To a Tarnished Effigy

Little silver goddess
Cast with love and care
And shined and finished
Til you shown pure and white
And flawless from the artist’s hand…
What elements conspired
To ruin your beauty
And efface the brilliant surface
Of your graceful gracious form?
What corrosive influence
Has marred your face
And stained your bosom to its heart?
For want of care and kindness
You are weakened, blighted, maimed…
I weep for you, tiny, helpless icon.

Yet how much sadder
If instead of argent ore
Your form was flesh and blood—
Your conscience formed
And all your faculties acute.
Who then would bear the blame
For your dissolution?

Ah...October...

O I have seen the hills ablaze
with God's own Majesty;
the golden flair against the green
in fiery ecstasy.

The breath I seized of stolen glory
from the enchanted air
left jewels upon my memory
forever printed there.

(East Texas Autumn of 1998)


So where were we? Ah yes. Forrest has married Jenny. I'm very serious, and very pleased, and bless their hearts, they think McKinney Texas is the greatest place on earth. Isn't that wonderful?

The wedding was lovely. I got there---actually got there---overmedicated and in a state of near panic, but it was lovely. I could write reams about all my children's weddings, but never do them justice. I was absolutely amazed and humbled by what Jenny's mother had accomplished. So beautiful, so elegant.

I fully expected to be 3 weeks bedridden in exchange for making the wedding because that's how things work with lupus, or at least with mine. I can only fake it for so long. I could barely make it to bed Sunday night, so imagine my surprise when I woke up Monday morning feeling a good deal better than usual...and felt progressively better through the day...On Tuesday morning, I was, amazingly, symptom free...my first REAL remission since my thyroid came out...unbelievable to be without pain anywhere---like a sort of benevolent sensory deprivation...lying in bed giggling because it felt like I was floating...giggling because it didn't hurt to put on my socks...hearing Dennis say---HEY! You're not screaming while you put up the dishes!

I scream while I put up the dishes? Well, good on me for stopping, because that must be really annoying...

I know that God did this for me because I was beginning to despair. Constant pain makes you squirrelly. I would imagine that everyone in the world felt like this, and that I was the only one who couldn't cope...the entire world was in a sort of hopeless, horrible conspiracy to appear happy and healthy when they were really in agony and I was the only one who was such a wuss that I couldn't play along---how contemptible...

And then it was as if God said, "No, normal people feel like THIS, see? So it's okay for you to be incapacitated with pain, because you really actually do feel like you have been hit by a truck and contracted the flu!" It was so beautiful and so exactly what I needed that I, of course, wept. Dear Father, to love your worthless child so much! Even if it ends tonight, my gratitude is sealed. I am so happy. I wouldn't trade places or conditions with anyone, anywhere. He gives me EXACTLY what I need...

I'm trying not to overdo, cutting back steadily on the pain meds---didn't seem a good idea to cold turkey...not after taking them for so long...but I'm down to half so pretty cool. Muscles still weak, but that horrible ever present pain is just not there...

So that's the good news. On the flip side, Seguin is having a painful flair---not that she is ever "normal", but she is really hurting a lot. Going to school is really more than she should do, but she does it, because she feels she has to...it hurts to see her hurt...

And now we have a diagnosis of 4th stage renal failure for Dennis. It isn't mine to really discuss, but for anyone who reads this blog, please pray for a good man who has always put duty ahead of all else...an honorable man in a horrible age. I will publish major news here...We have much hope!

This is Magnificent

Go read this:

http://middan-geard.blogspot.com/2010/09/once-upon-time-in-west.html#comment-form

I did, and my heart is all broken and sort of warm and sloshy and sleepy, so I'm going to bed.

I love you. Good Night and May God keep you and do whatever it takes to make you behave...

Syler

Trying to get back...

There's nothing more boring than listening to a sick person excuse themselves so let's just plunge in as if I'd never been away...

My middly son--yes, middly--is getting married. I am overjoyed. I really love this little girl that he's chosen---she has good sense and a lovely heart. She's young, and there are some things about which she's never thought, but she is good and character is all that matters. A person of good character will make the right decisions with more conviction than a person who's been taught right, but has no character...

Anyway.

His two brothers, both married, got together with him for a "bachelor party" this weekend...the high point was, of course, a fistfight...
This is, you understand, my version, put together with snatches of information from my oldest four children...

