A Holiday gift a little early...

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Open hearts, open doors: From Georgia to Colville

December 11, 2012

By

Sophia Aldous

sophia@statesmanexaminer.com

Ben and Jesse Baker

Hunters during deer hunting season, or any other hunting season for that matter, hardly garner more than a glance from passersby on the street or in a store or restaurant in Stevens County. It’s business as usual in one of the most verdant and popular hunting regions in the Northwest.
So not very many people may have paid much attention to a middle-aged man making his way around Colville and Loon Lake with a 16-year-old boy in tow, both dressed in warm clothing and hunting apparel.
The pair was Ben Baker and his son, Jesse, who had journeyed all the way from Ashburn, Georgia so Jesse could hunt the elusive White Tail deer.
So why come so far?
Diagnosed with Down Syndrome as an infant, Jesse had never been outside of his home state before. He has hunted his whole life with his father and wanted to try his hand at harvesting a White Tail buck.
But with costs for transportation, lodging, meals and the proper Washington State hunting licenses, it was easier to dream the hunt.
Ben and Jesse’s community held fund-raisers to help with the travel expenses when it just so happened that Colville resident Chris Van Kempen came across an article online from The Wiregrass Farmer Newspaper, where Ben is editor.
‘I would like to shoot a big deer…’
Van Kempen contacted Ben and said he would like to help raise money for Ben and Jesse’s trip. With the help of folks in Colville and neighboring communities, Van Kempen was able to raise around $1,500 for the outing. He also donated a guided hunt to the prospective guests.
“They are awesome people,” Van Kempen says of Jesse and Ben. “I think our community needs to do more of that; getting the youth and the disabled in the great outdoors so they can enjoy it.”
Ben says there are deer in Georgia, but they are miniature, don’t yield much meat and their antlers are smaller than either a White Tail or Mule deer.
“It’s fun,” Jesse says of his trip to Colville and the surrounding areas. “I would like to shoot a big deer.”
The father and son team spotted over 50 deer during their weeklong stay recently, but unfortunately, they were not able to shoot one (Washington State law requires that harvested White Tail bucks have a minimum of four-point antlers in order to harvest). The lack of a kill did nothing to diminish Jesse’s spirits though. As long as the pair was outside and not hunting, Jesse would pelt his father with snow (something they don’t see in southern Georgia, acknowledges Ben).
Besides the opportunity for some father and son bonding, complete with snowball fights, Ben says one of the best aspects of their stay in Stevens County has been the people that live here.
“Southern hospitality hasn’t got anything on you folks,” says Ben. “People have been wonderful to us (see Letter to the Editor from Ben in this week’s S-E).”
Ben adds that he and Jesse hope to come back some day and bring Jesse’s younger sister, Susan, who wants to hunt a bear.
“Jesse has really loved this,” Ben states. “Being outside, being able to take time off from school to have this once in a lifetime experience has just been great. We’re very thankful and we won’t forget it.”

     For those who do not know, let me give some background information on the subjects of the above article.  I have known Ben Baker for decades.  He is one of the few people I consider a true friend.  The kind of guy that if you call him at 2am in the morning and say, "I just shot and killed someone" that his only question would be "Do you need help hiding the body?"  I proudly call him my Brother and would literally lay down my life for him without thinking.  His wife is one of the most amazing women I have ever known and if you need a snapshot of normal, well adjusted kids look no further than his son and daughter.  Susan is incredibly intelligent and multi-talented and Jesse is an energetic, fun loving boy who wins your heart with just a smile.

     So many people (I'm proud to add myself and my wife to that list) worked so very hard to make this dream trip a reality.  People donated their time, their money and their hearts to get it all done.  People that didn't know Ben, people that had no reason to care about Jesse did so much that it makes even a Cynic like me hopeful for the human race.  

     I had the distinct honor of picking Ben and Jesse up at the airport on their return and words cannot describe the look of boundless joy and love on Jesse's face.  (Keep in mind that words are how I make my living so that is saying something.)  Nor do I have the words to describe the look on Ben's face where exhaustion, pride and joy beamed out from his usual dour countenance. The truly exultant and mellow feelings filling my little car on the trip back was much more payment that my tiny little contribution deserved.

     So I offer this article and the story behind it as a sort of early Christmas present to all of you who sit and wonder if there are good people left in the world and kind deeds still done.  The answer is Yes.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Festive Yule and Happy Holidays to all of you!

Just in case I don't see you before.

Hack...cough...wheeze!

Anybody got a tissue?

      So here I sit just weeks before Christmas with a nasty cold.  My head hurts, my chest hurts and I can't breath very well.  This is not that uncommon an occurrence for me over the past few years.  Contracting Diabetes pretty much shot my immune system to hell.  Now I am not "always sick" like my wonderful wife likes to claim, but I do get sick a lot more often then I did when I was younger.  Much like I usually do when I am sick and miserable, I am pondering the world around me especially since the is the "Gimmee gimmee Season."

