The Walkout

This is Nick Cannon.  His mother got off the abortion table and walked out, sparing his life.

Cannon told his story in a music video entitled, “Can I Live?” which has been credited with saving the lives of many unborn children.

___________________________

Then there's Christina Marie Bennett.  She almost died as an unborn child. Her mother paid for an abortion but walked out of the doctor's office after a janitor told her God would give her the strength to have her baby.

       It was over a decade ago that I stood in the bathroom while my mom struggled to find the words to speak. “You’ll hate me,” she said. “I can’t tell you, because you’ll hate me.”
      “I would never hate you,” I replied. The look in her eyes revealed she wasn’t convinced. I was in my early 20’s, home for a visit from college and looking for answers. I certainly wasn’t pro-life at the time.
       Only months before, a prophetic minister gave me a word that something special happened when I was born. When I asked my mom about it, she said: “I met an angel.”

From Christina's website bio ... Outside pressures and inner anxieties lead her (Christina's mom) to schedule an abortion. She met with a hospital counselor who assured her she was making the right choice. As she sat for a moment in the hallway, an African-American janitor saw her crying and approached her. ‘Do you want to have this baby,' she asked?  When my mother said yes, the janitor replied, 'then God will give you the strength.' After the janitor's encouragement, the doctor called my mother into his office. She told him she changed her mind and wanted to leave. To her dismay, the doctor demanded she stay, insisting it was too late and telling her she had to go through with the abortion. With strength from above, my mom walked out. ... Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Our lives begin to die the day we become silent about things that matter’.  I'm alive today because a stranger refused to be silent.

          ____________________

Then there's Kimberly Henderson.  Apparently she's famous; her video (right, called 'Tiny Hearts') had millions of views in the first week.  She spent seven hours in an abortion clinic, but walked out deciding not to sign the final consent form.  It's a moderately miraculous story, and that's her baby girl there in her arms, the result of her decision.  

How should we process such information?

For some further thoughts, see Life, Abortion, and Conscience

Discovery!

It's called the Discovery Doctrine, and it has a 500 year legal history.

When Christopher Columbus first set foot on the white sands of Guanahani island he performed
 a ceremony to "take possession" of the land for the king and queen of Spain, acting under the
international laws of Western Christendom. Although the story of Columbus' "discovery" has
taken on mythological proportions in most of the Western world, few people are aware that
 his act of "possession" was based on a religious doctrine now known in history as
 the Doctrine of Discovery.

Under the doctrine, a government could claim title to lands it's subjects travelled to and
occupied and whose indigenous inhabitants were not subjects of a European Christian
monarch. The doctrine's legal use has been for invalidating aboriginal claims to their
homeland in favor of colonial governments.

Many historical periods are inaccurately portrayed; the winners write the history books. Dealing objectively and in human terms with conquest, displacement of populations, and genocide hasn't yet become the norm.

Power and hubris have shaped every country in the world. The conquering heroes may have thought well of their own actions, but there was perhaps more to the story in every case. 

The first European explorers knew nothing of the civilizations and cultures of Africa or the Americas, some of which preceded their own by more than a thousand years. Colonization and conquest decimated the populations, divided up the land and resources, and imposed subservience on the survivors.

Recent history includes similar conquest and the death of millions at the hands of those who would advance themselves at the expense of another. WWI and II were attempts at conquest and acquisition of land and resources. Today, Wall Street is headquarters for the ongoing economic war now waged in the marketplace for the same goals. Perhaps we're finally catching on, they're not heroes.

How might we honestly process and respond to such information?

You might appreciate Whose History?

The Beauty of Life

Kids cracking up while trying to pose for a picture.  It
was their idea.  In the background, my friend and his
nephew rest in the shade on a warm afternoon.

"The beauty of life depends not only on how happy u r, but how happy others have been bcoz of u!  Hope u had a flowery day.  Bye!"

The text message from a good friend in eastern Africa pretty much made my day.  He and his family made a place for me when I was there years ago, and they'd visited me when I was laid up with broken ribs; they prayed for me and wept as I struggled with the pain. They brought me a gift of special cashews for my final going away, and they never asked for anything.

The family is doing pretty well.  They've built another simple house after having been evicted by government from lands they had lived on for generations.  They all live together - mom, brother, sister, grandma, little fellow, plus nieces and nephews.  Together, they do a small charcoal business in the village.  With a little help, the kids are in school, health issues are addressed, one nephew has finished trade school and internship, ... things are going okay.  We swap texts and stories every few weeks, and sometimes pictures.

In his text message, he was again thanking me for helping out with some simple things.  Our relationship goes both ways.  He and his family have given us so much over the years.  They've taught us about things like faith and working together, loving practically.  And perseverance.  They work all week and their Sunday church service if full of praise and thanksgiving and prayer for each other and for us.  I hope they know what a help they are.

