WHY CHRISTMAS?

The short answer:

‘It is the season chosen to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ a little over 2000 years’ ago. 

The next question: “Why is that important?” 

The next slightly longer answer:

‘For the same reason that we celebrate anyone’s birthday—the fact that this anniversary day is important to the one celebrated and to us who remember and love or appreciate this person..  We want to honor the person named (and should, I believe, though rarely considered, the birthday person’s parentage).  In fact, Christmas is very important and looked forward to by several billion people who call themselves Christians and to many others who enjoy the spirit they feel or have felt of the season without, themselves, being avowed Christians.

The next question: “Couldn’t we celebrate ‘the season’ without mentioning ‘Jesus Christ’?”

Answer:

‘Many do.  They send out cards saying such things as “Happy Holidays,” or “Season’s Greetings,” or even “Merry X-mas.”  All of these types of cards in the words or symbols they use eliminate the real ‘reason for the season.’  Whether these people have given the day much thought, or if they are embarrassed by being labeled as or associated with Christians, or perhaps they really do not believe in the divinity of this man and thus choose not to honor Him they still  find something of value in the spirit of the season. They also may put up a thousand lights around their houses and a decorated tree or stick a plastic Santa Claus and elfs or the like in their front yards. They frequently like to play or listen to music such as “Jingle Bells” or “I saw mother kissing Santa Claus” or “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” or other songs of that genre. Most give a gift of some value to someone else they love or out of obligation or tradition they feel may expect it of them (but this person most certainly isn’t Jesus Christ).

But in all the above cases they are not really celebrating “Christmas," but simply participating in a shadow of it.  

Question: “So how do Christians celebrate Christmas?”

Answer: 

          ‘Perhaps in some of the same ways as non-Christians, but always, if they are truly Christians, by keeping the name of Christ in their thoughts, language, prayers, chosen music, and focus. They sing with thought and feeling songs such as “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” They are moved by songs and performances such as “O Holy Night” and Handel’s “Messiah.” 

They remember and probably read or certainly listen to the Christmas story as recorded in the Biblical books of Luke and Matthew. They attend, where they can, a Christmas service in a Christian church and by their attendance worship Him.  

They hopefully resolve to try to better keep the commandments that Christ and Christian scriptures prescribed:  “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15); and “…love one another; as I have loved you…by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35). 

For Christians the season is Holy; the Christmas Day is Holy; and they truly reverence their Redeemer and Savior as the only begotten Son of God in the flesh.  

The implications of His coming to this earth, to do what he was sent to do, are tremendously important for all of God’s other children (us) to understand.  They appreciate that. “O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”

May you have Christ in your Christmas this year!

MOE NORMAN

Being an ‘old-schooler’ and a golfer I must pay tribute to perhaps at once the greatest and most unique golfer to ever play the game.  Meet Moe Norman (July 10, 1929-September 4, 2004).  He died at the same age I am now. 

If you never heard of him it may be for at least one of several reasons:  (1) He played most of his golf in his native Canada; (2) He played professionally on the P.G.A. tour in the United States in only twelve events ( all in 1979) before he got his feelings hurt because of thoughtless criticism of his unique and eccentric behavior. He was said to be autistic although he never went to a mental health professional to find out.  Of this experience he said, “Life just ate me up.  I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, and that’s what hurt me so I just quit [the PGA tour] and returned to where people cared about me.”; (3) He had many social anxieties and was very shy around people he did not trust—especially non-golfers who could not appreciate what he was doing; (4) Being a loner—he never married and said he dated a woman only three times in his life—or flew in airplanes from tournament to tournament but rather drove alone in his big Cadillac at his favorite speed of about 50 mph.

What did he do?  He was said, by his contemporary professional golfers, that he was the greatest ball-striker that ever lived.  Nobody could hit the ball repeatedly straighter than he.  Asked, I think, in the 1980’s when he last hit a ball out-of-bounds he said, “The last time I hit a ball out-of-bounds was in 1974.  The ball hit a sprinkler head and bounced out-of-bounds.” A few of his many records include these notable accomplishments:

·        3 rounds of 59

·        17 holes-in-one

·        9 double-eagles

·        Holds 33 course records for lowest score

·        Won 50 tour events in Canada

·        Won the Canadian Open 7 out of 8 years (1980-1987)

Most interesting are the stories and legends that have grown up around him.  In a one-of-a-kind interview with him, Guy Yocom (My Shot: The very best interviews from Golf Digest magazine, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York, 2007) recorded him as saying, “I’m good with numbers.  Number of courses played: 434.  Number of courses I can remember the exact hole yardages: 375.  Age when I saw my first doctor: 68.  Number of two-stroke penalties in one eleven-year period: only one—I hit a drive that went out of bounds by two feet.  Most balls hit in one day: 2,207.  Total balls hit in my lifetime: About five million, not counting chips and putts.” 

