On Being Civil

Since the tragic shooting in Tucson which left 6 dead and several more injured including the intended target, Cong. Gabrielle Giffords, nearly every politician in the land has proclaimed that we all must be more civil towards each other.  It must be reflected in our speech as well as our actions.  As an example, several congressmen and senators from both sides of the aisle with be sitting with each other in an attempt at showing their civility and willingness to cooperate with each other.  A noble gesture, perhaps, but a gesture that has very little, if any, meaning.  But that is fodder for another time.

It is all very well to speak of being more civil, more tolerant of each other but until we become more civil towards the weakest and most defenseless of our society, everything else seems rather inconsequential.

In the shadow of the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling Roe v Wade which formally legalized abortion, I would like to point out that we have hardly been civil to the over 53,000,000 babies that have been aborted before having the chance to be born.  This slaughter of the most innocent among us sure must rank amongst the most inhospitable act any one society has shown toward a segment of its population in the history of mankind. 

Only recently, with the arrest of the abortion doctor and his staff in Philadelphia, has there been any real outcry about this continuing abomination and we certainly have not heard one story about this nightmare in the mainstream media (ABC, NBC, CBS).  The violence of abortion stuns those who first begin to understand how abortions are performed.  The mere thought of someone killing an unborn child is simply too much for most to fathom.  But the fact of the matter is is that abortion is pure and simple an act of butchery.

So Mr. and Ms. politician, until we can find a way to be more civil to those who have no voice and no choice, you can sit together all you want.  You can tiptoe through the tulips night and day.  You can hum "Everything Is Beautiful" at all hours.  However, no one in the world would ever believe you meant it as long as the abortion mills continue to produce the horrors that we witnessed in Philadelphia.

I am sure your actions will be praised by the President of the United States during his State of the Union Address this Tuesday night as an example of civility and cooperation.  Meantime, across town in some abortion clinic or "Women's Health Clinic" a child will be killed before having the chance of being born.  How civil are we really if this continues unchecked?

A Priest of the Culture of Death

Take a look at the photo above and you will be looking into the face of unbelievable evil.  It is the likeness of the Philadelphia physician who now stands accused of killing seven live babies and one mother in his chamber of horrors that is called an abortion clinic.  Dr. Kermit Gosnell along his with wife and several staff members have been arrested and indicted on eight counts of murder including the death of a mother during a botched abortion. 

Inside the clinic, investigators found what they described as a "house of horrors."  Among other things, they found bags and bottles filled with aborted babies.  Seth Williams, the District Attorney for the region, said that several jars containing "severed feet that he (Dr. Gosnell) kept for no medical purpose."  There is speculation that the doctor has, over the years, killed hundreds of babies born live with a pair of scissors.

The babies included in the indictment were killed after the doctor and his staff had induced labor in the patient and then given birth to a perfectly live and viable newborn.  The babies included in the grand jury's findings were six, seven, and eight months old.  Once they were born, perfectly capable of living outside the womb at this point. the doctor took a pair of scissors, jabbed them into the back of their necks, and the sliced through the spinal chord, killing the infants instantly.

This barbaric crime is more revolting and heinous than most people have heard of up to this point.  These babies could very well have lived and been adopted out had they not had the misfortune of being born into this "house of horrors."  Instead of being given to the care of parents who would love them and nurture them to adulthood, they were cruelly and coldly dispatched by a doctor and willing staff with a simple, every day instrument, namely a scissors.

What amazes me (and I don't know why) is that nowhere in the mainstream media has this story been given any air time.  This monstrous crime deserves the attention of the American people.  It deserves to be exposed because it is an icon of the Culture of Death.  This is what abortion is and there is no disguising it with words or phrases that have some sort of soothing sound.  It is a barbaric act and outrage needs to be expressed.  Our lawmakers need to be bombarded with demands that something needs to be done regarding abortion in this country.  Human treasure has been destroyed in this instance but the sad thing is that human treasure is freely and openly destroyed in abortion mills throughout this country every day.

What does it say about a society when something like this abhorrent crime committed in Philadelphia, the city that gave birth to the Declaration of Independence in which all men were declared to have been created equal by their creator, gets no attention from the major media outlets in this country?  Have we grown so callous to such obscene violence that it just doesn't effect us any longer?  Does it reflect on our lessening dependency on God and greater dependency on ourselves?

