I’m Proud To Be

An American
February 22, 2009

I just heard Lee Greenwood sing the song “I’m Proud To Be An American” and you know what? I am. Earlier today I was at a local concert and the orchestra started the concert by playing the “National Anthem” and I was so proud to see and hear everyone in the audience standing and singing. Now to be honest, the average age of the audience was probably 75. I’m not so sure what would happen if the average age had been 25 or even 35.

Have we lost that in America? The pride. Have we become so politically correct that we can’t even agree to be “proud to be an American”? I remember hearing stories from my parents about the American pride during WWII. Even as a child in the 1950’s I can remember July 4th parades and even parades on Memorial Day. Neighborhood yards filled with little flags. Putting wreaths and flags at the gravesites. Shop windows decorated with flags and red, white and blue streamers. Communities and people and families celebrated with pride. Have we lost that? I hope not.

I don’t have to go even that far back to remember 9/11. The worst day in American history and on that day everyone was an American. There was no hyphen Americans, just Americans. I grew up in an industrial area and like all other industrial areas of this country there was many immigrants. They didn’t want to be anything but an American. I believe that’s what we all felt on 9/11. Titles are so divisive. I’m not suggestion anyone discard his or her heritage. It’s just that when a hyphen comes before American, a line has been drawn. The only line drawn on 9/11 was Americans against terrorists. So to quote from a toast that goes back to our Founding Fathers, “Then join in hand, brave Americans all—By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!” I’ll drink to that!

Valentines Day 2009
February 14, 2009

I started writing this on Valentine’s Day and then I stopped. I needed some time to get my thoughts together.

First about the blog, so here I am one year after I started to blog and it’s Valentines Day again. Wow how things have changed. When I started Barack Obama was a long shot, Hillary was the front-runner and very few people had heard of Sarah Palin. The housing market was slowing down and the banks and the market seemed strong. What a difference a year makes.

Now back to Valentines Day. How do I love thee let me count the commercials that are trying to convince me that this is a real holiday. Am I the only one or has anyone else noticed the awful commercials that have been running this year. Some of them look like an ad for a soft porn movie. I don’t want a pajama gram, nor do I want a bear in a box. I’m perfectly content with a nice card and I love you. But what I really want is some of this good will the other 364 days of the year.

I think the card and We-B-Junk makers try to make us believe that as long as we do something on this one-day, all is well. Yeah all is well for their pockets. The sad part is many of their customers believe this too. I would rather have a hug, a touch, a gentle word or just general tenderness every few days and skip the holiday all together. Or maybe a card just because it’s Tuesday or how about a little note left next to the coffee pot. The commercials are so intense it almost makes one feel like a loser if a gazillion dollars isn’t spent on We-B-Junk. And may I repeat, most of it is junk. I’m a 50-50 I don’t need anymore-stuffed animals that sing, dance or that do nothing at all. I’m already a little more than svelte so I don’t need candy even if it is shaped like a heart.

I like the old saying “the best things in life are free” or nearly free. A compliment, a smile, a hug or better yet maybe not pushing my buttons when you know you can. Hmmm wouldn’t that be a unique concept. Since I’m a 50-50, I’ve been around for a while. I’m not sure if that makes me wise or cynical. I just don’t like feeling manipulated by the media on anything. Just the facts please and I’ll draw my on conclusions. For those of you who think Valentines Day is the greatest, most romantic thing, I hope yours was everything you dreamed it would be, as for me, mine was great. No one pushed my buttons!

Peter Pan
February 16, 2009

I have had one of those days. You know the kind. So as a result I have decided to resign from adulthood. I just really don’t want to do it anymore. I’m going to adopt Peter Pan’s philosophy and just not grow up. Do you remember how great life was when you were a kid? At least that’s how I’ve chosen to remember it and it was great. I’m tired of being responsible. I’m tired of always doing what I‘m supposed to do. Maybe I just want to go outside for recess and play. I could really use a good swing set or better yet a nice tire swing. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Spending the day hanging onto a tire swing. Ah sweet peace.

I know it’s just a fantasy but wouldn’t it be nice if we could step into a new existence just for a little while. Be someone else perhaps a Fairy Princess or a Frontier Woman or maybe even a Superhero. Just to be able to let down your guard because no one knows you. I am now Princess Frontier: Superhero to the old west. So what do I, Princess Frontier, want to do today? I’d like to ride a horse. Fast, really, really fast, with my hair flying in the wind, absolutely no fear as I race across the plains. My heart pounding so fast it wants to jump from my chest. The excitement, the exhilaration from the adrenaline, I am free! And while I’m at it I may as well save the cattle from the stampede. And help the good guys beat the bad guys. And then help build the settlement, and, and, and, STOP! This sounds a lot like my real life!

