I live across from a community park where I often walk my dogs. Last weekend the softball fields and warm-up areas were activated by girls of various ages batting, throwing and catching; and parents watching, eating and yelling. A regional tournament was in full swing.
While I lingered to watch a few innings, I reminisced back to when my daughter played on these same fields and I managed and coached her teams. I remember the practices, the drills, the trips to the batting cages, the girls’ competitiveness and the parents’ cliques. On top of that there was the important goal of being selected for the all-star team or a travel team, which conferred an elite status on the players who made it. Between rec ball, all-stars and travel ball, a girl could conceivably play softball year round.
I remembered the parents who encouraged and those who complained. One the one hand there was the dad whose daughter didn’t make the all-star team that year and who verbally attacked me for the better part of an hour, accusing me of ruining his girl’s chances to play high school ball which could lead to a college scholarship. On the other hand there was the dad who coached with me for three seasons and overlooked no player. Ours was the most unified team one year and we won the league trophy.
Each spring was given over to all things softball: practices, games, planning, snack shack schedules, weather reports, field maintenance, team sleepovers… It all seemed so vital to the formation of happy, well-rounded kids.
It’s all so entirely unimportant to me now. I do and I don’t miss those days on the ball fields. The point was to have fun, to build skills, friendships, discipline and character in our kids. The actuality also consisted of strife, scheming and gossip. All that time, effort and money we spent… was it worth it?
This is what I know: We parents have good intentions in enrolling our kids into extracurricular activities. And then we sit on the sidelines or in the audience to watch them succeed and fail. We stop participating, leaving it up to coaches like me to form good character and marketable skills in our kids. But character is formed in the home and then brought to the ball field.
My daughter, who never once played on the all-star team, opted for water polo during high school and is now serving as a United State Marine. We play catch when she’s home on leave.
What of the daughter of the ranting father? She was good enough to be picked for the high school JV team as a freshman but stopped playing altogether the following year. I was saddened to subsequently read about her in the police blotter in our local newspaper.
The important thing about training our kids is what happens at home, not at home plate.
Because of recent events regarding the recall of former events, I decided to hit the dictionary (the wonderful Oxford American Dictionary that resides on my Mac) to confirm my understanding, since “words have power” and we want to use the right words when describing our experiences. Here are the definitions of the 3 most talked-about words on the news channels in the past couple of days:
Misspeak:a verb meaning to express oneself insufficiently, unclearly or inaccurately;
Misconstrue:a verb meaning to interpret something wrongly;
Lie:a verb meaning to intentionally make a false or deceptive statement.
From these definitions it is clear that a lie is not a mistake.
If a person lies and we overlook, excuse or mitigate it, do we become liars? If our children lie, do we excuse it, rationalize it or redefine it? What if our employees lie?
It seems to me that if a person makes a false claim it is not a mere insufficiency or misconstruction on his part. It’s a lie.
That won’t fly very far in a Scrabble game. I challenge!
This story was reported by Associated Press and was captured today (March 3, 200 on Yahoo!®News. I clicked on the lead because of the misspelled word.
Conclusion: I’d better make sure all my spellings are “Scrabble-worthy”, huh?
Christine Pelosi, author, activist, attorney and daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, stated in an interview today on FoxNews that she had not yet decided who she was going to vote for. She was torn between her generation and her gender. Obviously, she will be choosing between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton.
I found Ms. Pelosi’s comments something to think about. And so I began thinking about why people vote the way they do. Is it the platform, the promise or the person that we vote for. Ms. Pelosi also enjoined the candidates to “chill”, to stop bickering like little kids and deal with the concerns that will affect the future. She has a point about being concerned about her future and wanting candidates to eschew the put-downs and focus on the issues. Yet I question the basis on which she remains undecided in her vote. She talked about issues, but her stated basis for uncertainty would seem to belie her desire for a focus on the issues.
Is it right to vote based on gender? Is it right to vote based on age? Somehow it is expected that, if you’re a woman, you’ll vote for a woman, and that if you’re young, you’ll vote for youth. I understand that Oprah Winfrey is considered by many women’s groups to be a traitor to all women everywhere because she has publicly endorsed Barak Obama.
It is inconsistent that we cry foul when a job candidate is turned down due to age or gender and then turn around and choose a candidate for the job of President on that very basis. This double-mindedness is pure hypocrisy. We who are anti-discriminatory based on sex and age will be certain hypocrites when it comes to the choice of a presidential candidate, if we vote for a person simply because of their sex or their youth.
As for me, I will vote for the person who I believe is the best fit for the office, based on their track record, their values, their vision and their ability to back it up. For me, it’s not a matter of age or gender.
Yesterday I received the following e-mail forwarded from a friend (cut and pasted here directly with no editing) with the above photo attached:
How ironic is this??!! They don’t even believe in Christ and they’re getting their own Christmas stamp, but don’t dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property?
USPS New Stamp
This one is impossible to believe. Scroll down for the text.
