First of all.
If you haven't donated to Puerto Rico. Click Here.
They are Americans. They need our help and they sure as f**k aren't getting it from the Federal Government.
If you can't donate money, find a Salvation Army or a drop off point and drop off stuff. Again. They need help.
Okay--back?
On 60 Minutes yesterday Oprah hosted a roundtable discussion about how divided we are. She invited people from across the political spectrum. It was interesting. It is what we should be doing, sitting and talking about what is going on.
The thing that scared me though, is that they mentioned civil war.
I am so scared about that. I was so scared that I was filled with anxiety when my daughter came and played with me. I worried that her countrymen and women would see her as other and take her from me. I held her so tight and I started to cry. I tried to pass them off as happy tears but the five year old wasn't buying it.
One of my friends who is of the same political bent as I am got annoyed with me because I say that we have to start people to people who don't agree with us. He's happy in his echo chamber. He pastes the most far-left memes on his Facebook page so people who agree with him already can nod their heads. He has happily un-friended all the people who don't agree with him.
I won't.
I have unfollowed people when I don't want hate to clog my feed, but I make sure they see what I can post. Maybe they will like the picture of my daughter with the colander on her head.
It's the ten days of repentance and I repent of a lot. I want to change in small and big ways.
I need to acknowledge that my pre-diabetes has turned to type 2 instead of burrowing my head in the sand. I need to take steps to take far better care of my health.
I need to exercise. I will be joining the Y or Health Center.
I need to go on social media fasts. I might do that in a way to honor the sabbath. I don't know. Still thinking about it.
I need to forgive.
Yom Kippur is coming up and I need to forgive.
I need to forgive the people who voted for Donald Trump. Some of them are my friends. Some of them are horrified with their decision. I need to forgive my fellow countrymen who are both elated by their choice and horrified at what they have done with their precious votes.
I need to forgive Trump and the current administration. Please understand by forgive I do not mean acquiescing to all that they suggest and do. I mean that I need to stop letting it eat at me. I need to stop giving into the hate and fury that it causes in myself. I need to let go of that hate and channel the anger into fighting the actions--not the people.
I have no illusions as to how difficult that it will be, but the hate and the fury they cause me is eating me up. It is not helping me or our nation.
If we fall into civil war I don't want to say that there was nothing I could do to stop it. There IS something I can do. I can be the change I need to see. I can be better than I have been. That is what Yom Kippur is about. Trying, always trying to be better.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy new year and all who celebrate an easy fast.
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religion. Show all posts
Monday, September 25, 2017
Monday, May 8, 2017
Microblog Monday - Hello
So my inlaws are here.
They are able to watch my lovely Lotus so D and I went to the city and won the raffle for The Book of Mormon.
I loved it. It was funny and fun. I'm humming the tunes and enjoying.
And thinking.
I'm Jewish.
We don't tend to evangelize. (Here's some views on why.) We don't go out and say that if you don't become Jewish you will burn in hell-o. Heck Jews don't believe in hell.
I've never understood why people do evangelize. Why do you care how someone else worships? Even if you think that yours is the one and only way to salvation, there are better ways than saying if you don't worship my way you're going to hell.
You can show your faith by example. (Something our Congress is not doing--as per my last post.) Become a good person and do good works for your friends. Comfort them when they are sick. Watch their children (and don't evangelize to them either!) when they can't. When they ask what makes you so treasured, you can explain how your faith helps you.
I've been told that the seders I make have made the non-Jewish friends I invite consider Judaism. I know several Jews-by-choice who have had relationships with Jewish men/women. The relationship soured but they liked the holidays and the outlook so they stayed.
Religion is one of the most personal choices. It is between a person and their deity. That's it, no matter what organized religion wants to tell us.
That being said--I highly recommend The Book of Mormon.
They are able to watch my lovely Lotus so D and I went to the city and won the raffle for The Book of Mormon.
I loved it. It was funny and fun. I'm humming the tunes and enjoying.
And thinking.
I'm Jewish.
We don't tend to evangelize. (Here's some views on why.) We don't go out and say that if you don't become Jewish you will burn in hell-o. Heck Jews don't believe in hell.
