We are well, and everything is well and all manner of things are well. It may or may not be obvious to either of my readers, but the posts of the last two days were written before we ever left the Left Coast, which probably explains the strange absence of any comment on the untimely death of Mr. James Brown.
Reunions are mostly about dining in my extended family, what we are eating and where, and whither shall we dine after. It tends to be a rather pleasant experience but also a rather tedious read, so perhaps the reader will thank me that I omit the telling of that particular element of the tale, important as it is to the main. Shopping on Christmas Eve ended up being less remarkable than in years past, which is I know a dissapointment to some among you, selah.
Church services consisted of the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and it was well worth the doing - there’s nothing like High Church for marking an occasion, just mind the thurifer you’re swinging there lass for if you should hit a congregant on the noggin with that thing it’ll be not just a birth we’re celebrating but the entire cycle of life.
The pastor sermonized on the dangers of Division and Doubt, which leads me to believe that the schismatic elements we notice out west have not escaped the attention of the laity surrounding this,¬†Our Nation’s Capital while also leaving your correspondent wishing we could all just give it a rest for a bit, for God’s sake. We also saw the distaff side of a family that had been like my own second family when I was a nobbut, all but their son, my erstewhile best friend who has turned away from them
Dinner last night had two interesting observations for me: First, the elephant may indeed be in the room and yet no one will talk about it. Whether out of delicacy, or because the scar is still too fresh or because there really isn’t anything to say, I don’t know. Second, it’s interesting to see your youngest child, who being youngest often feels compelled to “play up” to the level of the oldest ones, when she’s in the presence of her younger cousins. I don’t know the last time I saw the¬†Kat - our¬†12-year old - running around like a wild Arapaho and playing hide and seek in her stockings while shrieking like,¬†well, a 12-year, old but it was fun to see.
Moving now from the personal to the political, I see that indeed the world has turned upside down:
Democrats Pledge to Restrain Spending
Fair enough, and when January comes I pledge to restrain drinking, and we’ll see who lasts the longest (my prediction: It’ll be a tie).
Veil liberates me, says alternative Christmas message woman
Right you are, and my overcoat keeps me cool - don’t ask me how, it’s a mystery.
Finally there’s this from the Department of Grim Statistics Bureau (otherwise known as teh AP), and an answer to the question of those who wonder how many of those newspaper articles you read over the Christmas holidays have in fact, like my previous two blog posts, been in the can awaiting a propitious moment:
 U.S. deaths in Iraq exceed 9-11 count
Which is the way the headline read the first time I saw the article today, but then other people noticed too and now it’s been changed to something about The Daily Toll of Awful Violence Over There, or some such. File that one under “true but stupid,” because as a meaningful statistical measure it makes about as much¬†sense as pointing out that in another 36 years or so at this rate we’ll surpass the¬†carnage on our national highway system for any given year, or that more¬†20 times more soldiers fell breaking out of Normandy during the summer of 1944 than were killed at Pearl Harbor.
Maybe it’s only the human temptation to find a new way to twist the plot line on what has become a drearily predictable story, but the problem I’ve got with such ham-handed equivalencies is they tend to obsure the embedded truth that seven families are about to receive some terrible news this Christmas, which is a sobering thought indeed during this, our season of counted blessings.
To better days.
15 responses so far ↓
1
CPT J
// Dec 26, 2006 at 9:41 am
I sometimes think we are developing into two parallel universes. The first universe is made up of family and friends. Where the world intrudes unwanted upon us, we learn the hard way what it takes to protect our family and friends. Their safety is our feedback loop. This universe is both capable of learning and teachable. It demands action. We act and we learn.
The second universe is an artificial one, created by the Entertainment Industry, with its News wings and Amusement wings. This universe is a broken record. It is incapable of learning and has nothing of value to teach. It ignores the important and trumpets the trivial. It demands passivity, and claims our undivided attention by right. When it deigns to look at all, it burrows into personal pain and then bellows that calls to reporters WERE NOT IMMEDIATELY RETURNED. You’ll see this in every news article, every broadcast. This second universe is a petty little jealous god, resentful of the real One.
The first universe will quietly figure out what it needs to survive, and do it. The second universe will be the last to know.
2
FbL
// Dec 26, 2006 at 9:57 am
CPT J, I hope you’re right.
As far as the veil, I think there’s some interesting psychology going on. I’ve often encountered the idea of women who cover their faces and wear a burka enjoying the lack of unwanted sexual advanes and appreciating the fact they are not being judged on personal appearance. And there IS a strange attraction to me in that, as someone who has rarely (if ever) turned heads. It’s beguiling to believe that there is something that could put all us females on equal footing. BUT…ultimately, I think that’s a cop-out because that “equal footing” is Second-class Citizen.
So, these women possess an amazing level of cognitive dissonance to be able to see the marginal benefits while ignoring the staggering “drawbacks.” And not to mention the underlying philosophy of this kind of covering–that men cannot (or are not expected to try to) control themselves in the presence of a female.
It’s not eloquent, but my response is: that’s seriously messed up.
3
FbL
// Dec 26, 2006 at 10:11 am
The article about the death toll is interesting, too. More than the headline has changed from the original. It includes several new paragraphs. After linking the 9-11 and Iraq death tolls (as in the original), it now includes President Bush’s statements that Iraq is part of a new approach to fighting terrorism after 9-11. It then goes on to explicitly point out that there is no link between 9-11 and Iraq. So why connect the two death tolls in the first place?!
