A New Christmas

It's that time of year again. Americans are gearing up to find plenty of reasons to take the "Happy" out of "Happy Holidays", whether it's through poor manners while shopping or being offended by whose holiday we should/shouldn't be celebrating. A few days ago, I watched some video done by a guy at Focus on the Family, who also used to be the chief meteorologist at my place of employment, and he was ranting about how he was offended, as a Christian, that so many companies were sending him catalogs in the mail that didn't contain the word "Christmas". To combat this, he was going to create a new holiday to go along with the other ones and call it "Tossmas". Everytime he got catalogs from companies that merely said "Happy Holidays", he'd wish it a "Merry Tossmas" and toss it in the trashcan.

Earlier this year, this particular hombre (whose initials are SS, BTW...just sayin') made national news when he made a vlog calling for Christians to pray that God would make it rain on the Democratic National Convention in Denver, thus thwarting Satan's plans to take over the US. Now he's against generic holiday greetings. I have to confess that I used to think like this. I thought stores should make their employees wish people a MC and it should be fashionable again. These days, I'm not really hanging out at church as much as I was back then and I'm not exposed to all the propaganda that goes along with. So I'm all about letting other cultures share in the celebrating too. If they want to celebrate another non-Christmas holiday this time of year, that's fine as long as there's a lot of food and I'm invited. (Kidding!)

Personally, I have a hard time getting into the "real" meaning of Christmas. I've celebrated Baby Jesus so much over the years it's just gotten old. Every year, He's still in that manger chillin with asses, shittin' in the hay right along with them. That's not to say I've stopped looking for some kind of redemptive meaning in all this mess. Finally, I'm learning to get over my cynicism towards the consumerism and fanaticism of the season and focus on all the inspirational things going on.

The Salvation Army has been a shining beacon, embodying all the potential human beings have for actually letting the holidays live up to their happy name. Every year when the bells and kettles come out, Heaven is loosed for people who had no hope. This is what I love about this time of year, even though I should be smacked for not participating in it more than I do. The SA does such a job of "disguising" the fact that it's a church that people don't realize they're actually giving to a church when they put money in the kettle. They figure they're giving it to a charity that does a lot of good around the world and it's going to a good cause--which it does. That's why I love the Sallies. It's so damn inconspicuous, but they actually do what Christ would want His people to do. They don't waste their time or breath drawing attention to themselves...they draw the attention to the poor and the hopeless and the needy and the ways to help those folks. This is Christ among us. Changing lives, giving hope, and doing good. To Christians, I would say this is how you say "Merry Christmas".

To non-Christians who hate Christmas and hate that Christians want to monopolize the holidays time of year, look at what the Salvation Army does every year. They do this because they're celebrating the coming of someone who gave them the idea and the calling to do all this good work in the world. While you don't have to believe in Christ, you can take something away from the Christmas story. Look at Christmas as a metaphor for birth and a new beginning in your own life to commit yourself to doing good work in this world for others. You don't have to be anything but a human in order to help someone else. You have a heart. You have a conscience. Listen to them and you'll know what you need to do here on earth. For Christians, Christmas marks the beginning of a mission. This can also be the same for non-Christians, too. To focus on doing good is to focus on God.

Probing My Brain with a Rusty Nail

Yeah, okay. I didn't really know what kijnd of title to throw up there, so I thought I'd come up with the typical pseudo-weird/cliché title that sounds like I'm some kind of smartass cynic who's trying to be funny. Hmm...

Plus, I just felt like talking about lots of random things that are all over the map, so any kind of unrelated title would do.

Anyhoo...the first item up for bids is the idea that Kentucky put to death a dude convicted of killing a 6 and 7-year old back in 2002, in addition to raping and attempting to kill their mother and older sister while under the influence of drugs. While I'm not unilaterally for or against the death penalty, I think there's a difference between a hardened criminal and a victim of one's own vices. Sometimes people are wired to be psychotic criminals and all the antidepressants in the world couldn't cure them. Other times you just get a gut feeling that some people who may be on death row really have learned their lesson and don't need to die. This guy, Marco Chapman, really grabbed my attenion because he took responsibility for his actions, pleaded with his lawyers to stop appealing his death sentence, and genuinely feels he needs to die for something he did when he wasn't in his right mind.

I hear wisdom in this man's remorse. Something the State of Kentucky and his ex-girlfriend/victim are missing. It's horrible that he killed children and raped their mother, but he's not proud of it, he admits his guilt, he's accepted his fate, and it seems the corrections system has fulfilled its purpose. From the sounds of it, this man's already killed himself inside and he's just waiting for the State to finish off his body. Lethal injection is just a tap on the arm compared to the torture and death Chapman's put himself through in his own heart. That being said, execution seems a bit like beating a dead horse. Corrections facilities are meant to correct criminals, are they not? How in the hell do you correct them by bumping them off? His old ways are far behind him, because he's killed his old self both through imprisonment and impending death. Now there's a chance for life and new possibilities, but nobody's seeing this. Instead, they just want to waste this man and any kind of good he could bring about.