I've never understood why people do evangelize. Why do you care how someone else worships? Even if you think that yours is the one and only way to salvation, there are better ways than saying if you don't worship my way you're going to hell.
You can show your faith by example. (Something our Congress is not doing--as per my last post.) Become a good person and do good works for your friends. Comfort them when they are sick. Watch their children (and don't evangelize to them either!) when they can't. When they ask what makes you so treasured, you can explain how your faith helps you.
I've been told that the seders I make have made the non-Jewish friends I invite consider Judaism. I know several Jews-by-choice who have had relationships with Jewish men/women. The relationship soured but they liked the holidays and the outlook so they stayed.
Religion is one of the most personal choices. It is between a person and their deity. That's it, no matter what organized religion wants to tell us.
That being said--I highly recommend The Book of Mormon.
Friday, May 5, 2017
Christian Does Not Equal Good
So 217 members of the United States House of Representatives have decided that they want to be mass murderers.
The vast majority of these people identify themselves as Christians.
Accordion to Merriam Webster the word Christian means someone who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ. I decided to look through my husband's bible to see exactly where they might be taking their inspirations. What I read was surprising.
These people should be acting according to Philippians 2:4:
"not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."
Or maybe Proverbs 3:27:
"Do not withhold good to those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act."
Maybe Romans 12:13:
"Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."
Because this is blog post and not a bible study I will end with this one.
James 2:14-17
"14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith obut does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 pIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 qand one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good2 is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
This is not how the 217 members acted. They have decided to kill people. I'm tired of prettying it up. By their actions they knew that people were going to die and they decided to do it. People with pre-existing conditions cannot pay for the extra care and they want to defund Medicaid. This will kill people.
These people are the same ones (mostly) who look at the survivors of gun violence and refuse to make any laws restricting gun ownership. Understand right now, with the bill that they passes, that a mentally ill person can get a gun--but not help.
For a long time, when you said "I'm too much of a Christian" to do thus and so it meant you were too good. The quote I think of is in The Wizard of Oz.
Aunt Em: "Elmyra Gulch just because you own half the county doesn't mean you have the power to run the rest of us. For twenty-three years, I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you. And now, well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!"
We are meant to think that because she is just a good person, she can't say what she thinks. Maybe when this was made it was truer. But after watching this Congress, who maintain their Christianity, the quote I think of most is from The Princess Bride.
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Good people can be Christians. But it takes a lot more than being Christian to be good.
The vast majority of these people identify themselves as Christians.
Accordion to Merriam Webster the word Christian means someone who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ. I decided to look through my husband's bible to see exactly where they might be taking their inspirations. What I read was surprising.
These people should be acting according to Philippians 2:4:
"not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."
Or maybe Proverbs 3:27:
"Do not withhold good to those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act."
Maybe Romans 12:13:
"Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."
Because this is blog post and not a bible study I will end with this one.
James 2:14-17
"14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith obut does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 pIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 qand one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good2 is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
This is not how the 217 members acted. They have decided to kill people. I'm tired of prettying it up. By their actions they knew that people were going to die and they decided to do it. People with pre-existing conditions cannot pay for the extra care and they want to defund Medicaid. This will kill people.
These people are the same ones (mostly) who look at the survivors of gun violence and refuse to make any laws restricting gun ownership. Understand right now, with the bill that they passes, that a mentally ill person can get a gun--but not help.
For a long time, when you said "I'm too much of a Christian" to do thus and so it meant you were too good. The quote I think of is in The Wizard of Oz.
Aunt Em: "Elmyra Gulch just because you own half the county doesn't mean you have the power to run the rest of us. For twenty-three years, I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you. And now, well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it!"
We are meant to think that because she is just a good person, she can't say what she thinks. Maybe when this was made it was truer. But after watching this Congress, who maintain their Christianity, the quote I think of most is from The Princess Bride.
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Good people can be Christians. But it takes a lot more than being Christian to be good.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Microblog Monday - Though I have been silent, I shall not be still
I refuse to give in to despair.
