Politics suck

I am getting tired, tired of reading about politics, tired of seeing relatively intelligent people reduced to talking points and knee-jerk reactions to situations. Do people not realize that two people marrying in California is not going to affect your marriage in Pennsylvania? Or, all the police officers in Arizona are not racists that will immediately ignore the prohibition against profiling and go right to profiling.

Perhaps not everyone that attends a tea-party rally is racist, and not everyone that attends an anti-war rally is not an America hating communist.

The labels are insane too, liberal, progressive, conservative, neo this and soc that; it is tiresome

Then you find yourself on a blog, reading, commenting, and not realizing that the whole place is an echo chamber where dissenting views are frowned upon. They are out there, and the topics covered run the gamut from science to politics to religion to child rearing.

It sometimes is a good idea to back away, to read contrary opinions, and to determine what is important in life.

Commenting on blogs, not so important, really. Staying true to who you are, living your life as best as you can, now that is important.

So I am working on this...not easy, but it has to get out:

Chairs, never empty

A team,

A group,

A family;

Not complete

Without those

Who led,

Who left,

And those

Who exist

In heart.

These chairs may

Not be

Full,

And yet,

We fill them

With our love,

Our faith.

Or this:

A line was added

To include Him,

Not really needed

He’s always within.

Then, a single chair

Left empty to show

He would be there

To help us grow.

Not needed, that empty space;

His presence was felt in that place

Where we gathered to share His grace,

His love, His touch on every face.

Now two have gone,

And in His house reside;

And with each new dawn,

Less pain for those who tried

To bridge that gap between

Life and death and Him;

Those on whom we lean

For whom now the light is dim.

To the rest of us it now falls

To be the strength we would use

When it was our stubborn walls

We needed help to lose.

To be those to start

The healing, the acceptance

That with God in the heart

We overcome our reluctance.

We follow those we see

As forever strong,

Yet the truth may be

Just like that song.

And on our backs, now lean

Please, all those who feel

The world has become mean

And it’s too hard to deal.

Just remember this fact

Before we call it a day

A team is always intact

Regardless of the way

The members take their

Leave. The important thing

Is that they were in the Chair,

Part of the eternal ring.

Life is hard, harder when one has faith sometimes, 'cause that faith can seem shattered by random things.

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Might work...might not...

a poem

Sometimes one comes across a poem that makes sense right away becuase it is written to be read, to be understood, not to make the reader feel stupid or out of touch with whatever group the poet is trying to impress. Once upon a time by the Nigerian poet Gabriel Okara is just such a poem:

And of course it will not paste here...sometimes Blogger sucks. So, if interested, go read it, it really is worth the click.

There is hope

Read this, posted at the Arab News, and take hope. Other than a couple of backwards comments, the sentiment is wonderful, it is a Muslim writer questioning the murder of Muslims by Muslims in the name of God. If we can teach the commentors that it is indeed Muslims, not Jews or westerners, we will be on the path to that elusive peace we all want.

Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico 2010 - al.com

Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico 2010 - al.com

So I have been looking for a good place to figure out what is going on down in the Gulf and this site seems to be fair. Some sites were anti-oil, others anti-Obama, and still others anti-BP. At least the site above covers the whole mess, linking to other stories.

It drives me nuts that this happened, that BP simply ignored advice from the rig (allegedly), and that 11 people have lost their lives. Add to that the environmental destruction and the economic destruction (made worse by a knee-jerk moratorium), and this is going to hurt not only the Gulf states but the entire country.

The image was borrowed from here:

2 Teens Missing, Dozens Rescued After "Duck Boat" Crash In Delaware River - cbs3.com

2 Teens Missing, Dozens Rescued After "Duck Boat" Crash In Delaware River - cbs3.com

Please, for those of you that pray, pray for the two missing, pray for our youth and leaders who were on that boat. We need one of those miracles right now, a blessing, a happy ending to a tragic day, if at all possible. The tenuous nature of our lives, of everything that surrounds us hits too close to home sometimes. Some very good people, youth and adults, are going to need our support, your support.
For those of my readers that do not pray, simply send a thought towards Marshallton and Hungary, then hug your kids, your spouses, and your friends; tell them you love them.