This Band of Brothers

Donny Prater needs our help. His new book is out on Amazon and we would do our best to help promote it. But it will not be an easy fight. But it will be a glorious fight. In fact, I just jotted down a few words that came to me just now to help explain what kind of fight its going to be...

Rather proclaim it, Blogoids, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the Day of Donny's Book.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Donny's Book.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is the Day of Donny's Book.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Donny's Book day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
A Mile From The Beach, Icon and Bittersweet Life,
Carioca and Changes Daily, Hinterland and Someone Keeps Moving My Chair-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Donny's Book day shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
Make him a member of the gentry, even if he is a commoner.
And gentlemen in the blogosphere now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Donny's Book day.

Yeah, I think that about says it all.

A Warrior Culture: Surrounding Yourself With Dangerous Men of God
Published by Xulon Press (a division of Salem Communications), Longwood, FL.
Donny Prater © 2006.
ISBN: 1-60034-527-1

Now Available at Amazon.com

Failing In Our Duty

It is the status quo and we ignore it. As a nation, we consume more than any other nation in the world. As a nation, we destroy innocent people in the name of peace. As a nation, we abuse the poor and the innocent for the sake of our own safety. As a nation, we do not hold our leaders accountable. As a nation, we call for the destruction of nations that have done us no harm - but that pose a threat to our security. As a nation, we allow our big businesses to extort money from us and from others in the name of financial gain. As a nation, we allow questionable moral practices to exist in science and industry to better our lives. We are not a weak nation. We are not a bad nation. But we are a sinful nation.

God told the Prophet Ezekiel:

7 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for [a] his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.

10 "Son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'This is what you are saying: "Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of [b] them. How then can we live?" ' 11 Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?'

We need to do better as a nation. We need to lead the world - morally and with regard to law. We need to feed the poor. We need to house the homeless. We need to free the oppressed. We need to be a shining beacon to the rest of the world - not a searchlight from which others hide. We need to be free in spirit as well as in name. We need to turn back to the God that has granted this nation so many of its gifts. We need to thank Him. And we need to live upright in honor to Him.

You have all been warned. Our nation stands at a precipice. We can continue to walk blindly forward, or we can stop and step back from the brink and thank God that He has opened our eyes in time.

The Problem with Judas

The alleged Gospel of Judas that appeared recently in the news was the sort of story that makes Christians think about their religion and the rest of the world doubt whether Christianity is anything more than a cult. For those of you who don't know, the Gospel of Judas alleges, amongst other things, that Jesus asked Judas to betray Him. This sort of touchy-feely Christian message is just the sort of story that some Christians want to hear and, apparently, was one of the central tenets of the Gnostic belief. That it was condemned as heresy by the early church only adds fuel to the fire of those who are looking for the tarnish in every silver lining - as if the only message worth listening to is the one that has been hidden from their eyes for almost 2000 years.

I admit that I questioned the validity of the Gospel from the very beginning, but found the concept intriguing. Our God is a God of Love, after all, and might consider the notion of asking His best friend to betray Him as an act of faith. "It must be done, for I must die, and I'd much rather you did it, Judas. Please, betray me to the Romans." What a guy Jesus is! He's so compassionate that He even allows His favorite disciple the opportunity to betray Him and thus face the acrimony of time as a place of honor in Christ's kingdom.

Its not too hard to see that the early church might think this was a lot of horse hockey. The fact that such a notion flies into the face of the four acknowledged gospels is almost beside the point. Just the notion, just the concept, when really considered is almost comical - its heretical to the point of sillyness. Its Satan's version of the Mother Of All Lies - the Hail Mary of the Lie World. If they buy this one, they'll believe anything!

Here's the problem I have with it. Jesus is fully human. He's your buddy. He's your pal. He's a guy you'd pass on the street. Though He's very together and very wise, it doesn't change the fact that He has human emotions and feelings. Further, we know from the Bible, that even though He knew He was going to His death, He didn't want to go. So, if this is you, and you know that the Romans and the Priests are after you, and have been after you for years, and that the conclusion of their chase has never been in doubt, would you even need to have someone betray you? Further, why would you pick your best friend for the honor?

Andy, I want you to betray me. Honest, I won't get upset.

Does this sound rational to you? Does it sound human? That, my dear friends, is the crux of this matter - does it sound human to you?

We know that Jesus had to die for our sins. God made it that way. And we know that Jesus is God. But when Jesus was on earth, He was fully human. He thought, felt, and acted fully human. He prayed to God. He believed in God. He was righteous towards God. He behaved the way a human might if He walked in the same path as God. But He was not God (even though He was). Everything He did, He did as a human being. And a human being would never ask His best friend to betray Him - especially when there was no need to do so.

God might. God might ask Judas to betray Jesus. But Jesus never would. God had the whole thing arranged since the beginning. God knew that Jesus would be required. God knew that Jesus would go to Earth and save all humanity. God knew that Jesus would be betrayed and die on the cross. God knew that Judas would betray Him. God didn't have to ask Judas to do it because He already knew it would happen. And He already knew the outcome. To have Jesus ask Judas to betray him means that God needed an unwilling participant to send Jesus to His death and that makes God complicit in His own death. Think about it. Isn't that really a form of suicide?

This gospel, and indeed the entire Gnostic view of Christianity, goes at the heart of the Trinity. If God wasn't fully human on Earth, then His teachings are invalidated because how could any human ever live up to them since even God couldn't do it without being God? Therefore, I think its safe to say that we don't need to give any more thought to the Gospel of Judas. Clearly, there was very good reason to label this work as heretical and to have it destroyed.

Now, if only we could disabuse the world of the notion that war amongst ourselves is necessary - but that's a lie not so easily discredited.

Speed

This is probably an inappropriate post considering its taken me over an hour just to get to the point where I can type in these words into my blog. But I shall endeavor to go ahead anyway. In fact, I might even keep it short. (Quell HORROR!)

I was driving home last night and I knew I was not in the zone. It wasn't that God wasn't talking to me, but more like I was out of touch with Him. I was in a hurry and I couldn't understand why these stupid people in front of me didn't feel the need to go anywhere near the speed limit. The feelings of frustration and anger were jarring and no matter how much I tried to relax and center myself, I kept my foot pretty firmly planted on the accelerator.

A few weeks back, when I was in the zone, it was the thing I noticed the most - relaxing, quiet trips to and from work. I was all smiles. All happy. And I don't recall being late or driving slow. I gave the other drivers plenty of space and my foot only accelerated as necessary. While its possible that for a brief time there was a professional core of drivers on the roads between my work and my home, I'm more inclined to believe that the change from one week to the next was my doing.

It prompted a single question in my mind, "Why am I in such a damn hurry?"

I realized that the anxiety I felt in all things was the same anxiety I felt behind the wheel of my car only magnified behind the wheel. Here, in my truck, I COULD speed, I COULD rush to my destination, I COULD somewhat control how fast I moved. But in the rest of my life, my speed was controlled by the whims of fate and by the desires of other people. It made me wonder what was behind this anxiety - why I felt compelled to get to the destination as fast as possible.

Speed is a description of a process that is relational. When we have speed, we are saying that we are moving in a direction towards an object and away from another object. Our speed is measured as a ratio of distance traveled versus time spent to travel that distance (Miles Per Hour, for instance). The relationship then occurs that we have to pass things for speed to happen. If we are standing still, or if everything is moving at the same speed as us, there is no speed. When we stand still on Earth, we are immobile. But the Earth is moving. It is spinning and it is hurtling through space. So even when we stand still, we are still moving. But we don't consider it moving because we don't have a direct relation with Earth or with Space. If we were walking across Earth - then we'd be moving. If we were falling through space, then we'd be moving - because we'd have a direct relation with Earth and Space. By the same token, when we are not walking across Earth - we are not moving. And if we were to figure out a way to stand still in space - we would not be moving there either. We can stop moving in any of our relations, by simply being still in comparison. But when we stop moving on Earth, we are still in relation to Earth, but Earth is moving, therefore we are moving as well - but at the same speed as Earth. Therefore, we are going forward in step with Earth when we are still. We are not fighting Earth or trying to surpass it. We are simply connected and moving together.

