Jewel, Rush, and Mink Floyd

As preface to this antecdote, It should be noted that Friday night is a special night in our house. Every Friday night is "slumber party night", Sam and Olivia get to sleep in "The Big Bed" with Daddy and watch various and sundry of their favorite TV shows. this usually consists of about an hour of Spongebob, then the only reality show on TV worth watching, Animal Planet's "Meerkat Manor" (pretty much their favorite TV show) and then usually some sort of animated movie (although sometimes we catch one of the REALLY bad Joel Schumaker Batman movies) until they fall asleep. It is a special treat, and all involved have a good time.

Well, LAST friday, they enjoyed their Spongebob and their Meerkat Manor, and I found Pixar's "The Incredibles" on one of the movie channels (Pixar Superheros--if it had meerkats in it it would, in their opinion, be the perfect movie). I Put Sofia to bed and proceeded to do some computer work, and put on VH1 Classic's Classic Concert--Pink Floyd's "Pulse". About 10 mi9nutes in, two little sets of feet come padding out to the living room. . .

Sam: Oh, a Concert. . .is this Rush?

Daddy: No, son, it is Pink Floyd.

Olivia: I LOVE Mink Floyd

Sam: can I stay out here and watch this Mink Floyd Concert with you?

Daddy: I thought you were watching "Incredibles". . and it's PINK Floyd.

Olivia: I LOVE Mink Floyd

Sam: Well, um. . .I want to stay out here with you and watch this Mink Floyd concert. . .will they do "Closer to the Heart?'.

Daddy: No son, Rush does "Closer to the Heart" and this is PINK Floyd, not MINK Floyd.

Sam: I love Rush.

Olivia: I LOVE Mink Floyd.

So, the three of us proceeded to watch the Pink Floyd Concert. The fact that David Gilmour was playing a red stratocaster "Just Like Daddy's" was not lost on Olivia. They never did "Closer to the Heart", nor did they do "Run Like Hell" which was what I was hoping for. Oh well.

Now, it should be noted, that Concert DVD's are favorite entertainment in our house. . .ESPECIALLY Rush. . .the kids LOVE them. . they know the songs, they know the ORDER of the songs, and the Rush DVD's are one of the most requested entertainment choises in our house. Sam, apparently has been studying these quite profoundly. . .The other day, he asked is he could play my bass. I said "sure" and proceeded to allow him to play for about 15 minutes. After we got the bass (which is bigger than HE is) strapped on, I asked him if he wanted a pick. He said, "no Daddy, I will play with my fingers, just like Geddy (the Bass Player with Rush).

Now, not only did he play with his fingers. . .but he played EXACTLY like Geddy Lee, who has a very specific right hand technique, using his index finger primarily and resting his thumb on the string he is playing to sort of "pluck" the string. It was pretty impressive to see his eye for detail.

This past Friday, we set up for a slumber party again: Spongebob, Meerkats, etc. Again, i stayed out in the Living room, and again, I found a concert to watch--This time a Jewel concert on "Ovation". Both kids got up from Meerkat Manor (the highlight of the week, remember?) to come out and watch jewel. Sam was pretty impressed with Jewel (hey, who can BLAME him), and Olivia was impressed with the fact that it was a GIRL with a guitar singing. She says "Daddy, when I get bigger, can I play guitar on TV. . and SING?"

"Of course you can, sweetheart. . .you can do amazing things if you set your mind to it."

Jewel didn't do "Closer to the Heart" either. . .oh well.

Babu

Ok. . so there is this guy from India who came accross the ex c of C board. he is a little Indian guy who has converted to the church of Christ and is a missionary/minister over there. After reading my profile and link to my website, he IM'd me. We have started to talk online about once a week. He is just the sweetest most gentle guy.

He usually is just chit chatting. . .we talk about how the family is, what is going on here or there. . .I made sure that none of his loved ones were involved in the train bombings over there. . .he has sent me some pics of himself and his family, and of congregational activities.

Every now and then, he makes a prayer request, or makes the statement that he hopes and prays that one day I will return to the c of C. He is never pushy or shaming about it, just really polite and honest about his feelings. I take no offense at it.

It just strikes me, though. . .especially after our conversation this morning, that i never recieved that sort of communication from any minister, elder, deacon, anything like that from any of the congregations that I was a member of. Having been at FHU, I had a sgnificant number of these "mentors", some of which I have even reached out to at times since my parting. It just seems kind of sad that this little Indian guy, on the other side of the world, whom I have never met, is more concerned and motivated for the "well being of my soul", and willing to make a genuine effort to consistently reach out than those who had the responsibility of being my "shepherds".

Don't get me wrong, I am not longing for people to call or write and beg me to come back, but it is really indicitive to me of the nature of alot of the churches in the Bible belt. Just really complacent, and not willing to REALLY make an effort to reach out to what they beleive are "lost souls". This Little dude in India, my friend Babu, is very clearly fulll of sincerity and grace, and while I doubt that we will ever agree from a doctrinal or religious standpoint, his respectfulness and concern is the picture of what Christiantiy SHOULD be.

The Founding Fathers, Patriotism, and our "Christian" Nation.