As a boy he was a caddie and a pin-setter in a bowling alley.  He was very poor and relates that, “Even in my late teens and early 20’s, when I got good enough to play in tournaments I slept in bunkers and hitchhiked to get from one place to the next.  Some golfers laughed at me and teased me constantly. . . ‘Where you sleeping tonight, Moe?  Nobody came to my rescue until I was 26.  I really resented that.”  “When money was dear, I’d play with the same ball until it wore out.  A balata-covered wound ball had exactly 5 rounds in it before it got knocked out-of-round or got too soft.  Then it was time to search the bushes for lost balls and root out a new one.”  Later when he became a professional, Titleist sponsored him and provided him golf clothing and golf balls.  Of the balls he said, “Why did they give me all these?  All I need is one.”  Another time he said, “If there was ever a tournament at midnight, I’d win it.  I know where to find my ball every time.”

Surely Moe was the “Rain Man” of Golf.

I understand there is a movie currently in the process of being made about him. 

A recent book about him was published: The Feeling of Greatness, by Tim O’Connor.  

LESSONS FROM HOME

The older I get the more I acknowledge that people have absorbed from their parents (wittingly or unwittingly and probably more from one parent than the other) lessons that continue to color their lives.  At least so it was from my father to me. For many of the people I know it was their mother.

When I was a boy growing up I just assumed most other fathers were like my dad.  I took him for granted, resented him for some things, thought for a while he knew everything, was proud of him, then embarrassed by him, knew I needed him because I couldn’t maintain myself, and finally, shortly before I got married and moved out of my childhood home, couldn’t wait to leave.  By then I believed I knew as a college student many things dad didn’t know and I wanted to know more that I believed he couldn’t teach me. Besides, at age 19 it was time to go. 

    

Well, there were lessons he taught me that I didn’t know at the time he was teaching me that I now know became a large part of my personality for good. 

Here are some of those things: 

I was taught that “if you don’t find or take time to do it right the first time, when are you going to find time to do it right when you have to do it over? Work at it until you get it right. Work never killed anyone.”  A deliberate, contemplative approach to things that I have to do/should do has helped me not make any serious mistakes in my life;  but I have sometimes procrastinated and failed to do things when they ought to have been done—when I didn’t work like I was taught and time was wasted and I regret that. Dad often paraphrased this quotation by Benjamin Franklin: “Lost time is never found again.”

I was taught that “if you make a promise or commitment to yourself or to others, follow through on your promise. Do it.  Hold up your end of the bargain.  Don’t be a slacker or prove untrustworthy or unreliable.” He disdained these types of people. I don’t disdain them, but I try to never be classified with them.

I was taught to not be a “taker, one who takes but does not give back at least as much as he receives.” As a child, or one who is in need, we often take what is offered through the kindness of others, but do we, now, in turn give back with interest, so to speak, what we can as we gain resources and competencies to do likewise? He taught me self-reliance and he taught me service.  He served.

I was taught to not expect anyone or any agency (such as government or even family or friends) to do for me what I could and should do for myself.  If I did, how could I grow?

He taught me to never take advantage of people, whether because of their color, social or economic status, age, or physical or mental capacity.  I interpreted that to mean live the ‘golden rule’ at all times, in all places, and with all people.

I was taught to go into debt only in the direst of circumstances, and certainly not for anything frivolous.  Save for it and pay cash.  I was taught to stay out of any kind of bondage—whether to creditors, or to bad habits.

He taught me to pay attention, watch carefully, listen first and talk last.

 

Dad never helped me with an algebra problem, or a spelling word, or anything academic, but he did teach with his actions many of life’s most important lessons.

Dad died nearly eight years ago but his lessons remain with me.  I think of him more now than ever. 

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

When I was young we used to ask that question as an informal greeting. We didn’t give the question or receive the answer tendered by our friend much thought.  Now, as we have grown older, if we ask that question not as a greeting, but in sincerity and really try to find out we will find the answer disquieting. America is beginning to look nothing like the America of the recent past.

America is in the throes of a demographic transformation. Huge generational gaps have opened up in our political and social values, our economic well-being, our family structure, our national racial and ethnic identity, our gender norms, our religious life, and our technology use. Our present is marked by the most striking social, racial, and economic shifts the country has seen in a half-century.

Today’s Millennials are well-educated in terms of technical expertise but when they step off the campus whether as a graduate or a dropout many find they are still unemployed, still dependent, unmarried, lacking religious faith, and the American Dream has become, for them, very dim.  They have to settle for becoming underemployed and are finding they are becoming the first generation in American history to have a lower standard of living than their parents; and they are historically illiterate.  Meantime, on the other end of the generational spectrum our researchers say that currently well over 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring every single day, most of them not as well prepared financially as they’d hoped, and many are now reaping the consequences of poor health practices choices of their younger years. These generational and social changes are contributive in polarizing our people.