     Now before anyone starts to grumble about me kvetching about greedy people forgetting what the season is supposed to be about, don't panic.  I already did that blog on my Sometimes Its Okay To Be An Ass blog site.  If you want to hear the griping, go over there.

     Ponder this holiday season for a minute.  In the span of one month, you have three holidays.  One is very old, Hanukkah.  One is middling old, Christmas.  One is fairly new, Kwanzaa.  (Yes I know, the traditions of Kwanzaa can be dated back a very long time, but the actual Holiday was first created in 1966 which makes it younger than me by 3 years.)  All three of them have radical different origins, but really all three of them are basically about the same thing.  They all celebrate life, faith and renewal.  (Also presents, don't forget the presents!)

     People love to focus on all the things that make us different.  They cry that people will never really get along because we have no middle ground.  Pundits and Critics say that (Insert Religious/Racial Group here) will never be accepted because they aren't like everyone else.  Everyone seems to focus on differences and completely ignore the ways we are alike.

     This season, we have three excellent examples of just how alike we are staring us right in the face.  Three oftentimes radically different cultures all celebrating life, the universe and everything during the same time.  If we can all party at the same time once every year, isn't it just possible that we could manage it the other 11 months of the year?  

         

Happy Chrisnazaaakah Everyone

Riches beyond the dreams of Avarice

Quick back story to frame this properly in your minds.  Most of you know I am a Diabetic.  Thanks to Insulin, Meds, loads of exercise and the grace of God, my condition is basically under control.  Much like anything else, I have good days and bad days and HOLY CRAP days.  Friday was essentially one of the last kind of days.  It was probably one of the most stressful and scary days in my life (Minus the time I was dragged behind my Granddaddy's truck for 3/4s of a mile when I was six.  Long story and if you guys are really interested, I will tell it in a future post.)

I was scheduled to run out of insulin Friday, but wasn't worried because the payment on our card that we use for expenses was supposed to go through Friday morning which would have given me plenty of time to get the new Insulin Pens by dose time Friday night.  Keep in mind the payment has always gone through on Fridays since we started paying it.  This time the payment did not go through till Saturday morning.  This left me without a dose of 60 units Thursday.  By 7ish that night, my blood sugar was spiking at 400+ (Healthy average is between 80-120), I was suffering from horrendous leg cramps, was jittery as hell and was crankier than you could possibly imagine.

Now needless to say (Since I am sitting here typing this) I am still alive.  My blood sugar is back down to the levels it is supposed to be and I feel fine.  I did wake up with all the symptoms of a hangover and withdrawal this morning since my body has not contained that much sugar in three years, but I feel 100% now  A very scary moment in a long life of scary moments (Boy could I tell you stories!) is over and every thing is Hoopla!

Which brings me to the actual point of this blog.  I posted a little funny post on FB about what happened not even really thinking about it.  Tonight, when I logged into FB I found responses from SIX different friends on FB telling me that I should never run out of Insulin and that if I needed them to they would loan/front/out right give me the money I needed to get doses.  Now three of the offers came from long time friends (College/Professional Colleagues) who I have known for a HUGE chunk of my life.  Those surprised me (Shouldn't have, but they did).  The other three were literally FB friends that I had never met, never spoke to or interacted with in anyway besides FB.  (For the record, they play Farmville so who says games are bad?)

It is a very wealthy man who has such friends.  To say I was touched would be the understatement of both the past and present Millennium. I may never be rich in money or possessions, but today proves beyond a shadow a doubt that I am wealthy in every that counts.  I won't risk embarrassing these friends by putting their names here, but I will say Thank You.

If you don't vote, don't complain (2012 Edition)

As I have said in the past, the very first piece I was ever paid for was a tiny little article in the old GRIT paper entitled "If you don't vote, don't complain."  It was inspired after listening to my Daddy and my Uncle Thomas talk about the current local election.  Neither man liked either candidate, but Daddy said, "If you don't vote for somebody, then you don't got the right to complain about the mess."  I took that message to heart even though it'd be 3 more years before I could vote.  I wrote the piece, earned myself a whopping $35.00 and have done my best to vote in every election since then.

Now, while battling insomnia (with insomnia winning three falls out of five), I was listening to Internet radio and happened to tune in about half way through some half wit's rant on voting.  His attitude was basically "If you don't vote for my candidate, you are the spawn of Satan" and "Even if you don't like my guy, the other guy is much worse so you should vote for my guy because not voting is a vote for the other guy."