Here's the thing - if we move faster than the Earth, we have speed on our planet. We can move as fast as we want, even faster than is humanly possible. But ultimately, no matter how fast we move, unless we break that connection with Earth, we are just going in a circle. Speed gets us nowhere. But fast.

Love is patient. God is love. God is patient. Patient is not fast. Patient is not slow. Patient is waiting. God is waiting. God is standing still. We are buzzing around Him trying to connect, but we can not seem to stay with Him. If we want to be simply connected and moving together with God, we need to stop moving. We need to be patient.

When we are with God, the world will buzz around us at its usual frenetic pace. We will not feel anxious at its speed. We will not be in a rush to go places and do things. We will simply be - in the moment, in God's love, in space and time. We will be the world that people try to outrun, but cannot.

Just something to ponder slowly this weekend... while waiting for your Blog Posts to speed up. ;)

Its A Wonder They Can See The Night Sky

NASA, collectively, and with the help of the government over the past 35 years or so, has managed to make some very seriously impossible maneuvers in order to put their heads in a place where the sun doesn't shine. 35 years ago, they owned the world and the fascination of us all. Now... they just don't get it, do they?

The scientists have taken over. Its no longer bucks or Buck Rodgers. Theoretically, NASA could probably get whatever kind of budget they wanted. But they don't seem to care any more. They want more money for more robotic probes or unmanned missions to asteroids. Science is good. No doubt. But where is the wonder? Where is the awe? Where is the humanity in all this space? They don't get it!

When people first looked into space they didn't think to themselves, I wonder what the mathematical equation would be to determine the sub-orbital velocity of an object circumnavigating Jupiter. No, they thought... Pretty! Awesome! That must be where the Gods live! We've been looking into the night sky with wonder and awe ever since. All of us, that is, except NASA and a bunch of scientists around the world. They don't get it.

Every single amazing picture in NASA's arsenal has come about because someone who got it begged and pleaded for a camera to be included on the mission. What does a camera have to do with science? We could use up that weight to carry back more rocks, or to add another photon torpedo detector or whatever. A camera is bad science! They don't get it.

Now comes word that Pluto is no longer a planet. Why? Because it doesn't meet science's narrow definition of a planet. Nevermind the fact that almost everyone on Earth grew up with the idea that Pluto was a planet. Nevermind the fact that we all learned about this planet as school children. Nevermind the fact that nothing has changed about Pluto except the definition from scientists. Our discovery of Pluto was okay, but we absolutely NEED to redefine it as not a planet. Futhermore, Orion's Belt is not really a belt. From now on, we're going to call it a cluster of stars. They don't get it!

The Sea of Tranquility is not really a sea, nor an extinct sea as someone once thought. We know that. We don't need to reclassify it. There are no Martian canals. We know that. But we're not sure if they weren't carved by flowing water anymore. We don't need to reclassify them either. And guess what NASA? More people became interested in Mars when you guys discovered an obvious photographic illusion of a man's face than when you landed the two Viking probes. Why? Because we WONDERED about it. It made us dream of a new world. It made us hope that there might be other life out there, other worlds, other frontiers we could explore someday!

We're going back to the Moon in a few years. NASA is building a new Lunar Explorer. We'll have people bouncing along its surface again. But if we don't get someone in charge of the missions who understands the big picture, and not just the science behind it, then we're never going to do anything more than collect rocks and write college disertations. If our species is going to survive, the people who are exploring the frontier need to have a sense of adventure. It can't just be a job. It can't just be science. It must be something more.

THEY NEED TO GET IT!

Perils of Freedom Part Five - Being A Slave

This is the last post in this topic, a series of thoughts that will hopefully lead me to a deeper understanding of my second novel. In part one, I talked about slavery and about the various responsibilities of slave owners. In part two, I talked about property and asked the question who really owned property. In part three, I talked about obligations and our responsibility to one another. And in part four, I talked about free will - and noted how free will didn't always mean we could do whatever we wanted. In this part part, I want to talk about what it means to be a slave and I want to explain, or attempt to explain, why I think this topic is important to explore for my second novel. So bear with me. I know where I'm headed, I'm just not sure where I'll end up.

The first thing I asked was whether you thought you could ever own a slave. I gave a series of tough questions with practical real world applications (where would you keep a slave, what would your slave do, etc...) but I never really dwelled upon the concept of being a slave. What would it be like to give up your freedom, either willingly or not.

To be sure, the idea of being forced to make small rocks out of big rocks doesn't really appeal to me. Nor does the idea of hard labor out under the sun with back breaking work picking crops or building roads. Handing control of my life over to another is dangerous at best. Someone's idea of how much and what kind of food I can eat scares the heck out of me. I'm not sure I could survive picking crops on a diet of wheatgerm and insect meat.

On the other hand, I wonder how much comfort there would be in the sameness and the lack of responsibility of being a slave. Every morning, up before dawn, picking crops, or digging ditches or whatever, a couple of meals, and then dropping down to sleep at night. No bills to pay. No mouths to feed. No shelter to find. No meetings and obligations. I could just exist - quietly - and not worry about anyone else's survival but my own. No muss, no fuss, no worries. If you give up the struggle for freedom, perhaps you can give in to the idea of being taken care of with ease.

As an American, born with a deep grown respect for freedom, it bothers me what some people have done with their birthright. Choosing to do evil, instead of good. Choosing to lord their possessions over others, instead of sharing them. Choosing to ignore their opportunites, instead of working for advancement. And it bothers me that some people seem ready to exploit anyone who falls by the wayside, instead of helping them out. We can be an arrogant group - offering help, but only at a cost. Or we can be an inspirational leader - showing the rest of the world how it ought to be done. We use our national free will about as effectively as the average human being - sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. But the one thing it seems we will never do is willingly give up our freedom. We paid too high a price for it. And we continue to pay that price on a daily basis.

I imagine most people feel that way. I imagine that we all like to call the shots. I realize that we all want to feel that we are in control of our own destiny and that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Freedom is ours. Freedom is mine. Keep your hands off my freedom. Don't Tread On Me!

Except it isn't real, and it never was. When we were children, we were tied to our parents control - they told us what to do and we did it (with varying degrees of success). And when we moved beyond our parents control, we came under the jurisdiction of the state - free to do whatever we wanted... within pre-determined boundaries. And then there were the voluntary relinquishings of our freedom - jobs, bills, mortgages, wives, children - each one an erosion of our freedom, each one a boundary made up of consequences and perils. We claim to love freedom, but we discard it frequently in favor of other things. We trade our freedom for vices - drugs, alcohol, gambling, smoking. We trade it for responsibility - school, work, church, organizations. We trade it for social interaction - friends, family, dating. We can trade away our freedom easily. But we can't trade away our free will - our right, our responsibility to make choices. No matter what we do, we are constantly asked to relinquish control of our lives and the only person who can make the decision is ourselves. We are responsible for our own decision to become slaves.

Yet, most of us aren't happy. We are slaves to things that can not provide happiness to us. We are caught in a quandry - asked to trade our land for trinkets knowing that we own neither and that neither one will make us truly happy. We are only willing to embrace slavery part way - on a conditional basis - before we move on to something else, some other thing that won't make us happy either. We are constantly looking for that one slave master who will treat us well and give us purpose all the remaining days of our lives.

For me, that person is Jesus Christ. But He is a hard slave master. He demands complete loyalty. He demands my life and my labor and my heart and my mind and every single possession I have ever had or will have. But most of all, He demands my freedom. He demands that I give up everything that I am so that He will attain all of the glory of my actions, thoughts, and feelings. I will work for Him and He will get all the praise for my work. And... and this is the hardest part... He wants me to do it not only voluntarily, but with joy in my heart.

I am a humble slave. I am gladly a humble slave. I work for my Lord and in exchange, I don't worry about a single thing. I work hard and I receive joy and happiness. I am a happy slave who trusts and praises his slave master. Freedom is a beautiful thing, but it is dangerous. Won't you join me in slavery?

