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A Meme for Sunday

A Meme for Sunday

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Things I’ve done are in bold.
Things I am indifferent towards or actively would like to avoid are crossed out.
Things in normal type face are things I’d like to do.

I got this version from Quod She.

  • Start my own blog
  • Sleep under the stars
  • Play in a band
  • Own a cell phone
  • Visit Hawaii
  • Watch a meteor shower
  • Give more than I can afford to charity
  • Visit Disneyland / Disneyworld
  • Climb a mountain
  • Sing a solo
  • Bungee jump
  • Participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony
  • Teach myself an art from scratch
  • Adopt a child
  • Purchase real estate
  • Had food poisoning
  • Visit Parliament / Capital Hill
  • Grow my own vegetables
  • See the Mona Lisa in France
  • Sleep on an overnight train
  • Have a pillow fight
  • Hitchhike
  • Take a sick day when you’re not ill
  • Build a snow fort
  • Hold a lamb
  • Go skinny dipping
  • Run a Marathon
  • Been on television
  • Ride in a gondola in Venice
  • See a total eclipse
  • Watch a sunrise or sunset
  • Hit a home run
  • Go on a cruise
  • See Niagara Falls in person
  • Visit the birthplace of my ancestors
  • See an Amish community (nope, only Shakers)
  • Teach myself a new language
  • Have enough money to be truly satisfied
  • See the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
  • Go rock climbing
  • See Michelangelo’s David
  • Sing karaoke
  • See Old Faithful erupt
  • Buy a stranger a meal at a restaurant
  • Visit Africa
  • Walk on a beach by moonlight
  • Be transported in an ambulance
  • Have my portrait painted
  • Be arrested
  • Go deep sea fishing
  • See the Sistine Chapel in person
  • Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
  • Go scuba diving or snorkeling
  • Kiss in the rain
  • Play in the mud
  • Go to a drive-in theatre
  • Be in a movie
  • Visit the Great Wall of China
  • Start a business
  • Take a martial arts class
  • Visit Russia
  • Serve at a soup kitchen
  • Sell Girl Scout Cookies
  • Go whale watching
  • Get flowers for no reason
  • Donate blood, platelets or plasma
  • Go sky diving
  • Visit a Nazi Concentration Camp
  • Bounce a check
  • Fly in a helicopter
  • Save a favorite childhood toy
  • Visit Quebec City
  • Eat Caviar
  • Piece a quilt
  • Stand in Times Square
  • Tour the Everglades
  • Been fired from a job
  • See the Changing of the Guards in London
  • Been on a speeding motorcycle
  • See the Grand Canyon in person
  • Published a book
  • Visit the Vatican
  • Buy a brand new car
  • Walk in Jerusalem
  • Have my picture in the newspaper
  • Read the entire Bible
  • Visit the White House
  • Kill and prepare an animal for eating
  • Had chickenpox
  • Save someone’s life
  • Sit on a jury
  • Meet someone famous
  • Join a book club
  • Lose a loved one
  • Have a baby
  • See the Alamo in person (I might have when I was five, not sure)
  • Swim in the Great Salt Lake
  • Been involved in a law suit
  • Been stung by a bee
  • Ride an elephant

Totals:
Did: 51
No Thanks: 9
Would Like: 40

Countering Westboro Demonstrators with Love, Love, Love

Countering Westboro Demonstrators with Love, Love, Love

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The Westboro Baptist Church group was stationed in Atlanta at the corner of Chamblee Tucker Road and Henderson Road, a block or so from the church where the funeral was being held. Their signs said things like “God Hates You,” “America is Doomed,” “Pray for More Dead Soldiers” and various other anti-government and anti-gay sentiments. One sign portrayed stick figures wearing Santa hats and engaging in anal intercourse. This seems pretty typical, judging by some of the photos on Flickr. Drivers couldn’t really see the Westboro group until they were right up on them. This is very near a highway exit. It was really interesting to watch the cars going by. I got a few thumbs up and smiles. They got a number of shouts and some old-fashioned flipping off. However, most of the people in cars were either studiously pretending not to see what was happening or talking excitedly on their cellphones.

It was actually pretty low-key as these things go. DeKalb police guarded the entrance and exit to the church, and the demonstrators were about half a block away. If you came in for the funeral on Henderson Road, you wouldn’t even have seen them. I suspect that it was a different sort of scene at the other, probably more prominent, Atlanta event at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church – maybe that’s why the demonstrators here were mostly female. They didn’t seem to have a serious interest in personally provoking anyone at this particular event. They laughed and jeered a little, but it was very easy to disregard them, partly because I stood on the corner across the street on Henderson (on the same side of the road on Chamblee Tucker).