If there is only one thing you forward today…..let it be this!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of Pan Am Flight 103!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military Barracks in Saudi Arabia!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001!
REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!
Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class
Holiday postage stamp. Bull!
REMEMBER to adamantly and vocallyBOYCOTT this stamp
When purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.
REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know!!!
Now, I consider myself a loyal American and uphold the Constitution as the FFs (Founding Fathers) originally intended. I am a practicing Christian and believe in absolute truth. So on the surface, I would say, “Right on.” But something about this message bothered me. I could not take up the banner being presented and run with it. Why not?
I saw a few fatal flaws in the message that served to undermine its credibility:
First: The message states right off that this is a Christmas stamp. And then it continues into issues of American patriotism in the wake of worldwide terrorism related to jihad. This stamp is not a Christmas stamp. It deals with Muslim observances (blessed festivals), not Christian or Jewish. It is part of the USPS’s Holiday Celebration Series, but was not released as a “Christmas” stamp. So the email message is incorrect in its thesis, and thus becomes insupportable.
Second: Muslims do believe in Jesus Christ, but only as a prophet (not as the Christ/Messiah). They consider him a lesser prophet than Mohammad. Muslims do not acknowledge Christ’s resurrection from the dead nor his deity. Again, the opening assertion demonstrates some lack of knowledge on this point.
Third: I have not heard reported anywhere that it is specifically Muslims who oppose the display of the Ten Commandmants on public/government properties. This opposition appears to come mostly from “patriotic” Americans.
Fourth: The email infers that Christmas is an “American” holiday. However, it is not. Christmas is celebrated worldwide, and has been celebrated for centuries longer than the United States has existed. We Americans join the celebration but cannot claim it as ours. Note that many Americans do not celebrate Christmas, and even oppose it, but are still patriotic.
I agree that it’s a bit suspect to dedicate a postage stamp to a set of beliefs that considers it just and heroic to take lives on the basis that they’re not Islamists and therefore not valuable. Many Americans have lost their lives and loved ones at the hands of Islamists and we can assert that this stamp is therefore inappropriate and unpatriotic. Let’s use that as the basis for protest, because, for a country, group or person to commemorate principles that demand its destruction is unwise, to put it politely.
I hope you see my point in this: If one is going to make an argument one needs solid, reasonable, factual basis for that argument. Otherwise, it falls apart and is mere assertion. The issue I have with this email is that, although the idea might be right, the way in which that idea is supported is so flawed that it makes the entire idea invalid. This is true whether one is speaking of religious, political, scientific and philosophical concepts. Let’s be intelligent and winsome in making our arguments. We may not succeed in persuading, but at least we won’t shoot ourselves in the foot.
Dr. Jerry Falwell, pastor, educator and leader, died this morning. Evidently his work here on earth is finished and so God took him home. He was 73 years old.
He was the founder of Liberty University in Virginia and the outspoken leader of the Moral Majority and Christian Conservatism in the ’80s and early 90s. He was a friend of presidents. No matter what people thought of him, several things can be rightly said and agreed upon about him:
He was passionate about what he believed, and did not compromise on those beliefs. As such, he was often labeled “intolerant” by those who believe we should be tolerant of everything.
He was consistent. We knew what to expect from him. He was a person of integrity.
He was influential for good. He made a difference in the lives of many people.
He bore up under ongoing ridicule from those who opposed him or wrote him off as a fanatic unworthy of being heard. He did not give up, but kept going. He was dedicated.
He responded to his critics with respect, and did not back down from his belief that what God says is true. He based his life work on that foundation. He did not ridicule those who disagreed with him.
When he made mistakes, he took responsibility for them. He did not hide or make excuses for himself, nor did he blame others for them.
He believed in goodness and in truth. He believed that certain things were right and a lot of things weren’t, and that human at any stage is valueable and worth fighting for.
He smiled a lot. A dour countenance was not his way, and he was definitely not an angry man. He did not yell or shout; he was quiet and firm.
With his death occurring only a few months after the death of Anna Nicole Smith, I cannot help making a comparison between the two: how they lived, their impact, and how they look from behind.
What did Smith contribute to the rest of us? What impact and influence did she have on the lives of others? How did she fill in the gap between the date of her birth and the date of her death? What did she believe? Did she help anyone become a better person? Did she stand for anything? We are fascinated by her life and more so by her death and the subsequent sparring that occurred because of it, but why? What did she do that was so impressive? Why did we honor her which so much notice? I don’t get it.
Falwell’s death is spoken of by reporters today in hushed tones. There is a quiet respect and admiration as the details of his death are given. There is no frenzy. From FoxNews to CNN there appears to be agreement across the board that this was a man of substance and influence. Why else would he have been interviewed only last week by CNN for his opinions on partial birth abortion, traditional families and God? It is clear that even the opposition respected his quiet confidence.
See you later, Jerry. I did not know you here on earth, but I look forward to catching up with you when I get to where you are.
Photo of Jerry Falwell courtesy of Jerry Falwell Ministries
This story was reported by 
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