Out of the Blue Update...

Hey ya'll.

So, about a year ago, I made myself the ad hoc director of Morale at my place of employment. I started sending out e-mails, about one a day, that just told people what the day was going to be like. It was silly, it was funny, it was pretty much me.

This year I kept it up, but expanded it to the whole school. I've gotten some pretty positive feedback, but in looking back at the year, I realize that I do not have all of them, and that made me kind of sad, because it's some of my best writing since college. So, I have put all of the e-mails that I DO have saved on a new blog, viewable by everyone. I will update it every weekday when I send one to my coworkers.

If you're interested, here is the address:

www.thedecidersblog.blogspot.com

Thanks, and enjoy.

Tommy

Yes, we did!

So, back in November I began a post that was supposed to explain why I was so excited about President Obama winning.

It didn't take.

Long story short, I feel responsible for the deaths of all of our soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, as I voted for President Bush. And, as I can see now that the war in Iraq is unjust, it seemed that the only thing that I could do was to put forth as much effort as I could to achieve this day.

(No, I don't claim responsibility for Obama's win; that belongs to all of us.)

So. Now that we have a president who will work diligently towards removing us from Iraq, I can feel somewhat better. I don't think that this absolves me of my culpability, but it does do something to aliviate the heavy feeling in my gut.

So...Happy Obama Day. And, God bless ALL of us. (NOT just the USA.)

Tommy

7 Things

My friend the mechanic asked me to do this, so I thought I would give it a try. The idea, apparently, is to make a list of 7 random things that people may, or may not, know about me.

I don't know if there are that many things that the 1 or 2 readers of this blog don't already know about me, but, like I said, I'm going to give it a try.

1.) I am completely color-blind. This effects a lot of things you wouldn't think about. The obvious ones, like putting together outfits, and pointing someone out in a crowd ("That guy in the blue shirt" is always met with a blank stare). However, nighttime driving is always and adventure. If I'm driving with Bibi, it's not unusual to hear me interrupt her mid-sentence with, "Red or yellow?" This is always in reference to the flashing stoplight that we are approaching. Another one, one that I don't even think Bibi knows about is our toothbrushes. Mine is a blue one, and Bibi's is pink. I can't tell which one is which without comparing them, which has led to more than a couple close calls.

2.) My appreciation of Frank Sinatra began Thanksgiving my Junior or Senior year in high school. I was watching a PBS special with my Uncle Steve at my Aunt Anne's annual Chilli dinner. It was about Sinatra's Duets CD, which was the first one I ever bought. I know have something like 20 CDs, and three albums. He still swings.

3.) I am anal-retentive beyond any comprehension by the casual observer. My CD's are still (mostly) alphabetized by genre (although since I don't really listen to CD's anymore I don't know how accurate they REALLY are), my records are alphabetized, my DVD's are alphabetized with a separate section for the tv shows, and my clothes are organized in such a way that I put all clothes that have been recently washed behind the clothes that havnen't been worn, so that I don't wear things more frequently. (It doesn't always work out that way, as I have one or two shirts that I almost never wear, and one or two that I love and therefore wear more often.) However, as I was telling Bibi a few days ago, my system on the iPod has gotten much more relaxed. For about two years now it has been my mission to "shuffle" manually all of the songs that I have rated 4 or 5 stars. (That's roughly 4, 596 songs.) Up until last May, I was on track to doing that. (Which meant a ridiculous amount of work and discipline in listening to the iPod; I couldn't necessarily listen to what song came up, if I had listened to a song on the same album, or by the same artist within the previous 9 songs. I know. Anal, no?) Anyway, last May Bibi's computer, the one with iTunes on it, broke down. Things kept on track for a while, but then the lack of "updates" made it so that the iPod kept stalling out on me. I have now been listening to any old artist of song that I want to for about two weeks and it's surprisingly freeing. (Mainly Bob Dylan and the Who, although Townes Van Zant and Jeffrey Foucault were in the mix for a couple of days last week.)

So, I'm getting better.

4. Bibi and I LOVE 7th Heaven. It's on from 5-7 Monday through Friday, and we make it a special point to watch at least one of those episodes. We really get into it. Cheesy as all heck, but darn it, that's good television. (I even tried whisper-talking like they do on the show, but I'm just too loud.)

