout, god fearing, even chosen by god men on earth and he’s the biggest lying, killing dusche bag in the country.
Well, since this is happening in my town of Frisco, TX, it’s good to bring a bit more to the discussion. First, let me say that the first I heard about this was when it made the Dallas Morning News late last week. Second, I’ll also say that my daughter does not attend the specific school, nor ever had this teacher. So, this isn’t anything I’ve got real firsthand knowledge of.
Still, to hear the teacher’s side of it was astounding. Frankly, though, it doesn’t jibe with my experience in this school district. We moved to Frisco several years ago and have been very pleased overall with the schools, staff and board. So, her side doesn’t totally pass the smell test from my point of view.
One quick fact: she has not spent her entire 28-year career at FISD, but only the last few. So, to accuse of FISD abandoning a longtime employee is not accurate.
Today, I saw a letter from Rick Reedy, superintendent of the Frisco Independent School District. He explains (in broad strokes) that her performance had been called into question 12 months prior to the field trip to the museum and the discussions with her about this are documented.
Bottom line, I’m still not sure who to believe, except to say that I’ve never been given much cause to doubt Rick Reedy. If there are documented concerns going back a year before this instance, then that sounds more like someone going public to make a stink, not an abused employee. As a manager, I also know enough about Texas HR law to know that there’s very little an employer can say publicly without legal risk. So, I find it at least credible that they are saying this goes back prior to this field trip.
Frankly, I doubt we’ll ever know the whole truth, unless this teacher waives her privacy rights and allows her record to be opened.
I’m always willing to hear both sides of a story. The version I heard was that she had excellent evaluations up to the library incident. If it turns out that this is not the case it will certainly hurt her credibility.
That said, and again I’m relying on the reports I’ve read, it does seem true that the principal acused her of allowing kids to see nudity in the museum. Well, sorry, but that’s what happens in museums. That’s what they have there. We aren’t talking graphic Mapplethorpe photos or Karen Finley smeared in chocolate here. If the principal didn’t want kids exposed to nudity in any form she should not have approved the trip. And if this woman was supposed to be such a bad employee why did they let her take 89 kids out of the school anyway?
So maybe this will turn out to be a case where things are not as they first appear but right now I’d say the teacher is the one looking very much like the aggrieved party.
Bill,
Unfortunately, the teacher’s side is what’s getting all the airplay, which is why she looks like the aggrieved party. She and her lawyer get to throw out these accusations, and FISD has its hands tied.
Personally, I’d be furious to discover that her version of the events are true – as would most of the parents I’ve discussed this with. I really hope this teacher’s career is not ended because of one parent who has a hang-up about a nude statue.
However, given the reception she’s getting in the media, I doubt she’ll stay unemployed long. 🙂
Okay, I have to backpedal a bit on my summary of the letter from the superintendent. I misread the bit on the performance reviews.
The performance issues 12 months prior were not formally documented, but were only verbally discussed. They were brought up and documented a year later – which coincided with the post-field trip fallout.
So, now we have a district that verbally expressed concerns a year in advance – but can’t prove it – and the paper trail started at the same time.
What a mess.
Unfortunately, Peter, we live in a world that seems to believe pointing our your own shortcomings is a shortcoming in and of itself. But pointing out other people’s is A-OK.
As a Christian, I am baffled every day by so many of my own faith who cannot seem to demonstrate a central theme of Christianity: the belief in one’s imperfection.
I’d like to regularly see high visibility Christians humbly admit they were wrong at SOMETHING and then talk about the redemptive steps they took to correct it.
I think Christians need a Day of Atonement too.
–Captain Naraht
P.S. Just as a bit of personal atonement, I really should be more grateful about my lot in life, and I should interview better, and I should be a better brother… and…and… I should learn to remember people’s names for heaven’s sake!