Okay... I'm sure you're now wondering what this has to do with my second novel. The novel is going to explore several topics related to the subject - giving up your life for the greater good, our obligations to one another, the concepts of being a slave to things both good and evil. It will not be a preachy book. It will not be Narnia reborn. Its about a City out of Time (COOT, for short ;) that exists outside of existence. Its about a guy who discovers that he has been born with the ability to enter this city and to become one of its citizens. And its about his struggles to live there, to love there, and to accept his role in the city's destiny. And that's all you get to know until I finish writing the synopsis.

Thank you for reading this. Now we can begin the discussions in earnest as I rest my weary brain for other, more important, work.

Perils of Freedom - Part Four "Free Will"

This is the fourth of five parts in an exploration of subjects related to my second novel. I am trying to get at the heart of something deep. I am not sure I've even gotten close yet. I'm trying to avoid falling into the trap of writing pop psychology. I want deep analysis, not surface clutter. I think, though, that the closest most humans will ever be to truly deep wisdom are very shallow concepts. When I read some of the major thoughts of world renowned philosophers I can just hear them thinking, "How come this sounds so deep in my head but looks so innocuous on paper?" You can even boil down the Bible's great wisdom to, "Be nice to each other." But then, perhaps, its supposed to be that simple. We just make it hard. But I digress...

There are two universal truths in the Universe. God loves us. We were created with Free Will. These are absolutes, independent of each other. No matter how much free will we have, God will still love us. No matter how much God loves us, we have free will. We can't change either. We can't get rid of either.

But what is Free Will? Does Free Will mean we can do whatever we want? Does it mean we can do whatever we want without consequences? Does Free Will lead to more chaos or to more order? Does it make you more right or more wrong? Where does Free Will lie on the path? Is it a gift? Is it a trap? Is it the path itself?

When we are created with Free Will, depending on which philisophical bent you follow, we come into this world a blank slate. We are taught right and wrong. We are taught good and bad. We are taught chaos and order. But at that moment of birth, we are neither right nor wrong, good nor bad, chaotic nor orderly. We are somewhere in between, neutral, balanced. Our decisions, then, tip us in one direction or another - with the ripples we make in the mill pond growing with each passing year.

With every decision we make, naturally, we work towards some inner idea of perfection - using it to guide our decision making process. Nobody's actions are entirely left to chance. People make decisions based upon some sort of criteria that, presumably, moves them closer to their idea of right, good, and orderly. Sometimes we end up doing things we know are wrong, in order to get us closer to those goals. When we get in trouble for these decisions, inevitably, our first response is to assess blame to some outside source - whether it be a person, or a stupid law, or a unforgiving God. We made the decision, but the hope is that someone else will take the punishment for us. When we make the right decision, very few people look to share the reward.

For some reason, I am finding the idea of Free Will very hard to accept. On the one hand, it tells me that I am free to do whatever I want, but I know that to be a lie. There are laws and thoughts and pressures that exist that force me to make a decision sometimes contrary to the one I'd like to make (Is it so bad to want to watch football on Sunday morning? ;) We'd like to say that God made us go to church, but the truth is, God didn't do a darn thing. You made the decision. You were given the free will to make that decision and that is the decision you made. You, and only you, get to live with the consequences of that action. And your consequences could include consequences to others. By you not going to church, you missed the life saving lessons and were then unable to pass them on to your children... for instance. On the other hand, you going to church and being saved, does not mean that your children are saved as a result. They have to make their own decisions and face their own consequences. In the end, Free Will isolates us from one another and, yet, forces us to deal with one another - because while we are free to do whatever we want, we also have to agree with others in order to get certain things done that we can not do ourselves. Each decision then, must lead us away from our natural inclination to be a free individual and to always get our way and towards an unnatural inclination to put the group first, but must also lead away from an unnatural inclination to always let the group get its way, and towards a natural inclination to remember our own needs. Equilibrium must be maintained - neither good nor bad, neither order nor chaos, neither right nor wrong.

That's too much to wrap my head around right now. Tomorrow, I'll try and wrap this up with Part Five - Being A Slave.

The Perils of Freedom - Part Three "Obligations"

Breaking an obligation is the true nature of sin.

This is yet another in my line of examinations of certain questions that are arising from the exploration of the topics of my second novel - whose synopsis is being written as I write this. This is not supposed to gather together any real answers - perhaps just more questions. But I am trying to get at a deeper underlying truth, and I'm willing to let my brain take any path to get there. So I hope you stick around and enjoy the ride and maybe we'll arrive at some deeper insight together.

We all have obligations - unwritten promises we make to others as human beings that we are bound to follow by the very code of ethics we live by. If you believe in C.S. Lewis's view of the world, these obligations exist whether we acknowledge them or not because Good is a real thing, as is evil, and we all know in our heart what it is to do good and to be good. We are obligated to be good - therefore, when we aren't good, we have broken our obligation and sinned.

But what are we obligated to do? What is the bare minimum we can get away with? Consider walking down the street of just about any town in this nation and being approached by a homeless person asking you for a dollar. For the sake of argument, you have the dollar in your wallet. You look at this homeless person and your immediate thought might be, I'd really like to give this person the dollar, but how do I know he's really hungry? How do I know he won't use it for drugs or drink? If I give him the money and he gets drunk or high, aren't I partially responsible for that behavior? But... what if I don't give him the dollar and he goes hungry, or can't find shelter, or ends up robbing someone to get the money that he needs? Am I responsible for that behavior as well? Would it be better if I just fed the person myself? Took him to a place and bought him lunch? But then, what if he started telling me the story of his life and I discovered that he also needed a place to stay? Shouldn't I invite him home with me and let him stay in my spare bedroom? But what if he's a criminal or a rapist or mentally ill? Shouldn't I find him treatment? Shouldn't I turn him in to the authorities so he can be rehabilitated? And what of my own needs for the dollar? Should my family go hungry? Should my car run out of gas? And what about the next homeless guy on the street that I see? Wouldn't I have to give him a dollar too? And care for him too? But what if this guy is Jesus and I go to heaven and see Him again and He reminds me that I didn't give Him the dollar? Wouldn't it be better if I just hope that he goes away and that I don't have to think about all this and I'll just have to remember not to come down this street again next time?

Our obligations begin the second we meet someone. They become our responsibility. We can try to avoid these obligations by not meeting people, but that is plainly impossible. For once we've met someone, is it not our obligation to take care of that person, to care for that person, to try and help that person in any way we can? And what about our obligations to people we don't know or don't see? Is it not our obligation to try and care for people that we know to be in trouble even if we've never met? Does our obligation to the people of Louisianna end because we don't know anyone affected by Hurricane Katrina? Clearly, that is not the case. Clearly, as a human being, living in a society, and connecting with people on a normal basis, the amount of obligations we have to all the people we see or don't see is astronomical in size. And every time we do not fulfill an obligation, every time we fail to help in some way, we feel bad because we have sinned. That is an awful lot of sin in our lives. That is an awful lot of things to be responsible for.

Of course, this is Friday, and I am obligated to remind you that as bad as this blog might make you feel right now, there is a silver lining to all this obligating that flows naturally from this discourse and that should make you feel so much better. There are 6 billion people on this planet today. And your obligations are to each and every one of them. But there are obligations also include you. There are 6 billion people on this planet right now who are obligated to look after your well being. Now, doesn't that put a smile on your face?

I will continue this discussion on Monday with Part Four - Free Will.

Perils of Freedom Part Two - Property

As I said yesterday, I'm writing this to try and work out some thoughts I have for my second novel (whose Synopsis now has a first chapter). I'm not trying to make any earth shattering conclusions or points. I am just trying to dig as deep as I can and see if there is oil underneath - to see if I can grasp some underlying truth.

Yesterday, I wrote about slavery. I was trying to grasp the concept of what it would be like to own a slave as a sort of contrast to modern life. In my mind, I see slavery as the opposite of freedom. In the Navy, I always used to say, "It's Not Just A Job, It's An Indenture." Taken away from the horrible context most of us associate with slavery, from a purely intellectual standpoint, slavery can be viewed in a pretty wide context.