This is an argument I have heard time and again.  How not voting or voting "None of the Above" or "Independent/Libertarian" is a waste or a vote for "Insert Unliked Politician here."  I guess, in a purely technical sense, this is true.  If you believe the non-R/D candidate has absolutely no chance of winning, but vote for them anyway then you are taking a vote away from one or the other mainstream candidate.  If you are so disgusted that you vote "None of the above," you are definitely taking away a vote.  So if this is true, why do it?  Why bother to vote at all if both main candidates suck and the others have no chance of winning?

The reason is simple.  To be heard!  The way our election system is set up, individual votes don't have a huge impact.  It is only in large numbers that votes lead to Electoral College spots which lead to election wins.  Still, especially with today's modern data gathering methods, the individual's vote/voice can be heard loud and clear.  Example:

Ruler of the Universe Election 2012

Twitt Money (Reboobican Candidate):  Eleventy Billion votes (5K Electoral Votes)

Beer-rack Go-Bama!  (Damnocrat Candidate: 2 Gazzilion Votes (20K Electoral Votes)

Paul Runs (Liarbartarian Candidate: 1,245 Votes, 3 Electoral Votes)

(PS: Not hating on anyone or any party.  You try coming up with this stuff)

Now from a purely practical POV, the people voting for Mr. Runs "wasted" their votes because it is patently obvious that the Elderly Gentleman running on the "Dinosaurs are invading" ticket had no real chance of winning the election.  However, those 1,245 people stood up and let the whole country know that neither of the main stream choices were worth a crap and that they didn't deserve to be voted for.  They used their votes to say, "WTF, we are going to let them do it to us again?"

Don't be afraid to vote for whomever you want to.  Hell vote "None of the above" if that is an option in your state and you don't like any of the candidates.  It is okay if your candidate doesn't win.  We have fought too long and too hard for the right to vote to just let it sit on a shelf gathering dust.  Take this gift to the polls and let your voice be heard.

"If we continue to vote for the lesser of two evils, then all we will get is more evil."

End of Rant

Taking care of Mama Earth

First, some basic facts about my home.  We have two large composters in the back yard where organic materials go.  I have two worm composting buckets in my mud room where kitchen scraps, paper shreds, coffee grounds and such go.  I recycle plastic, paper and aluminum even going so far as to pick up cans and bottles when I see them laying beside the road.  Instead of piling up branches, logs etc to be carted off by the trash peeples, I make compost piles.  So little actual trash goes into my trash can that I can easily avoid putting off taking it to the curb for weeks at a time and even then it is very rarely full.  Hell, about the only thing I don't recycle is glass and that is only because there is no place nearby that takes it.

Both sides are always screaming about global warming and climate change.  I won't go into my thoughts on that here, but here is a thought for both sides of the coin.  Suppose Global Warming is an absolute fraud.  Suppose it is really some grand plot by the Illuminati to make billions of renewable energy resources.  Suppose Al Gore is really as Goofy as he looks and sounds.  So what?  What's wrong with making a little effort to treat Mama Earth better.

For decades we have treated our oceans and rivers like giant garbage pits where we can dump all of our refuse and poisons.  We pumped toxic chemicals, mega tons of plastic and heavy metals into the ecosystem blindly thinking that we'd never have to worry about it again.  Now, we have massive patches of trash floating in our oceans, choking wild life.  We have at least two huge dead spots caused by toxic run off from factories and farms where no fish and no plants can live.  We have sea life with toxic levels of heavy metals, mercury and lead.  In short, we are turning our planet into one giant trash heap.

Environmentalists are always yelling that our industries need to clean up their acts and they are right.  It is high time our factories and such stopped pumping poisons into our air and water, but the factories and such aren't the only ones who need to change.  The average person on the street produces four fifths of a ton of garbage a year (Yeah maybe that doesn't sound like a lot but then multiply that by the millions of people doing it.  Billions if you take that number global.)  Of that, roughly 67% is recyclable in some way.  Paper, plastic and aluminum can be recycled (Paper can also be composted like I do).  Non-meat based kitchen waste (Veggies, fruit etc) can be composted in either compost bins (Outside) or worm composters (Inside and highly efficient).  Heck even cat litter can be composted if done safely and properly.

Now I am not saying that if everyone starts recycling and composting, we will safe the world, but if everyone makes an effort we can make it a better place.  Mama Earth shelters us, feeds us and keeps us alive.  Maybe it is time we started giving back.

End of Rant

Buggy Whips Part Duex

http://news.yahoo.com/war-coal-label-obscures-battlefield-realities-142035132--finance.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfL7STmWZ1c

(Let me preface this article with this statement.  This is not my usual rant about cleaner energy and renewable energy resources.  I am not making a comment on how this or that politician is or is not ruining some industry or saving the environment.  This is simply a talk about the future.)