Funnily enough Peter, some of my thoughts were running vaguely along the same lines, but maybe from a slightly different direction. I was sitting here this morning transcribing interviews with the directors of two upcoming fantasy films, but as I usually work with the TV on, every once in a while, a little bit of the real world would bleed through. So I’d be sitting here, typing away at my laptop, about dragons and fauns and and fairy tales, and occasionally I would look up and hear about how a respected Congressman had been sending dirty e-mails to a former page and his peers had been covering it up for the past year. Or a well-respected journalist had just published a book detailing how our government was misleading us on the Iraq war and that very same government that had extolled the virtues of the journalist’s previous two books was now making a full-court press to discredit him. And just when I’d had it up to here (my hand is under my chin), a milkman- a milkman, for f**k sake- goes into an Amish school and kills a bunch of innocent kids before killing himself, instead of doing it the other way around, which would have saved us all a lot of misery.
Sometimes the so-called ‘real world’ really sucks.
One quick thing about the teacher story. First off, the principal knew that this group was going to the museum. Second off, unless Texas schools are a whole lot different than Pennsylvania schools, the kids’ parents had to sign a permission slip for the kids to go on this trip. My point? If either this administrator or these parents didn’t know what was in this museum, they either should have checked it out or gone themselves.
Regarding the teacher having a verbal discussion about performance issues could mean anything. This would be considered a performance issue and if the facts match the media and similar happened later then this current situation could be just as ambiguous. It could be as little as showing a photo of Michaelanglo’s David or a big as speculation she’s having sex with a male student. That doesn’t say much either way. Sadly I can’t comprehend the parent that found this to be devastating to their child.
The Amish community has my prayers. It’s unimaginable how someone can conspire to act against our children like this.
Sean, if these are the kind of people who inexplicably up in arms about the kind of exhibits that one finds in a local museum, it begs the question: have they even been in a museum? Or for that matter, can they spell the word museum? Could we do a quick survey to see how many of them actually have opposable thumbs?
Uptopia may only currently exist fictiously in other media, but I hope I’m not in the minority when I say I have enough Don Quixote in me to tilt at any valid windmill in the quest to make this dream a reality someday.
“To dream, the impossible dream…”
At my schoool you have to go through some very specific documented steps to be able to get rid of a teacher (once they’ve been there 3 years, I think. Before then they can easily ask you to leave for any reason or none at all). Caliming there were verbal warnings is not worth a bucket of warm spit here but standards may be different in other places.
Abuses still occur–we had our footbal coach removed from the job under circumstances that stunk on ice. He appealed the decision, won, got his job back and the superintendant resigned. It was amazing. If we’d won the championship the next year it would have been a Disney movie.
a respected Congressman had been sending dirty e-mails to a former page and his peers had been covering it up for the past year.
Let’s not be hasty here–politics is a blood sport but when it comes to child molesters and their enablers we should be dámņ sure before making accusations. There’s little question that Foley should probably spend some jail time between now and when he begins an eternity in Hëll but if all his peers had to go on was the original emails they can hardly be accused of a coverup. They were not that dámņìņg. The instant messages, now THOSE were clearly proof of his sick personality. If they knew about them they should follow him into political oblivian. Has this been proven? (I note that at least one newspaper also had the emails a year ago and also came to the conclusion that they were not enough to run with. In retrospect one wishes that a bit more investigation had been done by both the House and the media.)
Peter David: And I come out of syngague, and into a world where….an art teacher loses her job–her contract terminated–apparently because a parent complained that their child had been exposed to nudity…during a class trip to an art museum…
Luigi Novi: Figures. Even when we try to teach children to enjoy something like art, which is filled with everything from ancient fertility symbols to pornographic hieroglyphs to naked cherubs, we teach them that nudity is dirty.