It was a little scary for me at first and I was shaking for the first ten minutes or so, but then it got better when I started focusing on love. I let my favorite songs of love play in my mind, and I imagined beaming with healing, caring energy. It was wonderful.

My sign was clearly a home-made sort of thing, just one of the big posters we use for my son’s school projects. The details at the bottom probably weren’t readable at a distance, but that’s all right.

And the greatest of these is Love

I was the only one there with an alternative message. I maintained silence and simply held the sign up to cars driving by.

On my way home, I passed the officers guarding the entrance and exit of the church where the funeral was being held. Knowing why they were there, I slowed and gave them a thumbs up. To my surprise, they returned the gesture! That felt really… really good – an unexpected thing.

Thank you to everyone who helped me decide what was best.

It was very much worth doing.

Westboro Baptist Church Coming Here?!? Oh no.

Westboro Baptist Church Coming Here?!? Oh no.

Comments 24 comments

This letter was forwarded to me as part of the neighborhood watch.

Dear Embry Hills Family,

Many of you are already aware that Embry Hills is scheduled to be a picket site for the Westboro Baptist Church on Saturday, December 13th. The picketers will be here as a result of the memorial service for Keith Jernigan. In light of the information and misinformation that is circulating, I am writing to you to offer the facts and provide a word or two to those of you who plan to worship with the Jernigan family on Saturday.

Westboro Baptist Church is located in Topeka, Kansas, and they are a Primitive Baptist congregation. You can do your own research on the church and its teachings if you wish. I prefer not to grant their ideas any credence here, but it is important for you to know that their presence on Saturday has nothing to do with Embry Hills Church. Westboro Baptist Church monitors the locations of the services for soldiers who die in Afghanistan and Iraq, and their picketers show up wherever those services are held. Their message is vile, cruel and legally protected. According to Captain R.K. Ellison of the DeKalb County Police, the picketers will be located on the sidewalk at the corner of Henderson Mill and Chamblee-Tucker Roads. They plan to picket between 1:00 and 1:45 P.M. on Saturday.

DeKalb County law enforcement officials have been extremely helpful in preparing logistically for the service on Saturday. There will be an appropriate contingent of law enforcement officials to oversee the demonstration and to provide traffic direction, if necessary.

Please be advised that one of the goals of the picketers is to evoke strong responses. My best advice is to ignore them and not to grant them any part of your personal power. This is the brave approach that the Jernigan family is taking; if Toni, Bill and Wade can do that, then surely we can, too. The Jernigans invite you to rise above the protest and to join them in celebrating Keith’s life. There will be no counter-protesters present, by specific request of the Jernigan family. Please honor the Jernigans’ wishes by ignoring the protesters rather than attempting in any way to respond to them. Thankfully, the location of their picket is far more preferable than the sidewalk in front of our building and will make it easier for us to pass by them and even to pray for them in love as we do so. Of course, you can avoid them altogether if you approach the church traveling north on Henderson Mill.

Now, a few words of logistical instruction regarding Saturday.

In order to allow for maximum on-site parking for guests, I am encouraging Embry Hills members to carpool. We expect a sizable congregation for Saturday’s service, a wonderful testament of love for Keith and support for Keith’s family. Please do what you can to use as few spaces as possible.

Please know that “Night in Bethlehem” has been moved indoors, because of the forecast of very cold temperatures. As a result, there will be no access to the building from the Education Wing, and the driveway from the front to the rear of the building will be blocked. You may access the front parking lot from both driveways, but your only access to the rear parking lot will be on the Sanctuary side.

If any of us on the staff can answer any questions for you, please let us know.

I know that we’re all praying for the Jernigan family, and they appreciate it so much.

Embry Hills is very nearby. I don’t know how I will be able to physically restrain myself from going there. The family wishes for them to be ignored, and normally I would respect a family’s wishes. But if they are picketing up the street…
I would really appreciate your opinions. If you were here, what would you do? This may be legally protected, but their actions and messages are wrong and profoundly destructive.

Yes, I do make a judgment here. Jesus might forgive them, but I have a hard time.

They have a thing for funerals, and love to show up for the deaths of gays, soldiers and boy scouts in particular.