It is with that same wide open, purely intellectual, standpoint that I now approach the topic of Property. To set the stage properly, I am addressing a single question, "Who owns your house?"

The prompt for this question came from, of all things, a grafitti tag. As many of you know, gangs use tags to define their territory. In traditional thought, a territory might be described as the land that you "own". Since I did not know all the boundaries of this gang territory that I was entering (or was it leaving?) I can not tell you if the property I own is considered gangland or not. But then, it probably doesn't matter, because I'm sure my property is part of some gangs territory anyway. The question is, then, do these gang members "own" my property?

In the past, land has been owned by the ruling party and controlled by the use of force. The land of Canaan, for instance, has been claimed by thousands of societies throughout history - but the party in power, the one with the most fighting men and the best killing record, has usually been the one to "own" Canaan. Ownership of property, in this case, implies that the person with the power to enforce control is the person to whom ownership belongs.

In the Feudal system, since it was implied that the king ruled by God's favor, the king had the power to grant any of the nation's land to any person - usually lords who sweared allegiance to the king. The lord's then owned land given to them by the king and passed on that ownership to peasants in exchange for their allegiance to the lord. Everyone owed everything to someone else, with the king owning everything because God had made it that way.

When a nation was conquered, the king would grant new lands to his lords. A lord might never set foot in land that he owned - but he would own it just the same. There is a scene in the Shogun mini-series when the gaigin, Pilot, explains to Lord Torinaga that Japan is owned by Portugal. Torinaga looks at the Pilot as if he is insane - and then he gets angry. I imagine the same would be true if some gangbanger walked up to your front door one day and explained to you that your house was actually owned by the Crips.

When a dispute arose as to who owned a particular parcel of land, the lords would send out their armies to fight it out - with the winner getting and keeping the land. If a lord fell out of favor, the king could revoke the lord's rights to the land by having the lord beheaded - now we have courts to do the same thing ;) I think R.Sherman mentioned over on his blog the fact that a great deal of his court cases dealt with disputes over the land and that people were willing to spend thousands of dollars in court fees to protect their interest in a $500 piece of land.

Yet, our system hasn't come so far. If you think about all the various laws in this country, who really owns your home? If you have a mortgage on the house, the bank does. If you die without an heir, the state does. If you forfeit your rights through law suits or other debts, or if you marry the wrong woman and she divorces you, the state can force you to sell your home to pay off your debt. Even if you own your home outright without a single lien on the property, you still owe the government every year property taxes - and failure to pay can mean that the government takes your home.

Going back to my original thought, if the gangs don't own your property, do the cops? Do the people who protect your land own your property? Can those who give, also take away?

The same can be said of just about any piece of property we own - from houses to the very last dime we own. Who really owns it? Or is everything owned by nobody except for whomever claims the item at the time?

They say you can't take it with you... but maybe they should say, you never had it in the first place.

The Perils of Freedom - Part One "Slavery"

Indulge me. I am working up the necessary thought process behind my second novel now. I wasn't aware I was doing this until a few days ago when I realized how far along I'd become. There is actually a religious topic behind this discussion, but it might take me a couple of posts to get there and I need to walk through the entire process without jumping to the obvious ending. So bear with me.

My sisters and brothers in Christ;

Would you ever consider owning a slave? Forget the onerous historical baggage that goes with this topic, and just ask yourself the basic questions. Would you ever consider buying a person and making them your slave?

Consider the ramifications of this question before you dismiss it out of hand. First, beyond the money spent to actually purchase a slave there are other obvious issues. You would need a place for your slave to stay. For most of us in California then, where housing prices are astronomical and the thought of having "extra space" for a slave is at best a luxury, the slavery issue is a moot one. Even if we wanted slaves, most of us would have no place to keep one. But maybe you have a guest room or a small space where you could put a cot that is out of the way. Then, of course, there is the question of feeding and clothing the slave - not cheap either. Presumably, if the slave gets sick, you'd want to protect your investment with a trip to the doctor. So, there is medical, dental, etc... And, if the slave ever dies, you'd need to provide some sort of burial. Of course, I think the next question is probably the most important - what job would your slave do? Would you buy a slave to do all those menial chores that you don't want to do? (Then why have kids? ;) Would the slave clean your house and take care of your children or feed your pets or do your laundry or taxes or shopping? Why would you actually purchase a slave?

So, owning a slave would be a bit of a burden for the average person. They'd be too expensive, too much trouble to care for, and there wouldn't be really enough for them to do, anyway. I think, moral questions aside, for most of us the prospect of slavery is just a question of common sense - we don't need it because we can do without.

But for business? We've already established that agriculture could be, and in some cases still is, a perfect draw for slavery. Lots of back breaking work for little reward. Even the average farmer could benefit from slave labour. It would help him keep his prices down and his profits up. But there are surely other businesses that would benefit from slavery. Any type of business with a small skill set required could train a slave work force to do the job and then reward them with only the basics to survive. Of course, business doesn't have to worry about as many things as an individual slave owner. They would build cheap housing, send all their slaves to a single overworked and underfunded doctor's office, and wouldn't give a damn about additional expenses. And if the profit margins started to fall, they could get rid of slaves and increase the workload on the remaining slaves. Such a huge enterprise would require a large influx of slaves, however, and a constant renewable source. But with such an outpouring of cheap, expendable labour, the rest of us would benefit by having lower priced goods.

The obvious analogy is there, but I'm not writing this for cheap analogies. I'm trying to get at something deeper.

In both cases, you could draw comparisons. In the first case, slavery is very similar to having children - in that, you have to clothe them, feed them, take care of them, find something for them to do, etc... And in the second case, of course, slavery is very similar to big business in this day and age. Have we grown up in a world that treasures freedom in name, but in practice treasures something else entirely? Or is slavery a more complex issue than we acknowledge? Or, maybe, perhaps the fault lies within the concept of freedom itself?

The following passage is from Philemon 1:15-16. And I will end Part One with this passage and one more thought.

15Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— 16no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.

This passage is clearly about the slave Onesis (I think I got that right) who was sent to Paul in Rome while he was a captive by Paul's good friend, Philemon. But while helping Paul, Onesis converted to Christianity and became a brother in Christ. Paul was going to ask Philemon for Onesis' freedom, but instead, sent Onesis back to Philemon with a letter, explaining his reasons for such a request.

However, what struck me in reading it out of context, was the fact that the passage could also be written about Jesus Christ, who was separated from us for a while (in his death), but did so so that we might have him back for good - no longer as a slave to the world, but better than a slave, as a dear brother.

I will end these thoughts here and come back to this topic tomorrow in Part Two: Property.

Netscape Headlines

My mind is wandering today and as a result, my world outlook is slightly skewed (read here: Eccentric ;) But when I saw these headlines, my interest was perked.

Headline #1: Dakota Execution
Personally, I think the little girl is creepy and I'm glad she's being executed. I think just about anyone involved with War of the Worlds (Crappy Tom Cruise Version, not Marcel version) should be executed. But Dakota is something else entirely. She's TOO good to be real. My reaction to her is the same as the reaction the fremen had to Paul Atredes sister in Dune. Surely, Dakota is the sister of the Cusineart Haddock, or whatever he was called. Anyway, I know I'm normally against capital punishment, but in this case, I think the punishment is just capital!

Headline #2: NASA loses Moon Tapes
Okay. Does anyone else see the obvious conspiracy theory here? Surely, they're going to be coming out with new Moon tapes soon. After the failure of Miami Vice, I'm sure Michael Bay is looking for work. They'll go back to the same studio and get some actors who look similar to the originals. They'll update the script - "Three feet down, drifting to the right a little... Oh My God! There's Snakes In The Capsule!" Maybe get some new special effects. Oh, and modern sensibilities - I think it might very well be Noelle Armstrong and maybe Jimmy "Buzzotch" Aldrin. This is SO obvious. And, of course, entirely Bush's fault.

