Leaving Home

Readers of this blog would probably agree that I am seldom at a loss for words. But this time I am. Someday, given the gift of time and reflection, I will certainly write more, but for now it's too close and overwhelming.

Yesterday was an extraordinary day for our family. As our relocation to the Windy City approaches it's finale, we were attending our beloved St. Andrew's Church on our second-to-last regular service, and were surprised with a going away party from the entire congregation. There was a cake, balloons, gifts and lots of hugs and tears. There was also music and a song written just for us and performed by our own folk music group, The Minstrels. And most moving of all, a special letter with many kind words, written by our Rector and read aloud at the service, saying that he would direct it to our new Church when we are ready.

As I had said in a parting letter to them, we will never replace this Church. It's not possible. And if we take away one life lesson from that place and it's good people, it is that old principle of the love you give being returned tenfold. Some people say that applies to all things. I don't know about that, but it's real and it exists at St. Andrew's. A gift we will never forget.

Inclusive, To A Point

650 Anglican Bishops are at the once-a-decade, worldwide Communion called Lambeth at Canterbury, in England. But this only represents 70% of the worlds Anglican leaders. 200 are absent. There is an issue. It might even be called a schism. 70-30 is a significant split.

Of the missing, the vast majority of those chose not to attend. But then there are a very few (all from the Episcopal Church of the United States) that were simply not invited. How can that be? Because they are the Bishops that have chosen sides. They have openly declared a schism. One, by virtue of his actions, and a dozen or so others because of their response to it.

It appears that the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Rowan Williams, prefers not to confront the biggest issue the Church has faced since it's inception. Instead, he would rather avoid a messy conference, and gather only with those that "go along". Doing that will not solve the problem. Actually, like all avoidance strategy, it will probably only work to further divide.

It's kind of ironic that just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog entitled "What God Hath Joined Together", with another example of the Church's avoidance of this issue in an extremely destructive way.

But the real irony I want to write about is this: The Church invites inclusion of all kinds of people, and rightly so. But after that, it actually promotes division by refusing to lead in a uniform voice, and teaching and preaching to one consistent and unchanging Gospel. So that even on a personal scale, a "feel good" Church seeks to avoid confrontation.

Take the example of one unfortunate individual: He enters the Church, and after many years, decides to join it's priesthood. He spends many more years in the Ministry and is given more and more responsibility by it's Diocese. Finally, he is elected Bishop. Over all of this time, he leads a divisive lifestyle that is known by virtually all of the persons who have been his career and personal advocates, but is now at the epicenter of this schism. And so then at the very height of his career, it is this Church's magnificent decision to exclude him. I almost feel sorry for him, but there's no way I can, because he has worked so arrogantly and self-serving for years to bring himself to this point also.

So a Church leadership that asks each of us to be inclusive in all ways, now must begin to exclude some of it's own elected leaders from it's Communion. That's not just wrong, it is symptomatic of a failing organization. Leadership with no compass. No, let me rephrase; there is a compass, and it points one correct path. But this Church refuses to accept that and so it scatters in all directions. It had better stand for one thing, or fall for all things. Maybe it's too late.

A Daly Dose of Reality

Living (at least part-time now) in Chicagoland, has really been an eye-opener in terms of big city characteristics, good and bad.

Back in the Detroit area, we had always heard about the great city of Chicago, it's restaurants, entertainment, museums, etc.. An exciting and vibrant, shining city on the lake. And you know what? It is all of that. But then there's the other side.

Chicago is big. I don't know for sure, maybe 2 or 3 times the population of the Detroit Metro area. So you would expect that there would be more of everything. But somehow, coming from the "Murder City", I never really thought Chicago could beat Detroit in that category. But they do. In fact, violent crime is up 13% in one year! I feel like making a public plea over here, "Don't do this just to make me feel at home!"

Everyone is desperate to find an answer. This week the Chief of Police spent two days being grilled by City Council as to why his force can't get control. The Govenor of Illinois has offered up equipment and men from the National Guard to help patrol neighborhoods.

The City is run by the Honorable Richard M. Daly, Mayor. A rather dim-witted, career politician (the apple never falls very far from the tree!) that actually comes off as one of those guys on Saturday Night Live that were "da Bears" fans. Seriously, he sounds and looks just like one of them! But he's also a poster child for liberal wackos everywhere. During the recent Gun Control debate in the Supreme Court, he made some just outlandish statements about the ruling which struck down Washington DC's gun ban. You see, the Mayor has his own law, almost identical, and he now knows that it's in serious trouble and is about to be challenged. He will lose.

But in the face of all of this, I have yet to hear anyone really challenge him with some simple questions; how in the world does this crime wave tearing through Chicago happen, when you've got what is now, the toughest gun control law in the country? And then how can you stand there and defend it?!!

The answers of course, are obvious. But not to those who's entire brain remains muddled in the same old tired, liberal ideals....like keeping guns away from all of those honest, hard working and law abiding Chicagoans!

Detroit, it turns out, has no monopoly on crime, or second-rate Mayors.