People are struggling, and emotional depression is increasing.

Every aspect of our demography is being fundamentally transformed.  Our population is rapidly becoming non-white, and our median age will soon edge above 40—both unprecedented milestones in our nation and in other ‘developed’ nations.  It is not so with the ‘developing’ nations: they are younger and darker and hungrier and want what we have—or had.  

  

My take? We as a people need to get our moral, religious and social values back on track to mend the breech.  We need to restore the foundational pillars that have been yanked out if we hope to get out of free-fall. The government cannot do it for us. 

To address just one of the ‘pillars’: when I went to school in the ‘60’s we talked about a ‘Social Contract.’ This was an age-old compact—parents (must) take care of children and children (should) take care of parents.  Every society and each family has an unspoken covenant between the generations—I care for you when you’re young; you care for me when I’m old.  Support flows toward need.  There needs to be generational fairness—it is not all ‘take’ and no ‘give.’ We have a shared and mutually influenced destiny--or could have--but sometimes we forget that.

Conclusion:  We should more willingly try to get along with and serve one another. Elders should do a better job inculcating traditional historical, cultural, and religious values to our young. 

All generations see the world through a lens shaped by the ups and downs of their own life. Some gain wisdom from their own experiences, but fewer, unfortunately, of those who preceded them.  The young hopefully will appreciate that experience—the experience of their elders—has value and can help bring us back.

Our (my) generation’s last big mission might be to help rebuild the citadel for today’s young by starting to rebuild the pillars. Without that, what will our children’s inheritance really be?  A Greek proverb says that societies become great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.

  

Cultural and social expectations enforced by custom, convention, traditional civic and family values or conscience are cracking.  We need to fill the cracks with the cement of moral virtue.  Identify what those virtues are (and you won’t find them on ‘Dancing with the stars’). Talk with your elders and look in the history books and the world’s great literature if you are serious about restoring this country’s greatness. Answers can be found there.

We all have an obligation to do our part to get things back on track. 

A MUSIC BOX GOOD-BYE

I want you to visualize this:  You have a music box and you wind it up.  You listen to the music—many notes, up and down the scale, some repeating themes, a few notes held long, most others very short, but finally, if it’s programmed right, more or less the music comes to a conclusion as the song starts to wind down.  The song doesn’t usually end, though, as it might if you experience it in a concert you attend or as you hear it on a recording or on the radio.  Rather, it starts to slow down, and slow down, and finally almost stops, and then a last note or two and then . . . stops.

So it is with most lives and most deaths.  So it was recently with Aretha Franklin and John McCain.  So it will be with almost all the people we know and so it will be with  us. 

There will be lingering memories of the pitch they sang in, the songs they sang, the concerts they performed in, the speeches on the floor, the places they walked, or sat, or built, or spent time in—the  notes they emphasized in their lives.   And then they wind down and the music stops . . . or does it?  Or should it?

Who, in our generation, will not remember Aretha belting out R-E-S-P-E-C-T whenever we hear it replayed for the next how many years of our lives, or visualize and ‘hear’ the voice of John McCain reminding us of stoic and heroic patriotism when someone invokes his name? Or when we remember special times in the lives of our loved-ones, or ourselves with them, at unbidden moments, when just their name is mentioned, or you see a picture, or a scent, or go to a place where they once walked? 

Just remember the music box.  It didn’t just stop; it just wound down and we no longer hear it.  But it will be wound up again by another hand and its music will play on another stage and delight and inspire and add to the music once played by billions and billions of other sisters and brothers . . . and one day, too, by our music box. 

PRIESTHOOD

In my little biographical sketch on the right side of this weblog home page I indicate that I find it a great honor to hold the priesthood in my Church.  I have felt that way from the day I was first ordained many decades ago and I do today.  It is because in the Church to which I belong priesthood really means something.  It means that I have authority and power to act in God’s name for the salvation of all of God’s children provided I keep myself worthy to exercise it.  And that is a worthy purpose. 

I am embarrassed for those faithful members of another Christian denomination, those who trusted their leaders who called themselves ‘priests’ of this denomination.  I am more embarrassed and even appalled regarding those fallen men who have not kept their sacred vows and have violated some of the most fundamental commandments and expectations of God. They have befouled the very title of 'priest.' But most importantly, I feel sorry for those who were violated and who had their faith and lives damaged by these trusted ‘priests’ who were in reality weak men and unworthy imposters.

Jesus said, “Whoso who shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). 

Perhaps it is not only weak men, but an ecclesiastical structure that traditionally has disallowed these men to marry that drives some men (many more we are now finding) of the 'cloth' to engage in these reprehensible practices.  I am not saying that this church encourages such behavior—because it does not—but it does not recognize or put sufficient weight on God’s observation or foreknowledge that “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18).   That ‘helpmeet’ was a woman who God gave to Adam to be his wife.  The sexual drive which was given to procreate the human race and to bind, through marriage, a man and a woman together in love was to be used in no other way and for no other purpose.

