Category Archives: Uncategorized

Puppy salutes Martin Luther King’s Dream

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Barclay and the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Barclay and the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fourteen-week old Barclay was reading the morning paper where he read for the first time about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his “I have a Dream speech” 50 years ago this Wednesday. “Woof!” said Barclay. Then his eyes became sad as he read the other stories in the paper and told his Dad to put on the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) shirt Barclay’s Mom found at a garage sale. The America Barclay wants is one that prevents cruelty to animals, including humans.

“Dad,” he said, “We have to go to Washington this Wednesday! We have to keep the dream alive.”

“We can’t go to Washington,” said Dad. “We’re not ready to go to Washington. Not until you learn to go potty outside. Maybe next year, when you’ve learned that going outside is your contribution to the prevention of cruelty to humans and the American way of life, we can go to Washington and visit Congress to train them too.”

Barclay looked at Dad and said Dad wasn’t worthy to wear that t-shirt. Dad goes inside all the time. “It’s prejudice, pure and simple and I won’t have any part in it! Dad hates dogs!”

“Sit,” said Dad.

“Just another form of cruelty and intimidation,” said Barclay. “Martin would never have treated me like that.”

“You don’t understand,” said Dad. “Martin was able to accomplish what he did in the Civil Rights Movement and the Peace Movement because he put himself under the strict discipline of non-violent resistance. Martin Luther King, Jr. understood discipline and self-discipline. I want you to learn the same thing. Every time you go in the house, it’s an act of violent resistance. It’s an act of terror. Do you understand? Sit!”

Barclay sat, knowing that the treat was in Dad’s hand. He took the treat, then squatted right in front of Dad, and said, “Maybe some day I’ll be self-disciplined like Dr. King. Right now I’m just a puppy in training. … So next year we can go Washington, D.C. and train everyone in Congress and the White House not to make a mess in their own houses?”

Poor People’s March 50 Years Ago Today

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Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 years ago

Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 years ago

2013 MLK: "What happened?"

2013 MLK: “What happened?”

Glock owner at State Capitol hearing. Photo by David Joles, StarTribune.

Glock owner at State Capitol hearing. Photo by David Joles, StarTribune.

Toothpaste

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Pepsodent

My dentist says the toothpastes on the BOTTOM SHELF (the lowest priced ones) do as much as the more expensive brands on the upper shelves.

I grew up choosing between Pepsodent and Ipana. I found Pepsodent on the bottom shelf recently. It tastes just like I remember it. The cost was under $2.00. 

I didn’t find Ipana. But I found this YouTube video of the old Ipana commercial – the origins of television marketing that skews our perceptions by creating needs based on a common enemy.

Click HERE for Bucky-Bucky Beaver, Ipana toothpaste and the decay terrorist in the black hat to see how far we have(n’t) come in the consumer society.

 

 

As the marketers know, human needs are insatiable, both real and imagined.

Glocks in the State Capitol Building

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Glock owner at State Capitol hearing. Photo by David Joles, StarTribune.

Glock owner at State Capitol hearing. Photo by David Joles, StarTribune.

Not in my worst nightmares did I think I’d see the day.

This morning’s Star Tribune front page “Debate Triggers Show of Weapons” and the accompanying photographs are chilling. There are two photos. In one a young man with a loaded Glock strapped to his waist stands with arms folded, looking defiantly smug while he waits to testify about before a legislative committee in the Minnesota State Capitol. In the other two men sit at the hearing table with microphones. One reads from a manuscript; the other covers his face with his left hand as though he can’t believe they’re even discussing this.

I identify with the man with the hand covering his face. I don’t understand the man who brought the .40-caliber Glock to the hearing loaded with 15 rounds. Why would he do that?

“You have to be your own hero on your own white horse” is the way he explained it. He feels safer with his Glock.

Put next to that the statement of Pope Francis, as reported by Vatican Radio: “Faith and violence are incompatible.”

The Pope was preaching on the exact text often used by those who believe that violence and division are compatible with Christian faith. The text is Luke 12:51 in which Jesus asks, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” The division, as interpreted by the Pontiff, is between living for yourself or living in the light of God. Here are Francis’ words:

“The word of the Gospel does not authorize the use of force to spread the faith. It is just the opposite: the true strength of the Christian is the power of truth and love, which leads to the renunciation of all violence. Faith and violence are incompatible”.

