The other day I heard a local talk show host, bemoaning a recent case of child molestation involving a 14-year-old and a 5-year-old, wax problematic on how times have gotten so harsh for kids, that he wished we could return to a "time when kids could just be kids. Could…
Ebonmuse has raised an intriguing point at his site, Daylight Atheism. He suggests that unrealistic expectations promulgated by many churches throw many people into disorienting existential spirals. Instead of acknowledging the limitations of human animals up front, many church-goers (with the encouragement of their religious leaders), conceive of their journeys through life…
We like to think of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as days when young children give lots of hugs to their loving parents. We don’t like to consider that these days are also days when thousands of innocent children are beaten by their parents, their anguished cries often not heard outside of their dysfunctional homes. Saddest of all, these children are condemned to be beaten and screamed at by the people they trust most.
In 1988, I was waiting for an elevator at the State office building where I worked as an Assistant Attorney General. Many social workers had their offices in the same building, and several of those social workers were also waiting for an elevator.
All of a sudden, a middle-aged man started yelling at a three-year-old boy, who started crying. The boy weighed about 40 pounds. The man quickly got angrier and started smacking the boy violently with the palm of his hand-maybe it was his fist. Whump! Whump! Whump! The little boy was now breathless and whimpering. Like the other half-dozen people waiting for an elevator, however, I did nothing but stand there horrified. The man cocked his arm back to strike the boy yet again when one of the social workers jumped forward and yelled at the man: “Stop hitting that child!”
With that, the man looked confused, then angry, then more confused, then meek. The social worker further instructed him: “follow me.” The man followed the social worker, presumably to the social worker’s office. …
Jerry Falwell is dead. At 73, he passed away, at his desk, apparently still working, even though doctors have (probably) been telling him to lay off for some time. He had heart problems. Whatever one's personal feelings may be, it ill-behooves us to beat up on someone so soon after…
After reading Erich’s post, I thought I’d put this up. I wrote it–most of it–some time ago, for a different venue, but I’ve added to it since, and, well, along with Erich’s it might add more flavors to the stew of memory. So.
I have friends who thought it was a great thing when Reagan became president, who now reject any such accusation, and refuse to believe it when I remind them that they said encouraging things about him when he took office. One quote, during a ceremony broadcast on television, that I’ll never forget: “He just looks like a real president!”
Time passes, policy comes to the fore, and most of those people no longer recall these initial bouts of near-patriotic enthusiasm. They have conveniently forgotten.
I didn’t like Reagan’s policies. I’m sure I would have liked him. Everybody who met him seems to say the same thing. When Donna Brazille can say she thought he was a decent man, despite the complete polarization of their politics, you have to admit something was going on with Reagan which is all too often more telling about politics and history than the facts attached to a particular era.
Reagan was presidential. He had Presence.
I listen now to the talk about putting his face on the ten dollar bill with some amusement. Reagan already has at least one airport, a couple of highways, no doubt many streets, parks, a library named in his honor. He may be the most honored president …