So I was reading my usual dozen or so news feeds this morning like I do every morning and I read this article (First link) about how a propaganda war was being fought in Coal Country.  Now I make no claims to the truthfulness of the article or whether or not our CIC is actually warring on the carbonized remains of plants and dinosaurs.  I make no claims on whether or not Big Coal is the Great Satan that Environmentalists make it out to be.  (Though I do point out that any industry that involves blowing the tops off mountains and burying valleys and streams under the debris might be a tad harmful but that is just my humble opinion.)

The thoughts that the first article inspired reminded me of the second link which I have mentioned before.  Coal is a dying industry.  No one wants to admit it, but even if the EPA repeals all of its rules and regulations governing mining and burning Coal is on its last legs. 

Various estimates place the total amount of usable coal at between 150 and 350 years.  Now that is total coal available in the US and includes the easy to get to stuff (Which is getting scarcer and scarcer) and the really hard to get to stuff (Which is becoming the norm).  It also covers the "Good" coal which is fairly clean to burn and produces energy efficiently and the "Poor" coal which can still be burned, but doesn't work so good.  It doesn't include the (currently) unusable types of coal which burn to poorly to be any good.

Most people would look at 150 to 350 years and think "Ah, that's plenty of time.  Why worry?" and as far as energy usage, they'd be essentially right.  A century and a half is plenty of time to develop newer and better ways to generate energy, but this rant isn't about energy generation.  It's about people.  Unless we start working on solutions now, Big Coal is going to turn into the next Gold Bust.

The US is filled with towns ranging from small little burgs to fairly large cities that sprang up when (Insert name of valuable commodity here) was discovered.  At their peak they had businesses and homes where people prospered and lived their lives.  Then when the substance was gone, business moved on and the towns died.  Sure, they struggled along for a while but eventually people accepted the inevitable and changed.

That is what is happening today with Big Coal towns and cities.  As the easy to get coal veins are exhausted, the mines slow operations or close entirely.  Despite attempts to vilify them, most coal companies attempt to move most of their employees to other mines, but this does little to help the towns that depended on the mine's operations for prosperity.   This is happening more and more as time passes and it has little to do with the Government or the EPA unless Obama is secretly stealing all of the coal veins while no one is looking.

What no one likes to admit is that Coal (Along with Oil, Natural Gas etc) are FINITE resources.  They won't last forever no matter how much we want them to.  One day, maybe centuries in the future or maybe not, they will run out.  (Well at least for the time being.  Eventually in a few million or so years, Mama Earth will make more but I doubt it will do us much good.)  All of the mines, power plants etc that revolve around these resources will slowly dry up.  (This is where Devito's speech on Buggy Whips really comes into play.  I bet the last remaining Power Plants/Mines/Wells will be the absolute bestest ever, but they will still be the LAST.)

If we just sit back and watch this happen, America will be filled with "Gold Bust" towns.  Sure, we will eventually build new towns with new industries, but it will take time and money.  However, if we start working on the problem now with building new infrastructures and working on new industries then we might just be able to stop the ghost towns from forming or at least ease the problems somewhat.  Instead of waiting and reacting, let's act first.

Like I said in the beginning, this rant isn't about clean energy vs coal/gas etc.  It is not about saving the environment vs jobs.  I fully grasp (at least for the foreseeable future) that coal/gas/oil will have to play a major part in our lives.  It is unavoidable no matter what Environmentalists want.  I just think, just this one time, wouldn't it be wonderful if we started planning for the future before we are forced to?  We tend to act after the disaster never before even when we can see it coming.  Well, we can see this one coming and it is unavoidable.  Do we react to it while we have time or wait until it runs us over?

 END OF RANT

A Hard Road with distant destination

It is funny the things that run through your mind at 4am when you can't sleep because your creative juices are flowing so strongly that no matter how tired you are, sleep is impossible.  You ponder things that usually never make it out of the back of your mind.  You wonder things that you never even realized you thought about.

So I sit here working on my latest book, listening to classic country Gospel on Pandora Radio and I come to a "stunning" conclusion.  I am not a man of great faith.  I know and have known people who believed in God (In all His Myriad Name't pres) with a strength and passion that would truly stun most people.   My Mother and my Brother in all but blood Benjamin are only two of these amazing people.  They walk through life with an absolute and unwavering faith in God.

Of course, on the flip side of that I have known people who pay lip service to their particular "faith" and put very little meaning into it.  You know the type.  Attend services on Sunday (Or Saturday), sing a few hymns and say a prayer or two then rush home to watch the game.   About the only time they pray with any real feeling is when they buy a lottery ticket or get pulled over for speeding.

Now, I probably fall somewhere in the middle of all that.  I only recently rediscovered my faith and it is still a little shaky at time.  You should have heard the nasty things I had to say about God when I realized that I had contracted diabetes.  Trust me, it wasn't pretty.

I believe that there is a God who is gentle and kind who watches over us every day of our lives...most days.  I truly believe that there is a wonderful place of peace and love waiting for those who live the way God wants us to life...usually.   Other days, when times are hard or I am afraid, I doubt.  I wonder if the teachings of a simple Carpenter over two thousand years ago is truly the way life should be lived.  I see people in positions of power using Faith as a weapon of hate and anger and it shakes me to my core.

