Archive for October, 2007
The Family Bed
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007It turns out more people do share beds with their kids than care to admit. I don’t think it’s a big deal, really. With parents working so much and gone, kids sleeping in the same room is a way for them to stay connected.
When we went on the Disney Cruise and all five of us were shoved like sardines into one tiny space, everyone slept the best. I could hear all my children breathing. I knew when someone was having a bad dream. The kids slept awesome. We could all relax. I actually considered having a room constructed like that–two bunks and a baby bed in our bedroom. It worked out so well. (We had heavy drapes dividing the sleeping quarters. Wink. Wink.)
What do you think about shared sleeping quarters? Indians did it and primitive societies all over still do. Why not Westerners?
Questioning Barack Obama’s Patriotism
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
Why wouldn’t a person, especially a presidential candidate NOT put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem, affecting, instead, the fig leaf pose? Is this person a renegade? A rebel? Is this person just not very political and doesn’t see the significance?
Or, like Clinton with his feeble salutes, does the candidates body language indicate something more fundamental? Perhaps the candidate doesn’t have America in his heart.
Perhaps.
Free Speech on Campus
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007Free intimidation, more like. Look at what happened to Nonie Darwish, the Arab-American author who spoke out at Wellesley about the threat from Islamofascism. She says of the Muslim girls who disrupted the speech, disrespecting her and others in attendance:
“Muslim girls like these are like gangsters. They know more about their rights in America than the Jewish girls do. The Muslim girls all have a chip on their shoulders.”And then she is silent. Softly, she says: “We are fighting an avalanche. We are too few. I am frightened by my culture of origin. I am scared of my own people.”
That’s on a college campus. There are far more examples of attempts, by diverse people, to share a diverse message. And here is what happens when people share a view that isn’t politically correct, namely, that radical Islam gives moderate Islam a bad name.
That’s right, being for free speech and against fascism and saying so, well, that’s just crazy talk.
Bon Chance, La France!
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007Samzidata has a snort out loud post regarding the demise of the French countryside. That formerly crumbling rural haven where no one could afford to live and no one wanted to, anyway, being that it was cut off from civilization.
No more.
Provençal France is now the refuge of Brits and Americans, meanwhile the young French ditch Paris for England. The French find this Pepé Le Pew smelly:
Another French vignette of decline is of clever sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, who can not seem to get jobs worthy of their obvious talents and superior educations, unless they go to vulgar England. Even there, they will have to start out as waiters and waitresses, but at least they’ll have a chance of better things soon. In France, education is obviously far better than in vulgar England, but in vulgar England, for some reason probably involving evil America, more stuff is actually being done.So, will France’s voters try to make the symptoms of economic decline and of the new super-suburbanisation illegal? Probably. Good luck with that, mes amis. You will need it. A smarter attitude would be to stop fretting about these changes and to start profiting from them, as many French people are already doing, of course, not least by selling their rural shacks for silly English money.
Truly, it’s insulting for an inferior culture to triumph over a culture so self-evidently superior.
C’est la vie!
A Good Soldier
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007Honoring true heroes. I meant to link to this yesterday. Congratulations to the family of Michael Murphy of Patchogue, N.Y., your pain and his sacrifice mean everything and won’t be forgotten.
A formal thank you to our soldiers and marines and those willing to die for an idea: Freedom.
Surrender
Monday, October 22nd, 2007C.S. Lewis said, “We are all female before God.”
Friends of mine who struggle with their faith right now, in fact, may even be devoid in any faith, except in themselves, shared that they had demanded and confronted God, wanting answers. I gave that idea much thought. It’s certainly Biblical. Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord, desiring to be blessed and he was rewarded for his prolonged cage match. To men, the concept of struggle, physical domination and aggression is more natural. As providers and protectors and as the pursuers (often) in relationships, they naturally go for it.
Women in contrast, are physically weaker, must rely on other forms of conflict resolution and find that they often have to surrender control to get what they want. And here, I’m talking specifically, sexually. No woman can force an orgasm. A man can make it happen. A woman must allow it to happen. It is a huge difference in physiology and psychology.