Headline #3: Chief Ramsey
I'm not sure what my old Boot Camp Navy Chief is doing - something about opening a restaurant - but to be honest, I don't really want to know. Better to let sleeping dogs lie.

These Netscape Headlines are often more entertaining than the stories as they don't have any more connection to reality than some of the stories they advertise. Thank God for the internet! Otherwise, we'd have to go to the Weekly World News for the truth.

Rejected!

Believe it or not, this is a happy posting! I have been utterly rejected! And I am smiling about it!

The process from here on out is fairly simple. Novel done. Check. Send off query letters to agents begging them to read my sample chapters and take me as a client. Get Agent. Get Agent to Get Publisher. Final Edit of Novel. Final Check of Galley's. Cash Paycheck. Go on book tour. Or something along those lines. Danny can correct me if I'm way wrong as he's much further along in the process than I am. I'm still on step two.

But, you see, I have not only sent out my first query letter (actually an e-mail - some Agents are actually tech saavy), but I have received my first response. Rejection! Denied! Fuhgeddaboutit! The prevailing theory is about 12 rejections to every acceptance. And as far as rejections go, this one was fairly mild - which makes me slightly worried, actually. BUUUTTTTT, it was a rejection! One down! Eleven to go! At Apostle Peter's rate, that's like only four nights worth of denials! (Obscure Biblical reference ;)

I'd say there was some sort of Biblical religious connection here, but I'm not sure what it might be. Still, you can't be rejected if you're not trying! And considering the number of times men have rejected God, I guess we know that God hasn't given up on us yet.

So, peace and grace to you all! I'm going forth to be rejected some more!

Rockin Friday Category

For the next four weeks, I'll be doing categories related to Walt Disney World. On the fourth week, I shall actually be on an airplane, sans Shampoo, headed to WDW. This is my countdown.

So, here we go...

Some of you may be aware that in the Disney/MGM Studios there is a ride called Rock N Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. Aerosmith is a good band, don't get me wrong, but if you were going to design a roller coaster about rock and roll, who would you get to do the soundtrack?

Here's the category:

Name three rock groups that you would pick to host RocknRoller Coaster...


Have a great weekend...

Coming up for air...

Living in God's love can be kind of overwhelming and tiring. I don't think I've ever smiled so much as I have the last two days. I've been happy. I've been filled with joy. I've been warmly embraced by feelings I couldn't have imagined three days before.

I can't begin to explain it. The shortest answer I can give is that I stopped trying to think God, and started to feel Him. Its a paradox to be sure that the only way to know God is with your heart and not your mind - especially since knowledge is so strongly associated with the mind.

The slightly longer explanation, or as near as I can figure it, is that God is Love. I know this boils it down to as simple a concept as possible, but the ramifications are overwhelming. It doesn't begin to explain God, or define God, because to do so would be to define Love or explain Love. It can't be done. And that's why it fits so wonderfully.

Picture, if you will, what you imagine love to be. Not the romantic, sappy, love song kind of love that they try to sell you on a daily basis, but true abiding love - the love between a parent and child, or the love between a man and a woman - a love so pure that there can be no imperfections. To be a part of this love, then, one would have to be as nearly perfect in love as the love itself. One would need to be a perfect recepticle and distributor of love.

What is this thing we are always craving? Its love, of course. Its that feeling of belonging, of warmth, of safety, of bliss. We are constantly trying to replace that feeling with things that may take us to these places temporarily. We are constantly trying to replace Love with Things. But it can't be done. That yearning that we feel is for love... not just any love, but one so perfect that it can fill us up with eternal water.

Wow. You know... I think this topic may be beyond my ability to explain it. I keep trying to grasp it in my mind, to understand it in its entirety, but I can't begin to fathom it all. Its just sounds like new age John Denver lyrics - but it is infinitely more profound than that. Mere words can't do it justice.

Three days ago, I was the mathematical equivalent of a person trying to understand how X could be a number, and now my mind is whirling in the region of calculus and quantum mechanics. I'm not sure my mind can keep up with this pace. I'm not sure I'll ever grasp the entire concept. But my mind and my heart are open now and God willing, they'll never be shut again.

I've just got to try and figure out how to explain this Good News to everyone so that they can share in the abundant joy I've felt. I need more love! God will explain it to me!

Desire

Sometimes I feel as if I've elevated desire to the level of sport. There are all sorts of rituals involved, pageantry, lies, scandal, abuse, and all the conversations relevant to those topics. The having of things isn't nearly as fun as the desiring of them. Once I get them, I quickly find that they lose their luster, that the need for them quickly dissipates only to be replaced for a longing ache for something new. What is that new thing?

In case you feel I have forgotten so quickly, I have not. Fearing that I might only get to experience God's true grace and beauty yesterday as a sort of birthday present - a one day only glimpse at the majesty and wonder of God - I collapsed on my bed last night, threw my hands together and prayed, "Lord! Please don't take this feeling away from me! I have finally come to know you and I don't ever want to forget! Ever! Please, please, please!"

I opened my eyes and looked around and knew, KNEW WITHOUT A DOUBT, that this was the thing I desired the most in the whole world! Not some fancy car, or a better house, or a girlfriend, or a million dollars, or a cheeseburger, or a book contract; but this feeling that God loved me and this knowledge that I had finally figured it all out - that I finally understood the way and the path to God. This was something I didn't want to forget, ever. This was a desire I never wanted to lose!

I knew the enemy would be after me - probably had been for years now. He wanted to distract me this morning from my desires. He threw the juciest bit of news at me in months - to see if I would bite, forget what I had experienced, and absorb myself in the news of the world. I looked, with interest, this morning at the hulabaloo in London and I thought, "Those Al Quaeda guys are darn clever. Imagine how much good they could do if they only knew God the way I know Him." I smiled and turned off the TV and then tried to figure out how to get to WDW next month without shampoo ;) Not distracted, not even remotely. I just asked God to fill me with more love.

I found myself changing radically overnight. A firm believer in the First Ammendment to the Constitution, I suddenly changed my mind about soft porn. I find that it not only degrades women, but it degrades men as well - presenting them with desire, and not real love. It speaks to our lowest base, our animalistic nature, our physical needs. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have not become a frufru man overnight. Those thoughts and feelings and desires are still there. But I see past them now. I understand them for what they are. Ultimately, I am weak, a mere worm, and I know that eventually I shall succumb to temptation, but I will do so now knowing that I have replaced true love with desire, that I have replaced the real for the fake, the tangible for the dream.

Lead me not into temptation and deliver me from evil! Isn't that what I'm saying? Do you see? I get it now. I never got it before. I said it. Thousands of times the words passed my lips, but they were just words, just meaningless words. Lead me not... but, as soon as I'm done with this, I'm going to head out and get a cheeseburger! Mmmm, I can't wait... May thoughts like these never cross my mind again!

I wish you all well. I wish you all a transcendental experience. My faith and love to everyone!

A True Gift

This post will be long just in trying to explain all the things that went into it. First, I once wrote a post in which I posited that God is love. And that therefore, wherever in the famous 2nd Corinthians passage you read the word Love, you can replace it with God. I.E. Love is gentle, love is kind, would become, God is gentle, God is kind. This is the most important thing to remember right now because it is what is swirling through my mind at breakneck speeds trying to fill in all the gaps.

But my story starts a while back. In fact, all the way back to High School. I bombed out of Algebra in my first year. There were extenuating circumstances - one being the illness of my Grandmother, who eventually died. But mostly, I was in that awkward transition phase from Junior High into High School, taking advanced math courses when I had never grasped the basic concepts in Junior High. How could a letter be a number? That made no sense to me. How can anyone apply abstract thought to the mathematical certainty? I did well enough to get by, because I was able to follow instructions, but I didn't understand what I was doing. I was like Ham, the monkey that was first to orbit Earth. I pressed the right buttons and got the right answer, but I didn't know what was really going on.