Really pathetic piece of propaganda. For all their “educated, thoughtful nuance” they still can’t grasp that 9-11 affected strategic thinking on another problem (Iraq), which is very different from the erroneous statement that Iraq was attacked as a direct response to 9-11 (No, you intentionally-obtuse idiots, that’s why Afghanistan was attacked!).
*sigh* I know, spitting into the wind. Goebbels was right, of course.
4
Kris, in New England
// Dec 26, 2006 at 10:41 am
Lex - glad your holidays were filled with the warmth of your family - and sometimes the “elephant in the room” knows it’s there and is content to sit their quietly…
The Veil - don’t know what to say. It is a personal decision, but in today’s world can it really be trusted? I don’t know.
5
CPT J
// Dec 26, 2006 at 11:50 am
Fuzzy,
The MSM is like the panhandler who won’t take your “no” for an answer. He’ll do anything to get eye contact and your undivided attention. He’ll follow you down the sidewalk, first charming, then pleading, then threatening you if you ignore him. As you walk away, he turns around to the next unsuspecting mark approaching on the sidewalk and begins his spiel again: “And in other news…” Panhandlers go elsewhere when they can’t monopolize attention. Or they may get louder and more outrageous when they see more effective attention competition [the blogosphere] claiming the turf across the street.
I don’t pretend to understand the appeal of the veil, but your description of the mixture in some women’s minds of female competition, body image fears, and a genuine wish to be simply left alone from unwanted attention certainly rings true. The veil and burka seem like a portable closet that women can flee to, but like any retreat, if someone else holds the key, you cannot leave it when you choose to. You’ve still given up your own power. Why women would give anyone the power to cover them up is beyond my understanding. Perhaps it is just the flip side of accepting the fashion and image industry’s perverse pressure to be uncovered to the point of embarassment.
So it looks like neither the Islamists nor the MSM can tolerate a sovereign individual, who makes her own choices for her own reasons. Is it any wonder they are in league with each other?
6
Babs
// Dec 26, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Well shucks on the shopping trip!
I’m so glad you are having a good time with your family.
7
Michelle
// Dec 26, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Well, I guess its another thing whether you take it at face value or not but I thought our Muslim friend did have some words worth heeding, if one was desperately looking for some sign of unity and hope at this time of year…..
“But the festive season is an “interesting time” for Muslims, who also believe in Jesus, or Esa, as a prophet. It’s really important to encourage our children to realise they have quite a bit in common in fact.
“That they believe in one God, that they believe in Jesus and it’s a good opportunity to create bonds between our children. - my alternative Christmas message this year is peace on earth and goodwill to all humankind, regardless of race, colour or creed.”
Some good comments above re: the possible feeling of “protection” given by the burka et al v. fashion standards of strutting down the street with practically nothing on, which only those with the “perfect” body can really get away with. You might well be treated more respectfully, in one sense, wearing the burka although personally I would prefer to be able to travel the streets wearing what *I* choose and not have to worry about how others might judge my body or whether some perv out there might have decided that what I am wearing or how I look is his open invitation.
In other words, although I am not sure the burka wearers have it right, I think that we in the western world might be living in glass houses when it comes to casting stones at others on this issue.
8
Bill C
// Dec 26, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Women wear burkas in Islamic states because they are forced to do so. Women are property under Shia law. Isn’t that “interesting”.
9
Michelle
// Dec 26, 2006 at 6:35 pm
And it wasn’t that long ago that women in Canada were recognized as “persons” under the law and hence eligible to run for public office. More interesting facts. Strange times indeed.
10
SJBill
// Dec 26, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Cpt J,
Thank you for elucidating my fears/thoughts/feelings about today’s media. I spend so little time there that I almost forgot the methods used to dull minds, to win elections, and to change governments.
SJBill
11
FbL
// Dec 26, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Bill, C. I was specifically addressing women who willingly convert and take on the wearing of hijab, etc., even though they live in a society that doesn’t demand/expect it. Those that wear it because they are forced to and/or because they are merely possessions in that culture are another matter.
Cpt J wrote,
Brilliant take on the dichotomy of women living in Western societies who willingly take on the extremes of “covering,” IMHO.
12
Daniel Schumacher
// Dec 26, 2006 at 11:36 pm
One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.
-Joseph Stalin
13
Curt
// Dec 27, 2006 at 9:21 am
Cpt j;
I plan to “borrow” your wonderful insight (Comment #1) and expand on it. You have said what I have been thinking, but certainly not that succiently. Thank you for putting words to my muddled thoughts….
14
MissBirdlegs in AL
// Dec 27, 2006 at 10:43 am
Those seven families have been on my mind and in my prayers this whole holiday, no matter what we were doing. Hurts my heart for them.
15
sid
// Dec 28, 2006 at 5:46 am
I remarked to somebody the other day that the MSM would tout this ridiculous comparison.
Here is a smattering of numbers that may be more useful to compare against…
http://www.nps.gov/archive/anti/casualty.htm
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/belleau.htm
http://warchronicle.com/units/US/29th/ddaycasualties.htm
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