And it was not to be used to exploit children.

These attacks on the innocent not only psychologically damage the victims, but they damage the very institution of religion in the eyes of an increasingly skeptical public.

My own father was agnostic or maybe even atheistic because of what he saw, read about, or perceived as common among false priests, or hypocritical preachers who drove the big cars and held in charismatic bondage those who belonged to the big-box, ‘feel-good’ churches he saw on television. 

Don’t, like him, throw the baby out with the dirty bath water.  The invitation remains, "Come unto Christ and be saved." But be sure the church you attend is truly led by a man of God.

SECULARISTIC SCRIPTURES

Well, not exactly.  These scriptures (holy writings) come from the Bible but are not theological writings nor do they express dogma (a doctrine formally proclaimed by a church) of any kind. Any jaded, cynical, existential atheist non-believer (as well as a theist/or any religious believer) could well benefit from their application and not feel compromised in their unbelief.  The source of words of wisdom, or the person who is given credit for uttering them should make no difference to any honest person who is looking to make the world, or his or her own life a better place.

 Let’s look at a few:

·        “. . . all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so them . . . ” (Matthew 7:12).  In our vernacular we would say, ‘do unto others what you would have done to you.’ We call this the 'Golden Rule.'

·        “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).  This truism is commonly called ‘the law of the harvest.’

·        “. . . do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. . .” (Micah 6:8)

·        “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. . . .” (John 7:24)

·        “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose . . . “ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8-11.

·        “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29::18)

·        “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

·        “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

·        “The love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

·         

Civil War general Robert E. Lee said:  “In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.”   

IDENTITY and SELF DEFINITION

In making a new acquaintance it is customary in our culture to inquire of a person—or have them ask of you— “How are you?” (do you or they really want to know?), or “Where are you from” (does that really matter to you—or them?), or maybe, “What do you do for a living?” That is how most people identify themselves.  But is that going to make a difference to how you view them or how you want them to view you?  It is less common to ask them (or yourself) questions such as, “Who are you?”, or “What’s important to you?”, or “Why are you here?’ or “What do you value?” or, “Where are you going?” or, in short, “How do you define yourself?”

When we were kids we were asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  We probably replied that we would like ‘to be’ some occupation—an athlete of some kind, or a ‘star’ in something that brought celebrity or a job that would earn us a lot of money—maybe a singer, or an astronaut, or a doctor. But we really didn’t know what it would take to ‘be’ those occupations.  We didn’t know that it wasn’t even entirely up to us--being in the right place, at the right time, with the right opportunity and the right people there to help us or recognize us, or inspire us.  These things would play a big part in an ‘occupation-defined’ life. In fact we probably didn’t think much beyond what we would ‘be,’ occupation-wise. Somehow it would come, we thought,  but in the meantime all we wanted to do was have fun.

As a child we subconsciously defined ourselves as thinking we would be or could be competent to do whatever it was that we wanted to do and that we would, in fact, do it.  As we got a little bit older, say in our early adolescence, we found that things weren’t that easy.  We had to earn it.  We then sometimes did a 180 degree turn and discouragement set in and we viewed ourselves as worthless because things did not come to us automatically, or we bought into the social mirror (which is almost always distorted) and didn’t really realize that young people rarely look outward but focus on themselves as the center of the universe.  We were victims, we thought.

We were looking at the wrong issue and in the wrong direction.

We thought about what we would be but didn’t think about who we would be. Do we yet? That was the larger question.  How do you look at others, and how do you define yourself? 

I am reminded of the related statement made by Martin Luther King, Jr. who said “I have a dream that my . . . children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character!” 

An intelligent man or woman will always consider character far more important than skin color or physical appearance, or place of origin, or place of residence or size of bank account or, yes, occupation.  And character is developed.

I would suggest you do something really radical: consider your life as a moral drama.  Consider that a quality life is not only to do good or be prosperous but to be good.  Don’t just float along from day-to-day.   If you measure the success of your life at all (which I hope you do)—choose not to measure it against the false standards we so often see and hear around us, but against the principles and values upon which the best societies and cultures and people have been built.  And then choose from this day forward to change, to build your life around the principles, and people, and purposes that set you apart and promote peace, external and internal, and define you as a person of substance.  Be honest.  Be kind.  Be genuine.  Be of service.  Be a friend. Be good.  And remember, passivity is not necessarily good.  Get engaged.

You’ve got it in you—just bring it out and bring it on and then see how you define yourself—your changed self.   You might be amazed!

OH SAY WHAT IS TRUTH?