5.) I am cutting down on coffee. At one time, a couple of years ago, I was up to two pots a day. About a month ago, I realized that the 12 cups a day might NOT be the most healthy choice I could make. So, I have cut down one cup every week, and I am now to around three cups a day. And, I am drinking lots of water while at work, which is awesome. (Coffee intake CAN be related to cold sores, and the one I have right now didn't even fully develop, which is awesome.)

6.) When Tim Russert died last May I took it really hard. Bibi and I watch Meet the Press and This Weekend with George Stephanopolous every weekend, and so Tim Russert dying really was like losing a friend. It was horribly cheesy, but I told Bibi sometime that weekend (he died on a Friday) that we had invited him into our home every week for almost two years, and it was going to be a strange and difficult process. What can I say, we like our political discussions.

7.) My marble project. Three weeks ago I began Grace's marble jar. I counted out the number of Saturdays between then and when Gracie turns 18, (864 of 'em) and placed that many glass stones in a big jar. Each Saturday before I go to bed, I take on out, recognizing that I will never get that Saturday back. It's been a really special reminder that the time I have with my little girl is finite, and that I need to make the best of what I have with her. Yesterday, I told Bibi that I wanted to change the project a little. I am going to be keeping all of those stones, and I'm going to give them to Grace on her 18th birthday, as a present; a reminder of all of those days that we had together for when she goes to college.

All right, that's all. I guess I'm supposed to tag some people, but I honestly don't know who all reads this, or if they have a blog or not. So...uh, if you are reading this, and if you have a blog, leave me a comment saying so, and then go do this too. (It was surprisingly hard and fun.)

All right, Happy Monday everyone!

Tommy

The Magic of Christmas

Yesterday was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. As a long standing personal tradition, it was also the day that marks the beginning of the Christmas season for me: I start listening to nothing but Christmas music, I put up my Christmas tree, and in general start thinking about what I should be doing to get ready for Christmas as far as presents for family and friends.

This is all quite new to my wife, as she was raised Sikh, and Christmas was not a part of her tradition.

This year has been somewhat different than usual. I am almost done with my Christmas shopping, for one thing, and I started listening to some Christmas music about a week or so ago. (It was a huge change for me, believe that...) However, I just wasn't quite feeling up to putting up the tree and the decorations. Until, that is, I woke up yesterday morning, to find a layer of beautiful white snow blanketing the ground. Then, I was pretty much ready to go.

So, after breakfast yesterday morning with the in-laws (which consisted of chocolate, coconut, and pumpkin pie!!) and a quick game of Taboo, Bibi, Grace and I headed back to our house to get started. Grace fell asleep along the way, and so Bibi and I made the multiple trips down to the basement to bring up our tree, ornaments, stockings, lights, and various other necessities. I put on the Christmas Music playlist on random, Bibi warmed up some hot cocoa, and we got out a plate of fudge cookies to munch on. Leo, tired from playing with his girlfriend Molly, fell fast asleep on his bed.

The tree went up quickly, the lights were strung up without difficulty, and the ornaments looked beautiful as the went on, one-by-one. We cleared off a prominent place for my Nativity Scene, and it was around this time that little Gracie awoke from her mid-day slumber. She came out of her room, and immediately wanted to be cuddled by Bibi. However, after a little mama-time, Gracie soon realized that there was something different in our living room. She spent the next four hours or so laughing and giggling and "oohing" and "ahing" at our tree. She was standing on the couch, reaching over the arm pointing to various ornaments, and blowing kisses to the gingerbread men. At one point, Bibi turned to me and said, "You know, they say that that children bring out the Magic of Christmas." And, even though this isn't Grace's first Christmas "technically", it really kind of is.

However, the best part for me was when I was putting our dinner in the oven, and Bibi was carrying Grace around the kitchen, telling her what all I was doing. Grace's attention was drawn to the Nativity Scene, and in particular the baby Jesus. Bibi started describing how Christmas-time is when we celebrate Jesus' soul coming to earth, and how this was a wonderful thing for all of humanity. Grace's reaction to the baby Jesus was priceless. She started cooing, and laughing her sweet little laugh, and all she wanted to do was hold the little baby Jesus figure. Her eyes got really big, and she just kept making this unbelievably magical sounds, as she marveled at the little statue in her hands.

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

(Sorry, that was cheesy.)

Thanks for stopping by...

