Untitled poem by Mike Mercer (“Chaplain Mike” at internetmonk.com)
so many people here to hear him
from everywhere, of every kind
no religious crowd this one!
check out that bloke over there
“loser” if i’ve ever seen one
not an ounce of righteousness in him
wouldn’t know a tithe from a toothbrush
couldn’t find genesis if you handed him a bible
a rough time of it, he’s had
surely the teacher won’t waste any time on him
and look over there, what a pitiful wretch
if it weren’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck
grim reaper took her husband
then came after her child
it got so nobody knew what to say to her
couldn’t take hearin’ another bit o’ bad news
you rarely see her out and about any more
and have you seen all the yokels?
brought ‘em out of their shacks, he did
i’ll wager they’re lookin’ for a free show—
funny talk, a miracle or two—
keep ‘em happy for a year!
sure thing they don’t have much more
i’m surprised their masters gave ‘em an afternoon
hey, there’s the widow lady from town
she sure got a bad shake didn’t she?
thought her husband had set things up for her
then some shyster tricked her out of it
got her to sign some paper
thinkin’ she was makin’ her money secure
secure in his pocket, all right!
and there’s a bunch of people here
been tryin’ to help these folks
takin’ pity on ‘em
tryin’ to make ‘em religious
tryin’ to get ‘em to quit their fightin’
carin’ even when the door gets slammed in their faces
spinning’ their wheels, gettin’ nowhere
seems like what we have here
is a big ol’ loser’s convention
not your ideal crowd, i’d say
then jesus stood up
looked around, and said to the lot of them
“you, above all, are blessed”
We didn’t really throw a going-away party for Heather before she left, but we did manage to pop a bottle of champagne (and yes, put the date on the ceiling next to the dent) and watch Big Night, one of our new favorite movies (1996, rated R—but not for nudity, as there is none. They nailed it for profanity, but even that becomes comedy because those Italian immigrants don’t really know how to swear).
I really recommend Big Night. A modern classic. Lots of fun, great music, and the best food you’ll ever see—and not be able to eat. What a pity.
And Heather—if we had thrown you a party it would have been JUST LIKE THIS:
It’s official. After a paperwork mixup, Daughter Number Three finally made it to Italy, the first of our family since her great-grandparents emigrated from there a hundred years ago.
We hadn’t heard from her since Tuesday after she cleared airport security in Boston. But, unless she had been wandering around the airport like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, we assumed that she made it OK.
We just received an email from her this morning, Friday:
Hi mom/dad, I’m here, it is fabulous!! I have limited internet access; this was the first time I was able to send out an email. To keep it short though, all is well and Siena is beautiful! love you, -Heather
Heather will be studying in Siena this semester, her second year in college. Siena is located somewhere between Florence and Rome, so she will have no excuse to be bored.
What will she study? Italy, of course. It’s a semester abroad, after all. Italian language; art history; and literature ( I think). Dante, in any case, because he lives there:
La gloria di colui che tutto move per l’universo penetra, e risplende
"Dante and Beatrice" by Ary Scheffer 1851
Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prende
fu’ io, e vidi cose che ridire
né sa né può chi di là sù discende;
perché appressando sé al suo disire,
nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,
che dietro la memoria non può ire.
Veramente quant’io del regno santo
ne la mia mente potei far tesoro,
sarà ora materia del mio canto.
(The opening lines of Paradiso, Canto I)
Longfellow translation:
The glory of Him who moveth everything
Doth penetrate the universe, and shine
In one part more and in another less.
Within that heaven which most his light receives
Was I, and things beheld which to repeat
Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends;
Because in drawing near to its desire
Our intellect ingulphs itself so far,
That after it the memory cannot go.
Truly whatever of the holy realm
I had the power to treasure in my mind
Shall now become the subject of my song.
__________
That’s about it. Study well, Heather. Maybe we’ll see you over there?
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” [Isaiah 40:4-5—and referred to in “I Have a Dream”]
Martin Luther King, Jr. used Bible verses often in his speeches. As with the Isaiah passage in “I Have a Dream”, he alluded to Moses in his “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” speech—leading the people of Israel to the Promised Land.