Women must also surrender to birthing. It is my belief that many women schedule their C-sections, even though perfectly healthy, because they are in no way interested in surrendering the control to give birth. A woman, drug-free, cannot give birth without giving it up. It just won’t happen.
To know God, though, struggle must sometimes be secondary to surrender. Sometimes, we must let the spirit wash over and through us. If we think about it, many of the best experiences in life aren’t the ones we control or dominate. Often, they’re the happy accidents, the moments of fate that seem so perfect and wonderful. The breath-taking sunset with the cool sand under our feet and the waves lapping ashore. A gentle rain where the sun shines through producing a vibrant rainbow. A child’s laugh. A piece of music sung perfectly. During these times, we feel grounded yet free, strangely connected to our fellow man, full of love for all that we’ve been given, resplendent in the joy of being.
In those moments, even a skeptic wonders about God.
So much of our understanding of God is filtered through our own experience and perspective. My notions of God have evolved significantly especially since I’ve had children. My jealous, consuming love for them has put God in a whole new perspective. I understand his lust for vengeance a whole lot better. My own mother-bearishness is fearsome to behold. It’s instinctual and immediate when a threat presents itself. God loves me that much? He surely demonstrated his fury when His children were threatened or hurt.
And this was the same God who gave His only begotten Son that NONE should perish but have everlasting life. Now that, I have an almost impossible time understanding, except that as the Father of us all, He knew He would lose all of us without His beloved Son.
Giving birth helped me to understand the notion of giving up and letting go and facing death so my child could live. Psalms 23:4:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
A woman giving birth feels like she is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. In more primitive cultures, the ritual of a young man going on a hunt was akin to the woman giving birth for the first time. Facing death, living fully, almost recklessly, coming to the brink not knowing how it will turn out, risking it and possibly dying in the process–so you can live. Birth.
It is also rebirth. Being Born Again is likewise embracing life, fully, willing to give up the physical life if necessary to life fully forever. Like giving birth, it is a daunting notion. To hunt down and slay our own desires, to give and sacrifice and love another. The abandonment of lovemaking doesn’t even come close. Giving birth is a shadow. Ritual sacrifice barely touches the notion. Being a living sacrifice, surrendering to a Power you can’t see and trust is there.
So often, Christian surrender happens backwards. That is, we don’t feel it. At least we don’t feel it like we feel a baby’s soft, perfect skin. We don’t feel it like we see the tangible results of a successful hunt. Surrendering to God means sometimes obeying what seem like impossible commands. And we’re not the first to think that it’s an impossible quest–this surrender.
The solution may be to obey and understand later. This requires faith. It requires staying open to the possibilities. Like a woman in a lovemaking session, ecstasy is not guaranteed. It is guaranteed to never happen, though, if it’s never tried. During our Christian walk, sublimating our ways and elevating Godly ways takes faith. But like all things, with practice, understanding, even ecstasy comes. And just as often, it’s mind-blowing and transcendent and strangely surprising. It’s new every time.
Rather than wrestling God, consider surrender. We’re all female before God’s mighty sword, as C.S. Lewis noted. And true communion with light and truth is impossible without surrender.
The Real Iraq
Monday, October 22nd, 2007Michael Yon’s latest dispatch from Iraq relays his disbelief and shock about the disconnect between reality in Iraq and what the press puts out here in America. I’m guessing that what he feels is akin to my reaction to watching the news after getting all my info online, but multiplied exponentially. The difference is so startling that I have quickly changed channels because the news (all of it, domestic and foreign) is so slanted and depressing.
The American media loathe George W. Bush. Yon makes no mention of this fact in his post, but the loathing surely motivates the misrepresentation of facts over here. No “thinking” person believes that Bush can succeed at anything. That’s the premise and it’s certainly the glib belief in Washington. It reminds me of a doctor looking at my son’s ultrasound reports showing a resolved bilateral nephrocalcinosis after only one week and saying, “It’s not possible” with the evidence that it is indeed possible in his hands. Such is the state of cognitive dissonance in the media. They must ignore the evidence otherwise it challenges other cherished beliefs.
