I received a scam email this morning -- a comment trying to post to my blog. In fact, I didn't realize it was a scam until just now, hours later, looking at it again. Anyway, it got me looking at my blog again and realizing I have only posted 8 times this year! I have the sense that blogs have become passe, but I miss writing here and will try to write more consistently, whether or not anyone is reading my posts.
It's like leaving my diary open on a public park bench, but I am a little more guarded than that. In fact, other than universal emotions, I don't reveal a whole lot of personal information on this blog or on Facebook or in any other public place. That is intentional, of course.
But I am so glad for the scam email because it took me to other comments waiting to post and I was thrilled to see that someone else, Dianna Lord, is trying to find Mrs. Sanders, my/our all-time favorite teacher. [I've had many great teachers, but she was truly unique.] Dianna had her a year or two earlier than me in a different school, I think. I will email her now and find out what she has found out in the quest to find Mrs. Barbara Ann Sanders, teacher extraordinaire.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Don't know why...What happened?
I can't believe I am writing on my blog again. When Blogger made changes to their site, I couldn't figure it out and quickly gave up. Today I had to look at the blog to check something and there it was, as plain as could be, as easy (almost) as it used to be.
I'm BAAAAACK!
And it feels good. Missed my internet outlet.
What has happened since I last wrote? A lot, and yet not much. Instead of looking backward to catch up, I will look forward, or better yet, live in the ever-ephemeral NOW.
So it is late. Thanks a late afternoon nap I am the only person awake in the house, with the possible exception of my daughter Abby who bought a new, much anticipated book this evening at Barnes & Noble. She is probably lying awake directly above me reading in her bed.
I had two pieces of taco pizza tonight while writing under deadline to enter an essay contest. I wanted more than two pieces but couldn't pause to eat.
New wrinkles appeared on my forehead this week. They are faintly etched but nonetheless noticeable lines. I am considering bangs.
Battle lines are being drawn in the civil war known as presidential politics. I am, of course, still smitten with Mitt, but I have friends and relatives on Facebook who are equally (if that is possible?) passionate about Obama. They are too cynical to believe that things can be better, so they are determined to re-elect the current president. They think Romney cannot possibly understand them because he has been relatively wealthy all of his life, as though the amount of money in one's bank account is directly proportionate with one's levels of empathy and integrity. The fact that Barack Obama will garner millions of votes in November boggles the mind. Truly, 'boggles' is the right word. I am boggled. But I don't spend a lot of time trying to convince anyone about politics, probably because I have never successfully persuaded anyone. I am beginning to suspect that there is a genetic component to one's political tendancies. I'm not smart enough to figure this one out.
I've probably mentioned this on the blog before, but in high school and college I was a debater. I could debate anything with anyone from any angle, and sometimes I would win whole tournaments. It was exhilerating! But somewhere along the way I figured out that there are very few things worth arguing about. Peace is so much better than contention! And people are entitled their own opinions, just as I am entitled to mine. I will even allow for the possibility that an opinion different from my own may be right.
There are some things worth fighting about, but those are mostly matters of life and death, including spiritual life and death. I will fight for someone's life or soul, but for very little else.
I'm BAAAAACK!
And it feels good. Missed my internet outlet.
What has happened since I last wrote? A lot, and yet not much. Instead of looking backward to catch up, I will look forward, or better yet, live in the ever-ephemeral NOW.
So it is late. Thanks a late afternoon nap I am the only person awake in the house, with the possible exception of my daughter Abby who bought a new, much anticipated book this evening at Barnes & Noble. She is probably lying awake directly above me reading in her bed.
I had two pieces of taco pizza tonight while writing under deadline to enter an essay contest. I wanted more than two pieces but couldn't pause to eat.
New wrinkles appeared on my forehead this week. They are faintly etched but nonetheless noticeable lines. I am considering bangs.
Battle lines are being drawn in the civil war known as presidential politics. I am, of course, still smitten with Mitt, but I have friends and relatives on Facebook who are equally (if that is possible?) passionate about Obama. They are too cynical to believe that things can be better, so they are determined to re-elect the current president. They think Romney cannot possibly understand them because he has been relatively wealthy all of his life, as though the amount of money in one's bank account is directly proportionate with one's levels of empathy and integrity. The fact that Barack Obama will garner millions of votes in November boggles the mind. Truly, 'boggles' is the right word. I am boggled. But I don't spend a lot of time trying to convince anyone about politics, probably because I have never successfully persuaded anyone. I am beginning to suspect that there is a genetic component to one's political tendancies. I'm not smart enough to figure this one out.
I've probably mentioned this on the blog before, but in high school and college I was a debater. I could debate anything with anyone from any angle, and sometimes I would win whole tournaments. It was exhilerating! But somewhere along the way I figured out that there are very few things worth arguing about. Peace is so much better than contention! And people are entitled their own opinions, just as I am entitled to mine. I will even allow for the possibility that an opinion different from my own may be right.