I never have agreed with Bush’s war policies, but to blame a soldier for them is wrong. To put the stamp of God on that opinion is more than wrong; it’s a sin against the Spirit of Love, against God. This is how Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church (and really, it’s wrong to call it Baptist) describes its purpose in protesting the funeral of Keith Jernigan:

12/13/2008 -1:00 PM – 1:45 PM Atlanta -Embry Hills United Methodist Church – Army Corpse, YAY! 3304 Henderson Mill Rd Yikes! God has killed another Army brute! There is nowhere safe for those of you who put on a uniform for this perverse and God-despising nation of hypocrites and whoremongers. You take your life in your own hands, and God is killing your fellow countrymen! Woe be to those in the armed forces of Doomed America! It would have been better that you had not been born/signed up for that foolish cause. There is no protecting a nation that God does not protect (Psalm 128:1)- your watchmen- your marines- your national guard-your air force- your army- your navy- none of them can win this fight against God! RUN FROM THAT FAG-INFESTED and GOD-HATING association of brute beasts! The flag is a piece of cloth; it can not save your souls from the fires of HELL! You had better listen to us, or you will join William K. Jernigan in the Lake of Fire! He ignorantly sinned away his day of Grace and brought WRATH down on his head! America is Doomed! Amen.

I feel the need to do something. Even just make a sign and stand there across the street. Anything. I could peacefully protest with a compelling message, like “Don’t Hate” or “God doesn’t hate” or “Jesus would think you’re a jerk” or just “Love, Peace, Respect.” I can think of any number of things. The fruits of the spirit, maybe, or even something humorous.

Or I could stay home.

I have to make a decision about this. There are several people who read this blog who are very insightful on spiritual and/or political matters. This is a bit of both, and I would like to hear your feedback, thoughts, opinions, perspectives and ideas.

Please comment.

P.S. Wow, that was quick: screenhunter_04-dec-11-1936

Sometimes I Just Want

Sometimes I Just Want

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Sometimes I Just Want

To fly through the sky, carefree, in freedom.
To heal anyone of anything.
To know, understand, and be able to communicate in every language.
To sing well enough to make other people cry.
To leap through the air like a dancer.
To skip and not worry if I look absurd.
To play, mingling imagination and reality like a child.
To run at full speed, for as long as I want to.
To hide anywhere by fading into my surroundings.
To huddle, warm and cozy, by a fire.
To sleep in total comfort, with sweet, sweet dreams.
To stomp my feet and get my way.
To scream in frustration.
To cry, giving meaning to feelings of helplessness.
To read great books for days and days.
To write better… much, much better.
To articulate the half-formed thoughts that escape so easily.
To inspire others to think and ask questions and wonder and care.
To be more courageous.
To take a risk.
To trust.
To loathe.
To feel more comfortable in my own skin.
To be graceful.
To be awkward.
To shake someone and scream “what is WRONG with you?”.
To pick a fight, for no real reason.
To hear laughter.
To take off and be by myself for a couple of weeks.
To have superhero tools, especially the lasso of truth.
To have a teleportation device.
To have a time machine.
To have a holodeck.
To have a device that could make anything out of anything -free.
To have enough money never to have to think of it again.
To never have to clean anything but my own body.
To travel safely and comfortably – anywhere.
To open everyone’s eyes – including my own.
To have a working magic wand.
To suddenly notice that I’m happy.
To have a good tree to climb.
To go on a ferris wheel.
To go ice-skating.
To go skiing.
To go camping.
To be wise.
To be silly.
To be fun.
To be frivolous.
To be loving.
To be loved.
To be cruel.
To be petulant.
To be unreasonable.
To be logical.
To be disciplined.
To be unfettered.
To be irresistible.
To say exactly what I’m thinking.
To be completely selfish.
To be sweet, for no particular reason.
To live in that happy spot between desire and ego-lessness.
To find the ideal balance between order and chaos.
To be left alone.
To get attention.
To slap someone right across the face.
To do something meaningful with my insights before I forget them.
To have something more than insight.
To see for miles and miles.
To let go and trust the cosmos.
To float downstream.
To laugh naturally, untainted by any history.
To dream vividly, in color, and with all my senses, and remember everything.
To be able to play any music I’ve ever heard or can imagine, and on any instrument.
To experience the world in terms of wonder.
To create visual works of art that turn out just the way I imagine them.
To kiss and be kissed – with passion and tenderness.
To be held and comforted.
To believe that everything will be all right.
To make love for hours and hours.
To hold hands and walk together.
To talk for hours about everything and nothing.
To be more likable.
To be witty.
To be as bitchy and cantankerous as I please.
To be sneaky and sly.
To throw down the gauntlet.
To do the dozens.
To alphabetize my books.
To find the book I was looking for.
To remember the perfect word for that.
To know everyone’s name.
To make everything all better.
To have a plan.
To see real justice in real life.
To feel sorry for myself.
To feel sorry for someone else.
To always look like I was exactly 28, but live forever.
To talk to God, and get it, and like it.
To confer with the minor deities, and emerge unscathed.
To discover the perfect energy source.
To discover the cure for greed.
To read – at will – anyone’s thoughts.
To live in a more civilized and caring country.
To have friends in all the imaginary kingdoms, but no foes.
To die.
To really live.
To be immortal.
To understand and forgive.
To hold a grudge like it was a piece of treasure.
To be more realistic and pragmatic.
To keep an even keel.
To keep a stiff upper lip.
To keep my cool.
To express everything.
To be silent.