But that mind-blindness gripping the media has consequences, because the Iraq war is first and foremost a war of information. There is no question that America has superior military power, but the war won’t be won by might alone. Minds and hearts must change both among the American and Iraqi populace. Without that, the war is lost, no matter the military ability. Yon notes:
Clearly, a majority of Americans believe the current set of outdated fallacies passed around mainstream media like watered down drinks at happy hour. Why wouldn’t they? The cloned copy they get comes from the same sources that list the specials at the local grocery store, and the hours and locations of polling places for town elections. These same news sources print obituaries and birth announcements, give play-by-play for local high school sports, and chronicle all the painful details of the latest celebrity to fall from grace.To illustrate the absurdity to which this conceit of the collective has grown, I’m tempted to borrow from the boy in the fairy tale, only this time pointing to and shouting at the doomsday-sayers parading by: “Hey, they aren’t wearing any clothes. . . . ” Except in this case, I realize I am not a lone voice.
Yon proposes something drastic (for a reporter) to remedy this absurd situation:
Those readers can first check to see if their local paper is a member of the NNA . Because only NNA members will be able to” . . . print excerpts of Michael Yon’s dispatches, including up to two of his photographs from each dispatch. Online excerpts may use up to 8 paragraphs, use 1-3 photos, and then link back to the full dispatch on his site saying ‘To continue reading, click here.’”
If their local paper is a member of NNA, readers can contact the editor, urging their participation. [If Bob Owens’ experience is a reliable indicator, this might take several, uh, prompts.] By encouraging their local daily or weekly newspapers to reprint these dispatches in their print editions, more people without internet access can begin to see a more accurate reflection of the progress I have observed and chronicled in dispatches like “Achievements of the Heart,” “7 Rules: 1 Oath,” “The Hands of God,” and “Three Marks on the Horizon.”
I would suggest, this, too: You need to read guys like Michael Yon. It is impossible to be adequately informed by reading the newspaper or watching the news. Who gives a flip about Brittney Spears’ latest crotch shot? Who cares that Lindsey just got out of rehab and stole a boyfriend? Good grief! The War in Iraq has life-changing ramifications for our children. We all will be affected by the success or failure in Iraq.
Iraq is NOT Vietnam. The West has serious, compelling long-term interests in the stability of the Middle East region. It would be nice if the MSM recognized that fact and set aside their hatred of Bush for a few minutes to report like grown-ups. But that would mean that they’d have to dedicate a few minutes to it and take some time from Brittney and Lindsey. I know, that would be terrible.
European Xenophobia
Sunday, October 21st, 2007I think there’s a misunderstanding about Europe and the Muslim immigrants, some of whom are currently burning cars in the Netherlands after a Moroccan youth got shot for knifing two police officers. Europe doesn’t claim to or even hope to integrate “the other”. They condescend to and separate “the other”. Europe is closer in ideals to India’s treatment of the untouchables than to America’s notion of a melting pot.
Multiculturalism is a means of keeping separation rather than some high-minded way to inclusion.
Over twenty years ago, while touring Paris in a stretch Mercedes with a multi-lingual interpretor who was under the mistaken notion that my dad was some GM dignitary, I was shocked to hear this learned man spout vile epithets about the Moroccan residents of the slums. My idealistic 16 year old years had never heard such a thing–though racism no doubt existed where I grew up and everywhere else in America. The man ranted on Gypsies and Muslims and on and on. And as we drove by the gorgeous architecture and beautiful city planning, we passed the slums. Whitish-gray buildings devoid of personality and stuffed full with a mass of underprivileged humanity. That experience and the archaic indoor plumbing and pornographic images decorating the train station darkened my view of Paris–an otherwise fascinating and thrilling city.
Today, Gateway Pundit’s post about the riots in the Netherlands where one out of sixteen residents is Muslim and where the country has had unprecedented emigration–by the bourgeois. Commenter Daniel says this to the Americans engaging in a bit of schadenfreude at the Netherland’s expense:
The Dutch are far from perfect, but a bunch of pansy appeasers they are not. They have a trend towards neutrality (because they’re a small country), they are more left-winged then we are (political discussion are… fun), they have a crazy fetish for gun control (TASERS are illegal here @.@ ), and they have a knee-jerk hatred of Bush, but this particular case? Isn’t because they’ve been bowing to muslim power recently, no sir.
