thoughts on the news of the day: shelter

hmmm…..

            So, wrap your head around this.  A homeless teenager became a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search.  Her parents were severely injured in an accident; they couldn’t keep up their rent payments and so the family was evicted on New Year’s Eve.  They lived in a shelter on Long Island, NY while looking for jobs and trying  to recover.

            The young girl did research on mussels and crabs and discovered that when they were mingled together, the mussels formed harder and thicker shells because of a chemical emitted by the crabs.  This made the mussels better able to withstand danger.  Doing research in labs kept the student occupied; she spent hours and hours in school every day. 

            Not everyone who lives in a shelter is a lazy drifter.  In fact far from it; resilience and patience are necessary for the many families stuck in shelters because of loss of income.  Jobs are not that easy to come by – this young girl looked unsuccessfully for part time work that would be compatible with her school schedule.  You can’t accuse this young scientist of being lazy; she worked too hard for her science award.

            So there …. another hard luck story in a world inflicted with an economic crisis that won’t go away.   Is it time for another sermon preached on the need for public services for those down and out in our country?  Probably not.  Surely that story has been told over and over again. 

            So I guess I’m wondering, when will the story be heard?

            hmmm…..

           

           

thoughts on the news of the day: cher

hmmm…..

            An online newspaper did an article recently on the moves that Google is making to target markets for advertising.  When you log on to Google and look for information, that search is organized by Google in such a way that those interested in advertising their products to you are notified of your curiosity about a subject.  For example, if you log on to check a flight for a friend, suddenly you will notice all kinds of advertising about travel popping up on your screen, even if you, yourself have no interest in going anywhere.

            Probably seems like a benign sort of ploy.  But wait; let’s think about that for a minute.  Do we really want the whole universe (or at least Google and all its customers) to know our business?   What if we are researching a particular medication and we really don’t want the world to know we are interested? How are we protected?  I really don’t want strangers to know where I bank, what my political leanings are, or where I work.  And I really don’t want strangers to know my name, address, phone number and what my house looks like, in that order.       

Brings up a whole new set of problems and questions, I would think.  Maybe the solution to the whole dilemma is not to use the internet at all.  Bye-bye Google, bye-bye Facebook, bye-bye Twitter.  

 But gosh, then how would I know in an instant that Cher is not dead after all?

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: opinions

hmmm…..

            Like many of those in my denomination, I am trying to figure out what  the heck is going on in the Presbyterian Church these days.  There was a conference in Florida last week which attempted still again to define who we are and what we believe.  Good and honest work, I think.  We take things seriously in our denomination, we think about things before we act.  The good people at the conference in Florida mapped out a set of new ideas which actually, when you look them over are not all that much different than what we have now.

            I think everyone in our own local church would agree that the members of our own congregation have  theological and political opinions that run from the extreme left to the extreme right.  We have very conservative folks and a lot of liberal ones too.  I am not sure why or how we get along so well, but we do.  My hunch is that it is because we are very respectful of the varied opinions that layer our views.  Perhaps length of life teaches you to do that.  The average age in our congregation is 74; that means most folks have had a long time to figure out how to live peacefully together.  Our strength is in the wisdom that longevity has given to those who grace our pews. 

            Their opinions have mellowed over the years by loss of family, friends, health, homes and dreams.  My guess is that they would rather be happy than right.  Feuding focuses on differences; but they have the commonality of faith, a respect for the shortness of life, and the desire to be together rather than apart.  I still have lots to learn from my elders; look around, you might, too.

            hmmm…..