What a Week

What a Week

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There’s been some drama in the Virushead household.

Part I: The Hubby: Last Friday, J went unconscious twice in the middle of the night (so that’s technically Saturday). The first time, he went down with a crash that woke me up. The second time was while I was trying to help him to get back into bed – and we both hit the floor on that one. Not a thing I could do, and we both sustained some minor injuries. I’m not as strong as I thought.
We’ve been told that this was likely a passing episode of vasovagal syncope. From my perspective, it was pure terror. For a couple of (my) heartbeats, I thought I’d lost him. After I screamed in his face for a little bit, he came around to consciousness again. His vitals were steady, his pupils were equal, but he said, “there’s something wrong with my symmetry.” I ruled out stroke and heart attack, and he seemed to recover well enough. If it ever happens again, I’m calling 911. At the time, it seemed like it would have been an over-reaction, but in retrospect I think I made a mistake by not calling.
Of course, there’s no-one else to call on a Friday night. There should be something that covers the gap between doctor’s hours and a call for an ambulance. By the time he was able to see his doctor, there wasn’t really much evidence for anything else that might have happened.
During the week, he started to have early-morning vertigo. By Thursday, it had become enough of a problem that he was instructed to go to the emergency room.

Part II: The Son: On Wednesday, J took B (the son) to the doctor for his checkup. We had discussed (in some detail, and on several occasions) my gut aversion to more than one vaccine being given at a time. It’s anecdotal and frankly just intuitive, but I’ve done a lot of thinking about the immune system. In addition, I remember Ben being traumatised to some extent when they gave him three shots in one visit. Psychologically, I think two is the limit. I also can’t help but wonder about the synergistic effect of several vaccines at once, especially when they involve viruses. Anyway, B needed a chicken pox vaccine (which I’m already a little skeptical about since chicken pox helps to provide immunity against smallpox) and the doctor wanted to give him a flu shot as well. John expressed our concerns, and evidently the doctor thought it was “just silly” – and gave me a call at work.
After some discussion, I started to feel like perhaps I was just being overly-cautious. Since I started working full-time, that also meant that J was the one to have to take him to the doctor. He wasn’t feeling well himself. Between the doctor’s argument and J’s condition, I relented – just for this one time.
So of course B had a reaction. All Wednesday night he was curled up against me – shivering, listless, unhappy, feverish, waking up all through the night.

Part III: Thursday: After being up most of the night, I was in rough shape. Ben was home, still feeling terrible, and we needed to talk to his doctor. J was feeling worse, too. Within a half-hour I talked to Ben’s pediatrician and we got instructions from J’s doctor to go to the emergency room for a CT scan and some other testing. I sent a message to my team at work, and resigned myself to one of those days. I bundled B up in the back of the car, and we drove off to the hospital where J was expected.
Evidently certain procedures are just dumped on ERs now – I think that’s unethical, but I don’t make the decisions. The emergency room shouldn’t have to deal with things like that. Just schedule a CT scan! What’s the problem?

Part IV: Conclusion: Thankfully, J did not have a brain tumor or anything else I had imagined, although it took almost all day to find that out.
He had just knocked his rocks loose. Hee-hee. Seriously, that’s what they said. The diagnosis is Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo: “The ear contains tiny sand grains of Calcium Carbonate call otoliths which literally means ear rocks. These fellows are meant to be heavy and like to fall on receptors in the ear called hair cells when you tilt your head. In this way your inner ear relays information to your brain about the position of your head. Lots of times these little rocks come off of their membrane and break free going from a part of the inner ear called the utricle falling into one of the semicircular canals, most commonly the posterior canal.” Fun, huh? There is some sort of “Dizziness Clinic” where he can’t get an appointment until mid-month. I hope he’s careful in the parking lot. Evidently there are a lot of dizzy individuals in the university community (don’t say it, don’t say it).

The son was still in pretty bad shape this morning, and after some discussion, I encouraged him to get into bed to see if he could sleep a little more. The idea was that he would go to school, but a little later than usual. He slept until 1:30, and I don’t know a better validation for his staying home than that. He’s starting to feel a little better tonight, and ibuprofen has helped a lot so I think he’ll be almost back to his regular self tomorrow.

I worried all day, but J and B managed by themselves. Good job!

I got home, threw the hambone in for some weekend pea soup, and cracked a beer. Man, it’s been a long week. I’m glad it’s over.

Despite everything, I’m strangely contented. Have a good weekend, everyone!