Thursday, September 30, 2010

This Is What Scrappers Look Like!

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Each year, Sue Knox of Scrapbooks & Memories in Lufkin Texas hosts a SCRAP PINK. All we gals who love to scrapbook or "crop", put on our pink shirts and get scrapping! All proceeds to go the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Look Out - Here It Comes Again . . .

It is not my intention to give a dissertation on the Charles Schulz' Peanuts Comic Strip. There is lots of material available online for you to learn more about this strip and its late creator. There is now a Museum in California and you can even purchase items online from their store. Every weekend in our newspaper, they post a "Peanuts Classic" strip so we never forget the lessons Mr. Schulz tried to teach us.

My Canadian minister, Rev. David McBride had a collection of Peanuts ties and once lent me a book about Mr. Schulz who had a background of Christian education.

This weekend, I was reminded vividly of one of the most famous strips. It is repeated and repeated, but still - despite several other teachings from psychology and conventional wisdom and the vision of this particular strip, I and I am sure many others, continue this behavior.

What behavior is that? Well, someone is mean to you - or at the very least, not particularly nice. You feel bad about how they treated you. Then, maybe a couple of months later, that person appears up close and personal, seeming very pleasant. You presume they may have changed how they feel and you respond with a well-intentioned response and . . . WHAM . . . they "get" you again!

The repetitive behavior that replicates this is Charlie Brown starting the Football Season fresh in the fall. He is going to kick the ball and Lucy is there holding the ball for Charlie to kick. Charlie remembers how Lucy has behaved in the past, but he always gives her the benefit of the doubt. He is just sure that this time, Lucy is going to be nice.

Wham . . . Charlie moves forward to kick the ball and at just the "right" moment, Lucy removes the ball and Charlie . . . well, Charlie falls flat on his fanny.

Yup, it happens every time. Why? Because Charlie always gives Lucy the benefit of the doubt. Charlie always tries to see the good in Lucy.

It is a metaphor for how so many of us try to forgive and forget and often it works just fine. But, sometimes it does not. Our teachings tell us that we must always keep on trying . . . and I guess there will always be lots of Lucy's in our lives!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Pondering 9-11

One flag for each of the fallen in 9-11 by CVerwaal

Could 9-11 have happened in Toronto? I say Toronto, because of course that is my hometown. But do you wonder if it could have happened where you live rather than in New York City?

Why do you think terrorists picked New York City? Well, first off, there are lots of people there. Secondly, there are people of every nationality there. Third, there are lots of high-rise buildings in NYC.

So could that terrible day have been in Toronto? Probably!

Do you ever think how you would have felt if one of your loved ones had been in one of those buildings that day, nine years ago?

We have a grandson who had just left one of the buildings at the World Trade Center and we were really relieved to hear he was all right.

Do you remember Peter Jennings actually crying on the air during the long hours he spent at his ABC news desk that day? (Peter was born in Toronto, you know.)

Do you remember what it felt like to see planes purposely crashing into skyscrapers? Was there a sick feeling in your stomach, in your heart? Was your head clouded with "why"?

Then, this year, did you have a sick feeling in your stomach when a minister in Florida thought he could square it away by burning the Koran, the Muslim holy book?

Tolerance for others and their beliefs is part of what Christians learn and try to live. If you live in New York City or Toronto, you learn about tolerance or you move away. People of all ethnicities live in both of those cities.

There has to be respect for the differing beliefs of all those people. Lots of people do not believe the same things you do. That is part of what makes the world rotate on its axis. Learning to understand that is a prerequisite for living in a multi-cultural environment. That is tolerance.

Those same people with difference ideas and perhaps different appearance from you also keep the economy growing, invent new objects and ideas. Some have wonderful knowledge about technology. In both those cities there are lots of people of different ethnicities and backgrounds. Those people work hard to be there and many work hard to put themselves or their children through university. Those very people may one day invent a cure for cancer or one of the other diseases that plague us on a daily basis. They may eat different foods, believe different truths and have a different appearance than you. But if you look inside their hearts, you will find there is a lot we have in common.