With just a minute or two spent in consulting your dictionary you can easily fathom what this 19^th Century British author was saying in his insightful poem Oh Say What is Truth?  It is especially relevant for our times (John Jaques, 1827-1900):

Oh say, what is truth? ‘Tis the fairest gem That the riches of worlds can produce,   And priceless the value of truth will be when The proud monarch’s costliest diadem Is counted but dross and refuse.

Yes, say, what is truth? ‘Tis the brightest prize To which mortals or Gods can aspire.  Go searching in the depths where it glittering lies, Or ascend in pursuit to the loftiest skies: ‘Tis an aim for the noblest desire.

The scepter may fall from the despot’s grasp When with winds of stern justice he copes.  But the pillar of truth will endure to the last, And its firm-rooted bulwarks outstand the rude blast And the wreck of the fell tyrant’s hopes.

Then say, what is truth?  ‘Tis the last and the first, For the limits of time it steps o’er.  Tho the heavens depart and the earth’s fountains burst, Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst, Eternal, unchanged, evermore. 

Interestingly, two millennia ago Pontius Pilate asked the same question, "what is truth," of Jesus but didn’t recognize that he was in the very presence of  the embodiment of The Truth or stay for the answer to his question (see John 18: 37-38; 14:6).  As Christ and His message was rejected by His people, and God’s prophets have been largely rejected (and thereby much of Truth rejected though it remains “Eternal, unchanged, evermore”), needful governance has been vested in what was left: to highly fallible men. 

  

Never in my lifetime (even in the schoolyard!) have I ever heard in the media such back-and-forth vitriol regarding truth and lies as it relates to the crises in our social and political life. The heart of this crises, though, is the corruption and failure of personal integrity of men in power, but not men in truth.  And it is the failure of those who put them in power or who allowed(s) them to stay.

In the 19^th Century, America was politically saved by a man of integrity, a great man, Abraham Lincoln, who didn’t purge God out of the equation or solution to America’s divisiveness. Likewise were the great men among our 18^th Century’s Founding Fathers who did not displace deity from their deliberations.  And likewise in the mid-20^th Century the Western world was saved by a great man, Winston Churchill, though not a stout Christian, but a stout believer that truth was the consummate weapon.  He used the power of truth and persuasion in his powerful radio messages to fortify his people and to move America to come in the nick of time to the rescue of  western Europe.  

Winston Churchill was able to save the West because he had truth on his side.  Truth—which includes the divine principles of honesty, of decency, of respect for life and for sovereignty and freedom.  And he had the guts and willingness to give his all--to stand against evil which was swallowing up the free world.  Churchill recognized eternal principles of truth which guided him and which transcended politics—and which enabled him with magisterial force to see when others could not, to speak when others would not, and to persuade a reluctant America with God’s imprimatur to do her duty.

Oh that the world had men today of that caliber today in Washington, in Moscow, in Pyongyang, in Damascus . . . .   

It cannot be said too often:  Come back to the foundational principles!  In the hurricane of words and lies today remains the eye of the hurricane, which is calm, which is The Truth—“an aim for the noblest desire.”

PREJUDICED

Prejudice (old definition): 'to prejudge or to discriminate among an action, a product, a person or an alternative or to evaluate before a full hearing or examination based on established criteria'. 
  

Using this definition I am clearly a prejudiced person. And so are most people who make judgments about almost every aspect of life.  Regarding people as they present themselves I am prejudiced in favor of a person who, though he or she may not have reached a level of perfection in whatever it is that is decent, laudable and worthwhile of doing, is pursuing it assiduously.  I am prejudiced in favor of one who is putting in the study, the time, the effort, the super-effort, the tedium, the discipline, the commitment and the sacrifice that is required for a level of relative perfection in a worthwhile pursuit.

But most of mankind does not do this; most people do not really put out.  They set their sights low or always attempt to duck under the lower threshold.  They don’t expect much of themselves perhaps because they don’t have a vision of what they really could become.  They give in to sloth, inertia, the ‘easy’ way out.  They don’t, as my Dad used to say with some scorn, “make much of themselves.”

For those whom I have prejudged to have the ability to do good things (most people), for them to simply rely on and demonstrate their natural (undeveloped) talent--and feel satisfied with that--is not enough to overcome my prejudice (though it might lessen it somewhat).  Those who I am prejudiced against could be better: they could be the athlete, or musician, or humanitarian, or mother or father, or husband or wife, or civil servant or employee that could raise the bar for others if they would but honor and magnify the native gifts they had been given. But they don’t. They often don't even discover those gifts. And sometimes I don’t, and when I don’t I think less of myself as well. 

Moreover, I think I will never overcome my prejudice against people who pursue non-worthwhile or exploitive goals—especially at the expense of others—such as getting rich, or gaining celebrity, or using other people to achieve their selfish desires and thus keeping those who are the detritus in the path of these ‘users’ of humanity from achieving their own more worthwhile goals or potential.