And then, one day, EUREKA! OHHHHHH, I GET IT NOW! That first jolt that we receive when we first connect with an abstract concept like Algebra. It makes you feel elated, uplifted, and incredibly blessed. I retook the same advanced Algebra class the following year and aced it as if it was fundamental mathematics. I would have the same jolt of understanding years later when I finally understood the concept of a paradigm shift (now that's a concept that's hard to imagine, until you get it!).

Skip ahead a little bit, to January, 1992. In some of the first words I ever wrote in my journal, I was trying to understand why it was that my girlfriend/fiancee had split up. After days and days of wrangling with the concept in my head, I finally concluded rather lamely that she must have fallen out of love (if she had ever loved at all). I thought it to be an incredibly sad thing - to fall out of love, to stop feeling those powerful emotions, to stop your heart. What I didn't realize at the time was that I, too, was on a perilous course to the exact same oblivion. In truth, I don't remember much after that point. I sort of blanked out and just existed for the next two years.

For the past 12 years or so, I've been pretty much in that same boat and lost at sea. Ocassionally spying land, even dipping my feet into the water, I have been mostly adrift - unable to connect with anyone, or anything. Up front, normal. Deep down inside, miserable. Existence, merely, with varying degrees of success.

And now we can zip ahead to the start of this summer. Novel's second draft finished. Exhaustion slamming me to the ground. I had nothing left. I was a shell. I was empty. I was ready to be filled up. And so, as the have gotten longer this summer, my mind, body, and soul have been recovering, refilling, reloading for the next long haul. But, right away, I knew there was something different. I could feel the change coming on, like a person who can see the puzzle starting to take shape but still can't decipher the picture. I was and have been changing.

Two weeks ago, a woman I've been interested in for quite a while asked me, jokingly I think, "Come on, I know that you love me?" It wasn't said as a question, and yet, it was. I didn't answer. I didn't know why. Was I not ready? Or was I scared? Or... did I really love her? The short answer, I knew, was that no matter what I really felt, there was no way to answer such a question when I'd never even gone out on a date with her. I left the lack of answer stand and walked away.

Last week, out of the clear blue, she suggested that we go out. Ostensibly, the purpose of this "date" was to find me a girlfriend. But I think we both knew that was a lie. We went to a local bar for happy hour and whiled away a couple of hours drinking and talking. It was a wonderful time and I really got to know this woman much better and I think she got to know me better as well. And then we went our separate ways. End of story, somewhat.

Although I had a great time, I realized that I didn't love her after all. She was a good friend, and I had no intention of changing that at all. But the date was like a giant poker into the silt of my life. Things began to shift, things began to stir, and a great cloud began to muddle my way of thinking. I began to realize that I was missing something - something important.

Are you still with me? Good. I was hoping you'd stick around this far, because the best part, the part of pure joy is still coming.

On Sunday night, I sent off my first query to an agent. I wanted to be out there before my birthday. I had been having an internal debate with myself as to when to do this and I hesitated for the longest time, wanting to be certain that it was the right time before I did it. Then, on Saturday, I had a revelation - revelation number one - that confirmed to me what I had always long suspected, that God wanted me to write. I can't explain how I know this, but the feeling was definitely there and definitely out of the blue. So, on Sunday, I sent out the query.

On Monday, still feeling my oats a little, and still stirred up from the wonderful blog about Comfortably Numb being the best rock song of all time, I wrote what I feel may be my best political blog ever - The Thin Line - which you can read below this blog. I think it pretty much summed up all my political feelings and aspirations and frustrations in one tiny blog. I was pleased to read the comments that were there, because I knew that somebody had read it and had considered it worthy enough to leave a comment. But, at the same time, I was troubled. The implications of the post troubled me, frightened me, depressed me. Are we really heading to a revolution?

Yesterday, I got my answers in a big way. It started in the morning with a news article that repeated a story I'd seen on 60 Minutes last year. It was a Bill Bradley interview with Bono, frontman of the rock group, U2. He talked about his music and his politics and about his religion. In the article, however, Bono made a point of saying something which fit the blog I'd just written - that no side had it right, that he was frustrated with both sides because they often elevated their own causes over the good of all. The article also mentioned the growing disillusion of most Americans towards both parties - something I'd suspected but never seen in print.

When I got home last night, Newsweek was waiting for me. And in the latest issue is an article about Billy Graham - the evangelist. I've not always been a Graham fan, but I've come to respect him as a man of God in the last five years or so. The article was about a certain mellowing out that comes with age and wisdom and how he now views his job differently than he did when he was younger. He no longer gets involved with politics, for instance, or take sides of contentious issues. In fact, he advises people to take no part in a political debate over a social issue, but only to work towards the final outcome of that debate. He said that the most important thing in our lives is to love one another and to love God - everything else is just a distraction.

I was tired last night, and now I was reeling from all these thoughts running through my head. And then a third thought jumped into the fray and really messed me up - how can I write my next novel, a romantic comedy, if I didn't understand love.

Boom! Convicted! Floored! I just lay there - unable to move. A timid voice in my conscious mind asking, "What do you mean? I understand love, don't I?" I've had a girlfriend... but something happened there at the end that I don't understand. But, I've fallen in love before... but, it fell apart. But I love my family and friends... but sometimes I wonder if I love myself more. But I love God! Do you? Do you really love me? Do you even understand what that means?

I didn't believe. I didn't grasp that I didn't believe! I didn't grasp that my lack of understanding of Heaven, that my inability to grasp the concept of God, that my skepticism of the Bible was not a lack of faith... it was a lack of Love! I had been empty because I had been unable to love!

EUREKA! OHHH, I GET IT NOW! I understand! I know what it is now! God Is Love! Love Is God! Love comes from God, because God is love. And to be without love, to be unable to love, is to be apart from God - to be apart from God is to be unable to love! Hell is what its called when you are apart from God, hell is being unable to love. It is a feeling of loneliness, of despair, of the inability to connect on more than just a face to face level. Hell is death and death is hell. When we are unable to love, we are dead - alive in name only, merely existing! When we love, we choose God. We are displaying God to one another! We are showing everyone what God is! There is no simpler formula for evangelism than to love one another, for in showing love, we are showing God!

I could go on and on! But I get it now! The thoughts are deep. They are profound. They are deeply moving. I have been crying tears of joy ever since. For now, I truly get it! I truly understand God! I can't begin to grasp Him. I can't begin to understand Him. But I can Love Him! And I can love you! I can love everyone!

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW! For my birthday this year, God has given me the one true gift - eternal life! And eternal love!

Amen!

The Thin Line

America, it seems, is trying to walk a very narrow line - the narrowest line I can ever remember. When the world was a less complicated place, it seemed that the line was quite large and that it could accommodate a great number of people. The kooks and the fringe groups were there on both sides - conspiracy theorists, and hippies, and neo-Nazi's and KKK members. The vast majority of Americans walked together up this wide path, free to think and do as they pleased without really offending everyone. Sure, they didn't always get along and they often had differences of opinion. But after every battle fought in the Supreme Court and every new congressional law passed, the combatants shook hands, dusted themselves off, and then prepared to fight the next battle. Slowly, however, that broad line in the center, that consensus of opinion has been eroding and the fringe groups have been gaining strength.

In many ways I blame the group that I'd most like to call myself a member - the Christian majority. It's not so much that they are a real fringe group - they're mainly only mildly fringe - its that they have shown the other groups the way. Using political motivation and lobbying, they have gone from fringe support to majority without ever compromising their polarizing message. Using local elections to build their power base and then selling that power base to the politician whose views most match their own, they have not only carried state and national elections, they have even elected a President and changed the shape of world politics.

In history there have been many situations where a fringe group has gained national power and then world importance. Two spring to mind. The National Socialist party in 1930's Germany and the Bolsheviks in 1917 Russia. This is not to cast aspersions on the Christian majority, but to point out the fact that when a fringe group has control of a nation, bad things usually happen.

The reason is quite simple. A fringe group is a vocal group that speaks for a minority of people's opinions. They have a set agenda and that agenda does not coincide with the opinions of the majority. As the fringe group gains power, however, the majority's power diminishes allowing the fringe group's opinions to dominate the majority and enforcing a way of life or a set of laws that most people don't agree with or want. The once broad path where most people walked shrinks in size until the majority is forced to either choose a side upon which to fall or try to walk the increasingly narrower path without having their side chosen for them.