I have been presented several times in the past couple of weeks with opinions and thoughts regarding the nature of the United States. Many people, including our president, have claimed that the United States is a "Christian Nation". Many people who are faithful Christians adhere to the beleif that for a person to be a "Good Christian" they must vote republican. . .because it is the conservative republicans that will stop abortion and keep homosexuals from being able to marry. For some strange reason, the integrety and intactness of their famiy is threatened if Gay people were to have the same rights as other Americans. Go figure. These individuals and groups equate "Patriotism" with political and religious conservatism, and use all of the rhetoric of a Bad Toby Keith song. Flag waving is good, questioning or criticizing the (Republican) president is bad. I should note that I am not a Democrat, nor would I consider myself to be anything other than a political moderate. . .however, the emphasis that is put upon the concept of "patriotism" really is starting to chap my hide. Maybe this is simply a Southern thing, and I read the Atlanta paper too much. Who knows. Regardless, I, being an individual who GREATLY love America and what she stands for resent the hell out of people who think that THEIR view is the only right one, and that diversity gives them liscence to question someone else's patriotism.

The rationale that many use in identifying our "Christian" nation is that our founding fathers were Christian. In many cases, this is true. . .John Hancock and others were indeed faithful Christians, but it is important to note that George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson were generally considered to be Deists, not christians. Jefferson gave an enormous amount of respect for the teachings of Jesus and called him the greatest Philosopher of all time, but he definately was remiss to attribute divine qualities to him (he even wrote his own version of the Gospels, which included the teachings of Jesus, but left out the miracles, etc.) The concept of the freedom of religion, is, in our present time, frequently touted by fundamentalist Christians to be referring to the right of all Different Christian Denominations to worship as they choose. this is unlikely, as Jefferson said in an 1808 letter to the Virgina Baptists:

"Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society."

Thus the idea that "freedom of religion" should only be available to Christians is absurd.

I think basically, where this stems from is the desire of many conservative Christians to be able to use the constitution to endorse and validate their desire to legilate morality to other people. I think it comes down to wanting to be able to use the Constitution to be able to enforce their own religious and even political agenda. I think that, ultimately, this is an error, and that the Ideoligies of our founding Fathers, their intention for our nation, and their understanding of Patriotism differs greatly from this foolishness.

First of all, the Constitution was intended to be a document that evolved. . .something that continued to grow and change as people and society did. For an individual to look solely at the thoughts and beleifs of the framers of the Constitution would be a mistake fo their intentions. The mere fact that the constitution was designed to be amended, and through that amendment the nature of our nation has changed, means that the consitution, and the ideologies behind it were NOT written in stone.

Secondly, there is s significant emphasis on civil rights, but not on morality in the constitution. Usually when individuals talk about "morality" they are talking about an individuals sexual habits. The constitution is silent about these things (except maybe the "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" part). I think that to view our nation as immoral simply because we do not attempt to legilate what goes on behind closed doors between two consenting adults is a fallacy. I would contend that it is representative of an immoral nation to turn it's back on millions of people dying of AIDS in africa or starvation. . .or diseases that could be easily treated. . .but for so many, Homosexuality is the earmark of immorality. I think that Outspoken Politicians who use Fundamentalist Christianity to further their personal advancement are really BIG to throw out words like "Christian Values", but really could care less. Jesus talked a heck of a lot more about feeding the hungry than he did about homosexuality or abortion. I think that our founding fathers were more concerned about what they considered to be "inalienable rights" and "civil rights" than they were about things like sexual mores, etc. I think alot of politicians could learn from bo0th Jesus and our founding fathers in this area.

Thirdly, and along those lines, we DO need to keep in mind that there is a difference between leadership and politics. One is striving for the common good, the other is striving for prestige and power. The ego-ridden state of our present political system appears to be pretty far away from what the founding fathers tried to achieve with the Constitution. . .where a two party political system was something to be avoided. The plight that we have today, is that there are few politicians that can be trusted, and they adopt platforms based on what they think is going to develop the greater constituency, rather than what is really good or right. Again, the "Liberals" cater to their own special interest groups, and the conservatives do as well. . .all the time, big businesses are backing the players in BOTH parties. The republicans, who are dependent upon fundamentalists like falwell and robertson for their endorsements, are by their nature, going to maintain a platform against abortion and homosexuality, while the democrats, soliciting the support of organizations like ACLU, and NOW, are going to adamantly oppose these things. . .all the while, economic stability, the need for workable educations systems, relief to the inner cities (which are little more than 3rd world countries within our urban areas), and partnership with other governemnts to create workable solutions to worldwide problems like illiteracy, hunger, and disease.

Is this what the founding fathers intended? I would think that our pioneer philosphers were hopeful for something better when they established a government to "provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." Maybe I am an optimist, or maybe my patriotism is a little more deeply rooted than to be moved by the charade of leadership that we have seen in the last 45 years in this country.

I have been a TERRIBLE blogger. . .

I HAVE been a terrible blogger the past couple of weeks. . .It has been quite a spell tho. . .Drew just flew up to VA to visit grandparents, The pre-schoolers have been adjusting to new routines (and trying to give up naps UGH), I have been participating in a web board or two, been writing new songs for this new album, AND on top of all of that, Sofia is teething (DOUBLE UGH!). . .so it has been a bit intense around the Wilson household the past couple of weeks. . .not bad. . just intense. . .

But, that really IS life tho, isn't it? The thing that I have valued so much about my life is just the reality of it. . .thinking and working and taking care of my loved ones? It has been pretty good.

I don't expect things to change in the next week or so. . .since Drew is out of town, I am going to take the opportunity of not needing to keep him busy and deep clean the house (I rearranged furniture yesterday) and then I have 4 songs without lyrics. (Sigh). . I think I wrote to many lyrics in 2004-2005 (to the tune of 25 songs, pardon the pun) and so I am trying to decide what I want to write about. (any suggestions?)

Alright, much love to all. . .thinking about my loved ones near and far. . .come have coffee!