Grandma Hexham's War

A reprint of an actual "Letter to the Editor" seen in the local liberal rag in my beloved Up Norf region:

Entertainment or Reality?

The first time I ever heard the Blue Angels was in 2004 when they were practicing for their air show in Traverse City.

I was taking care of my first grandson in his home about a mile from the airport. He was 4 months old at the time and snuggled in my arms when they went screaming over his house. His reaction to the terrible sound as self-defense, pulling his tiny body into a tight fetal position and burrowing his little head into my chest.

It was at that very moment that a very real and somber reality hit me. That same sound is the last sound that many grandmothers holding their grandbabies ever heard in Iraq!

Something that is touted as entertainment for so many in this country is actually shock and awe in the most heinous degree. I hope that as many watch the talented Blue Angels, they pause to really grasp what they are supporting and the negative and deadly impact these "heroes" have on the nameless and faceless victims in Iraq and other targets of United States military action.

Jacquelyn Hexham
Traverse City

I recall this letter to my Blog because I just experienced the Blue Angels again over Grand Traverse Bay last week, and like the very first time, words almost fail me when I try to describe the pride and appreciation I have for the men and machines of this group. Quite a different impression than that of Ms. Hexham's!

Why even give this letter more "light of day" when it obviously is in total opposition to my opinions? Because it deserves to be properly dissected by The Mole Hole!

My biggest challenge here is to try and comprehend how any intelligent (or even semi-intelligent), freedom loving American can have this point of view. Here's where the dissection begins:

First, she has been a grandmother since at least 2004. So I can assume that she's probably "north" of 50, but she could be 100 too. Really don't know. But in any case, she's old enough to have experienced plenty of life in these United States, and many years of freedom. Amazingly, she has no appreciation for what the U.S. Military has provided her, her children and her grandchildren. A world fought for and died for, by heroes (which she disgustingly puts in quotation marks) from the Continental Army to the Blue Angels.

Maybe she's been a pacifist her entire life. Or perhaps she's like a lot of the more seasoned people I've met, who just somehow become pacifists in their senior years. I don't know why that is, but I seem to run into them quite often. (Could be future Blog material all to itself!)

For sure, she has an incredible sense about what infants can "feel" even at four months of age. Just listen to how her grandson "burrows his little head" in self defense. I'm certain he would never react that way to the noise of a chainsaw, a Led Zepplin CD or a thunder-clap. No, this little guy actually felt the fear of proximity to that 20,000 lbs. of thrust from those GE engines, the near-sonic speed and the potential for the thousands of pounds of ordinance typically carried underneath those swept-wings. How could he know that it was unarmed, this "Death from Above"? Poor little fella. Despite this incredibly damaging experience, I can guarantee you that he'll be grow up more nervous and paranoid because of his grandmother's influence on him, than from three and a half seconds of jet blast. (Actually, since he lives just a mile from the airport, he's probably heard jet engines quite a few times, wouldn't you think?)

She is also keenly aware of some of the civilian casualty statistics in the Iraq war. She obviously has seen some data that is being withheld somehow from the public. I've read nothing about so many Iraqi grandmothers being bombed while actually holding their grandchildren. I'm just amazed that emergency workers there can actually reconstruct the scene in a pile of rubble to know that the adult female had been holding the infant just before the city block was leveled. Amazing forensics over there, and she knows all this stuff!

Finally, she hopes that many of us watching the Angels really grasp the deadly impact these "heroes" have on our military targets. The answer Ms. Hexham, is that we do, and that is actually part of the immense appreciation most of us have for these men and the U.S. Navy. Thanks to these Heroes (no quotation marks) your little grandson will enjoy the same freedoms you have had, and maybe, if you don't succeed in poisoning his mind too deeply, he'll watch a future Blue Angels team with pride and awe.

What God Hath Joined Together...No More

From California (where else?) comes word that the Bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese there is advising his clergy to encourage couples to marry outside the Church!

The Diocese states two reasons for their directive:
1. The controversy over same-sex unions.
2. A concern over couples who marry, but never return to the Church.

First of all, don't think for one minute that reason number two has anything to do with this perverse directive. Yes, I'm sure that there is, and has always been, a frustration over couples who "rent" the Church for their big day, with no intention of ever setting foot there again. Even my own Pastor has voiced a concern over this. He even confessed to a kind of "burn out" with it after so many years, but being the kind of person he is, he hangs in on the belief that if he just succeeds in getting 2% of those couples to make a commitment to Church as well as themselves, then he has done some good.

No the real reason in California has much more to do with the nature of my Church today. Not enough strength of conviction to say NO to gay and lesbian couples, and yet not willing to further isolate the rest of us who are tiring of the Church's abandonment of traditional doctrine. So I guess their answer is to cop out! Throw another Holy Sacrament in the trash. It is enough to make one literally sick. Even the gays are upset!

I don't know where it will all end.

Yes I do; five centuries (or so) will be the lifespan of this little branch of Christianity. King Henry's and Cromwell's great experiment is slowly and inexorably being bled to death by leaders with less conviction and compass than they had in one little finger.