Once you fall on one side, of course, you are lumped in with everyone on that side. In America, if you are against the Iraq war, you are lumped in with everyone in favor of gay marriage, legalized marijuana, and a whole assortment of other social taboos. That this is not the case or not fair is not the point. On the other side, if you are for the Iraq war, you are lumped in with all the gun-toting, NASCAR loving, price gouging, abortion hating, gay bashing, people who protest at the funeral of a Senator's son because he died in Iraq. Also an ugly picture, also not completely fair or accurate, but also not the point. This is how polarized this nation has become. This is how thin the line has become.

Think of this thin line as a no-man's land in between two great armies. Historically, this buffer zone has been an important part of keeping the peace. In the past, when this no-man's land has disappeared and the sides became so polarized that the choices were narrowed to just two, war and conflict has erupted. I.E. Slaves or no slaves = Civil War. This is the path this country is treading very quickly. This is the inevitable outcome of this polarization.

We are not there yet. And there are signs that perhaps this nation might recover from this deep division. But then there are signs that we are entrenched in our ways and can not change. A poll released over the weekend, for instance, shows that half the nation believes that there are now or were WMD's in Iraq at the start of the 2nd Gulf War despite overwhelming evidence that this is not the case. This is an increase in supporters of this view since the previous poll. This increase is not based on any new evidence nor any new conspiracy theories, but merely on the basis of the belief that "their side" can't be wrong and that the WMD's must have been there or we would have never invaded Iraq. This is a terrible day in U.S. History if people have stopped analyzing the evidence and forming their own opinions, and have decided that the truth can be determined by which side is more to their liking. From that vantage point, we are only a short fall to the opening salvoes of a second American Revolution.

From Mouse Planet.com (Have Fun With This!)

Six Degrees of Separation

Friday, August 4, 2006
Mike Scopa, staff writer (Send an email)

Sure, last time I said that our next visit would include some trivia and you were thinking, "Hmmm, how many horses are there on the Carrousel in Fantasyland at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom?" or "What is the total distance around Epcot's World Showcase?" Nope; that's not the type of trivia I had in mind.

I may even be reaching a bit on this one, but a few weeks ago I had a conversation with Len Testa, who along with Bob Sehlinger, had just finished working on the 2007 edition of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (Menasha Ridge Press). The book will have expanded coverage of vacation homes, a new chapter on Walt Disney World tours, a complete reevaluation of WDW Resorts using criteria most often mentioned by guests, updated dining reviews, and new touring plans for both Disney's Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

As always our conversation revolved around Walt Disney World but this particular discussion led to an interesting, entertaining approach to Walt Disney World.

I'm sure that at one time or another you have heard about the six degrees of separation theory. It holds that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries. The celebrity mentioned most often with this theory is actor Kevin Bacon.

One day while in Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland, Testa wondered if there was a way to apply this theory to the park's attractions and Kevin Bacon. So upon his return from the park that evening, Testa went to work.

Armed with his Magic Kingdom Guide Map and his laptop, Testa set out to find just how, or even if, some of the attractions were so connected to Bacon. He concentrated on several of the more popular attractions and actually managed to dig up some interesting connections.

His first stop was in Adventureland and the Swiss Family Treehouse. This attraction is based on the 1960 Disney film that starred Sessue Hayakawa as Kuala the Pirate Chief:

1. Sessue Hayakawa was also in the 1959 film Green Mansions with Bill Saito.
2. Bill Saito was in The Perfect Weapon (1991) with Beau Starr.
3. Beau Starr was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

Do you get the picture?

Let's look at what Testa discovered for Aladdin's Magic Carpet. The attraction was spawned from Disney's 1992 film Aladdin. Corey Burton provided some of the voices in the film.

1. Corey Burton was also in Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) with David Alan Grier.
2. Grier was in The Woodsman (2004) with Kevin Bacon.

Everyone knows The Enchanted Tiki Room. Disney veteran Wally Boag does the voice of Jose.

1. Wally Boag was in The Love Bug (1968) with Dick Warlock.
2. Warlock was in Quicksilver (1986) with the lovely Kevin Bacon.

A real popular attraction this year, Pirates of the Caribbean, provided a bit of a challenge. X. Atencio wrote the attraction's signature tune "Yo Ho – A Pirate's Life for Me."

1. X. Atencio also designed the nursery sequence in Mary Poppins, starring Dick Van Dyke.
2. Dick Van Dyke was in Curious George (2006) with Clint Howard.
3. Clint Howard was in My Dog Skip (2000) with, you guessed it, Kevin Bacon.

Splash Mountain has its roots in the 1946 Movie Song of the South.

1. James Baskett played Uncle Remus in the movie and was also in Revenge of the Zombies (1943) with John Carradine.
2. John Carradine was in Portnoy's Complaint (1972) with Kevin Conway.
3. Kevin Conway was in Mystic River (2003) with our boy Kevin Bacon.

One of the songs played in the background music at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is from the 1975 movie The Apple Dumpling Gang. Bill Bixby played Russell Donovan in the film.

1. Bill Bixby was in Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963) with Jack Lemmon.
2. Jack Lemmon was in JFK (1991) with Kevin Bacon.

When it comes to Tom Sawyer Island, Testa goes to the most recent Disney film adaptation: Tom and Huck (1995), starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

1. Jonathan Taylor Thomas was in Man of the House (1995) with Jim Smith.
2. Jim Smith was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon

Tex Ritter is the voice of Big Al in Country Bear Jamboree.

1. Tex Ritter was in Nashville Rebel (1966) with Henny Youngman.
2. Henny Youngman was in Goodfellas (1990) with Beau Starr.
3. Beau Starr was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

The Liberty Belle Riverboat was originally named the Richard F. Irvine. The name changed in 1996.

1. Dick Irvine worked for many years in Hollywood as an art director on films. His earliest art director credit was for the 1939 film Winter Carnival, starring Ann Sheridan.
2. Ann Sheridan was in I Was a Male War Bride (1949) with Kenneth Tobey.
3. Kenneth Tobey was in Hero at Large (1980) with Kevin Bacon.

For the Hall of Presidents, Testa found that Theodore Roosevelt was in Womanhood, the Glory of the Nation (1917) with Walter McGrail.

1. Walter McGrail was in Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc (1941) with Wally Rose.
2. Wally Rose was in Murder in the First (1995) with Kevin Bacon.

Let's take a walk over to The Haunted Mansion. The "Grim Grinning Ghosts" song is sung by Thurl Ravenscroft.

1. Thurl Ravenscroft was in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) with Clint Howard.
2. Clint Howard was in My Dog Skip (2000) with Kevin Bacon.

Peter Pan's Flight was a bit of a challenge. Testa was up for it. He points out that animator/cartoonist Ub Iwerks was credited with "special processes" for the 1953 film Peter Pan.

1. Ub Iwerks was in Alice's Wonderland (1923) with Walt Disney.
2. Walt Disney was in The Reluctant Dragon (1941) with Jeff Corey.
3. Jeff Corey was in Beethoven's 2nd (1993) with Maury Chaykin.
4. Maury Chaykin was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

When it comes to "it's a small world," Testa focuses on Disney artist Mary Blair. Blair designed the overall look and feel of the original attraction for the 1964 World's Fair.

1. Mary Blair was in Saludos Amigos (1942) with Frank Thomas.
2. Frank Thomas was in The Iron Giant (1999) with Harry Connick, Jr.
3. Harry Connick, Jr. was in My Dog Skip (2000) with Kevin Bacon.

Everyone always comes out of Mickey's PhilharMagic and says, "Why isn't it called "Donald's PhilharMagic?" It's a valid argument. Lots of Donald's dialog was edited in from older sound bites from when Clarence Nash did Donald.