I am prejudiced against such people because my experience has shown me that when this class of person has let down in some important aspect of their lives they usually let down in some other important aspect--it carries over.  That is why many of these people can never get or hold a job or a spouse; they are unreliable; they are untrue to themselves. It doesn't take a degree in psychology to spot them.   

    

When I have seen an athlete like Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin or a political candidate like Ben Carson, MD,  or a humanitarian like Mother Teresa, or a recovering war casualty or a little boy or little girl who has an orthopedic handicap or a life-threatening illness or deprivation overcome it or try to overcome it by total faith in their father or mother or physician or God, then I gladly relinquish my prejudice for there should be none.

  

I am not prejudiced because of a person’s race or color, their heritage or religion or physical or mental handicap; I am prejudiced by the example of one’s repeatedly poor choices, or unworthy values chosen, or cruelty, or infidelity, or sloth, or abuse of body, mind or spirit.  And in my defense, if I need it, though I may continue to be ‘prejudiced’ against those in the last half of the above sentence, I certainly concede I would be wrong to ‘discriminate’ against them by depriving them of their inalienable human rights.  I would not want to do that.  Besides, that is out of my purview.  

UP-COUNTRY

I recently spent a few days in the Sierra Nevada of California.  The contrast to where I now live and have lived for almost all of my life brought me back to what conditions were like nearly a century ago in rural America—and still are when you get away from the cities and suburbs.

Here is what I observed . . .

People and the conditions in which they live in the unincorporated area I was in are markedly (and generally) ‘slower,’ less formal, poorer in terms of material possessions and appearances, and the focus of conversations more on the mundane. 

People I observed and overheard in the grocery store or plumbing store or at the gas station focused on simple things—their health, or the weather, or their family or things of nature.  For example, it was not uncommon to see little groups of three or four men (some of whom were clearly unemployed) standing around in their dirty blue jeans and boots wearing plaid or checkered shirts and a baseball cap staring under the hood of a truck, and talking about the displacement of the engine of their own dirty pickup trucks parked nearby, or looking at a stack of car tires, or talking of the weather and the depth of the snowpack or the upcoming fishing season.  Women, when you saw them, sadly and often looked more bedraggled or beaten down than women one might see in towns or in business establishments.  I guess the women were inside their homes, and I would guess watching television, for I saw few in yards or the small stores I visited.  And (I hate to say it) both men and women seemed to be very unattractive in terms of physical condition or grooming. Overfat and unhealthy-looking people were the norm.  Overheard public language (from both genders) also seemed more crude or unrefined. People, in general, seemed less well educated than those on the coast.

But, on the upside, these people seemed to have an independence of spirit and appeared to be proud of their freedoms and of living in America.  The old symbols of patriotism seemed more alive than in the more urbane area in which I live. I observed and sensed a distinct regional character—an old American character, but sadly one in which the old “American dream” seemed to burn less brightly.  

  

Yet for all of the differences between up-country living and that where I am from, I enjoyed being in the up-country—the beauty of it if one did not look to closely, the sounds and smells of nature and the smoke of a wood fire rising from a chimney, the inherent serenity of clouds, sunrise, sunset, and starlit night or hearing a dog or coyote barking in a distant canyon.  And the people, one-on-one, seemed decent and were courteous to one who was an obvious ‘outsider.’  Of that I was appreciative, and I tried to be likewise.

All of us—at least those of us who are citizens—are Americans in our own way.  We can all learn from each other.  

GETTING STRONGER

There are ‘product’ people and there are ‘process’ people.  A product person is one who basks in the end result—the product—of effort—like winning the contest or achieving top market share, or being judged # 1 in whatever they had set out to accomplish.  A process person, by contrast, is one who enjoys the struggle on the road to success maybe more than the victory itself.  For me, I enjoy the process; that is why I love to practice, to work out, to research and write the talk or the article, to take the hike sometimes even more than arriving at the destination—because destinations are not permanent—they are just stepping-stones to further growth.

Becoming Strong is a Process

I believe that every person has or once had a desire to be as fit or attractive or strong as was the person or the ideal they admired.  They soon learned, however, that they, themselves, had some limitations.  Money, time, anatomical structure or other circumstances would put limits on their aspirations. If not these, age eventually would. Or other interests would change their focus.  Or maybe their self-imposed limitation was their ignorance that the ‘product’ they desired (an improved self) was achieved by a process that needed to be understood and adhered to.

But assuming that most people would like to be strong as they could be, regardless of their age, I would like to suggest that many who actually do submit to a training regime leave out a key component of success. That component or ingredient is the need to take recovery as seriously as they do their training or the vision of their goal.

A person does not get stronger when they train; they get stronger when they recover from hard training. 

The Stress, Recovery, Adaptation Cycle

When the body is exposed to stress (physical or mental), it will begin a biological process to deal with that stress, recover from it, and then adapt and compensate so that it is better prepared to handle it if exposed to the same or similar stressors again.

