Time to lighten up from the last posting. Today is Friday before the Labor Day weekend. There are not too many better times throughout the year than that. It's near the end of the work day and I will be heading to our lake cabin with my entire family, including my wife, three kids, one son-in-law, two almost kid-in-laws, and a granddaughter. The weather should be beautiful and all seems well with the world.
You know, I'll bet it would only take a few minutes to find some depressed person to bring me down from my current euphoric feeling. Why do you suppose that is? If I were to find one of these depressed people, it's not likely I would be able to lift that person's spirits, but he/she could easily bring me (or anyone) down. And by a "depressed person" I'm not talking about someone with serious issues that they are struggling with. I'm talking about the pessimistic whiners who are never happy about anything and seem to be in a perpetual state of gloom. There are so many of these people, and for some reason they seem to possess some kind of power over the rest of us. It's kind of a said statement about all of us.
Well, not today. I'm flying high and I'm not going to be brought down by any of the whiners. Oh, but what if I do run into one of them? Could I be strong enough to resist their gloomy ways? Hmmmm. There's the door...if I bolt now I can get out of here before a whiner accosts me. Oh, oh, there's the company whiner coming down the hall now! Gotta go!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Is Marriage for Everyone?
In my first blog for nearly a year I wanted to write about something controversial. Well, how about this? In November, Minnesota (and I don’t know how many other states) is going to vote on the issue of legalizing, or more accurately recognizing, same sex marriage. There can’t be too many issues more controversial than that.
This is controversial from a number of aspects, but the issue I want to address is how a person, any person, should deal with such topics. More specifically, how do we decide what is the right thing to do? Do we make our decision based on our feelings? Do we research the issue in search of some precedent? Do we allow ourselves to be influenced by any of the multitude of strongly opinionated organizations that continue to speak out on this? So many questions, it’s hard to know what the right approach is. Or is it?
I just came from church (Catholic) where the priest reminded us of the Church’s position on this issue and that as Catholics we are expected to support that position, which creates an interesting dilemma for me. I have been Catholic for my entire 56 year life. Fundamentally I believe in the faith, and I certainly respect the Catholic Church’s (or any church’s) view on this or any other issue. I mean, if the Church doesn’t speak out for what they believe in, who else will?
The problem is, of course, is that this isn’t a church issue. Oh, but it is say the zealots! This comes right from the Bible! While it is a very debatable point as to what, if any, teachings about gay marriage come from the Bible, that’s not even the point. We have something called the separation of church and state in this country, and most would consider that to be one of the key aspects of our constitution that has made us great.
That’s true, agree the zealots, but as a person of faith, I am still expected to support my faith openly and with commitment. Hmmm, sounds like a good point. In fact, as a younger man that argument was used to influence me many times. Now, though, I have to ask, “What does it mean to be a person of faith?” If I blindly vote the way my (or any) religion tells me to, am I supporting my faith, or acting as a robot without really being part of my faith? Am I allowed to make a decision, or are all my decisions predetermined because I belong to a religion? And let’s face it; all religions, including the Catholics, have evolved their teachings throughout time, so committing to a decision based on religious views can be a bit risky.
But to be fair, I do want to be true to my faith, and I do respect my religion. Why would I be part of a religion if I wouldn’t be willing to support them on critical issues?
On the surface, this is a tough question. But in truth, it’s actually quite simple. The fact is, when dealing with religion, faith, God, and morality issues in general, there is very little black and white. For most of us, we struggle with moral issues all the time. Divorce, abortion, contraception, the death penalty, and on and on. These are not simple issues. Oh, they may be for the zealots, because they seem to know exactly what is right and what is wrong. Unfortunately I have not been given that gift of knowledge and I actually have to think about these things.
So for anyone looking for an absolute black and white answer to any controversial issue, including gay marriage, here is what I have to offer; I simply don’t know. And the fact is, neither does anyone else. But I do know this; there was a man 2000 years ago that modern day zealots think we should listen to, and he taught two fundamental things; we should love God and we should love all human beings. This individual was the least judgmental person ever to live. That we should listen to him is the one thing I can agree with the zealots on, with the difference being that I think we should actually listen to him and not package his information in a way that supports our own beliefs.
I know one other thing as well. I know one of the best days of my life is when I got married, and every part of my life has been different because of that. Who am I to say that I, or anyone, can deny that experience to anyone else? Who can, in good conscience, walk into a voting booth and decide that a large number of people do not have the choice to be happy. Of course the zealots do, because they know more than the rest of us.
Are people allowed their personal views on moral issues? Of course, and thank God our country guarantees them that right. But can we dictate our personal views through legislation? The very principle of our country says that we should not.