The Dutch in particular don’t have a history of appeasing totalitarians. They paid a steep price for fighting the Germans, a fight the Germans didn’t expect.
Europe in general and Germany specifically, don’t do well with “the other”. While Americans might view Europe as “Europe”, Europe is an artificial economic construct put together to compete with America. There is much mutual animosity between European countries and even hatred for neighbors not to mention immigrants. Xenophobia is not the exception. It’s the rule. For all the angst Americans feel about the Mexican Illegal Immigration debate, it’s nothing like the European fear and loathing.
As Daniel says:
I don’t think you guys are being fair to the Dutch. I live here, and I’m as red as they come. One of my friends is a prosecutor of illegal immigrants (yeah, they actually prosecute them up here), and in my experience, actual attitudes towards Morrocan boys is unfriendly: Morrocans are often involved in crimes, and the Dutch know it. Remember, Pym Fortyn pushed for “integration” of immigrants, making sure they know and understand the language and values of the dutch (before he was assassinated by a left winger), and his party had overwhelming support after his death before it collapsed due to lack of leadership. Even so, today integration is a big deal (I went through a course myself). Geert Wilders (a slighty nutty right-winger who wants to ban the Koran and thinks Turkey is the enemy) has considerable (and growing) support in the country as well, and believe me, he and his party are no friends to muslim immigrants.
Mark Steyn worries about the waning of Europe. I worry about the waxing of Europe. As Claire Berlinski noted in her excellent book Menace in Europe, there is a totalitarian impulse under the veneer of civility. Multi-culturism is just a civilized term for class-ism and separation.
The question, who will European’s blame for their situation? The logical answer would be the people burning their cars, but maybe not. Berlinski notes:
In a poll conducted by researchers at the University of Bielefeld, it was found that 51 percent of Germans believed Israel’s present-day treatment of the Palestinians to be equivalent to the Nazi atrocities against European Jews during the Second World War; 68 percent believed that Israel was waging a “war of extermination” against the Palestinians; 82 percent were angered by Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians; 62 percent were sick of “all this harping on” about German crimes against Jews, and 68 percent found it “annoying” that Germans today were still held to blame for Nazi crimes. In a triumph of understatement, the German pollsters remarked that the findings “may be worrying.
Faced with extinction, a species can either submit or fight. Who will Europe fight should Europe decide to fight? I believe that Europe will wake up and fight, and that’s what worries me.
Comcast Censors Users
Friday, October 19th, 2007In the spirit of openness, Comcast (not the Federal government) is interfering with some websites ability to transmit information. This is a disturbing trend to me. Why? There is not enough competition in the marketplace for consumers to find a better rival product. Cable companies essentially have a monopoly and then they engage in this type of behavior. An industry where there were multiple competitors where one wanted to shoot himself in the foot? Well. More power to him.
Work-Life Balance: Individuals Decide
Thursday, October 18th, 2007It’s almost impossible to fathom how intrusive work, with the aid of the latest technology, has become for the average corporate babe/dude. A friend who just got promoted had the pleasure of being away from family to celebrate well into the evening after work at a restaurant with an irritating boss, who, not surprisingly, chose to forgo relationships and children to live the feminist dream and hates anyone who didn’t make that choice and so makes them pay–by going to a late dinner to satisfy the missing social needs.
Those who are self-employed have more freedom. Others have sacrificed career advancement just so they can say no to inane dinners and obtrusive work policies.
Ann Althouse pointed me to this New York Times editorial, “Oh Joy! Breakfast With The Boss“. It analyzes different ways people have coped with the assault on down time. Having lots of executives come through our office and working with others on the business end of things, I have seen many choices and they tend to be internally motivated not externally dictated. That is, some executives create hard boundaries for their family lives and rarely budge. Some people consistently choose work over family because they’re convinced that’s the only way to excel.
Both are right.
While it does take a stronger constitution to fight the “man” in certain work environments, it often comes down to priorities. And, from what I’ve seen, people make choices because what they do (whatever it is) makes them happy.