When it comes to getting strong, your training is the stress.  And according to the Stress-Adaptation-Recovery Cycle, you’re not getting stronger while you’re exposed to the stress; in fact, when you lift weights (whether of iron or your own body weight) the stress it produces causes the microfibers of your muscles to tear and break down if your workout is of sufficient intensity.  Indeed, you are temporarily weaker.  The more fibers that are engaged—the harder you train—the stronger you become provided you allow the muscle to recover between exercise bouts.  And recovery itself is a process.  You get stronger when you rest and refuel—the day (at least) or two or three you need to recover and repair and rebuild your muscle fibers and supporting tissues. This process makes the person stronger than they were before.

Resting and Refueling

Besides intense workouts, there are two things you need to make your recovery effective: proper nutrition and sleep.

Food. To build itself back up and adapt to the stress of training, your body requires plenty of fuel.  You need to eat good food and lots of it, especially if you are desirous of putting on muscular body weight. Be especially meticulous about getting enough protein each day: at least one gram per pound of body weight. Egg whites and fish are especially good sources of protein. Non-sugary dairy products are also good. (Examples of sugary dairy products are milk shakes and ice cream.)  Avoid processed food!  Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, grains and nuts.  And drink lots of water. The reason most men stall in their training is that they’re not eating enough food—they are worried about getting fat. But you get fat by eating fat—or by not exercising enough.  You get fat by taking in more calories than you burn.   If you’re looking to get stronger, you must not neglect your nutrition. If you want to get ‘shredded’ (a high definition muscular appearance) you’ve got to do everything I’ve said above but just take in a little less total volume of food and put in a few more reps or a little more time into your workout.

Sleep. Sleep plays a vital role in our recovery from exercise. When we enter the deep sleep state, our pituitary gland releases a pulse of human growth hormone to help with tissue repair and growth. When we enter REM sleep, testosterone levels increase, which also aids in tissue repair and growth. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.  As you get older you sleep less at night so try to get in a short nap during the day if, like me, you are over 50.  Avoid caffeine late in the day or—better yet—eliminate it altogether. Avoid screens (phone, tv, computer) at least a half an hour before bed. Sleep in a dark, cool room. Don’t do heavy workouts too late in the evening—it raises metabolism, sometimes for a couple of hours, which is good for fat burning, but it also keeps you awake until it slows down to your normal rate.

Remember, you don’t get stronger when you train. You get stronger when you recover. So take the time you spend in bed and at the table just as seriously as the time you spend in the gym!

OBEDIENCE TO THE UNENFORCEABLE

In sport, on the road, in business, in marriage, in your private moments, your integrity is based more on what can’t always be monitored, observed, judged, or refereed than what can be. Contrary to what one may think, “Western societies are not held together primarily by the overall enforcement of laws, which would be impractical, but most important by citizens who voluntarily obey the unenforceable because of their internal norms of correct behavior” (Dallin H. Oaks). Voluntary self-regulation among the majority is critical to a stable society and the institutions in it. I wonder if we stress this enough in our homes and schools today?

The value of understanding the principle of self-regulation has been noted by the wise among us for centuries.  I came upon the title to my comments today by reading a statement by Lord John Fletcher Moulton, the great English jurist who wrote that democracy will only flourish in a nation to “the extent of obedience to the unenforceable.”  Even the French concurred—Alexis de Tocqueville likewise observed this characteristic attitude of the early American nation.  As our nation gets closer to the brink I wonder how many people still subscribe to these fundamental norms guiding civil and personal behavior?

A well-educated Chinese visitor recently noted the following about America:

“In your past, most Americans attended a church or synagogue every week. These were institutions that people respected. At church, from their youngest years, Americans were taught to voluntarily obey the law; to respect other people’s property, and not steal it. Americans were taught never to lie. Americans followed these rules because they had come to believe that even if the police or court systems didn’t catch them when they broke a law, God would catch them and hold them accountable. Democracy works [in America] because most people most of the time voluntarily obey the laws.”  He went on to say, “democracy-enabling religions are those that support the sanctity of life, the equality of people, the importance of respecting others’ property, and of personal honesty and integrity” (Linkedin, 14 June 2016, “Religion is the Foundation of Democracy and Prosperity” by Clayton Christensen).

The best places to teach our children these principles and values are in the home, in our churches, and in our institutions such as in boy scouts and girl scouts, and yes, in the schools and in youth athletics.  These things are part of the life-long responsibilities of all adults—direct teaching and modeling.   Don’t leave it up to cartoon television shows and the morality of ‘friends’ on Facebook to be the teachers of those who most need direct teaching to establish responsible lives.  

THE PAIN OF THE HUMAN (Young Adult) CONDITION

In recent months I have directed much of my reading to going back over what I have read previously by the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning author John Steinbeck (1902-1968).