This kind of story deserves the kind of attention that American Idol generates.  More than that, really!  This slaughter of innocent human beings has to be stopped in some way.  A society can be judged by the way it treats its least significant members.  If that is the case, then we are in big trouble.  The Culture of Death, a culture that promotes the ego and the self must be reversed so as to head off this kind of unthinkable crime.  We need to once again adopt the Culture of Life, an atmosphere that celebrates life in all of its forms.  Only then shall we be able to rescue what we have lost, although those innocent citizens who have been killed before even having the chance to be born are beyond mortal rescue.  May they all rest in the peace of Christ.

Tragic Absurdity

The absurdity that we have witnessed since the brutal and senseless violence in Arizona last Saturday provides a sad commentary to where we are as a society.  Nearly forgotten in the verbal sparring has been those who died and were wounded by the obviously deranged gunman.

Those on the left have accused the right of causing the shootings through their continual criticism of the liberal point of view in the American body politic.  Those on the right have risen up against these accusations, pointing out the hypocrisy of the left in that the left has a long history of vitriolic language itself.

The liberal argument holds no water whatsoever.  The actions of the would-be assassin had nothing to do with the political tenor in this country.  Here was an obviously mentally disturbed individual whose mental illness went unchecked for years only to bubble up in violence last weekend.  The chances that he was inspired somehow to go on a killing spree through right wing media types like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are nothing.  He acted in such a violent way because of the mental illness that undoubtedly has plagued him for years.

We need to slow down and take a deep breath and understand what we are doing to ourselves.  We have already cheapened life through the legalization of abortion.  Stem cells extracted from human embryos after those embryos have been destroyed has placed one group of human beings (those born) over those who have yet to be born.  We need to see that we have chosen a route where human life is concerned that degrades and devalues human life.

What caused last Saturday's savage attack on those gathered in the parking lot of a Safeway supermarket?  I am not qualified to answer that but I can say that our callous disregard for the marginalized in society, those who are homeless, mentally ill, and those who have been lost, contributed far more to the violence than did the tone of the political debate in this country.

We have turned our backs on God for any number of reasons.  When we do this as a society, we lose our compass.  We drift.  There is no truth.  There is no anchor.  Right and wrong become relative and each person lives out their own version of right and wrong whether or not it agrees with other versions.  We are not connected to each other as we once were.  Oh, we do have the Internet with facebook and twitter and the like.  But is this really being connected.  No!  We cannot be connected merely through a computer keyboard!  To be connected we must have personal relationships based upon reality.

The gunman in Arizona was clearly marginalized.  He was detached from the rest of society as a result of his mental illness.  His writings reveal a mind that is incapable of putting together coherent thoughts.  He became anti-social and apparently fixated with the congresswoman he tried to kill.  In his savage outrage, he revealed his complete disregard by indiscriminately shooting so many others, killing six including a nine year old little girl.

It is time for the right and the left to just shut up about which side caused this horrible tragedy.  Rather than putting all this energy into these arguments, they need to focus their talents and abilities in solving the problems that led to an ugly scene such as was played out in Tucson.  If we fail to address these problems in a mature and honest way, another Tucson waits in the wings.  How many more people will have to die in senseless violence before our leaders disengage the childish finger pointing that we have seen this week.  I for one am disgusted with both sides and pray that the adults among our leaders (if there are any!) come to the surface and lead us to a healing that we are so desperately in need of. 

Look into the eyes of little Christina Greene at the top of this piece and see the future ended by this horrible act of violence.  When this picture was taken this little girl was filled with life, with hope, with the sheer joy of being alive.  Now she is dead, living forever in the arms of the Creator.  As you look into her eyes, ask yourself: is the dialogue that we are witnessing in the public arena worthy of this young and innocent victim?  We must honor her memory and those of the other five who died that day with dialogue that honors them and brings back this country and society from the brink of self-destruction.

2011

Another month has come and gone and as I turn the page of the calendar a brand new month and year stare me in the face.  Funny, isn't it, how ritualistic we all become over time.  Every year at about this time nearly everyone I know says something to the effect, "Where did the time go?"  Even funnier, when you think about it, the minutes, hours, days, weeks and months of 2010 actually passed no more slowly nor quickly than did the previous twelve months.  Yet, it does seem as though time continually picks up speed with each passing year.  Why?

All of us get caught up in the superficiality of life.  Our days are passed with endlessly meaningless tasks that we assign meaning to because we all want our lives to actually mean something.  So, as a result, we funnel our attention to trivialities such as the things we possess, not realizing that many of them actually possess us.  We take for granted the precious minutes that are allotted us and become impatient when the clock doesn't move quickly enough for us.  As we watch the time, urging it to move more quickly, we squander the here and now of the passing moment even though in reality that is all we have.