The halls of a legislature are intended to be sacred spaces where differences are resolved for the sake of the greater good, where my self-interest and your self-interest, as they are perceived by elected representatives, are expressed and resolved peacefully without intimidation. The chambers of representative democracy are the last place where any legislator or innocent visitor to the State Capitol should face the explicit or implicit intimidation of someone with a Glock.

Faith and violence are incompatible… so are democracy and intimidation.

Imaginary Democracy

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This article is long but so important. Noam Chomsky speaks about reality and democracy.

Link

Deepwater Horizon fire

Deepwater Horizon fire

Get “the other side” of the story on BP and the Gulf Coast communities. Everything is NOT fine.

The date is TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. Time: 7:00 p.m. Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church, 145 Engler Blvd. in Chaska, MN. The Topic: Beyond Environmental and Human Extraction: Deepwater Horizon Three Years Later.

Here’s why this is worth your time (a quote from the MinnPost commentary):

“They call the oil rigs “rigs” for a reason. The whole thing is rigged.

“If we see a stranger on what used to be Isle de Jean Charles; if we see canals still crisscrossing through the marsh; if we’ve seen the fires of Deepwater Horizon light up the Gulf of Mexico and slick the waters and estuaries with black gold; if we’ve seen the evidence of breaking-and-entering in the house of the Gulf Coast waters, if we see empty oyster shells where once there were oysters; if we’ve heard about the oil companies hiding without anyone playing seek, we can ignore the game or we can seek and find for the sake of survival.”

Yesterday’s New York Times published Gulf Spill Sampling Questioned. Click THIS LINK to read the story. Researchers found a higher level of contamination than federal agencies did in water, sediment and seafood samples taken in 2010 after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Our speakers for this Dialogues event, Kris Peterson and Richard Krajeski, are there in the field. They split their time as researchers and disaster recovery professionals with the University of New Orleans’ Center for Hazards Assessment, Response, and Technology (CHART) and serving as pastors to the Bayou Blue Presbyterian Church of Gray, Louisiana. Kris and Dick work most closely with the subsistence communities of the Louisiana Delta, including the Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, whose traditional homeland is disappearing.

Hope to see you there.

Sermon on Faith and Economics

Video

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A Sermon at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN, August 11, 2013.

Solitude and Society Sermon

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The Gift of Encouragement

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“You’re going to like Via Lucis this morning,” said Kay, as I came down for coffee.

She knows that I share much in common with the Hasidic rabbis described in Elie Wiesel’s Four Hasidic Masters and their Struggle against Melancholy. Like Rabbe Barukh of Medzebozh, anguish is part of my faith and character. “Faith and the abyss are next to one another,” said Barukh to one of his students. There are times, especially lately, when the abyss has been so close that I have considered silence, not speech and not writing, to be the better part of wisdom.

One of the benefits of creating Views from the Edge has been the discovery of Dennis Aubrey and PJ McKey through their blog Via Lucis Photography. Their posts speak to me in the way that little else does, in no small part, I think, because they combine art photography, careful research, and exquisite commentary on the Romanesque and Gothic church architecture. Their work elevates the discussion in a world filled with so many needless words. Their post this morning (click below on “Our Personal Favorites” left me speechless, humbled, and encouraged. Thank you, PJ and Dennis. One of these days we’ll meet face-to-face.

Our Personal Favorites.

Dad was bad today

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Barclay (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) and bad Dad (homo sapiens)

Barclay (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) and bad Dad (homo sapiens)

The new puppy (3 pounds 8 ounces) was leaping from my arms, flying to the sidewalk before I knew what was happening. It happened so quickly. Barclay was still excited from meeting the children around the corner; he was not his customary docile self.

The plunge from my arms was terrifying. The yelping was blood-curdling. I thought for sure he had hit his head or broken a leg or suffered some internal injury. He crawled forward under the Blue Spruce for protection, still crying loudly. I fetched him from under the tree, held him close, apologized profusely – “I’m so sorry, little guy. I’m so sorry” – and carried him into the house, still traumatized and whimpering. He settled down in my arms while I checked his body for signs of damage. Finding none, I put him down to see how he would walk. His walk was slow but straight. He spent the rest of the day more quietly but was fine as the day wore on, returning to his playful self during late afternoon play time.

Barclay greeted Kay’s return from work with a wagging tail and kisses to her face, as if to say, “Dad was bad today, but I forgave him. I’m glad you’re home!”