I’ve participated in a portraiture/caricature/cartooning workshop in Union City, NJ’s annual Multi Arts Festival every year since my junior year of high school. The Festival displays art work and presents musical performances by grammar and high school kids in the area. In my workshop on the second floor behind the auditorium’s mezzanine, I draw whatever the kids want, whether it’s a comic book or cartoon character, a caricature, portrait, or whatever. One thing I liked to do was display my sketchbooks on the table I work, which is filled with anatomical studies, facial studies, and comic book reference art. But then the Festival organizer, who happens to be the art teacher at one of the Union City’s two high schools, asked me not to show the pages that featured figures whose genitals were unclothed. As much as I respect her for all the hard work she did overseeing the Festival in the decades prior to her retirement in 2005, I was very disappointed that I had to tape shut or tape over those pages. Now I don’t even bother bringing the sketchbooks to the Festival.
And this was an art teacher.
Art is supposed to, among other things, make the world a better place, and make us better people.
But only if you don’t show bøøbìëš and wee-wees.
Bill, I apologize for maybe engaging in a bit of hyperbole. Perhaps I should have said that the Rebublican leadership covered up the fact that Foley was sending e-mails at all to a former page, and leave it up to the rest of the world to decide if they’re dirty or not. But certainly the notion that a 52 year-old Congressman e-mails a former page (which they’re not supposed to do, BTW) and asks for a photo has a certain creepiness factor at the best of times. Still I feel fairly safe in saying the Republicans have covered it up considering one of the Democrats in charge of the page program claims he wasn’t notified about the e-mails at all. And I suspect 48 hours from now, my post will seem pretty tame.
You may be right, Joe. I doubt that Hastert will be Speaker come Friday.
When the emails first came out my warning signs went off but I had to admit that there was nothing that could be fairly used to destroy a man’s life (which an accusation of this sort can do). I still email former students. I could even see asking for a picture if one requested a recommendation (mostly because I probably won’t remember them from their names, with a few exceptions) (and needless to say, after all this one thing I WON’T ever do is ask a former student for a picture! Best not to even allow for the possibility of ill intent).
I’m a little bugged by a few of the commentaries on both sides of the political fence–right wingers complaining that Foley is being treated more harshly than Studds was, when Studds actually had sex with his page. (My reply–so the hëll what? Maybe our standards are higher now. What difference does it make?) Some on the left seem to think that the REALLY bad part of Foley’s behavior was the hypocrisy of his activism against child predators when he was one. Nah, I think hypocrisy is just a BIT less of an offense than being a sexual predator, thanks. Andrew Sullivan seems to think that this has something to do with the tragedy of the closeted gay. Jeeze…if he had been chasing after underage girls would the solution be for him to be more open with his sexual preferences? And Andrew should know better than to mix gay rights with the actions of a semi-pedophile.
This seems to be one of those things where people project their own agendas into it. Maybe I’m doing the same–I pretty sure what he did was illegal but even if it wasn’t he deserves to be ridden out of town on a rail. There’s just no excuse for this kind of abuse of power and sexual predators are generally creepy people that shouldn’t be trusted with responsibility.
I think Christians need a Day of Atonement too.
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve attended regularly, and I’d be lying if I said I was familiar with the sacrements of each and every sect of Christianity across the board, but isn’t that generally what the Sacrement of the Holy Communion (or whatever different people may call it) is about?
-Rex Hondo-
And if what Peter was discussing seems harsh, consider the news story that aired on Monday night stating that a man walking home from synagogue in Queens was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver. After 25 hours of praying to be sealed in the Book of Life, this seems like the most ironic of accidents. Hopefully, he’ll pull through.
1Utopias don’t exist, outside of the realm of imagination, because we – as a culture and a world – are not ready for them to exist just yet. The sad fact is that the hardship and strife in the world is one of the only things motivating people to try for something better. Not a lot of people, just some. Maybe it’s enough. It seems we need the challenge of war and injustice and various other evils, to set our selves against in order to define ourselves as good or bad or whatever. If we – as a species – were ready for the enormous task of challenging ourselves, not to overcome the obstacles without but the obstacles within each individual, then we would be doing it at this very moment, and I’m certain, (with no trace of sarcasm), that we would be creating a better world this very instant. There is nothing stopping us but our unwillingness to recognize the danger and act. If we were ready, it would already be accomplished. So, we must not be ready. We – as a group and as individuals – must not want it desperately enough to focus our considerable energies in that direction. So, it stands to reason that we, as a culture, species and world, actually like the despair and depridation of our present circumstances. We are gluttons for punishment. That being said, maybe it also stands to reason that we are all in desperate need of therapy.