It would be very easy to believe that there are no rules to life and no "right" way to live.  It would be so easy to let doubts cloud my path and my heart and simply live like so many others do.  My Daddy told me a long time ago, "Bobby, if doing the right thing was easy, everybody would do it" and I guess that covers faith.  It is not easy and will never be easy, but it is the path that I walk.  If I stumble on that path a few times, then I just have to have Faith that He will help me up again.

My Mother helped put me on the right path although God knows I have lost it more than a few times over the decades.  People like Benjamin help me every day to stay on it with their devotion and steadfast support.  So I guess, in the end it is okay that my Faith is not great.  It is getting me to where I need to go.

Doomed to Hell...Purgatory...Ah Heck!

My wife is a sadistic woman with a twisted sense of humor that delights in torturing poor unfortunate me cruelly.  This is a realization that I have just recently made after 12 years of marriage and I wish to share my woe with all of you.  (Yeah you three, you know who you are!  Stop doing that and listen to me whinge!)

As anyone who knows me (and well who has even read just the name of my Blog) understands, I LOVE COFFEE!  I have since I was a kid and Daddy would let me drink the "Been through the coffee pot five times" coffee that he made.  (Needless to say I didn't sleep a lot when I was young and I made ADHD kids look like Slowpoke Rodriquez.)  Never stopped loving it and never will till they pry the coffee cup from my cold dead hands.

I am proud to say that I have not one, not two, but 4 different types of coffee makers plus a Iced Tea Maker.  I caffeinate the way other people breath.  I am a true blue Caffiend and damned proud of it.  I drink a pot of coffee when I get up in the morning and keep a pot brewed most of the day.  I drink Decaff at night and make home made Lattes, Frappes and any other kind of -es that you can imagine all the time.

How does this all fit into the vicious fiend that is my wife, you ask?  Well, I am glad you asked!  (Mainly because if you hadn't there'd be little point to continuing this blog would there?)  Simple, my wife has purchased me the Brand New Keurig Vue.  You know the one?  The Single Brew coffee maker with all the bells and whistles like programmable cup size, programmable beverage strength and a bazillion different types of coffee to choose from.  Hell, it even makes your bed for you.  (Okay maybe not but that is about all it doesn't do for you.)

How does this gift make my wife evil, cruel and mean?  (See above () for followup)  Simple, the boxed coffee maker sits in plain view (Vue) on the floor in our living room where I can see it every single time I go to the kitchen.  It has its identity proudly stamped on the side.  The Caffeine Machine of my dreams is right there in front of me...AND SHE WON'T LET ME USE IT!

Now you see her evilness for what it is right?  The sheer sadism of forcing me to look at the unattainable 7 days a week is mind boggling.  And even more cruel, she says I have to wait till CHRISTMAS!  That's like forever and a day.

Now I suppose you can say that I should be grateful for her generosity for buying it for me in the first place and you would be correct. I have an amazing Christmas morning to look forward to.  I just have to survive the cruel and unusual torture until then.  I ask you, what is a Caffiend to do? 

Only here for a little while...

 

           Today, a very small and oh so fragile creature touched my life very briefly before moving on to whatever just reward awaits the innocent and pure.  Financially I am poorer for this encounter, but I think I am rewarded on a spiritual level worth a thousand times more than the pittance of money I paid.  I can't truthfully claim that what I did made a difference on some grand cosmic scale, but I like to think it made a difference to one small life.

          I'd been hearing very kitten like squeaking noises coming from behind our house for days (My wife and I live on a sizable double lot and there are a fairly large number of feral and semi-feral cats that roam the wilds of our backyard and one of them recently had kittens.  I believed the noises were coming from these kittens who are currently hold up on my back porch.  However, today I discovered that the noises I had been hearing were being made by a tiny kitten that had been abandoned by its Mom in one of the side vents on the house.

          The moment I pulled it out of the vent, I could tell it was in pretty bad shape.  It was horribly dehydrated and obviously starving to death.  It had sores all over its hind quarters from where it had been lying in its own waste.  I seriously doubted there was anything I could do to save it and realized the sensible thing would be to just leave it where I found it and let nature take its course.  Of course as anyone who knows me will tell you, I have never been a very sensible person.

          I wrapped the tiny thing up in an old towel and brought it inside.  I did my best to clean it up some, but the dirt and other stuff was so badly caked in some places that only a full bath would get it off and I was pretty sure the little kitten wasn't up to that so I just got it as clean as I could.  I put it in a small cardboard box and tried to make it comfortable.