The first info came from the oldest, who called to inform me that he was going home having punched his little brother in the face and was angry with the middle brother for having taken up for the baby...(Oldest to youngest: 32, 30, 26. I mean, it's not like they are preschoolers...Yes, they were homeschooled, but they've all been to fairly prestigious universities. You'da thought they'da picked up SOME couth, right?) said he was going back because the middle one was crying(?) and begging him to.

Then my daughter called and talked to her little sister, who was home because she lives with the middle brother and didn't want to be designated driver for the barbarian hoard...daughter's info had come from her dear friend who happens to be the fiance in this whole thing and who informed her that the youngest had bitten the middlest. Yes, bitten...

The next morning the middle son called me...They had, he said, decided that they had all been drugged..."You were all DRUGGED?" I repeated.

"Yes!" he said. "We know we were drugged because we all had no more than 10 beers each" (okay, this is believable since they all drink like IRA henchmen)"and we don't remember anything that happened!"

"You had at most 10 beers each and you don't remember what happened??"

"Yes, and we think whoever drugged us was going to follow us home and rob us, but we left before they thought we would!"

"Someone drugged you in order to follow you home and rob you???"

At this point I heard a high pitched, wheezing wail and a loud thump, and turned to see that my husband was literally laughing so hard that he had fallen off the couch and onto the Big Puppy, and was now kicking his little heels in the air and clutching his sides. Puppy looked concerned...

I was trying mentally to deal with the utter stupidity of a gang who would pass up practicing their theft scheme on one of those little metroplex yuppie nerds driving 2011 BMW's in favor of my three big redneck boys, piling out of a 2003 Ford Mustang...

"Well, you MUST have been drugged," I said. "It's the only explanation that makes any sense."

We exchanged a few more pleasantries, and he said that they had watched the Cowboy game together and had all been in fine spirits when his brothers left...

"Well, I'm glad the experience was more positive than negative," I said...

"I'm just glad we didn't get ROBBED," he said.

The youngest one called, cautiously, that evening. You know the way they do---just kind of scouting out the territory to make sure there is no unpleasantness on the horizon.

Bless their little hearts...

I love them a lot...

Good Friday

Solemn Day! We wait and watch-- Our conversation hold
In low and whispered voices while His battle plan unfolds.
The long, last battle---all things leading up to one dark hour
When our Prince will lead the final charge against the deadly power.

We know full well the outcome, yet we wait with bated breath
Reliving once again our Fair Lord’s Victory and His Death.
Anticipating still the charge made slowly and in pain
Up Calvary’s hill where Love will win and Love’s King will be slain.

We look across the timeless time---our Hero and our Hope
Begins again the endless climb, is fighting up the slope!
The Cross---His banner---in the fore, He strives on gallantly:
His courage never wav’ring as He claims the victory!

The awful sounds of battle fall again upon our ears--
The pounding of the heavy nails! We see His Mother’s tears!
The flow of blood---His own red Blood--now deals the deadly blow!
The King triumphant claims His own and banishes the Foe!

O Solemn Day! All hist’ry leading up to this dark hour
When our Prince will lead the final charge against the deadly power.
We gaze across the timeless time as Heav’n and Earth bow down
Before the dead Incarnate God who wears the thorny crown.


Syler Womack 2000

Just stuff...

I thought I was gonna have to have a mammogram today, but then I remembered that I had a previous appointment to get a molar pulled. Whew! Sure dodged the bullet on that one! Now I don't have to get the mammogram until next week...

Dottie is doing better since she's been seeing the Chiropractor. Benny is really back to normal, and Scipio seems easier as well. It kills me for Dot to be in pain, but it could be worse---she might be one of those dogs who loves to go out and run around and hunt. As it is, she'd just as soon stay home and lie around and have me tell her what a pretty girl she is...

The midnight gardener strikes again...

Dennis and I planted 2 grape vines and four blueberry bushes on Saturday. Arliss the pit puppy watched us carefully and with obvious fascination, his brow furrowed, turning his head this way and that in an attempt to take it all in. Yesterday when Dennis watered the wee plants, Rocky the cat went with him---stayed with him---also apparently very interested.
This morning when I went out to feed the horses, I checked on the plants. Each hole had been carefully re-excavated, the dirt mounded up fairly neatly in front of it, and each mound of dirt had one of the plants lying on it. Well, all but one...I never did find one of the blueberry bushes, but nevermind...the point is that the job was done neatly, with attention to detail and apparently with some purpose---Lord alone knows what that might have been...
Well, it wasn't Scipio. Such things are beneath him. Hadrian would have done the thing with far more flair and far less care, and Dottie would have forgotten what was going on after the first plant...Benny would have suffered a fatal coronary from so much exercise---which leaves the two pits and the cat...Tweek, it must be said, has a history with plants, having stolen an antique rosebush in a one-gallon pot in order to beautify her woody little shade den...but I keep thinking of Arliss' fascination with the process---ditto Rock Star...plus, he's a cat...
All three, plus Dottie, were lying around watching me while I replanted the poor little green things and lamented their cruel abuse, so I will watch and see if it happens again, I guess...
I can't believe I was worried about the horses...

