Friday Tidings

Measured by some of the curt replies I received, I could tell last week’s post riled some folks. Why should I finger President Obama for posting selfies, when everyone else does too? Who really cares? Another reader complained:  He can't enjoy himself during his term? You must be a Christian that believes entertainment is wrong. Do you resent him sleeping at night too? Why are you so priggish? Okay. Point taken. I am priggish. President Obama was merely reaching out to those who appreciate a good selfie.  Someone else said to stop playing the blame game.  Another reader suggested, I should really be pointing the finger at myself and asking how am I helping this sorry world?  So, please accept my apologies—and I extend apologies to President Obama.  Since it’s hard for this unelected, small town American to change policies on immigration, ISIS, or our fledgling economy, I’m focusing on what I can d...

It’s the 21 st Century but we’re witnessing a reemergence of medieval warfare—the beheadings, brutality, and slavery—as it spreads, some military experts speculate that it’ll end in a global war. We depend on our nation’s brightest minds to know how to deal with the threats against us. We can argue about our foreign policy maneuvers, but unfortunately the choices that remain are hard ones. As our nation deals with the horrific executions of some of our own citizens, I’m wondering if it was wise for our president to release a bunch of selfies promoting his health care law? The timing couldn’t have been more inappropriate.   Just as we were evacuating our US Embassy in Yemen (a nation Obama once praised as an example of our foreign policy success), the White House released the selfies.  While this probably appeals to the generation he hopes to get signed up for medical insurance, I’m too old for this nonsense. How about we leave sel...

Long before emails, letters served as heartfelt offerings of love and encouragement. I have bundles of them saved in a box.  My dad loved writing letters for special occasions.  Those letters always had an amazing blend of wisdom and love, but one Valentine’s Day letter was different and we both knew why.                                                                                                                                                     2/14/1979 Dear Karen, As I sit here staring at your high school graduation picture, I recall the little girl who loved to skip everyw...

www.dumpaday.com      Millions (of mostly women) have read E.L. James’  Fifty Shades  erotica trilogy. I’m not one of them, but I’ve talked to some who have. Plus at least a dozen email links about it have been sent to me asking for my opinion.  It’s never fair to review something you haven’t read, but one mom was deeply concerned about the perceptions her older teen daughter now has about men, sex, and real love. Adults have the freedom to read, view, and enjoy the entertainment of their choice. While we may not like all the entertainment options, at least we can choose. Children sometimes make these choices without knowing the consequences. By definition, erotica is literature (or art) that is sexually explicit. Erotica is designed to heighten the sexual response of readers (or viewers).   Pornography ranges from soft porn to hard core.  Today, 30% of porn users are women. According ...

The awards ceremony was in the high school library and even though it was against library policy, the hosts had platters of delicious cookies and cider. As a volunteer grant writer for a K-12 school, I was there to collect funds to help our small school. Stacks of white envelopes were on a table in front and as God’s providence would have it, the award for my organization was announced first. I rose and went to shake hands with the chairman of the board, who was bestowing thousands of dollars to all the non-profit organizations in the large room. I shared briefly about the impact this money would have for needy students. Sitting down, I then listened to the words of acceptance for fifty other small non-profits in our county. But there was one issue that we all were dealing with—and it wasn’t just poverty, abuse, or homelessness. It was hunger. Of the $250,000 given away that day—money that needed to be stretched over lean budgets for all of the coming year, ...

Regis Giles, gun-rights activist and creator of Girls Just Wanna Have Guns.com, is a Millennial voice for Second Amendment rights and self-defense. In her view, women need guns for their own protection.  If not guns, then a taser, knife, or some form of martial arts to go from being prey to being a formidable defender. Concerned with gun control and its potential to disarm Americans, Giles is trying to raise awareness.  On her fundraising website she states: Guns save more lives than they take. Almost 7000 times every day, law-abiding citizens use guns to defend themselves. Each year, 200,000 women use a gun to defend themselves against sexual attacks. Giles believes that a gun in a woman’s hand is her best chance at survival. She has partnered with some experienced filmmakers in hopes to produce a 90-minute documentary about our American gun rights. We saw the horror in France—when the ...

Opal had worked the front desk of the elementary school for nearly five decades. Long past retirement age, this was not work; it was her life. Fresh out of secretarial school back in the early-sixties, she found a position at a brand new school in the quiet community she loved. Having been the school secretary for such a span had given Opal the chance to enroll kids in Kindergarten and watch them throughout their early schooling—and then have some of them bring their own kids to enroll years later. In the last of couple decades she’d seen a darker side too—child custody issues, abuse, and drugs. But for Opal, it was still her life and even though she saw the brokenness, the pieces were real children, and they were precious to her. Yet, one thing was an enigma to her—why were the girls seemingly getting older so much faster?   She remembered in the early years how the school district nurse would gather the 6 th grade girls, mostly 12 year olds, and ...