Maybe I’ll be like Huck Finn and get others to do all the work while I go fishing. Yeah that sounds way better. So someone else is saving the cattle, and someone else is helping the good guys, and someone else is building the settlement and I’m just fishing by a peaceful stream. I can feel the warm sun on my face. My skin is being softly touched by a gentle breeze. Life is good as Princess Frontier: Superhero to the old west. What’s that I feel, it’s a tugging on my line. It’s a fish! How exciting for me, a fish. What a wonderful fantasy. But then I'm brought back, what time is it? Drat, it’s time for me, Princess Frontier: Superhero to the old west, to fix dinner. I wonder if I have any fish in the fridge? Well at least it was fun while it lasted.

Ecstasy to Agony
February 13, 2009

Like so many others I rejoiced and celebrated the “Miracle on the Hudson”. US Airways Flight 1549’s safe landing on the Hudson River: The Ecstasy. Today I mourn The Agony: Continental Airlines Flight 3407. Two stories two very different outcomes. Both stories involved doing ordinary things on ordinary days and yet, in both cases, the extraordinary happened: Ecstasy to Agony.

Isn’t that what life is made of, just a series of one or the other? Don’t get me wrong I’m not so manic that I believe it’s only one or the other, but I do believe that it is degrees of both. Good verses evil, just or unjust, righteous or unrighteous, victory or defeat, but what is so confusing to me, it may depend on the set of eyes looking at the situation that decides which is which, although in cases such as the airlines, the decision is easy. But I dare say few are this easy.

I am a Bible believing Christian and I have been promised, in scripture, that I will have trials and tribulations. Yeah God! Today my heart breaks for the families and loved ones of Flight 3407. I’m sure as they went about their day they never dreamed this would happen, but it did. Now many are facing the greatest trials and tribulations of their lives and I weep with them. But according to the Gospel (which means Good News) I am also promised “the peace that passes all understanding”. My prayer is that as they look for the peace, they find the one through whom it passes.

As I was typing this I started my iTunes and just let it play randomly. The song playing under this was Amazing Grace, perhaps one of the best songs ever written. The second verse says, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved, how precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.” May His grace bring you peace. Amen.

A Trillion!?!
February 10, 2009

Holy Moly how much is a trillion dollars? I’m pretty sure it’s more than I make in a year. Probably more than I’ll make in a lifetime… You think? I find it amazing that the politicians throw this number around as if it is something we’re all familiar with. I heard someone explain that if I spent a million dollars a day and I started when Jesus was alive, I would be 78% of the way through a trillion dollars. Wow. So it would take over 2000 years for one person to spend a million dollars a day but it only takes government a day to spend a trillion dollars? I repeat, WOW.

Now if I understand this correctly there are only 300 million people in the United States. What if the government were to give every citizen; man, woman and child, a million dollars? Do you think that would stimulate the economy? Do you think that would help the housing market? Not to mention 300,000,000 dollars is 999,700,000,000 dollars less than a trillion dollars. Once again I say WOW. Ok I understand that the math is wrong and it doesn't work. But I don't think that this is going to work any better than my math!

I’m hoping that people who should be way smarter than me know what they are doing. Once this is a done deal, it’s a done deal! I most admit that when I see some of the citizens on TV talking about the stimulus the only thing I hear them talk about is: who is going to help me, who will give the money to me, who’s going to pay my bills, things of that nature. I find this mentality very unusual because I was brought up to answer those questions with one word: ME! If I want to eat, I need to work, if I want to buy something, I need to save the money, etc. for too long people have been taught to stand with their hand out and let someone else do the heavy lifting. We’ve become a society of entitlement believers instead of a work and reward system. If this continues eventually there will be no one left to do the work. What happens then? Seems to me that will be the end of life, as we know it. Am I the only one who thinks about this kind of stuff?

I remember a few times in history where this attitude was strong, Can you say Sodom and Gomorra? Or what about Rome? Let’s ask Nero to play his fiddle shall we? Wake up people! If you stand around with your hand out you may not like what comes along and fills it up.

When I think back to when Jesus walked on earth I’m reminded of a time that found people spending and using money for self-indulgence. It was called the Temple and they were called moneychangers. That didn’t work out too well for them either. But what I find the most interesting part of this story is that most people view this as Jesus having a temper tantrum and cleaning house. That’s not what happened, if you read the account from the gospel of John it reads: John 2:13-16 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. (NIV) That’s right “he made a whip out of cords”. Now I’ve never done this personally but I can imagine it takes a while to make. So he probably had time to think about it as he was working. I'm not saying people don't need help or that all people are looking for a handout but what I am saying is be careful it’s almost time for Passover and I don’t want to be caught with my hand in the cookie jar! But hey, that’s just me.