My letter to Governor Perry...

Sir,
I am trusting you to do everything in your power to see that this socialist president's bill does not take effect in the Great State of Texas---up to and including secession. This giant step into the benthic depths of Communism cannot be made---at least not by us.

Yours is a unique opportunity in politics. Depending on which side is ultimately victorious, historians may record you either as a villain or as a hero, but I hope you will not be satisfied to have them say that you merely looked good in the uniform.

Thank you,
Syler Womack

Broke my own rule, but saved again by Grace

So I thought I had accepted the fact that the worst is going to happen politically, and that we have no control over it, but all those years of "American" condition got my gut twisted again---and to what purpose? The worst happened, in spite of an amazing effort by the majority of citizens---and there is nothing we can do. God will help us, but our fate isn't tied to the fate of this country and the traitors who think they run the government. In reality, they are all expendable. The real controllers are so wealthy, elite and obscure that they are untouchable. But pray for the souls of men like Stupak. Poor cowardly thing...

BUT---as for my own salvation, by Grace, a totally undeserved gift from God---I had the most wonderful little house guest this week! My wee Ann Marie, the oldest (at five months) grandbaby, was here with me from Tuesday through Sunday--and I got her dear parents on Saturday and Sunday as well!

I forget---we all do, I suppose--how amazing they are...I finally really got into my groove on Saturday morning, when I remembered the sling. Tied a knot in a length of fabric, stuck any inside it, seated on my hip and we cleaned the kitchen together and washed a load of clothes... They LOVE the sling---they think you are holding them in your arms, yet your hands are both free, and they can see everything you're doing. I got to try out the "tummy tub" and just loved it, as did the baby...3 quarts water come up to her shoulders and she played and played for about 15 minutes--until the water was cooling and I was afraid she would get pruny, then she cried when I took her out because she wanted to stay there (for about 2 minutes) until the warm water calming effect took over and she took a TWO HOUR nap...We bought her a walker, but her little legs are about an inch too short so we had to put a platform under it. Worked well for those times that my fibro just couldn't take anymore stomping, LOL.

The magic is in her desire to interact with everyone in the room. Imagine how wonderful it would be if we simply acknowledged everyone's presence with a truly happy smile...Oh, that little smile.

It was wonderful, and we are so grateful to her dear parents for sharing her with us. How loving is that, to share your most precious possession? I am also grateful to my daughters for helping me care for her. Evil Aunt Sissy kept her constantly amused with hugs and mean comments---the meaner the better--"Let's leave her on someone's doorstep" got a squeal and a belly laugh---and Aunt Baby got up early every morning and held her while I fixed her bottle and walked her when nothing else would comfort her. She loves them both so much and says so, with her eyes, every time she sees them.

So---my involvement with the wee darling has saved me from despair.

say WHAT?

So the ad has the guys who service the rival coke machines--Dr. Pepper, 7 up, Coca Cola, whatever---wheeling their products into the school and the announcer tells us that they are no longer supplying "full calorie soft drinks" (natural sugar as opposed to chemical whatever) in schools.
"American Beverage Companies. Helping children make more balanced choices."

CHOICES??? CHOICES???? What choices? You just eliminated the CHOICE---there is no CHOICE...You just freakin' dictated what the kid can drink! You just re-defined the word "CHOICE" you liberal creeps!

And everyone thinks it's wonderful, because the propaganda machine is in motion and its working, because who wants a fat kid, right? Oh, RIGHT! fat is unhealthy...no, that's BS---You don't want a fat kid because you want a trophy kid, you unnatural vile things...You want your kid to be a little "you" and have lots of sex. Stop lying. Get a new soul.

I may not be completely socially unacceptable, but I'm trying...

Nancy Pelosi's admonition to the congress that they must "pass the bill so you can find out what's in it" was disturbing. More disturbing was her assertion that the bill is not about healthcare--it's about the future. It's about diet, not diabetes.