Tommy

This is God's country!

Or is it?


Gotta be honest...in reading the Bible a couple of times (something like 7 or 8 times, actually) I've yet to see the verse where God, or Jesus, or David, or Paul, or John, or...well, really anyone come to think of it, says anything at all about blessing or choosing or electing America as the chosen country.

There is this really strange parasitic/symbiotic relationship between evangelical Christians and the Republican party that really gets under my skin. You see, in reading the Bible, I did notice many times where God, Jesus, Paul, etc. talk about the whole world being God's chosen. So, while I understand the Republican party focusing more on this country and "our" interests, I do not understand the stance taken up by many Christians that America is God's country. It just doesn't click for me. I think that God has used America, to be sure; but just because God used a donkey to talk to Balaam doesn't mean that the donkey is the new chosen people, you know what I'm saying?

I think, actually, what is happening is much worse than a mere misunderstanding of theology. (As if that would be no big deal.) I think that by perpetuating this idea that America is a Christian country, and that our focus should be on God first and America second, we separate that which God has put together; i.e. the world as a whole.

I read a book a few months ago about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. In it, Desmond Tutu talks about how we actually harm ourselves when we de-humanize or denigrate others. And, I think by putting Americans above others, which is an act of dehumanizing or devalueing, we as Christians actually diminish a huge blessing that God wants us to have. We are a brotherhood of humanity. God made everyone on this planet, not just the white ones, or the ones who have already accepted Jesus in their hearts. Because we are all connected, and because of the bond we all have through God's presence, when we say that others aren't as important as we are, becuase of their geographical and national boundaries, we are actually mocking God, and that's never a good idea.

So, when the Republican party talks about how we as Americans should be putting America first, that makes sense, because that very well may be their goal. But when Christians start talking about that, regardless of political affiliation, I think that they may be missing something.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for stopping by...

Tommy

The inevitable pre-election divisive issue blog post. (Or, how it's possible to be voting for Barack Obama BECAUSE I'm pro-life.)

Ok, so it was bound to happen eventually, right? I mean, I do write about a lot of things on this blog that I have strong opinions about, so it was going to happen sooner or later...right?

Anyway, here goes.

Growing up I was a dyed in the wool staunch Republican, complete with the obligatory Rush is Right t-shirt and the khaki pants button down shirt that went with it. I read Limbaugh's entire canon, and thought he was Ronald Reagan reincarnated. (Not really, we Republicans didn't hanker to no "re-in-car-nation.") That meant that I was pro-life, and any no-good, two-bit, lousy politician who didn't vote to get rid of Roe Vs. Wade was just asking to get voted out of office. No, seriously. I really did think that.

Well, going along with my discussion earlier about recognizing the complexity of certain issues, and realizing that there are multiple ways to look at things, I wanted to talk to you all (yes, both of you) about what being pro-life means to me now.

(Stipulation: Almost all of this can be found in the Jim Wallis book, "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong, and the Left Doesn't Get It".)

Being pro-life means much, much more than thinking that the number of abortions committed in this country is a travesty. Being pro-life means attempting to hold on to a consistent ethic of the sanctity of human life--where ever that life may be. This has numerous ramifications, much more then the obvious abortion issue that gets focused on so much.

Being pro-life means that I want to eliminate the causes of, or perceived reasons for abortions in this country; rampant poverty, both generational and situational; a government that practices generous corporate welfare and cringes at the mere mention of government assistance for the poor as "socialism"; sky-rocketing health care costs, and a cultural acceptance of chauvinism and sexism that perpetuates the ideas that women are inferior and subject to the whim and desires of men. (Don't throw the Bible verses about women being subject to men in my face; if you've read those verses, don't stop there--the very next half of the verse talks about husbands serving their wives like Jesus serves the church, in humility, with compassion, and with a perfect and Godly love.) All of these issues combine to form a perfect storm of challenges that face too many families and individuals in this country. We Christians should be ashamed, utterly and totally ashamed that we are spending so much time and energy trying to stop women from getting abortions without paying any attention whatsoever to WHY they feel the need to get one. Instead of picketing Planned Parenthood and the various doctors who offer these painful and costly (both mentally and spiritually) procedures, we should be picketing the senators and congress-people who provide tax benefits to the wealthy but forget about the millions of Americans are working their asses off every day to make ends meet; we should be picketing the insurance companies who make it their goals to deny claims for health care, and exploit those who do not have the adequate resources at their disposal to fend for themselves. Until we focus on the causes of abortions, we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