Forget The Rule of Law

The highest court in Britain has now ruled that Islamic Sharia laws can usurp English law in localized Muslim communities.

This is no insignificant ruling. In fact, this is appalling on so many fronts. This is no longer just the misplaced ideals of the "enlightened" Archbishop of Canterbury. Now it carries the weight of law; just not English law!

On the front line of course, are Islamic women, for whom the dreams of equality and freedom have just been dealt a setback of centuries in what is supposed to be one of the brightest and longest burning lights of freedom in Europe. They will receive the brunt of this travesty from a religion that sees them as vastly unequal. But England itself is going to suffer when it starts letting immigrant groups import their own law and basically "opt-out" of English law when it goes against their customs.

The country that gave us the Magna Carta, now cannot even find the courage and wisdom in preserving it's own principles. What folly! A country that has seen it's great empire shrink to almost nothing but it's own little home field will now allow decay to form from within. It's just a matter of time.

Independence Day, Northern Style

I’ve been “up north” every July 4th for…….well forever. I really can’t remember when I wasn’t. Maybe as a little kid, but even at 8 or 9 years I was already making the annual trek to the north. Never missed one since and never will; the good Lord willing. However, this is the first Independence Day since I started my blog, so naturally I must write about it!

Of course, friends and family are always there. This year, wife and child and four special friends from home, all up here at the northern camp. And as tradition dictates, there was a parade and all kinds of things for the kids. Later, there was grilling and drinks for the adults. The weather was perfect and the fireworks that night were fantastic. How the little village of Northport did it, is a bit of a mystery. My hat is off to the sponsors whomever they may be, because it was so well done. Not Detroit, not Boston, but just superb by small-town Michigan standards.

I still remember the small-town displays I saw as a kid. One single-colored shell, followed by what seemed like four minutes of silence (and four mosquito bites) before the next! At the time, it seemed like state-of-the-art, but now of course, this would never meet our instant-gratification expectations. Simpler times for sure.

The next day, the celebration continued with the trip down the west arm of Grand Traverse Bay aboard the very capable Renaway II, to see the Cherry Festival air show featuring the Navy’s Blue Angels. This was the second bi-annual show we’ve watched from the water, and again, we watch it with such pride and amazement; along with a heck of a lot of fun! And just like the day before, the weather couldn’t have been better if we’d ordered it out of a catalog! There’s nothing like the clear air, bright sunshine and the deep navy-blue of Lake Michigan. Absolutely perfect!

I have three or four “favorite” holidays, meaning that I like them equally, but for different reasons. On Independence Day, it really revolves around the outdoor activities. There may have been a real rainout here and there, but for the most part even Michigan gives us a break for the day. It sure did this year! Happy 232nd U.S.A.!

Are You Happy Now?

The list is out. Every country in the world has now been surveyed in order to rank their people from happiest to the most depressed on earth.

Which countries rank happiest? Well, number one is Denmark. Somewhat hard to figure, but I'm sure that legalized drugs of almost every kind probably contribute to that happiness quotient. (They're mostly all too buzzed to recall their 72% income tax rate!)

Rounding out the top five are Puerto Rico, Colombia, Iceland and Northern Ireland. I'm stupefied by this list, with the possible exception of Northern Ireland. Colombians are just happy to be alive I think. And I'm sure the Icelanders were surveyed in either June or July, otherwise it would have been dark.

The bottom five are all former Soviet states with the exception of delightful Zimbabwe. OK, there's no argument there!

And so where did the U.S.A. rank? Number 16. Not too bad, but we couldn't hold a candle to those giddy folks in El Salvador!

And how'd you like to be French? Even the Vietnamese are happier! I know the French love their dogs, but apparently they'd be happier if they ate them!

But pity especially, the poor miserable Greeks. The saddest bunch in all of Europe. They have a saying there, "If I were any happier, I'd be in Kyrgyzstan!"

This survey was conducted under guidance from the University of Michigan. That's good enough for me! So where do all these "surprises" come from? Like how glum the Japanese are (43rd), or the relative bliss in Nigeria (29th).

First, I think there's the ignorance of mine, (and most Americans) about what life is really like in most countries. For the most part, we get our only knowledge from TV and books. Even if we travel there, we don't typically leave the tourist paths. So we have real misconceptions.

Second, and probably the biggest factor, is the subjectivity of happiness. By that I mean that certain peoples can be very happy with less. Blessed are they! They're OK with where they are and who they are. They are not constantly striving for more. Maybe that's the Irish factor. Those that do, inevitably fail, and that just leads to more dissatisfaction. That sort of fits with what I know about the Japanese. Kind of makes sense.

America at 16th doesn't surprise me. We whine a lot more than we praise. We really don't know how good we've got it here. A lot of us just like to be miserable. Only 20% are happy with our President. Only 16% are happy with our Congress. Half of us are on a guilt trip about warming up the world. Everything costs too much (never mind that the happiest people in the world pay $7.70 for a gallon of gas!). And now we are all being forced to buy high-def TV's by 2009!

I tell you, if it gets much worse, I'm moving to Malta (12th and climbing!)