It’s Groundhog Day!
February 5, 2009

Yes boys and girls it’s that time of year again. I know it's February 2nd but I had to wait for the outcome to post this. Doesn’t it seem like we just saw our old buddy Punxsutawney Phil looking for his shadow? And yet, here he is again. And guess what, he saw his shadow and it looks like 6 more weeks of winter. Who knew a groundhog was such a prognosticator? Do you suppose there are other animals out there that can predict the future? I believe that animals have a reactionary defense mechanism that allows them to protect themselves from danger, but to be able to tell us how much longer winter is, well that’s pretty impressive. Especially when the poor little guy is in a box and someone drags him out and decides whether the sun is shinning or not. And by-the-way Phil really didn’t want to come out because he bit Mayor Bloomberg in the process. That should have been enough of a clue that winter is dragging on.

Now having said all of that, I really do enjoy the whole ceremonial event of Groundhog Day. I think it’s fun and if I had the opportunity I would go to the festivities. And of course, one of my favorite movies is Groundhog Day. I like it on so many different levels. But perhaps the main reason is I believe it to be an allegory for life.

When this movie first came out I was working in the world of Blue Suits. (Corporate American for those who never had that wonderful experience.) They will forever be known as “BS”. Isn’t it amazing how some things just name themselves? But I digress. Since I worked in the “Creative Department” we were all considered outsiders by the real BS’s. One of my friends had an office across from mine and I’d walk by and ask how she was and she’d simply reply, “It’s Groundhog Day.” And we all knew what she meant; different day, same BS. I always think of her this time of year.

I can’t even guess how many times I’ve seen this movie over the years and every time I watch it I learn something. The lead character Phil (yes like the Groundhog) starts out as an egocentric womanizer. After he is stuck in Groundhog Day he transforms from egocentric to angry to suicidal to enlightenment. Once Phil realizes that he may be stuck there forever he embraces the situation and learns that only his attitude can change. Isn’t that just like life!

How many times do we wake up day after day and do the same thing because it’s what we know or it’s what makes us comfortable? Even if it makes us miserable, it’s Groundhog Day. What I have started doing in these situations is to ask myself, ok, what am I doing wrong and what am I supposed to learn from this situation? Obviously God is trying to teach me something. The really cool thing about God; I never fail a test I just keep taking it until I pass. So I guess how long I live in Groundhog Day depends on how long it takes me to change my attitude. Usually it involves something like, I am wrong God and you are right. So if you feel you’ve been living in Groundhog Day, hmmm or maybe it’s all just BS! Either way there are only 362 days to figure it out.

What a Super… Bowl!

February 2, 2009

I grew up in the Steel Valley. You should know one thing about the Valley: the blood of the people runs black and gold. Football in the Valley is more of a religion than a sport; from PeeWee to High School and College but most importantly to the Steelers. Some of the fans are really crazy and the rest are totally insane. I have one family member who has a Steelers room in his house and his truck has Steelers upholstery. So to say that we are Steelers fans is somewhat of an understatement. In my family it’s not as much an option as a family creed. It would be unthinkable to cheer for anyone else. So on Sunday the family gathered together for the game.

The funny thing is I’m not much of a football fan. I tend to get turned off by the rivalry and nasty talk that floats among the fans. It’s just another area where we as a nation can no longer agree to disagree. There was a time when fans from opposite sides could watch the games together but it’s gotten to the point where saying I disagree with you is the same as saying “I hate you, you’re stupid”. For some reason the world has come to the place where if we disagree, someone has to be right and therefore, someone else has to be wrong. It is no longer possible to perhaps have two opinions on one subject. Friendly rivalry is dead and I’m right and you’re wrong is the only answer. I find this very sad.

I really enjoy having a spirited debate with another intelligent adult, or at least I used to. But today if I express my opinion and it differs from those around me, then I’m being argumentative. I really don’t mean to be, and in most cases I’m not even trying to change someone else’s mind. I may be trying to get them to recognize there can be two answers to a question or two opinions on the same subject. So few things in life is either right or wrong or black or white.

What I do know is Sunday’s Super Bowl was one of the best football games I have ever seen, and I think most people would agree. On the other hand I’m sure some PoPu or Martian will disagree with me. Maybe someone who likes birds, especially Cardinals. It says in Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” I wonder how much of our edge we are losing by not sharpening one another? I’ve never considered myself to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, maybe now I know why. But I do know that our Steel Blade was sharp enough to cut through Sunday’s bird…mm good.