          When my wife got home I discussed it with her.  We both knew if we tried to save the kitten and succeeded, we'd probably be stuck with it since we have never had much luck "losing" cats we helped.  With six cats already living in our home, adding another was a big move.  Where I hesitated, my wife did not.  She said she could not sit by and let any small animal die.  So we drove to Petsmart and spent about $20.00 that we really didn't have to spare on baby formula and a feeding system.  We joked about how there went my Scratch Card Lottery or two really good Lattes for the month, but we did it anyway.

           For the next hour, I tried to get the kitten to eat and even tried dripping milk into its mouth, but the little thing was simply too weak.  Eventually, no matter how hard I tried to make it live, he slowly stopped breathing.  I wrapped him carefully in the small towel he had been laying on and buried him in the back yard.

          Now many would argue that it was all wasted money and effort especially since I admit that I suspected the poor thing was too far gone when I found it.  They would say that mine and my wife's actions accomplished nothing.  After all the kitten suffered for days alone and frightened and in the end died despite my efforts and prayers.

          Well to those people I can honestly say, "Thppppppppppptttttttttt." (Raspberry for those who don't speak cartoon)  For a very brief time, the kitten was warm, clean(ish) and was surrounded by two people that cared for it.  He gave us something incredibly precious in return.  He touched our lives and gave us love.   In the end, I am a better person who's life is richer for having known him.

          As all of you who read my blogs know, I am a big Quote person.  Let me leave you with this simple one that I think fits.  "Our lives shouldn't be measured by the length of time that we spend on this Earth.  Instead it should be judged on the quality of the life we lead while we are here."  

"Any fool that thinks that pets don't have souls and are destined for Heaven probably won't make it there themselves to find out."

Balance? What's that, Daddy?

         

          A wise man once told me that there are two sides to every argument and that the truth generally lies somewhere in between.  Humans are creatures of extremes.  We very rarely meet the truth in any subject in its own territory.  No matter what the subject is, there is Their side vs Our side and never the twain shall met (or is that the mane shall tweet?  I always get those two mixed up.) and both sides will call the other side liars, bigots, heretics etc as loud as they can.  If Side A has facts, Side B ignores them and vice versa.  Doesn't matter if the facts are correct, cause "they" are preaching them.

          Instead of delving into politics or religion, lets take a purely hypothetical situation.  The Proposition?  Gamma Rays from Planet X cause mutations in mushrooms that cause them to become ravenous monsters that eat red headed politicians.  Now Side A receives huge funding from Planet X in return for them lobbying to allow X to beam its Gamma Rays into Earth's Atmosphere.  They preach that the rays are completely harmless and the giant mushrooms rampaging in the streets are some form of mass hallucination.  Side A receives huge amounts of funds from Red Head Politicians who quite rightly fear for their lives from the rampaging mutant meat eating mushrooms.  Side B preaches that X is evil and plans on conquering the Earth once the Mutant Mushrooms devour our last line of defense, Red Headed Politicians.
          Now a small group of independent and very dedicated scientists discover that the aforementioned Mutant Mushrooms aren't actually devouring Earthly Red Headed Politicians but snarfing up evil shapeshifting invaders from Planet Y who have been sent down here to infiltrate and destroy our way of life.  The Mutant Mushrooms aren't eating people, they are eating evil alien invaders.

          So here you have a situation where both sides have some of the facts.  X Gamma Rays are indeed mutating Earthly fungus and the Fungus is indeed eating red headed politicians.  Both sides are missing the information that the Middle Group has so one would think that when the MG reveals their facts, both sides will rejoice.  Side A could rejoice in the fact tha X Gamma Rays aren't doing any damage to the Earth and Side B could rejoice that actual Red headed Politicians aren't being eaten.  However, as history proves time and again, what will happen is that both A and B will renounce MG's findings because those findings contradict their own.  MG will be belittled and reduced to a laughing stock that is completely ignored.  Man would rather go down the proverbial crapper than ever admit that he or she could be wrong.
          Things are never going to be fixed on this mudball until all sides can stop, look around and realize that they don't have all the answers.  No great project or problem in the entire history of...well history has ever been solved without everyone working together.  It is possible for us to fix pretty much every problem faced by the world today if we all just step down from our high horses/soap boxes and listen to one another.  I pray to God in all of his kindness and wisdom that we can do that, because if we can't we are royally screwed.

         

          Since I think that I completely lost the train of this blog somewhere along the line, I will apologize by showing you a picture of a puppy.  God Bless Everyone.

Where did it all come from?

 

Crash, bang boom!

           So I was watching a science video by a "Prominent Harvard Astrophysicist earlier (Yes I watch science videos, get over it) and he was speaking at great length with excellent visual aids about how Scientists are 99.99999% certain that all life on Earth arrived here in the form of tiny little microbes.  These microbes arrived on one of the uncountable number of meteorites that bombarded the newly forming planet way back when.  These hitchhikers would later evolve into the myriad number of plants, animals and insects that we know today.  He stated quite categorically that once the final tidbits of proof had been found, the "fantasy" of a Deity would finally be eliminated from our minds.

