For those who noticed that I decided to change the name of my blog, I felt that the previous name didn’t always fit with my posting. Adam Thada (by his tote bags for a good cause) was right to put a link to my blog with the words “unpredictable”. My thoughts and postings are often erratic. Granted it sucks if you’re a reader… which is probably why I write this more for my therapeutic value.
On a different note, I was at the funeral for my great aunt last week. First let me metion that when you are stating that someone has been cremated, it is apparently inappropriate to use the statement “ …they burned her.” Apparently it is disturbing to the listener and implies she was alive during the ordeal…. now I know. I define this as a “Nateism”. I am defining the word “Nateism” as a statement where the “use of one’s wording falls humorously far from its intended meaning”.
Moving along, there were two things that stuck out to me in the freezing cold of that cloudy morning (seriously, who has a funeral at 10:00 am?) First, the highlights of her eulogy were the places she had visited (These being Las Vegas, and whale watching in California). I found it odd that they were mentioned in such a way that led us twenty in attendance to assume they were the most important aspects of her life. Not to knock anyone’s death speech, but the last words for a parting loved one shouldn’t include the vacations they attended; especially when contrasted with scripture. Predictably the scripture wasn’t Luke 6:9.
The second was the revelation that my great aunt was in World War II, not on the front lines per say but ever bit as important (honestly, I don’t know what she did). There was a gun salute at her funeral, a practice that is common with Veterans who served in the War. As the old men with raisin like features hoisted their guns in the air and let of a piercing sound in unison, I was reminded of the fact that we as Americans are strong believers in external freedoms. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press; it seems that many controversial issues deal with freedoms. Freedom to have an abortion, freedom to have a gun, these are just a few that come to mind. Yet, why is it we are less enthusiastic when our internal freedoms are in jeopardy. 1 Corinthians 6:12 states “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but I will not be mastered by anything”. I wonder if the average person realizes that the decisions they make, when made repeatedly, often become habitual responses. Something so simple as watching TV or checking facebook to something more devious like pornography or smoking; each of these things may threaten our freedom. Yet, we welcome these till the point where they become addictions, fooling ourselves that we are as in complete control of the situation. We may be in control, but there is a line when choice becomes habit, when habit becomes character, and when character becomes destiny.
2 comments:
Solid writing, Nate. An interesting read.
thanks brett
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