I am not a fan of Steinbeck’s politics, personal life or morality, but he was a fine novelist (as many writers of great literature really are) and showed great insight as he looked at the pain of the human condition.  Here are some things from one of his writings he said that I, too, think a lot about and wonder how true, in 2018, they might still be:

“During the years 1930 to 1940, the nation was preoccupied with . . . difficulties [of the Great Depression and impending war between other nations], not impossible of solution, but requiring thought and trial and error and some conflict. It is not possible to know whether a solution could have been reached. But during that period when a direction had not been set, nor an end established, a generation of young men and young women were kept marking time, not knowing where they were going; in fact, concerned only with keeping alive until some direction was established toward which they could go. Young men coming out of the schools, finding no jobs, having no goals, became first despondent and then cynical . . . the product of mental and physical idleness, [which] descended upon the youth of the country. An anarchy of thought and action had in fact settled over the young people of the country.

An antidote for the poisons of this idleness and indirection might eventually have been found . . . some economic direction or trend to tear away the lethargy. But meanwhile, with one set of certainties gone and no new set established, the country floundered about--floundered about in fact so convincingly that our enemies considered us to be in a dying condition [and vulnerable]. Some of our leaders wished to cut the world in half—to defend this hemisphere against the other [nations, economically and culturally by a policy of isolation ]. . . .

Our arguments and disunity might have kept us ineffective or only partly effective until it was too late. But Germany and Japan were bound to blunder sooner or later, and blunder they did. In attacking us they destroyed their greatest ally, our sluggishness, our selfishness, and our disunity.” John Steinbeck, Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team (1942).

What is now, 2018, causing the angst that I so often sense among many young men of our generation?  Is it money problems or economic insecurity? A lack of marriage prospects or of rewarding relationships? Dissatisfaction with work? Problems at home? Fear of the future? Lack of a strong religious faith? Disillusionment with government? What is it, or is everything just great?  I think it is not. Social statistics show that it is not.

Arguably, there are some things most of us individually cannot do much to control: political or foreign policy issues, climate change, world health concerns, financial market volatility, organized crime, etc. But there are things we can do about most of our personal issues and anxieties. They can be managed much better if we would just maintain a balance between our 4,5, or 6 critical dimensions (it depends on who you listen to—I believe there are least 6 elements).  These dimensions of happiness and wellness: our physical (nutrition, exercise, sleep habits), emotional, spiritual, social, intellectual, and occupational/financial prospects.

 

If you are not happy or well chances are great that at least one dimension is out-of-balance or completely lacking. These things can be handled. Talk to someone who knows about the dimensions of a balanced life—and then make the changes!

I hope it is not another war that causes us to rally and break our current cycle of discontent. We can and must be proactive!

MY SADDEST DAY

This is a religious essay because my thoughts for days have been riveted on this most religiously centered week of the year for the Christian world.  And it comes to a point this day.  It is tendered to bring some understanding to my friends who are not Christians or those who are but whose faith has grown dim.  I do this also in memoria and in gratitude for the man Jesus, who I consider to be the Redeemer and Savior of this world.

It starts with ‘when,’ and it ends with ‘why.’

Today is Friday, March 30, 2018.  It is 1:00 p.m. Tomorrow, Saturday, for us, will begin at 12:00:00 midnight.  For the Hebrews, it also is Friday, but their ‘tomorrow’ begins at dusk, not long after sundown today—when three ‘stars’ can become observable or, some say, the moment when a hair from the head held at arm’s length appears to change color from dark to light.

My point in bringing this up is that as a Christian the saddest day for me, as measured by Hebrew time, occurred during that 24 hour period that began not long after sunset on Thursday of this week, about 2,000 years ago, when Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to consummate the essence of His mission at the base of the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. It ended, for Him, at about 3:00 p.m. on Friday when he died on the cross after being crucified. That entire time was a time of great suffering for Him, the most innocent man.

What happened to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane at the beginning of what we call the Atonement of Jesus Christ and at the end of this period, His death by crucifixion, was done for all of mankind as God’s great gift—what Christians call ‘grace’ for a fallen world.  It would bring immortality for all people, and an even greater ‘reward’ for those who had faith in Christ, who did their own repentance, and who would keep the commandments of God.  It paid the price required by Eternal law for the breaking of this law by all accountable persons.   It was done out of love—the sheer love of a Father and His most beloved Son for His other children (us)—not necessarily out of their love for Him.  And it was rejected, ironically, or counted but myth by most of God’s children.

It is the saddest day for me because of the physical and emotional anguish it cost Him, and because so many of the world’s population have rejected this GIFT of gifts.  It was heart-breaking for Him as well.  He wept as He came to Jerusalem for the last time as a mortal man: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:37-38).

 

Still, He atoned for all of them.  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

 

Even non-scripture writers have sensed the pathos of this: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, it might have been.” (John Greenleaf Whittier)

 It breaks my heart.