There are some things worth fighting about, but those are mostly matters of life and death, including spiritual life and death. I will fight for someone's life or soul, but for very little else.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Original Photo: Bowls of Fruit in Evening Light
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Interesting Thought on Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
From
Smithsonian magazine:
"Imagine for a moment that you are Henry Morton Stanley early one morning in 1887, long after his first journey into Africa as a journalist, when he'd become famous by finding the Scottish missionary Dr. Livingstone. You emerge from your tent in the Ituri Rain Forest in Africa. It's dark. It's been dark for months. Your stomach, long since ruined by parasites, recurrent diseases and massive doses of quinine and other medicines, is in even worse shape than usual. You and your men have been reduced to eating berries, roots, fungi, grubs, caterpillars, ants and slugs - when you're lucky enough to find them. Dozens of people were so crippled - from hunger, disease, injuries and festering sores - that they had to be left behind at a spot in the Forest grimly referred to as Starvation Camp. You've taken the healthier ones ahead to look for food, but they've been dropping dead along the way, and there's still no food to be found. But as of this morning, you're still not dead. Now that you've arisen, what do you do?
For Stanley, this was an easy decision: shave. As his wife, Dorothy Tennant, whom he married in 1890, would later recall: "He had often told me that, on his various expeditions, he had made it a rule, always to shave carefully. In the Great Forest, in 'Starvation Camp,' on the mornings of battle, he had never neglected this custom, however great the difficulty." Stanley himself once said, "I always presented as decent an appearance as possible, both for self-discipline and for self-respect."
"Imagine for a moment that you are Henry Morton Stanley early one morning in 1887, long after his first journey into Africa as a journalist, when he'd become famous by finding the Scottish missionary Dr. Livingstone. You emerge from your tent in the Ituri Rain Forest in Africa. It's dark. It's been dark for months. Your stomach, long since ruined by parasites, recurrent diseases and massive doses of quinine and other medicines, is in even worse shape than usual. You and your men have been reduced to eating berries, roots, fungi, grubs, caterpillars, ants and slugs - when you're lucky enough to find them. Dozens of people were so crippled - from hunger, disease, injuries and festering sores - that they had to be left behind at a spot in the Forest grimly referred to as Starvation Camp. You've taken the healthier ones ahead to look for food, but they've been dropping dead along the way, and there's still no food to be found. But as of this morning, you're still not dead. Now that you've arisen, what do you do?
For Stanley, this was an easy decision: shave. As his wife, Dorothy Tennant, whom he married in 1890, would later recall: "He had often told me that, on his various expeditions, he had made it a rule, always to shave carefully. In the Great Forest, in 'Starvation Camp,' on the mornings of battle, he had never neglected this custom, however great the difficulty." Stanley himself once said, "I always presented as decent an appearance as possible, both for self-discipline and for self-respect."
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Are Mormons Christians? Yes, Mormons Are Christians
I've been thinking about this topic since the 2008 election, when I heard a well-meaning, seemingly very nice lady on television lamenting the fact that if Mitt Romney were to be elected President she would miss the Easter egg roll on the White House lawn and other Christian observances, because, in her mind, Mormons are not Christians. Many people in television, even news anchors and ordained ministers, seem to accept this notion that Mormons are not Christians -- which is absolutely not true. Only the church's detractors would make such a statement.
So I wondered, Where did that idea come from? I've been a Mormon and a Christian all of my life. When I was eight, I was baptized like Jesus and took upon myself the name of Christ. I've renewed my commitment to Christ each week since then by partaking of the Sacrament in remembrance of the crucifixion. I've concluded every prayer I've ever said in Jesus's name. Almost all of the songs and hymns of the Church are about Christ. Our very name since the Church was formed includes the name of Jesus Christ (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). How could anyone mistake us as non-Christians?
I think the misconception stems from a couple of facts:
1) Mormons do not use the traditional Christian cross, preferring to focus on Jesus' life and resurrection than upon his death. The symbol generally used to represent Mormonism is of an angel with a trumpet, representing the Second Coming of Christ when trumpets will sound. In the early days of the Church, the cross was widely used. It is simply a matter of what Mormons choose to focus on. No members of the LDS faith deny the cross or what happened on Golgotha.
2) Early detractors of the Church called members of the faith "Mormons" because they professed belief in additional scripture, the Book of Mormon. This led many to believe that members of the Church followed a god called Mormon, which was not true. Mormon was a prophet in the Book of Mormon (and a relatively minor one at that), just as Joseph Smith was a prophet in the early 1800s and Thomas Monson is a prophet today. Mormons believe in prophets, like prophets of old, but prophets are men, not members of the Godhead, like Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Mormons believe Jesus Christ is the creator of heaven and earth and the savior of the world, the only means of salvation for mankind. He is our ultimate example in all things.
3) Some ministers of other faiths and opponents of the Church perpetuate these misconceptions. I believe this happens, in some cases, because Mormon church leaders are not paid clergy, which threatens the livelihoods of other members of the clergy. In other cases, the clergymen's concerns are well-meaning but misguided. They do not know how to figure out who is a Christian and who is not, but the Savior himself described the test in the Bible (which Mormons believe to be the word of God, by the way) in the following passage from the King James version:
Matthew 7: 16-20
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
In this passage of scripture and in others, Jesus himself gave us the standard by which to know whether or not someone is a Christian.
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