We go about doing things rather than being ourselves.  In our society, if we aren't busy, we aren't being productive and, therefore, are not contributing anything important to the world.  But just doing something to be doing it leaves us empty, without direction.  To be ourselves means that we have to know ourselves and there is precious little time in our lives for that what with all the doing that's going on!  We become bystanders to the parade of life rather than intimate participants and as the parade passes us by, so does life.

This new year is a perfect time to discover what it means to be!  What exactly does it mean to be a human being.  Are all we are is what we do?  Or are we something far more complex than our actions?  This may sound like the ramblings of a middle aged man seeking direction in his life, but I can assure you that in talking with many friends and acquaintances about this subject, I am not alone. 

All of us wants to get the most out of each moment that we live and breathe.  We have it within our own power to do just that but it will take courage because it is necessary for us to swim out of the mainstream of life and take in what society sees and non-productive elements of life.  Take time with your spouse.  Look at them through the eyes that you first looked at them with the first time you saw them.  Yes, they have grown older and may not have that youthful charm burning from within, but perhaps, just perhaps, if you try to capture them for what they have meant to you all these years, you will have a better understanding of who they have become and, consequently who the both of you are.

Look at your children.  They are the gems of life, yet how often do you lose patience with them as they struggle to grow up in a society that more and more often would deny them the precious years of childhood so they can grow up and earn a decent living?  Take them in as they are and see yourself in them.  They will never pass this way again and neither will you.  Drink in the moment and realize that they are reflections of you and are the hope of our future.  Nurture them because they are the greatest gift God could ever bestow upon a couple.

To those whom you call friend, give thanks.  Friends provide that necessary balance in life that keeps one from feeling alone.  The old saying about us not being able to choose our family but we do have the ability to choose our friends says so much about the value of a trusted friend.  They do not have to accompany us on our life's journey.  They have volunteered to be our companions and often prove to be our life rafts!  Friends, too, are very special gifts from God and one who has a friend has riches beyond anything the world can provide.

So as 2011 gets underway, take your first steps on the path to being true to yourself and your life.  Are you happy where you are?  Instead of worrying about tomorrow, next month, or next year, live in the moment.  Let tomorrow take care of itself.  Realize completely that the only thing we have at this moment is this moment!  The past is gone and the future is yet to take place.  Nothing can be done about either one of them.  However, by being in the present and living life to its fullest will make the past more meaningful and the future more hopeful!  Don't worry about the things we now call vitally important.  Worry about your relationships both with one another and with God.  They are truly the only reality that matters.  Happy New Year!

A Remarkable Year

As we near Christmas and the end of the year, my mind seems to naturally want to drift over the last twelve months in order to see where I have been and to where I might be headed.

The year 2010 is one that will stand out in my mind for years to come and will probably still be standing when I breathe my last.

While it is true that every year can be considered remarkable in its own right, 2010 seem to hold a confluence of events that taken by themselves would most certainly constitute those events we call life changing.  They are the events that, when recalled, evoke emotions and thoughts that may have been long since submerged into the subconscious mind.  However, this year, these earth shaking events seemed to come all at once over a twelve month period that no one could in their wildest imaginations call dull.

This year produced losses of monumental stature.  It delivered shocks that blindsided all.  It also brought the joy that life craves and demands sharing.  It had nearly everything. 

In the spring of 2010, the Smith family (my wife's family) experienced the sudden and tragic passing of the family patriarch, Lloyd.  Lloyd was an uncommon man in that his gentleness and way of life touched each one of us in ways that were so very personal and tender.  He reveled in his family over the years and took great pride in all they accomplished.  He loved every member in a unique way and showed that love by simply sitting back at family gatherings and smiling at all the activities swirling about him.

I shall never forget the April morning that he died.  He had been in the hospital for five weeks battling heart disease which was only discovered upon his admission.  For nearly four weeks, he had been unconscious after his heart stop for nearly seventeen minutes late one night.  He died shortly after 7:00 in the morning of April 9th.  His passing, while a shock, was not unexpected.  I remember driving the short distance to the hospital to see him in that bed one last time as though it was yesterday.