I sympathize with the mother over the loss of her children, but she sickens me for being so blinded by rage and vengeance. She's so unwilling to honor her children's memories by allowing this man a chance to do good and maybe save another woman's children. Nobody sees this. The people who are lobbying for his release also piss me off. They seem to be more concerned about the political ramifications than they are showing grace and mercy to a man humbled by his own sins. Church groups think he shouldn't be executed because he's trying to play God. What the hell? How about not killing him because he's a child of God and he's repentant of his sins? Then other groups are just protesting the death penalty because they think it's inhumane.

The death penalty is useful, in my opinion. It should be used on psychos who only know how to live by preying on others and violating other people's security and safety. The ones who can't be rehabilitated. The ones who, after years of imprisonment, remain a threat to society, just like dogs that are too mean to train. Put humans down just like dogs that can't be retrained. However, don't base the death penalty solely on the crime. Chapman wasn't a mad dog like Charlie Manson. His rampage wasn't due to permanent psychological problems...it was just a temporary freakout due to drugs and alcohol. Someone like that needs help, not death. Why did no one try to help him get over his crime, get over drugs/alcohol, and make him fit for society? His crimes were not pre-meditated, but were part of a drunken rage. The death penalty was inconsistent and unnecessary and happened only because everybody freaked out due to gut reaction to the crime. Our justice system is incredibly flawed--possibly more than the bureaucracy--and Marco Chapman is a martyr. He deserved another chance at life and freedom, but it was denied because people are too selfish and narrow-minded to really accept forgiveness and grace as a way of society. Individual human achievement is a wonderful thing too often eclipsed or nullified by the achievement of many individuals of a mob.

"Which orchestra is that?"

Ahhh...one of my favorite clips from TVdom.

Election Day 2008: A Great Day for Anarchy

Lately, I've decided I'm basically an anarchist. But I believe in Christ and trying to make my life bear some kind of resemblence to his, so I guess you could call me a Christian™ anarchist. If I told anyone in my family that, they'd probably flip out and pull out the Holy Water and go buy some crucifixes, trying to touch them to my forehead. You think I'm kidding! Yesterday, my dad told me to make sure I go vote today because it's my "civic duty". Until then, I'd considered not going at all. Then I thought if he was going to make a big deal out of it, then maybe I should. Now I'm back to thinking I may not just because I don't feel that strongly about supporting a system of government that I feel to be flawed. So I feel it's my "civic duty" not to participate in something until the kinks are worked out. The only problem with that is most Americans probably don't think there are kinks, so they just blindly take the plunge off the voting cliff like lemmings and are none the wiser for it. And if you try to challenge any of that, you'll be called crazy and get ignored.

George Carlin is a genius. I've watched his voting rant just enough times to barely not know the thing by heart, but he says that people have no right to tell you you don't have a right to complain if you don't vote. Why? If you don't vote, and the person elected causes a big mess, you can complain about it because it's not your fault we got screwed. That's always made perfect sense to me, as opposed to the converse that "you can't complain if you don't vote". What if you wanted to complain about the choices on the ballot? What if you wanted to complain that we're not a constitutional monarchy or a theocracy? Are you still supposed to lodge your complaint by voting? It's this kind of reasoning that makes me not want to vote. If people with that kind of shady logic vote, then wouldn't that mean I have shady logic if I vote too? Then again, I could kind of take the middle road and just do a bunch of silly write-ins or vote straight third party, that way if a Republican or Democrat screws us (which they likely will), then I can both say it's not my fault and that I have a right to complain because I did vote (not that it matters anyway since that argument was stupid to begin with).

Despite all this cynicism...I had a dream last night that I hung out one-on-one with Barack Obama and then with Sarah Palin. I met Obama in some kind of waiting room for the election...but it was like the day before. There were maybe 30 people in this waiting room and none of them noticed he was there. I was sitting in a corner and Obama came over and sat in the seats caddy corner from me. He was just wearing a ballcap, a t-shirt, windbreaker, joggin pants, and sneakers. Once he sat down, he picked up a magazine and started reading it. Not really wanting to be a nuisance, I just casually started asking him about the weather and asked him if he was ready to campaign today. He nervously eyed me and didn't say a word...almost like he wanted to say something, but since it wasn't scripted and his advisors weren't around, he didn't want to risk saying anything that could get out. But I kept trying to make conversation and he finally opened up. After a while, that had dried up again, we pulled out our iPods and sat there, waiting for him to make a speech. The only problem...he didn't really give a speech. He just sat in the waiting room and started chatting with a few of the other people in the waiting room. (Cont'd later...)