If you are not frightened senseless by that thought, you are brain dead. Yes, they do intend to control every aspect of your life---even what you eat. The recent reports in the news about schools sending out fat reports to parents and keeping records of their students body fat index is only the tip of the iceberg. You see, if this thing is going to work, we've all got to do our part. The fact that you may be paying for your own, plus 10 more people isn't important. After all, you're only giving according to your ability. They are only taking according to their need. You may not indulge in behavior that might cause health care costs that exceed your fair share. That's why we've been so carefully edging out smoking, in spite of the fact that the world health organization refuses to say that there is any truth to the second-hand-smoke theories. It's important that you don't cost more than other people, so you can't smoke. And it's VERY important for smokers and soon, fatties, to be marginalized and dehumanized.

You may think that people will rise up and demand that the government stay out of our business. Think again. Through a campaign of propaganda, the intake of certain foods will become so socially unacceptable that no one will think twice about banning them. Based on their own preference for thinner, "more healthy" bodies, but under the guise of "health concerns", your friends will demand that you serve only approved foods when you ask them for dinner---and you, dear sap, will have no one to appeal to and no one who will share your amazement at their total lack of propriety because wanting to eat french fries is just indefensible, and nasty, and, yes! INCONSIDERATE!

Well, they will get my french fries when they pry them from my cold dead fingers, and if someday one of my younger friends and relations comes mincing up to me and demands that I serve only tofu when he visits, because the smell of hot fat is just yucky, I will smile sweetly, pop him on the head with my wooden spoon, turn my jolly fat back on him, and go back to frying. For the sake of common courtesy I'm sure I will already be providing tofu as an alternative, but for the sake of freedom and my own identity I intend to hang on to my vices just as hard as I can for as long as I live.

I've GOT to figure this out!

Nobody wants to read this stuff and I apologize, but maybe if I write it down it will help me figure out why I have been SO sick for the past 6 days. I attribute it to going to the doctor and to Mass within three days---Tyler is 50 miles away and I was gone all morning and into the afternoon...BUT---I still can't believe that I'm that mentally ill---no one wants to be---but maybe I am. I have been taking my pills and sticking to mostly low glycemic index foods...but I think maybe I should increase my lithium and my potassium...So much anxiety, inability to focus, so tired but can't sleep. I keep wanting to eat, which is weird for me... but nothing of substance. I think I'd be happy with salted wood chips...lots and lots of water...See? I can't even write. I can't think well enough to write. I fed the horses this morning as Dennis was leaving---a little after 7. I find it easier to get out the door while he's still out there, and once I'm out, it's okay---I have Jake and Argie and Cleo and Baby and Scipio, Tweek, Dottie, Arliss, Hadrian, Benny, Rock Star, Belle, Daisy Kyle and Baby Heifer, so I'm certainly not alone...When I got back in the house, it wasn't yet 8, but I was overwhelmed with sleepiness and tiredness---although I slept from 9 until 4:30 last night. Can't think---That's the worst part. Anyway. I'm making a concerted effort to go do either the kitchen or the master bath. PLEASE, Lord, make up my mind which one! Why should it be so hard? I hate this for Dennis. I know it will pass, but he still has to live with me until it does...I'm so SORRY...

Small Animal Observation

Female bunnies tinkle more than male bunnies...or maybe they just tinkle more on ME...

Whew!

Well, that's better. I assume the barometer has changed or SOMETHING. Anyway, better now.
Eight hours actual sleep last night, except for 6 trips to the bathroom.
There is an art to figuring out pain meds and rest schedules, and I haven't mastered it. But I'm working on it.
More light today, too, I think...

The danger of the panoply of war...

Okay, it's obvious, but sometimes I forget...
When I first read "The Lord of the Rings", the battles were a distraction from the main story, which was, of course, Frodo and Sam's torturous way of the Ring. Bellicose though I am, the true thrust of the story was so clear---I wanted to rush past the plot lines related to Gondor and Rohann...But with successive readings, and especially after numerous viewings of Peter Jackson's wonderful screen adaptation which, for obvious reasons, makes more of the battles and less of the suffering, I began to pore over Helm's Deep and Pellinore Field, and most of all the glorious charge of the Rohirrim against the Orcs---so symbolic, beauty and courage and virtue against complete evil---and I would almost lose sight of Frodo and Sam and what they did to save Middle Earth...And an entire generation of LotR fans will never really prioritize as they should, and I know it---for that is what they do with 20th and 21st Century History as well...and with the entire history of The Church and of Christendom. We are so frail and so easily distracted by what is pretty and exciting...