There was an irony to the morning.  It was early spring and all the ornamental trees were in full bloom.  The hills were alive with color for the first time in months.  There was a chill to the air that morning, but the a warming breeze gently blew the delicate flower petals in the bright sunshine.  Birds were beginning to sing loudly and all throughout the day.  Earth was coming to life after a long winter's slumber.  The sting of his passing still lingers within all who knew him.  Each of us treasures personal memories as we approach this first Christmas without him.  Our sadness is balanced by the wonderful moments we recall with the passing of each day and in remembering, it doesn't seem as though he is far away from us at all.  In fact, he isn't.  He is within each of our hearts.

Later in the year, on the King side of the household, two elderly members of the family were struck ill quite suddenly and unexpectedly shortly before another monumental event was to take place.  My dear daughter-in-law's grandmother and grandfather encountered health issues that shook the foundation of the family.  Anticipation of what was about to happen was tempered with the realities of older age and declining health.  But even in this, we were reminded of the wondrous resilience of the human heart that is dependent on God for its strength and tenacity.  Both members are doing fine for the moment, but, inevitably, trouble will come once again, and yet, because of the enormous faith of this family, all will be well.

Shortly before Independence Day, I received a phone call as I was driving to work that took me by surprise.  My mother, I was informed, had broken her hip and now lay in a hospital bed.  We rushed to her side and watched her lie still for three straight days under the influence of pain medication while levels of the blood thinner coumadin lowered in order that surgery might be performed to repair the damaged bone.  Eventually surgery was performed successfully and her rehabilitation began.  She moved to a nursing home where she received intensive physical therapy.  Through it all she showed her great determination and strength.  She vowed that she would return to her home in an assisted living facility before the end of the year and just a few short weeks ago she met that goal.  Her strength is remarkable.

In the fall of the year, my niece by marriage, Becca, set off for her first semester of college.  A very intelligent and charming young lady, she looked forward to the new adventure with great anticipation.  Mom and dad had a lot of anticipation as well and looked upon this new page of life with a bittersweet glance.  Their little girl, the light of both their lives, was moving into a new world.  She was truly becoming her own person now and that was both gratifying and frightening.  I am sure that the emotions ran high on that hot August day when Becca moved away from home and took up residence in her new world.  I am happy to report that she took to her new life with great excitement and embraced her new found independence in a manner that has made us all proud.  She has now completed her first semester of college and is embracing life with the vigor and enthusiasm as only a young adult can.

Life this year, as I said before, was a very mixed bag.  Yes, there was a lot of sadness with death, illness, and accidents visiting one right after another.  But there was also the joy of new life coming into the world.  In September, little Noelliah King came into the world to join her two bigger sisters and mom and dad.  There is nothing quite like the birth of a child regardless of whether it is the first child or the twentieth.  With each birth, we are reminded of the sanctity of life and how blessed we are to have new members of the family.  We are reminded that our sadness is not something that will last forever.  Sadness will be eclipsed by the joy of new life every time even though a part of us may remain sad over a loss.  With new life there is a future and with that future the one thing the human heart craves right behind love--hope.  To see Noelliah is to see the future and to know that God is looking out after us.

And so 2010 is almost history.  It was a year of death and life that was, at times, very difficult to bear.  However, because we have a family that survives on love of life and of one another, we have kept the proper perspective of things.  Yes, we will miss Lloyd, most especially as Christmas comes upon us.  His empty chair will remind us of the empty space in our hearts left by his passing.  But we will be heartened by the room full of family because it is in this that he lives on.

Our joy of our newest little one reflects the joy and hope of the season as we celebrate the coming of Jesus into this world as a man.  His was the ultimate sacrifice and we should take comfort in the fact that He knows exactly what this year has been for us because He lived among us as one of us.  It is in Him that we place our hope and our love and know that the wounds of 2010 will be healed by this Great Physician.  We also entrust to Him the newest members of the family as well as the rest of us who continue to live our lives out and who, in 2011, will come to love Him even more deeply.

And to all of you who read this, it is my wish that you have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and that the loving Father who is God and Lord of us all continue to bless you with all good things and the promise of life eternal.

Is Nothing Sacred?

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has always been the storehouse for artifacts and memorabilia that has marked the history of this country.  Within its massive walls you will find such things as John Glen's spacecraft Friendship 7 that carried the first American to orbit the earth.  The venerable Spirit of St. Louis, the plane piloted by Charles A. Lindbergh, the first flier to cross the Atlantic alone, can be found suspended from the Air and Space wing of the museum.  A complete collection of the evening gowns worn by the First Ladies of this country are also on display.  Nearly anything with historic value and interest can be found within the Smithsonian's confines.  For all of its history, it has been a dignified repository of America's historic pieces.