Or it could just be me.
We speak about “sins of injustice” such as waging war upon others or trying to use violence to change things.
*cough**cough*Invading Lebannon*cough**cough*
Not to be simplistic about it, but what would be the point of a utopian world? To me, the point of life is to struggle to make things better, and in a utopia there’s no room for improvement, or even maintenance.
There is only one utopia, and it ain’t to be found in this life.
Posted by: John at October 3, 2006 06:55 AM
*cough**cough*Invading Lebannon*cough**cough*
First of all, it’s spelled “Lebanon,” not “Lebannon.”
Second, what’s your point? That Jews are a monolithic group and must answer for the actions of Israel — even if they’re, you know, American citizens who don’t vote in Israeli elections?
Third, I think one can easily draw a distinction between the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, a nation that borders on Israel and was harboring terrorists who were attacking them, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a nation that is far from our borders and posed no direct threat to us.
Finally, what should Israel have done to ensure its security, given that the terrorists have declared that they will settle for nothing less than pushing Israel into the sea?
Gee, it’s easy to be cute and think you’re all clever until someone comes along and calls you on the carpet, eh?
First, I really have to start coming here when I have more time.
Second, to paraphrase Nicholson, we couldn’t handle utopia. Nothing would get done, everyone would just be enjoying utopia.
Third, this guy in Amish country–was his life so empty that he was still carrying a grudge after 20 years? And was anyone involved in his grudge actually IN the school? (I’m not preaching, here, I just don’t know.)
I doubt that Hastert will be Speaker come Friday.
I suppose it depends on how the investigation goes. If the FBI is getting involved, that’s not good.
At worst, Hastert should only be Speaker for another month. 😉
Obviously, there’s a lot of details that still need to be sorted out, but until this, Foley sounded like an ok kind of guy. But if what we’ve heard is true, and this ok kind of guy was sending some creepy ášš e-mails, it sounds like the Republicans could’ve done more to make sure that it didn’t get to the point we’re at now.
Bill, you know that there isn’t a bigger supporter of Israel on this board than me…well, other than the posters who live there, an dhey, they’re understandably biased. But John DOES make a valid (if snarky) point. Saying “We speak about “sins of injustice” such as waging war upon others or trying to use violence to change things.” doesn’t leave much wiggle room for nuance.
Israel had every right to invade Labanon or even Lebannon, in my opinion, but it’s hard to deny that this is an example of “using violence to change things”. As is the ongoing campaign against the Taliban and as SHOULD be the world’s desire to stop the butchers in Darfur and othert regions of the world where the bad guys do not respond to the words “pretty please.”
(John should note however that PAD is not actually saying that this is his view. He’s describing the difference between what we wish and pray for and the world as it is. I’d also point out that while one could have a philosphy that espouses the peaceful resolution of problems it isn’t at all hypocritical to also favor war when the opposition does not share one’s views. Favoring nonviolence does not mean you should not defend yourself. If you don’t think that applies to the Israel/Lebanon conflict, fine, but that’s a naother argument.)
Maybe what could help a lot of these “macro-conflicts” (as opposed to depressed milkmen and power-drunk Congressmen) around the world would be helped by what they did in post-Apartheid South Africa.
(Hopefully people at this blog who are more familiar with the story will help me on this) but didn’t the New South African democracy establish something like a “truth commission” that didn’t so much level charges and jail time as much as offer an opportunity for agrieved parties to talk to one another about the pain of Apartheid? As a result I heard that a lot of former blood enemies became the best of friends.
Again I’m not sure of the details, (does anyone else remember?) but in a world gone mad, couldn’t we all we could all use a bit of honest atonement and forgiveness?