If you'd like to join in, we can provide introductions.  :)

Recentism

Our congressional representatives attempt to block Syrian
refugees (about 10,000 planned) in the queue for
the U.S. as France agrees to accept 30,000.

recentism ‎

• A focus on recent events to the exclusion of history. 

We can be overburdened by present concerns.  Lacking a longer-term perspective, both discussion and decisions may move ahead without consideration of the timeless truths and values available.

The painful turmoil over refugees entering America is perhaps an excellent example.  With political candidates in the queue for national office, the subject opened spillways of excess thought that were released downstream.  Actual facts and objectivity took a while to emerge.  Deeper understanding didn't arrive for weeks, long after the players had flooded the channels with solutions for problems that didn't exist.

Ignored in the flail are the values we claim as a nation.  We will defend the helpless, we will lend a hand to those struggling to survive, we will stand against injustice.  With only a few hiccups along the way, we have long been a haven for refugees.  

Lost in the storm of words and fear ... our backbone?   ... what else is lost?

Update: 2 MAR 16

Shall we build a wall and deport all the foreigners?  If ever there were a time for clarity and values and courage ..., well, this is another one.  


2 MAR 16:  I'm reminded of a playground incident; some bee's nest had been disturbed, and the swarm was chasing us kids.  A couple got stung as we ran to the school entrance.  They wouldn't let us in.  They didn't want us to disturb the teacher's meeting because it was really important.  

We all remember them fondly, of course.

Personal vs. National Economics, & the funniest solution

Doing well with your personal finances is essential.

You have to understand how money and especially how credit and borrowing work.  A relatively conservative approach is perhaps best for the long term.

Spend less than you earn.

Live within your means.

Saving is a big deal.  

Borrowing for consumables is a loser, always.  

Borrowing for a home is usually safe if the price is reasonable, and if you have a plan for maintaining the value of the property.

If you spend fifty years doing things reasonably, you'll likely end up with enough to help your grandkids through college and fund your retirement as well.  Perhaps.  Maybe.  If you can avoid the pitfalls.  That's the conservative approach.  That's personal economics.  

You can do all of that for a lifetime and have it all go south on you.

It's happened before.  Most recently, the housing bubble floated to the top over a couple of decades.  It was fueled by predatory lending practices in the finance industry, and families lost everything in the process.  Not the crooked banks, the families.  

The finance industry passed the loss off by fraudulent resale of the loan risks, fraudulently classified as A+ when they were knowingly just junk.  The SEC, the FED, the banks, the exchanges, and all the players came out on top, and families took the loss.  Various estimates suggest every man, woman, and child in America lost about $16,000, but that's not true.  Nobody on Wall Street lost a penny.  Not a single employee was indicted, not a single CEO lost his multi-million dollar bonus, and the fines that were paid were paid to the government after being taken out of the pockets of the savers who'd been robbed in the first place.  That's the finance industry given to us by conservative politicians.  Unfettered, minimally regulated, free market animals.  Thanks and a hat tip to the conservative approach to finance.

Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy four times, in 1991, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
Trump Entertainment Resorts's only current property is the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
The company's former properties include:
Trump Plaza in Atlantic City which was closed in 2014.
Trump 29 in Coachella, California is now the Spotlight 29 Casino.
Trump Casino in Gary, Indiana is now the Majestic Star II.
Trump World's Fair Casino at Trump Plaza was closed in 1999 and demolished in 2000.
Trump Marina (previously Trump Castle) is now the Golden Nugget, Atlantic City.

Oh, and the funniest solution ... proposing Trump as a national leader. Worth perhaps a quarter of what he's publicly claimed, Trump has a trail of bad business behind him that suggests every third decision or so will be troublesome.  Nobody cares when it's just his money on the table, but giving him the leadership position for the nation, now that's funny.

It's more fun to give than to receive

More fun?
That's not what the preacher said!  He said 'more blessed', the two-syllable version, bless-ed.  Okay, 'blessed' is one of those religionized words that blurs into nothing from overuse.  'Satisfying' is maybe a better choice, or 'happier'.


The word 'give' is equally blurry in modern use. The way it was originally said, it wasn't about giving gifts.  Here's the context.

Before leaving folks he loved for the last time, Paul encouraged them saying, “I’ve never had any taste for wealth or fashion, as you know. With these hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’”

Then Paul went down on his knees, all of them kneeling with him, and prayed. And then a river of tears. Much clinging to Paul, not wanting to let him go. 

Acts 20

In the moment described, we see loving friends bidding goodbye to their brother, and he encourages them as he goes.  Love and help each other through life, you'll be happier that way, all of you.