Remember that Moses never got there with the people; God allowed him only to see the Promised Land from a distance, from a mountain top across the Jordan River. He died before they crossed over.
I have included a 3-minute video of the conclusion of that speech, below. Knowing the allusion to Moses, remember that King was murdered the following day. I always choke up hearing this.
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Excerpts from speeches:
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Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another’s flesh. (Why We Can’t Wait, 1963)
“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. (Strength to Love, 1963)
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” ( Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967)
From the “I Have a Dream” speech of 28 August 1963:
“I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little 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.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'”
To watch video, click “Watch on YouTube” after clicking below:
In her speech today, “America’s Enduring Strength”, Sarah Palin called for healing in this country in the wake of the recent shootings in Arizona. She spoke about hearts breaking for the innocent. She spoke of mourning, of heroism, of prayer for the victims’ families. She spoke of the greatness of this country.
And then she went on the attack again.
I highlighted in red the paragraphs and phrases in which she turned the argument around, against her detractors. Out of the 1142-word speech, her counter-attack amounts to nearly two-thirds of the content.
In politics, the best defense is a good offense.
Your count may vary, but my conservative math figured 64% of her speech involved in defense of herself and in political counter-attack. Sorry. I couldn’t help but notice. Yes, she did praise and honor the victims, but the purpose of her speech is clear.
“After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.”
“[J]ournalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.”
“But when was [political debate] less heated? Back in those “calm days” when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols?”
“And we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.”
No, Sarah didn’t kill anyone with her cross-hairs, aimed at the congressional seats of 20 House Democrats. She didn’t kill anyone with their names printed below the targets on her map. And she isn’t backing down from any political rhetoric, either. By her speech today she justifies her actions.
After Saturday’s shootings, I had thought about posting in regard to the notorious “map” that was published last March by Sarah Palin. But I had held off, counting to ten, until I read an article by Karen Dolan. She has said this with much more control than I could have done.
If you haven’t seen the map, it’s time you did. Take a good look and decide for yourself what the crosshairs suggest. And remember that each of the crosshairs represents a member of Congress, listed beneath.
In a statement after the recent shooting that killed several innocent people and has gravely wounded Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Palin spokesperson said, “‘We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights,’ [SarahPAC staffer Rebecca Mansour] said in an interview… ‘It was simply crosshairs like you’d see on maps.’ Mansour added that ‘it never occurred to us that anybody would consider it violent’ and called any attempts to politicize the Arizona tragedy ‘repulsive.’” (source: huffingtonpost.com)
Look at the map. Look at it. Whatever the intent of the crosshairs, each represents a member of Congress.
Many of my readers know Karen Dolan, an islander at heart and author of the excerpt below. This is taken from her article in Common Dreams.Org, published yesterday, January 9, 2011.
Tragedies do happen. Innocent people, even children, are caught in cross hairs every day in this country. But these were no ordinary cross hairs. These cross hairs appeared on the website of an immensely high-profile political leader, indeed that of a former U.S. Vice-presidential Candidate. Tea Party Spokesperson Sarah Palin. This map targeted, with the cross hairs of a gun barrel, Rep Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). And to reinforce this map of “targets,” Palin tweeted to conservatives last year “Don’t Retreat…Reload.”
These cross hairs hung in the air when 2010 Congressional-candidate Sharon Angle, another Tea Party favorite, said in an interview that people should exercise their Second Amendment Remedies.
These crosshairs were present at a campaign stunt which Gabby Giffords’ Tea Party-backed Congressional opponent Jesse Kelly. Kelly’s campaign event website posted a photo of him in his Marine uniform holding his gun, advertising a target shooting event: “Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly.”
Palin, Angle, Kelly and the Tea Party neither pulled the trigger nor can be said to be responsible for the shootings. They have rightly decried the violence. The suspected shooter, Jared Lee Loughner’s internet rants seem to indicate mental instability and radical right-wing delusions. But so far there is no indication that he believes he was following instructions from any particular public figures.
No, they are not “behind the shootings.” But neither have they acknowledged the dangerous potential of their violent rhetoric. They have not repudiated their remarks or election tactics. They are not personally to blame for the tragedy. But can anyone say that they bear no responsibility for creating the cross hairs in which 18 innocent people were caught?
From Offshore 