1. Clarence Nash was in The Reluctant Dragon (1941) with Jeff Corey.
2. Jeff Corey was in Beethoven's 2nd (1993) with Maury Chaykin.
3. Maury Chaykin was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

We get into a little bit of a stretch with Snow White's Scary Adventures. I'll let you make the call on this one. Testa points out that for the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Marion Darlington is credited with "Bird Sounds and Warbling Voices."

1. Marion Darlington was in Pinocchio (1940) with Don Brodie.
2. Don Brodie was in Murphy's Law (1986) with David Hayman.
3. David Hayman was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

Does that work for you? OK, now here's an even bigger stretch. Cinderella's Golden Carrousel was discovered in Olympic Park in Maplewood, New Jersey in 1967.

1. Maplewood is where early film star Teresa Wright (1918-2005) grew up.
2. Teresa Wright was in Somewhere in Time (1980) with JoBe Cerny.
3. JoBe Cerny was in Novocaine (2001) with Kevin Bacon.

Dumbo of course is based from the 1941 movie which featured the Hall Johnson Choir as "Crows (singing voice)." Hall Johnson (1888 – 1970) was a Georgia native and respected choral director.

1. According to the Georgia Encyclopedia, Johnson formed the choir in 1925 to preserve the integrity of the Negro spiritual as it had been performed during the era of slavery. The choir appeared in many films, among them Way Down South (1939) with Don Brodie.
2. Don Brodie was in Murphy's Law (1986) with David Hayman.
3. David Hayman was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

The stretching continues with Ariel's Grotto. Former Miss America Leanza Cornett used to play Ariel at Disney-MGM Studios.

1. Leanza Cornett was in The Lords of Los Angeles (1999) with Lisa Ann Hadley.
2. Lisa Ann Hadley was in Dead Above Ground (2002) with Reagan Gomez-Preston.
3. Reagan Gomez-Preston was in Beauty Shop (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

For The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Testa notes that Paul Winchell is the voice of Tigger in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) with Clint Howard.

* Clint Howard was in My Dog Skip (2000) with Kevin Bacon.

The Mad Tea Party is based on the 1951 Alice in Wonderland cartoon. Disney's first adaptation of the novel was in 1923 with the short-lived action film Alice's Wonderland. Virginia Davis played Alice in the 1923 film.

1. Virginia Davis was in The Harvey Girls (1946) with Angela Lansbury.
2. Angela Lansbury was in Nanny McPhee (2005) with Colin Firth.
3. Colin Firth was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

To help with his research, Testa used the Oracle of Bacon at Virginia (link) Web site, along with IMDb, the Internet Movie Database (link).

He knows that Tomorrowland is waiting and he will get to it, unless of course you get to it first. If you do please send me your findings and I'll share them in a future article.

Carl

I met Carl the same night as the rest of my family. It was Thanksgiving (as I recall) and my sister and her boyfriend - He-who-must-not-be-named - were coming over for dinner. None of us had met her boyfriend yet and we were eager to make a good impression and welcome him into the family. At the last minute, my sister called and asked if they could bring another mutual friend. The more the merrier has always been our family motto come Thanksgiving, so we added a place at the table next to my sister.

The second they arrived, I didn't like my sister's boyfriend. I can't tell you what it was that set me off like that, but one look at his stupid, placid face and I just knew that he wasn't right for my sister. Now, I'm not the overly protective brother type. For the most part, I don't like to interfere in my siblings lives, and certainly not their love lives. So I ignored my initial feelings and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. We all went to sit in the living room and talk and eat hors d'ouvres while we waited for dinner to be ready.

Have you ever been a part of a conversation that is straight out of a bad film? Well, this was the sort of conversation we were having. Someone would say something, and then everyone would chime in with an intelligent comment, which would move the conversation onto another subject, which would provide more intelligent comments, which would move the conversation onto a third subject... and that was when my sister's boyfriend would finally say something about the first thing, and his comment wasn't very intelligent. There was an embarassed pause while we looked at him with a little mix of pity and frustration, and then we went on with the conversation we were having. All throughout the evening, he'd make comments about ten minutes after we'd moved on to another topic. So, we knew he wasn't a rocket scientist. But we still didn't really dislike him yet.

In the meantime, while we were slowly beginning to see my sister's obvious bad taste in boyfriends, I began to notice something extraordinary. This friend that they'd brought along with them - Carl - was obviously enamored of my sister. He was polite, intelligent, and not so bad looking. But more important than all that was that he understood the complexities of a relationship. He asked her if she wanted a drink. He got her a napkin, or a plate, or he pulled back her chair. If my sister hadn't been completely oblivious to his affections, she might have seen what was obviously right in front of her the entire time.

I think sometime after the Boyfriend tried to teach the new dog how to drink out his water dish and the dog looked at the Boyfriend with a mix of pity and frustration as it realized that he was no rocket scientist, the rest of the family really began to take notice of Carl as well. The Boyfriend was sort of forgotten - not hated, but ignored.

Later, of course, we all discovered just how wrong the Boyfriend was for my sister. But I think it is safe to say that besides Carl, I was probably the second person to figure out that he was a much better choice for my sister. Carl didn't want to get between his friend and his friends' girlfriend. That is something that friends don't do to each other. But in this case, he was overruled. That night, we had expected to meet my sister's Boyfriend, which we did, but what we hadn't expected was to meet my sister's future husband.

So, as my sister celebrates her fourth anniversary with her husband, I would hope at least that she remembers that had I not put two and two together, there would not be four of them now. Sometimes you have to take the blind by the hand and lead them to each other. I politely waited two days after Thanksgiving before I told my sister, "You know... you'd be much better off with Carl." I was right.

And so, in conclusion, I'd just like to say...

You're Welcome.

Motivation

I've never been one to be motivated by pain, loss, or anger. Curiosity is the way to get me started, promise of adventure the way to get me snared, and good times the way to keep my attention. The one time I was motivated by anger, it ended so poorly that I am almost embarassed by my success.

Okay, that's too good of a set up to not tell the brief story, even if its beside the point. When I was a Junior on the swim team in High School, I was only a so-so swimmer (I was never very fast, but I always had a great amount of endurance). There was a new freshman on the team that year who had swam with a club down in Los Angeles and was considered the top prospect for our team. Everyone was really eager to have her on the team - even me. And she was Fast! Like lightning! But, with all the attention she'd received, she was perhaps a little too used to winning. Anyway, my coach decided to try and motivate her to work a little harder, so he ordered the entire team into two lines and then he raced us, one against the other. Since I swam the Individual Medley, I was capable of swimming any stroke - but butterfly was my weakest (lots of arm strength required). Her best stroke was the butterfly and here we were, going head to head. The result was predictable. She crushed me. Blew me out of the water. I was thinking nothing of it until my coach ripped into me like R.Lee Ermey as a drill sergeant. I have never seen him that angry before. I was PISSED. I got back in that lane next to her and hit the water like it was the finals of the Olympics. I beat her by three strokes. I was feeling pretty good. She was devastated. Even the coach laid off her after I had won. The final result was, she quit the team and moved back to Los Angeles and as far as I know never swam competitively again (her sister was still at my school and I'd occassionally ask about her). She might have been good one day, but my anger changed all that.

That, as I said, is neither here nor there.

Ever since I read R. Sherman's comments on last Friday's category, my mind has been whirling. It wasn't anger that motivated my response on Monday, though, it was curiosity. His comment made me realize that I had not really given the whole subject of Heaven and Salvation a good thought in a lot of time. It also made me realize how this one subject is probably the most divisive subject in human history - as the question of the afterlife drives most religions and hence, most belief systems. I admit that I can't get the idea out of my head.

That is why I decided to devote an entire youth group year to a study of Heaven and Salvation. There is enough out there in the popular culture (From the Simpsons, to South Park, to movies, to books...) that even without a scholarly approach, it could easily take us a year to discuss everything about Heaven and Salvation that we can find.

So, I have a question for those readers out there who might have given thought to this subject before... does anyone know a good text for Jr. High and Sr. High kids that talks about this subject? Even if its just a starting point, it might be a fun way to kick off the discussion.

I look forward to all your answers.