I would love to see the clear cut line between right and wrong so that decisions would be easy. But clear cut lines do not often exist in our imperfect world. What I want more than anything is for everyone to have the chance to live their lives to the fullest. Who could possibly deny that to anyone? Who would even want to?
This is controversial from a number of aspects, but the issue I want to address is how a person, any person, should deal with such topics. More specifically, how do we decide what is the right thing to do? Do we make our decision based on our feelings? Do we research the issue in search of some precedent? Do we allow ourselves to be influenced by any of the multitude of strongly opinionated organizations that continue to speak out on this? So many questions, it’s hard to know what the right approach is. Or is it?
I just came from church (Catholic) where the priest reminded us of the Church’s position on this issue and that as Catholics we are expected to support that position, which creates an interesting dilemma for me. I have been Catholic for my entire 56 year life. Fundamentally I believe in the faith, and I certainly respect the Catholic Church’s (or any church’s) view on this or any other issue. I mean, if the Church doesn’t speak out for what they believe in, who else will?
The problem is, of course, is that this isn’t a church issue. Oh, but it is say the zealots! This comes right from the Bible! While it is a very debatable point as to what, if any, teachings about gay marriage come from the Bible, that’s not even the point. We have something called the separation of church and state in this country, and most would consider that to be one of the key aspects of our constitution that has made us great.
That’s true, agree the zealots, but as a person of faith, I am still expected to support my faith openly and with commitment. Hmmm, sounds like a good point. In fact, as a younger man that argument was used to influence me many times. Now, though, I have to ask, “What does it mean to be a person of faith?” If I blindly vote the way my (or any) religion tells me to, am I supporting my faith, or acting as a robot without really being part of my faith? Am I allowed to make a decision, or are all my decisions predetermined because I belong to a religion? And let’s face it; all religions, including the Catholics, have evolved their teachings throughout time, so committing to a decision based on religious views can be a bit risky.
But to be fair, I do want to be true to my faith, and I do respect my religion. Why would I be part of a religion if I wouldn’t be willing to support them on critical issues?
On the surface, this is a tough question. But in truth, it’s actually quite simple. The fact is, when dealing with religion, faith, God, and morality issues in general, there is very little black and white. For most of us, we struggle with moral issues all the time. Divorce, abortion, contraception, the death penalty, and on and on. These are not simple issues. Oh, they may be for the zealots, because they seem to know exactly what is right and what is wrong. Unfortunately I have not been given that gift of knowledge and I actually have to think about these things.
So for anyone looking for an absolute black and white answer to any controversial issue, including gay marriage, here is what I have to offer; I simply don’t know. And the fact is, neither does anyone else. But I do know this; there was a man 2000 years ago that modern day zealots think we should listen to, and he taught two fundamental things; we should love God and we should love all human beings. This individual was the least judgmental person ever to live. That we should listen to him is the one thing I can agree with the zealots on, with the difference being that I think we should actually listen to him and not package his information in a way that supports our own beliefs.
I know one other thing as well. I know one of the best days of my life is when I got married, and every part of my life has been different because of that. Who am I to say that I, or anyone, can deny that experience to anyone else? Who can, in good conscience, walk into a voting booth and decide that a large number of people do not have the choice to be happy. Of course the zealots do, because they know more than the rest of us.
Are people allowed their personal views on moral issues? Of course, and thank God our country guarantees them that right. But can we dictate our personal views through legislation? The very principle of our country says that we should not.
I would love to see the clear cut line between right and wrong so that decisions would be easy. But clear cut lines do not often exist in our imperfect world. What I want more than anything is for everyone to have the chance to live their lives to the fullest. Who could possibly deny that to anyone? Who would even want to?
Monday, August 27, 2012
I'm Back!
Wow. I was just looking at my blog and realized I haven’t written anything since November of 2011. Unbelievable! Although, to be fair, it has been one hell of a year.
I’m sure all of my faithful followers have missed me. Of course, that assumes I ever had any faithful followers in the first place, which is not a good assumption at all.
I guess I’m one of those guys who needs to blog once in a while. Not sure why, probably just so I can say what I want without anyone challenging or interrupting me. In any case it’s time for me to fire up the blog machine and start putting some things out there. I actually have a couple of ideas I will be writing about very soon, but this short blurb is largely to see if I even remember how to do this.
So stay tuned. Exciting (and controversial) things are on their way.
I’m sure all of my faithful followers have missed me. Of course, that assumes I ever had any faithful followers in the first place, which is not a good assumption at all.
I guess I’m one of those guys who needs to blog once in a while. Not sure why, probably just so I can say what I want without anyone challenging or interrupting me. In any case it’s time for me to fire up the blog machine and start putting some things out there. I actually have a couple of ideas I will be writing about very soon, but this short blurb is largely to see if I even remember how to do this.
So stay tuned. Exciting (and controversial) things are on their way.
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