           Now this got me thinking which as anyone who knows me can tell you is a dangerous thing.  I had to ponder a very important question.  What if he is right?  What if instead of God coming down, making a nice comfy place to hang out, making animules and plants to enjoy and some homies to hang out with, Magic Microbes from Outer Space (Hey there might be a movie in that) made it all happen?  What if all the stories from all the religions and their varied texts are nothing but nifty tales we made up to understand the world around us.  In short, what if all the religions in all the world were basically wrong?

 

          Pretty heave stuff, right?  Let me tell you it made my headparts hurt something fierce.  I have my own religious beliefs and anyone who knows me knows what they are, but I admit that I have had doubts time and time again.  So here I was pondering this very learned man's idea that everything I believe in was wrong and I admit I am man enough to face this very depressing idea.  So I did.  For all of ten minutes I pondered what he had said and I found myself thinking that it at least a plausible idea.  However I did find one teensy weensy flaw in his excellent reasoning and its the same flaw that has come to me every single time I have heard this tripe before.  And like it always does that single thought made me feel better and I went back to working in my new garden.

          You ready for my thought?  Are you sure?  Think hard cause there is no turning back.  Okay here it is.  I believe, at least in theory, that Science may one day disprove Religions.  After all, Religions are just the transcribed words of God that we have formed into a codified belief system.  I mean, think about.  God himself did not write the books of the Bible (Torah, Talmud, Necronomicon etc)  He just hung out with his creations, talked to them and told them the way that he thought things should be.  The Holy Books of Man (with the possible exceptions of the Ten Commandments being blasted from stone and the Silver Disks arriving engraved and ready for shipping) were all written, rewritten and translated God only knows how many times over the Millennia.  Somewhere, someone had to have gotten it wrong.  Hell, by the very nature of the beast (Pun intended) only one of the religions on Earth can actually be right.  The rest have to be either misinterpretations or outright fabrications.  That is just the way it works.  So it is possible that everyone got it wrong and life began just the way this man said it did.

          Now that said, I come to the question that makes me smile when these know it all Atheists claim that there is no God.  If life here or anywhere else in the universe came from microbes raining down from space.  If the entire history of our world was never gifted with divine guidance.  If indeed all of the religious beliefs  in all the world are wrong.  I just have one question for you sitting in your air conditioned office with your snarky attitude.  (Ready for the question?  Its a doozy!)

Where did the Microbes come from?

To quote the great Stan Lee, "Nuff said."

 

Blessings, all shapes and sizes

     So as part of my morning routine, I logged onto FB and one of my many friends had posted a video about a mother and the child people thought she should have aborted.  The boy aptly named Christian was born with severely cleft palette and literally born without eyes.  She talked about how most people told her she should have aborted him because, I am sure, that they felt the child would never lead a normal life or accomplish anything worthwhile.  I am proud to say that she had the courage to ignore the hate and love her son and now her son serves to inspire others.
     Of course, as most things do, got me to thinking.  (I know that it is a bad habit that gets me in trouble, but I am trying to cut back I promise.)  This isn't the first story I have heard where people share the attitude that just because someone isn't "perfect" that they can't contribute to the world and make people happy.  The whole attitude that disabled children and adults are nothing more than a drain on resources is so Medieval that it's disgusting, but it's a belief system that simply won't die.  These kids can do just as much in their own way for the world as all the Jobs, Gates and Buffets ever could.
     I use and I hope my brother Benjamin will forgive me, an amazing young man named Jessee.  Jessee is "disabled" and I put that in quotation marks to show just how inaccurate it is.  Because of circumstances beyond anyone's control, Jessee will probably not ever be a doctor or some great scientist.  (I say probably because every time I spend time around him, he always amazes me so whose to say what the future might hold.)   So many people will look at Jessee and list all the things that he will never do.  Well, let me list the things that he can do just to be spiteful.
     1.  Jessee can hunt and fish.  He often spends time with his family doing just these amazing things.  His skills can actually put food on the table.  How many "normal" people can say that.
     2.  Jessee can run and play just like everyone else.  The sheer joy I see every time I see him do this is breathtaking.  We could all learn a lesson or two from him on having fun.
     3.  Beyond anything else he can do, Jessee can make you smile.  His boundless enthusiasm and love lights up any room he is in.  The joy he brings his father, mother and sister is like a warm fire on a cold day.
     A friend of mine in college got pregnant because of rape.  She was encouraged by everyone to abort the baby. She refused because she believed that it would wrong to punish an unborn child for the sins of the father.  When Sera (Short for Seraphim yes my friends were all Geeks) was born she had a laundry list of health issues not the least of which was a congenital heart defect and Down's Syndrome.  The Dr.s told my friend that she probably wouldn't live more than a year and would never make it to adulthood.
     Now in a perfect happy world this is where I tell you that Sera grew up, lived to a ripe old age and became President or some proud thing, but this isn't a perfect world.  Sera lived exactly 11 months and five days before she moved on from our lives.  She never ran a marathon.  She never discovered the cure for Crow's Feet.  In most peoples' eyes, she probably never accomplished anything at all. but they'd be wrong.
     In her short life span, Sera smiled and made people feel good.  Sera brought joy and peace to everyone she met.  She loved unconditionally and gave everyone around her hope.  She enriched her mother's life and her "Uncle's" too.  She made the world a better place.  How many "normal" healthy adults can make that claim.   
     I have known lots of kids and adults like Jessee and Sera.  I have also seen how so many people look down on them.  I accepted a long time ago that I can't change ignorance and hatred.  It is a much a part of human nature as breathing.  So instead of hating these people, I just feel sorry for them.  Because of their ignorance, they will never know people like Sera, Jessee or Christian.  Maybe one day the human race will move beyond cookie cutter attitudes about people.  When that day comes, if it comes they will find the rest of us already there waiting for them.
    

