Saturday, February 27, 2016

SHUT UP----BUT----- (SOME SAY) KEEP ON TALKING

SHUT UP--- BUT--- KEEP TALKING

   I often wonder why I cannot remove the battery from my thinking cap and not say a word while my country goes to hell in a hand basket. I question why I can’t stop the grinder’s stone that grinds at my heart and wakes me in the middle of the night to say “you can’t keep silent about this.” I speculate why I did not acquire the talent of one who speaks with such an eloquent tongue that makes opposition nearly impossible. I don’t know how to answer many of these questions, but there are some things I----- do know.
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    But ---- as to the past ---- I have read over a thousand documented testimonials concerning the benefits of medical marijuana, ---- but I have not found one positive testimonial concerning the benefits of tobacco.
   I taught in a high school where there was a designated area for male students to smoke cigarettes. I sat in the teacher’s lounge and heard teachers condemn long-haired hippies for smoking weed while they had a thick fog of tobacco smoke circling above their heads.   I said then---- as---- I say now---- there was something wrong with that picture.
   I know there are health problems related to smoking tobacco, and I have no difficulty believing sincere parents who have witnessed the benefits of medical marijuana for a child with epilepsy.
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   ----But--- as to the present ----- I have heard Americans call President Obama all kinds of unscrupulous names. I have watched individuals look facts directly in the face and deny them ----- such as ---- the number of unemployed Americans has decreased ----- the American dollar is strong on the world’s market ----- the value of the American home has increased ---- the price of a gallon of gasoline has decreased. ---- But---- I am unable to identify the problem because I know that Americans are better off today than they were eight years ago.
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   I do not understand why some individuals believe that enforcement of Christian principals is not the same as forced Islamic doctrines. But, deep down, I know the policy is the same.
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   I am horrified when an esteemed member of the community declares that all individuals of a different sexual orientation should be placed on an island and shot. ---- But ---- he is welcomed in the “amen” corner of the local church. ----- I know----- that both the church and the individuals are wrong in this assumption.  
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   I find it impossible to remain silent when the Chicago Police Union, other adult men and women, and one major news outlet attempts to justify a policeman shooting a teenager sixteen times or when a policeman shoots and kills a twelve-year-old kid playing with a toy gun. There can be no justification for a cold-blooded murder. ----I know---- there are many ways to handle civil disobedience without the use of deadly force.
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   But I’m certain of one thing ---- there should never be a power in heaven or on earth strong enough to silence a tongue from speaking the truth.   

Thursday, February 18, 2016

A CREATION FUMBLE


A CREATION FUMBLE 

    If I was God, which I am not, if I had created the universe, which I did not, and if I had created man, which I did not, I would be greatly disappointed in my creation. After living on the planet for centuries humans have not learned how to get along with each other. There has never been a moment on earth when humans were not killing other humans.  
   There are no words in the English language to sufficiently describe the atrocities that humans will do to other humans. The human is the only creature on the face of the earth who will cause great harm to others, and to do it in the name of God.  Humans will enslave others and die in a war attempting to defend the institution of slavery. Humans will watch other humans starve to death and go home and eat from a table of plenty. Humans will use chemical warfare on women and children and go home and get a good night’s sleep. A human is the only creature who can control a life-saving drug, inflate the price five thousand percent, and smirk while his neighbor is dying for want of that drug.  A human can advocate that all gays be placed on an island and shot, walk inside the church, sit in the amen corner, and smile while the preacher is preaching. Only in the world of humans can an individual devote a lifetime in a leadership position discriminating against minorities, and in death receive praise from other humans. A soldier can throw a baby in the air and let it come down on a bayonet and walk away laughing. A human can push another human off the roof of a tall building and laugh before he hits the ground. It baffles the mind to think of the evil that can come from a human who has a heart of stone. Of all the creatures on earth, humans are the meanest.