In answer to Rex’s question, unfortunately, as a Protestant I’m ignorant of much of Catholic Sacrements (though I do attend Christmas Services in a Catholic Church with my wife’s grandmother.) Sorry. I wouldn’t be an accurate source to the answer of your question.
–Captain Naraht
The Republicans (and I’m speaking as one) should have thrown Foley under the boss at the first hint. Now that he’s resigned and all this is coming to light, they should also throw Hastert and Shimkus under the bus, and anyone else who covered it up. This whole Hannity thing about “Well look at Clinton, that was so much worse!” is childish and stupid and smacks of moral relativism — one of the things that conservatives are supposed to stand against. The party of family values should hold itself to a higher standard. Hastert (and Bush, for that matter) should make a statement about the whole thing being reprehensible, punish the right people, and clean house before we get into our own version of discussing the definition of ‘is’.
Bill Mulligan, in retrospect I am forced to acknowledge that I let my emotions get away with me. I simply wanted to make the point that it’s unfair to single out Judaism, because all of the world’s major religions struggle to reconcile reverence for life with the need to resist the aggression of evil. The Jews are not unique in facing that problem.
Rex Hondo, I am an ex-Catholic. I’m by no means an expert on Catholicism but am knowledgeable enough to answer your questions. First of all, not every Christian denomination offers the “sacraments.” I believe only Catholicism, and a couple of the protestant offshoots that have stayed pretty close to Catholic doctrine (I think the Episcopal church may be one), offer them.
And no, Communion is not a sacrament of atonement. Instead it has its roots in the story of the Last Supper, where Christ was said to have given the apostles bread and wine and told them they were his body and blood. He asked them to consume these things in memory of him. Catholics believe that through the sacrament of Communion, the wafers and wine offered become the true body and blood of Christ. They call this transubstantiation.
Catholics have the sacrament of confession, which is indeed for atonement. In addition, Catholics are required to sacrifice something during Lent, another form of atonement.
Mind you, I am decidedly an ex-Catholic and for that matter non-religious. I have spiritual beliefs but don’t feel the need to belong to a particular organization in order to explore them. So I’m not trying to push any particular religion on anyone. I just thought I’d help answer your questions, Rex.
Posted by: Captain Naraht at October 3, 2006 09:23 AM
Maybe what could help a lot of these “macro-conflicts” (as opposed to depressed milkmen and power-drunk Congressmen) around the world would be helped by what they did in post-Apartheid South Africa.
(Hopefully people at this blog who are more familiar with the story will help me on this) but didn’t the New South African democracy establish something like a “truth commission” that didn’t so much level charges and jail time as much as offer an opportunity for agrieved parties to talk to one another about the pain of Apartheid? As a result I heard that a lot of former blood enemies became the best of friends.
Again I’m not sure of the details, (does anyone else remember?) but in a world gone mad, couldn’t we all we could all use a bit of honest atonement and forgiveness?
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission offered victims of atrocities committed under apartheid an opportunity to come forward and make their stories part of the public record. It also gave perpetrators of such atrocities an opportunity to confess their misdeeds and ask for amnesty.
There are those who believe the commission was a failure, but there are many who think it was brilliant. I tend to fall into the latter category.
I see utopia all around me. Next time you see a parent hug they’re child. Next time you see an stranger pulling over to help someone who’s car broke down.
This is utopia. This is what we need to hold on too! This is where we get our strenght to create more utopias as we muddle through our lives 🙂
All the best!
Bri
To get a little further off topic still…
Catholics believe that through the sacrament of Communion, the wafers and wine offered become the true body and blood of Christ.
This subject came up yesterday between my wife and myself. She never knew exactly what Communion entailed, and I, being an ex-Catholic, explained it to her.
To say the least, she finds the entire concept disgusting. She more or less views it as a veiled form of cannibalism, I think. Anyways.
Theophagy.
Just to add a few thoughts to Bill Myers’ earlier post, the sacrament of confession used to pretty much be a weekly thing for many Catholics, or at least it was in my church, which I guess that atonement was a pretty regular thing back then.