However, in the last few days, the museum has seen fit to display a vile image of large ants eating at Jesus crucified.  The display entitled "A Fire in My Belly," also included other questionable pieces of "art."  But this image of Jesus on the cross being consumed by ants is way over the top.  To say the least, it is a defilement of an image that millions of people across this land hold sacred because of what it represents to them.

We do have freedom of speech and expression in this country but does that really mean that anyone can say and/or do anything they want and label it as freedom of speech.  One of my greatest objections to this display has been the complete disregard for believers in Christ the artist and the Institution have demonstrated in allowing this display.  Their freedom of speech seems to completely disregard of countless Americans to worship as they please.  Where is the diversity displayed in this exhibition?  Where is the compassion and the caring for those with whom you may have a philosophical disagreement?

Certainly the question must naturally arise, would the artist and the Smithsonian permit this exhibit if the victim of the hungry ants was Mohamed?  I think not.  The Muslim community would raise a chorus of protests and rightfully so.  The more extreme wing of the Muslim faith would most likely promise violence as a form of retribution for such a public display.

Is nothing sacred these days?  It seems not, especially when it comes to the Christian faith.  Those who preach tolerance seem to mean through their actions that they will tolerate only those who happen to agree with their particular points of view.  Anyone who disagrees with them is fair game using any method to attack.

There is very little explanation why there is such ignorance in the world with the exception of stating emphatically that this exhibit is yet again a sign of the reality of Satan in the world.  There are those who groan and moan and roll their eyes at the mention of Satan, relegating that particular belief to the status of myth that only those who are uneducated and unsophisticated believe.  Even the President of the United States joined in in this philosophy when, as a candidate for president, he talked about the masses who cling to their religion and their guns.

We need to pray for these individuals.  This is a form of persecution, this exhibition.  But we could and should have seen it coming for Jesus predicted it.  To paraphrase Him, He told us that we should not be surprised if we were to be persecuted since those of His time persecuted Him for His teachings.  What makes us any different as followers of the Master?

Fortunately, late today, bowing under pressure, the Smithsonian relinquished and closed the exhibit.  However, the damage to this venerable institution has been soiled badly.  We must look to Christ for direction in situations like these.  We must condemn the actions of groups like these but we must also remember to treat them with dignity and integrity for they, too, are children of God even if they do not believe.

Is there nothing sacred?  Yes there is!  And it is the dignity of man simply because we are all children of God.  The battle will not be won on some field somewhere with weapons.  It will be won with prayer and gentle, yet firm admonishment of artists and institution who are insistent on exhibiting such vile pieces of "art."

Retrospection

Now that Thanksgiving 2010 is in the books, it is time to look back at the holiday with some insights that may be new, but probably not.

I had the distinct pleasure of spending the holiday with members of my wife's family.  We were invited to their beautiful home in the Ozarks for a wonderful feast celebrating the things we are most thankful for.  That  is what the day is for, after all.

When all thirty or so of us had gathered, it was time for grace, to acknowledge God as the center of our lives and the reason for the feast which we were about to partake of.  It was interesting how the group gathered for the prayer.  We all assembled in a circle.  No one directed this, it just happened.  It was interesting that we did this because the circle is a never ending thing.  It has no beginning and, hard as you might try, you will never find an ending.  It is perpetual. 

That is what a family is in a way.  At one point in history it may have had a beginning with a young couple united in matrimony starting a family.  As time goes on more and more members join the unit whether they are born into it or join it through marriage.  As the circle grows, it becomes more diverse, stronger.  The love that is shared has a perpetual quality about it since the love shared in the present will resonate well into the future.  The circle will continue to enlarge or it may shrink, but the love that binds will not diminish.

Family is what Thanksgiving is ultimately about.  Sure, we're all individually thankful about various elements in our lives.  However, for most of us, the thing we have to be most thankful for are those people we call family.  Without family, life is a hard and cruel place.  Yes, families do feud from time to time and some may even go years without contact or speaking to one another.  But even in these less than acceptable conditions, there is still that familial love that binds and will continue from this world to the next.

As we gave thanks in prayer, our attention was drawn to the center of the circle.  There was nothing there but empty space.  At least that is what the physical world told us.  However, in reality, the center of that circle, the focus of our attention, was the love that was shared for each individual standing around that geometrical shape.  And that love, in that moment and into the future, came from a loving God who had gathered us together for this occasion. 

So you see, God was and indeed is, at the center of this family's life.  May He continue to bless us with His bounteous love and take us well into the future as Thanksgivings continue to come and go.