In every society, every race and every ethnicity, there are good guys and bad guys. Remember the Cowboys and Indians you watched as a kid? Of course, that is not too politically correct these days, but perhaps it is a similar concept.

Today we have bank robbers, home invaders, drug dealers. People ride around using their cars in a fashion that makes you think they are about to get someone killed, so perhaps it was not all that outrageous that someone thought to pilot a plane into a skyscraper. That literally took violence to a new level.

I cannot tell you why some people believe their action against United States on that day gave them a special place in the hereafter. I just know that in my religious beliefs, that special place is probably a lot worse than what we ever have to endure here on planet earth.

No more than you, do I have an answer as to why someone got an idea to turn an invention - the air plane - that has allowed us to travel in short times what would have taken days on a steamship, train or automobile before - into a weapon like no other.

Nine years later, we have still no answer for that.

What we do have to know is that each of us must do the best we can in our own little part of this world. We volunteer to help; we quietly do things for others that they do not expect; we do our job - at home or at work - the best we know how. We love our children, our families, our neighbours and we believe and hope that each day will end with some quiet restful time.

There is no place in our hearts for hatred of people of other cultures, other skin colors, other ways. Our ways are not everyone else's ways. We must pray that tomorrow and every other day goes smoothly and peacefully for not just for where we live but for everyone everywhere.

Don't forget to put your flag out and God Bless us All!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

FIVE DOLLAR BILLS - Where To Keep Your Money These Days . . .


FIVE DOLLAR BILLS, originally uploaded by chego101.

In our morning paper today, there is something interesting in the Police Column. Well, it was interesting to me because I truly try to see the light side.

No one needs to be a rocket scientist these days to know EVERYBODY is suffering economically . . . well, at least 95% of the population!

So, imagine my surprise to see that a house was broken into and money was stolen from a mattress!!

If you recall, a mattress was always considered a pretty safe place to keep your money. And today, well, you only get about 3/4% less on your money in the mattress than from the bank.

If there is a moral to this, it would be to not tell anyone if you have money in your mattress.

. . . and no, there is no money in our mattress so don't wreck it looking for five dollar bills!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Facebook - Could You Possibly Learn Anything From It?

There is one game on Facebook that I really enjoy playing. It is Farm Town. I have played another farm game but Farm Town is interactive. This means I can hire others to harvest and plow on my farm and actually make more "coins" and "XP" (Experience Points). Or, I can work on someone else's farm.

What do I learn from Farm Town? Well, I learned a long time ago that if I "hire" someone from the Marketplace to work for me, I should look for someone with grey hair. Well, that is, their avatar has grey hair!

Actually, I have pretty grey hair in real life, but I do not on Farm Town. And I have a different name. Sometimes I get some interesting comments, but generally I just keep on working and racking up my points. I have five farms and lots of "toys" in the way of housing, pools, lakes, cars and equipment.

I also have been playing Family Feud which may or may not be more intellectual.

I learned a long time ago that we never stop learning and that often our best lessons come from people we do not really know at all. In a way, that is what it is like while playing the games of Facebook.

I enjoy keeping pace with what others are doing and getting notices of what is coming up and going on in our community as well as across the nation. I get to keep in touch with friends and relatives across United States, Canada and anywhere in the world.

If a friend and I are online at the same time, we can type messages and conduct a conversation, as it were.

Lots of people post pictures and let you see just what they have been doing.

It is very true that some people post every little insignificant thing they are doing, like a sports play-by-play. So be it, if they either think they are that interesting or if in fact they are so bored and lacking for something to do, there is an easy way to "hide" that person's comments. Another type of person you might want to hide is one who uses bad language or discusses what you might consider inappropriate remarks.

There has been a lot of press recently about privacy concerns, and Facebook is one of the targets.

Well, it just makes sense not to be specific about when you are leaving your home unattended and exactly when you are leaving. Better to mention what you did after you have done it.

Facebook is a great way to let people know when you have a special event or fundraiser coming up or a fundraiser. It gets the word out to more people right away.

The whole thing is that Facebook is instant.

It is still a learning process for us older people to adjust to all the tools we have to keep in touch with people all over the world, more or less in a heartbeat.