The Muppet Menace!

      (Okay don't ask what inspired this bit of insanity because I have no idea. It just seemed to leap into my crazed brain sometime last night and won't go away until I write it down.  As an Author's note please let me say that (For once) this is a blog that is not a dig against Republicans and Fox News.  Yes I still have issues with both, but this is simply meant to be funny.  Relax and enjoy the insanity and don't read too much into it.)

(Impressive music plays in background as the Faux News Logo dances on the screen)

     "Good afternoon and welcome to Faux News, I'm Ked Topple.  Today we have with us the Reboobican Candidate, Mickey Buckmann who is with us to discuss the issues that she believes are the most important ones facing America today.  Thank you for meeting with us today, Ms. Buckmann."

(Camera pans to show wild eyed woman dressed in a Nun's habit and a Witch's cap)

     "Thank you, Ked and let me say it is an honor to be back on Faux News, the first television network to broadcast the truth and nothing but the truth so.  I appreciate this chance to talk to the American people on the greatest threat to our nation since the German's bombed Pearl Harbor during the Revolutionary War!  My 'opponents' talk about unimportant subjects such as taxes and jobs, completely ignoring, probably deliberately, the larger threat.  But as your next president, I promise you I will deal with this danger."

(Topple nods sagely while adjusting the live hedgehog he has on top of his head."

     "And what might this huge menace to the American Way of Life be, Senator?  The rising threat of a nuclear armed Iran?  The instability in North Korea?"

(Buckmann throws back her head and cackles and tosses a hex sign at Topple)

     "No, Ked.  While I admit those are kind of important issues, the one I am speaking of is here at home.  I am talking about...THE MUPPET MENACE!

     "While others focus on events abroad, these evil and oftentimes not even human creatures tempt and corrupt our youth away from the natural way of God and Man.  They tell our impressionable children that it is okay to do radical things.  Here are some examples."

      "Muppets ate strong supporters of Same Sex Unions/Marriages.  A prime example of this are the infamous same sex couple, Bert and Ernie.  This Bromance has been going on for decades right under the noses of caring parents, teaching children that it is okay for two men to cohabitate while raising a rubber ducky."
 
      "Next we have the so-called Cookie Monster (Real name unknown).  In a time where childhood obesity is at an all time high and the First Family are holding barbeques this creature continuously sends our children the message that it is okay to binge on sugar laden junk foods."
 
      "Then there is Count Von Count, an obvious non-American who is probably also a Communist from the USSR.  A prime example of OCD, he lives in an opulent castle while obsessively counting anything that he can find.  With the multitudes of children struggling with disorders that range from Anorexia to Lycanthropy, do we really need a charismatic vampire adding to their troubles?"
 

      "and finally we have the most damning evidence of these Muppets attacks on our children and way of life.  Kermit and Piggy T. Frog.  Not content with simply forcing same sex unions down our throats, the Muppets want to make our youth believe that it is alright for entirely different species to marry and raise young.  God only knows how Kermit's 'nephew' will turn out after being raised in an inter-species family."
     (Camera focuses on Buchmann who is foaming at the mouth and jumping up and down on the desk.)
     "Stand with me America and make me your next president so we can stop the Muppet Menace before we are surrounded by Obsessed, Binge Eating Frog Monsters!  I am your only hope!  What a world what a world!"
     (Buckmann leaps on her broom and flies off cackling at the top of her lungs.  Topple readjusts his hedgehog and looks back at the camera.)
     "That's all for Faux News at 12 today.  Join us tomorrow when candidate Paul Runs talks about how a dinosaur invasion is a very real threat.  Have a great day, I'm Ked Topple."