Like Bill, I’m pretty much a lapsed Catholic (is that the same thing as an ex-Catholic), which was a process that started outside the church years ago as people came out of mass and shouted at their fellow parishoners for cutting each other off in the parking lot. But the final nail in that coffin was the sex scandal in which the shameful actions of so many priests were covered up by the powers-that be (sound familiar?). Not surprisingly, this has prompted all sorts of discussion with my parents who are heavily involved in the church, but during my last visit down to Hilton Head, I pointed out the recent scandal in which their pastor had embezzled quite a considerable sum of money and was… transferred! So I think I’m done with the Catholic church for the time being.
But having said that, Brian brings up a very good point. Sometimes you can make people’s life better just by doing something nice, whether it’s just holding a door open for somebody, or stopping at a crosswalk, or pulling something down from a grocery shelf for an elderly shopper. If more people did little things like that, maybe we wouldn’t have as much to atone for.
The problem with a day of pondering one’s own sins and shortcomings is that it prompts you to resolve to try and do better…and then you come out into a world aligned against such philosophies.
You make a good point. This only makes sense if God really exists and prayer to him really makes a difference. I have been working with people for 20 years who have all sorts of issues. Trying harder rarely makes a difference. At the very least it takes living in a community who share the same convictions who can help you change (AA is a great example of how transformation can happen in a community setting). As a Christian, though, I believe it takes a renovation of the heart by God to truly make a difference. Not that Christians are by any means perfect, but I have seen change happen that takes a murderer and transforms him into someone who truly loves his neighbor.
I don’t believe we will have utopia here on earth. That is just reality. No matter how educated people become, there are still wars, murders, theft, and lieing. But I do believe we can make a difference. We can, as the Prophet Micah says, seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before our God.
Iowa Jim
Second, to paraphrase Nicholson, we couldn’t handle utopia. Nothing would get done, everyone would just be enjoying utopia.
Another interesting topic. What would we do in “heaven” or “utopia”?
I think we define it wrong. It is not “Disneyland” where things are “perfect” and all about having fun. When I got married, it was hard to imagine I would love my wife more today than I did 5 years ago. But I know I do.
If God exists, the God of the Bible, then he is perfection itslef. He is eternal, far bigger than I could never comprehend in a hundred million years (this is the Christian definition of “god,” not the Greek, Roman, etc. understanding). If this is true, than utopia / heaven is in part the enjoyment, together with others, of the most good, perfect, loving being in the universe for all eternity.
That is my idea of utopia. That is an adventure that is far greater than any fantasy novel or comic book adventure I have ever read. It is what I some have called the “Sacred Romance.” And that is something worth hoping for.
Just my thoughts.
Iowa Jim
>there is only one utopia, and it ain’t to be found in this life.
Thew rub lies in part in the fact that one person’s “Heaven” is another’s “Hëll”, and vice-versa. Makes it kind of hard to have any one “Utopia”.
>Next time you see an stranger pulling over to help someone who’s car broke down.
See? Good example. My “Utopia” doesn’t include cars that break down.
This is utopia. This is what we need to hold on too!
Not that I have any say in the matter but I’d rather Utopia or Heaven be something more like the Mormon idea or the Indian Happy Hunting Grounds, or Valhalla. Basically here but with better cable TV reception. You get to do whatever you like to do but with far greater success. You say “But Bill, wouldn’t it get boring if you went out fishing every perfect day and came back with a dozen fresh trout for dinner? Wouldn’t you get tired of that?” And I reply “Boy, you really don’t know anything about fishermen do you?”
By the way, transubstantiation is a bit more complicated than just the bread and wine turning into actual blood and flesh. The Church knows that to all senses and scientific measurements, it is still bread and wine. It has something to do with Substance theory, which I once knew and cared about and I know this because I found a notebook from my college philosophy class filled with this stuff. But there’s only enough room in my brain for so much of this stuff before it starts crowding out the GOOD stuff, like the fact that a spanking new cinemascope copy of Ilya Muromets aka The Sword And The Dragon is finally available. Yeah! Aleksandr Ptushko!