I have to hug a four-year-old and help her to make sense of the world around her. I have to do it with a smile. She is watching me, you see, to see how to deal with disappointments.
I scared her a little bit. I was crying. I was actively planning to grab her and leave the country. I started research, where could we live, make a living and then yet return.
This weekend we took her to a movie about Trolls who sing. It was her first movie in a theater and she's glommed onto this song.
That's what we do, we get back up again.
I had practice during infertility. After a failed cycle, I cried and cycled again. After roadblock to roadblock in our adoption of Lotus we did it.
Now she needs to watch me do it. Life is full of disappointments--big and small. Lotus will watch me and see how I act. She has to see me get up. She has to see me go on. She has to see me listen to things that make me physically ill and still defend people's right to say them. She has to see me watch a protest and explain that people have the right to do it. They don't have the right to hurt people.
My daughter is watching. Therefore sometimes I am silent. But I am not still.
This is worse than disappointment. No one has to tell me this is worse. I am viscerally scared--not as scared as some, more than others, but I do know this is worse.
And yet, I calmed down. I'm not saying I don't have an exit plan, but I'm waiting. I'm being quiet and listening. I'm reading what my friends on both sides of debate say. YES, I have friends who voted for Trump. I imagine if they had a blog they would say, of me, YES I have friends who voted for Clinton.
But I will not be still.
I am contacting my state representatives. I didn't know who they were until two days ago. I am going to see how to make my state house blue.
I am signing up to email with the people running for New Jersey governor in 2017. I will help on the campaign. I will work.
I will stand beside my friends of color. I will stand beside my LGBTQ friends. I will stand besides my sisters. I hope they will stand beside my Jewish self.
I will not be still.
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains
I still remain. I will not be still.
I have to hug a four-year-old and help her to make sense of the world around her. I have to do it with a smile. She is watching me, you see, to see how to deal with disappointments.
I scared her a little bit. I was crying. I was actively planning to grab her and leave the country. I started research, where could we live, make a living and then yet return.
This weekend we took her to a movie about Trolls who sing. It was her first movie in a theater and she's glommed onto this song.
That's what we do, we get back up again.
I had practice during infertility. After a failed cycle, I cried and cycled again. After roadblock to roadblock in our adoption of Lotus we did it.
Now she needs to watch me do it. Life is full of disappointments--big and small. Lotus will watch me and see how I act. She has to see me get up. She has to see me go on. She has to see me listen to things that make me physically ill and still defend people's right to say them. She has to see me watch a protest and explain that people have the right to do it. They don't have the right to hurt people.
My daughter is watching. Therefore sometimes I am silent. But I am not still.
This is worse than disappointment. No one has to tell me this is worse. I am viscerally scared--not as scared as some, more than others, but I do know this is worse.
And yet, I calmed down. I'm not saying I don't have an exit plan, but I'm waiting. I'm being quiet and listening. I'm reading what my friends on both sides of debate say. YES, I have friends who voted for Trump. I imagine if they had a blog they would say, of me, YES I have friends who voted for Clinton.
But I will not be still.
I am contacting my state representatives. I didn't know who they were until two days ago. I am going to see how to make my state house blue.
I am signing up to email with the people running for New Jersey governor in 2017. I will help on the campaign. I will work.
I will stand beside my friends of color. I will stand beside my LGBTQ friends. I will stand besides my sisters. I hope they will stand beside my Jewish self.
I will not be still.
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains
I still remain. I will not be still.
Monday, February 2, 2015
#Microblog Monday--Happy Imbolc
According to my Facebook feed our general celebration of Groundhog's day is from this ancient holiday.
For a while I made certain to celebrate the pagan holidays as I did my own Jewish Holidays. Partially because D resonated more with paganism, partly because, hey who doesn't like Samhain? (aka Halloween)
I want Lotus to understand many religions--not just Judaism. I want her to find her own path to the Devine however she chooses. I get terrified when I read things like about losing your child to religious fundamentalism. I feel that Gd, or the Devine, or whatever you want to call her, is big enough to let everyone in. I hope I pass that along to my daughter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)