Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Mr. Brown Chills in Washington





The images of this city never cease to amaze me, and what they do to me are even more profound than me. A city whose surface function is to be the legislative and distractive mechanics of this beautiful society that we live in boosts an amazing array of cultural beauty. I love just sitting on the bus being a fly on the wall able to witness the exchanges between my fellow bus riders. It’s good to know that even in a city like Washington; living in the financial strenuous times like we are now people still have faith in God. It really makes my heart soar. It also gives me the strength to go on. As some of you may know Washington is a city that I used to reside in; but and alloy of timing and maturity made it impossible for me to live here. I am not sure if I could ever call a place like this home for a myriad of reasons. But I have a handful of loved ones here that I wouldn't trade for the world, and they make this sometimes cols city as warm a hand-woven quilt on an autumn day.


But I am addressing you, on this place because of the images, I haven’t even been here an entire 24 hours and already I have been touched by what I have seen. The first of these is a advert on the metro for the Humanist; it’s a magazine that publishes on a bi-monthly basis. I used to read it in the library all the time when I was living in Philadelphia. Most of the articles take a very secular human stance on most issues, they report on; mind you they report on a humanist not merely human stance. Thus they yield to the higher angels of human existence rather than the lower demons of human nature. But it’s hard to gather that if you just take the advert on the image and words alone. I have made no secret of my allegiance to the almighty on here, but I have also made no secret of my plurality, regardless of the close-mindedness of some of my brothers and sisters out there who’ve already condemned ‘non-believers’ to hell. But to be honest to deny yourself or your being of being open to some omniscient being is counter intuitive to human existence, but further from what I have read of the humanist it’s readers are usually open to love of nature and communal brotherhood of some kind. Which at the end of the day what most, if not all sacred texts are getting at, at least on a human to human level.

Juxtaposed on the other end is what may send others screaming to something other than a ‘God’ this is an image I saw not two hours after the above in a family member’s neighborhood. Images like these frighten me for a number of reasons. The most ranking is that it scares people into a relationship with a being that doesn’t relate to his children that way anymore. If I were a 1st century Jew I suppose this would scare the crap out of me (even if they don’t believe in the traditional ‘Satan’ that we do). It’s also very immature on the part of the clergy; it’s as if they are teasing the ‘unsaved’ by waving an effigies of  the living Christ in their face. In the NT St. Peter tells the readers of his epistle to live such good lives that even if they accuse you of doing wrong they see the good you do. Actions brothers and sisters speaks volumes more than words ever could. But our words can cut as deep as the sharpest blade; turning one’s heart cold as ice. The vibrations of our songs can pierce the sensitive ear drums of those who need it most. Regardless of intention we can water from the mouth of Hagar’s crying child. So it is my suggestion that we (you/they) stop spooking the Almighty’s starving children, with their blurred view of  the gospel.



Saturday, November 12, 2011

The Hearts of Men





Okay so I read about as much of the grand jury report as I my belly could bear; having read the contents, my position remains the same. The base of my case remains’ with victim #2 and the incident the occurred with graduate coach Schultz who walked in on a child being raped. From a legal stand point the fact that he walked out on a child being raped could imply he was implicit, or that he was protecting Sandusky. So Schultz calls daddy and he’s told to ‘come home.’ and From there Paterno is informed, and they take Sandusky’s keys; after an eyewitness account! So Paterno tell his people that one of his grads walks in on  Sandusky raping a 10 year-old child, and all he does is call his supervisor (and I find it very hard to believe that J. Paterno has a traditional supervisor. as in he really answers to anyone).


It really looks to me like a group of men (if I can call them that) were working very hard to protect a dynasty, and another man’s job because of his contribution to that dynasty. Paterno is a coward he shirked when his better judgment should’ve been in the driver’s seat. He appealed to his lower demons, and ignored his higher angels. It is my belief that he and the other gentleman Schultz should hang from the gallows with that Sandusky fellow. No he did not ’do the deed’ as a friend of mine commented but his crime of silence was of the same spirit as his darker codefendant. It’s very cut and dry to me; when you live in a culture where men are allowed to act like children for as long as society will let them things like this happen. I think our Jewish brothers and sisters had it right ushering their young people into adulthood via Bar-Mitzvahs and Bat-Mitzvahs.  Unfortunately we live in a culture where people have more of a romance affair with a game then they do for the condition or treatment of children in the institution that they revere so much, There is no reason PSU’s sports program should not be boycotted for the crimes they let scatter under their watch; that boils down to no more than human trafficking.


If these men had the same heart for children as the mission of Second-Mile was supposed to be then they would have resolved this over 10 years ago and this would have been a 2-7 minute sound bite, with Sandusky doing the perp-walk away from Beaver Stadium…but here we are.