But, as I was saying, a consistent ethic of the sanctity of human life doesn't stop at birth. Therefore being pro-life, for me, means believing that health care should in fact be a right, not a privilege. America is one of only two countries in the world that doesn't have some form of universal health care provided by the government. And, to the immediate cry of "socialism!" that I will hear, I say this: Either you have a private company, whose only objective is make a profit--NOT to provide the best health care it can, or you have a government, imperfect as it may be, which may slow things down a bit, but that will ensure that everyone, from the least of us, to the greatest of us, will be guaranteed basic and necessary health care. Again, until we as Christians make this a priority, we are not even close to hitting the mark set out for us.

Pro-life for me means that I can not support the death penalty. I do recognize and admit that there are numerous verses in both the Old and New Testaments that can be and often are used to support the idea of capital punishment, but my understanding of Jesus' words are that we are called to love those who hate us, and to forgive those who harm us. Therefore, I can only hope and pray that our nation--and, dare I say our world-- move beyond the idea of punishing someone into being better, and work towards loving people enough that they become better. I know, that is pie in the sky, but what is more "pie in the sky" then a God who loved the world enough...?

Being pro-life means that I am completely and totally against unjust and unrighteous wars. Being pro-life means that I believe in and acknowledge, and respect, and value the life of someone who I have never met, who lives very far away from me, has a different skin color, and who worships--or doesnt!--different than me. The civilian casualities in Iraq and Afghanistan are not "collatoral damage". They are devastating losses of life, no less devastating than that of the unborn child that most American Christian's pray for.

I know that what I've typed here today is going to rub some of you the wrong way. I know that it may indeed anger some of you. I invite your comments, your criticisms, and your questions; I only ask that we keep any conversation civil.

Respectfully, and thankfully...

Tommy

The $150,000 Question...

I recently read a friend's blog post which was about the media's new found obsession with Sarah Palin's expensive wardrobe, and the media's pass on Barack Obama's record-shattering campaign fundraising. The argument goes, in a nutshell, that Barack Obama is spending bazillion's of dollars on his campaign, and that, in comparison, the relatively small amount Sarah Palin spent on clothes shouldn't matter.

Two thoughts:

1.) I think the reason I'm a little bit shocked by the amount Ms. Palin spent on clothes is that is was donated money; money that hard working people donated to the Republican ticket in hopes that it would be spent on something worthwhile in getting Senator McCain and Governor Palin elected. It is arguable whether or not $150,000 in clothes for the Governor actually respects the intentions of those donors. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I did not donate to the McCain campaign, so it would be difficult for me to say definitively whether this is true or not. However, it would be my guess that most people donated to the McCain-Palin campaign, NOT to the McCain-Palin closet.

2.) The idea that Barack Obama is somehow in the wrong because more people then ever before have been energized and motivated to donate on a small scale boggles the mind. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I can say this definitively, because my wife and I have donated $100 to Senator Obama's campaign. (We did this in two installments, each of $50.) See, here's the thing, Senator Obama has inspired, motivated and encouraged so many people to see the need to contribute in any small way that they can. It actually brings to mind the parable of the widow in the Bible. For those of you not up to date on your New Testament stories, it goes like this: There once was this old lady who had practically nothing. She left the temple shortly after a rich man who gave a whole bunch to the church. As the old lady left, she put in a few pennies, worth practically nothing. However, the point of the story was that because the old lady gave from her "little", it counted for more then the big donation the wealthy guy gave, which didn't really matter to him, because he had plenty. And, what we have in the Obama campaign is a whole lot of people giving out of their "little" to the point where it has added up to more money then any candidate in the history of the United States has ever had available. This is a powerful concept. Across this great nation more of the little guys, not the Joe the Plumber's who are apparently raking it in to the tune of more then $250,000 a year, but the teachers and stay-at-home moms who are making $42,000 a year are donating to a cause they feel is going to change the world. Not just America, but the world.

So, Sarah Palin can go buy all the clothes she wants from the money that she and John McCain have raised. I don't know if that's what the donors wanted, but that's because my money is going to a candidate who I feel represents me and my desires for change. (Not a change of clothes.)

Thanks...

Tommy