Heaven also has the greatest film library ever AND I get to periodically wipe my memory clean and watch films as if for the first time ever.
As someone whose own place of worship is practically in that schoolhouse’s backyard, I hear ya, I hear ya.
There is much more going on then a milkman (over simplification on that one- he drove a tanker truck that picked up the milk from numerous dairy farms around the area) exacting revenge.
Which no one can figure out around here, because he says HE was the perpetrator in all his statements and notes not the one perpetrated upon?? How was what he did revenge??
From all indications, he was twisted and tired of surpressing the urges that drove him to perversion.
I think this guy should have had the chance to ponder his own sins and seek atonement. (or at least TALK about his past sins!) Perhaps if he had it wouldn’t have come to this. Probably not, but you never know? right?
Not that I have any say in the matter but I’d rather Utopia or Heaven be something more like the Mormon idea or the Indian Happy Hunting Grounds, or Valhalla. Basically here but with better cable TV reception. You get to do whatever you like to do but with far greater success. You say “But Bill, wouldn’t it get boring if you went out fishing every perfect day and came back with a dozen fresh trout for dinner? Wouldn’t you get tired of that?” And I reply “Boy, you really don’t know anything about fishermen do you?”
By the way, transubstantiation is a bit more complicated than just the bread and wine turning into actual blood and flesh. The Church knows that to all senses and scientific measurements, it is still bread and wine. It has something to do with Substance theory, which I once knew and cared about and I know this because I found a notebook from my college philosophy class filled with this stuff. But there’s only enough room in my brain for so much of this stuff before it starts crowding out the GOOD stuff, like the fact that a spanking new cinemascope copy of Ilya Muromets aka The Sword And The Dragon is finally available. Yeah! Aleksandr Ptushko!
Heaven also has the greatest film library ever AND I get to periodically wipe my memory clean and watch films as if for the first time ever.
“prayer book…or fantasy novels.”
Same thing
No, Starwolf, although your positivity is refreshing and a good message, that is just not Utopia. A linguist I ain’t but…Utopia by definition includes everyone.
Bill, I probably oversimplified transubstantiation a bit in my haste, but, c’mon, I’m at work right now. I never meant to imply that Catholics believe that the wafers and wine take on the physical characteristics of Christ’s flesh and blood. And I don’t think any reasonable person would infer that from what I wrote.
Remember, I used to be a devout Catholic. I’ve since rejected Catholic doctrine in favor of beliefs that make more sense to me, but for God’s sake that doesn’t mean I believe Catholics are delusional or cannibals. They’re just people whose beliefs differ from my own.
And I don’t think transubstantiation is that complicated. According to Catholic theology, the wafers and wine retain their outward appearance and physical characteristics, but in substance they become Christ’s actual body and blood. There is no scientific basis for this, of course, which is why Catholics refer to it as a “sacred mystery.”
I’m not saying that it’s wrong because it’s not scientific, by the way. I’m just stating a fact: it’s not something scientists can measure. Catholics believe it is true nevertheless. I may not believe in Catholicism anymore, but I nevertheless agree that science is only one prism through which to view the world.
Bill, I apologize if my prior post was snippy. Someone at work really upset me today and apparently it’s getting to me more than I realized. One of my colleagues just responded to an e-mail and thought I was very upset with him, when I in fact wasn’t.
I think I’ll stay away from e-mail, blogs, and anything else online for a bit while I clear my head.
Again, Bill, sorry. Wasn’t my intention to take stuff out on you.
Bill Mulligan– Does that mean Heaven’s Film Library has also refused to accept delivery on the (3) STAR WARS Prequels too? If so, then I’m IN!
No, because in heaven, people would finally stop griping about the Star Wars prequels and realize that it’s okay that George Lucas made movies that they don’t care for, just like it’s okay that there are thousands of other movies out there that they just don’t enjoy and never will.