How hard is this?

Big government and more laws assure that we will never exercise common sense. Watch the news. The little girl raped and murdered while jogging by a repeat offender who was out because of a plea bargain and wasn’t even wearing a bracelet…The feds up in arms about the kid in the control tower… Lumping all “sex offenders” together with mandatory laws just makes more fodder for the ACLU idiots who whine about Scarlet letters…Look---if this is some guy who goes around raping children, kill him. If he’s an 18 year old who had consensual sex with his 16 year old fiancée, it’s shotgun wedding time. As far as the kid in the tower, you know that his daddy is going to be paying more attention while his kid is on the mic than at any other time. Nobody ought to be hair-lipped over that one. I hate Yankees and their stupid laws. Hate their lights and livers. Use some damn sense and move on.

What about Tilikum

Tilly is 7 tons of testosterone cooped up in a relatively tiny tank by himself except for when he’s servicing cows or doing tricks for Scooby Snacks. It goes without saying that he is insane, and therefore unreleasable. It ought to be obvious to anyone with a heart and a brain that he is angry. Only God knows how controlled his anger is---and even so, he’s killed three humans---at least one of whom he was apparently very fond of. He’s miserable and he has no way out. What kind of a money grubbing unprincipled moron would ignore his declaration of despair by keeping him alive in his misery? Well, obviously the good people at Seaworld.
I know it’s fun, but is it worth being in collaboration with people who obviously respect neither animal nor human life? Let them know you just can’t justify their racket. Stay away from Seaworld this year. Nothing can justify killing people and torturing animals. And they are doing it for the almighty buck. Don’t help them. And speak up for Tilly by demanding his death. Please.

Just unbelievable...

Watched the “bipartisan” health care meeting yesterday---just long enough to become amazed and appalled at the absolute arrogance of our president. He is not accustomed to not having his own way and it shows. He is quite…put out… about having his plans and desires in any way curtailed… Being a child of privilege, a political pet in a politically correct era, he is understandably outraged at the concept of anyone, including the American People, disagreeing with him. In addition, he honestly doesn’t understand the big deal about “sharing”. Having never been forced to sacrifice himself, he doesn’t understand the anger of people who have worked hard and made difficult choices all their lives in order to achieve a measure of comfort and autonomy in their grandparent years. He assumes that all financially secure people got that way the same way that he did: by being the right color in the right place at the right time, eloquently articulating the right philosophy. And in this, he differs very little from most politicians.

“We’re not campaigning anymore, John. We’ve had the election,” he told Senator McCain. It was a nasty, catty little remark, but it wasn’t really Obama’s fault---it was McCain’s. We wouldn’t be going through any of this if McCain had vetted Obama, as was his duty.

What was clear throughout was the fact that the President intends to get his way whether we like it or not. Because, you see, he is ever-so-much smarter than we are. People have been telling him so for years.

I was going to attack Glen Beck as well, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I can’t stand to think about these people for too long…

Serve with humility, in obscurity

There are things upon which I disagree with the renowned Anglican write C.S. Lewis---the foremost of which is the Holy Catholic Church—but one of his observations I have to hail as a little morsel of astuteness amid a chaotic pot-luck of sentimental nonsense. Lewis did not pay attention to current events. He didn’t read newspapers. He avoided keeping up with world crises because he knew that too much tragedy desensitizes us. He knew that if you hear too many stories about the naked, hungry children in India, you will lose the ability to see and to be affected by the barefoot child who actually stands before you.

We are bombarded every day with the most horrendous horror stories. We are inundated with constant appeals for money and more money---we are, in fact, panhandled on an hourly basis. These appeals are presented as if we were not already being robbed at gunpoint to subsidize what someone else has decided is the entitlement of people whom we do not know except as numbers. There is no charity here. There is no grace, no virtue, and very little, if any, good. The only people who benefit are the “benefit” organizers, the employees of the bloated governments, and certainly the corrupt officials of the countries wherein reside the poor objects of our concern.

Charity begins at home. The corruption of Charity is not limited to the National and International realm---it can occur in a rural county or small town. It can occur amoung “Church Ladies” of any sect, and amoung Catholics as well. It happens when we begin to desire not merely to help others but to be seen to help others. It occurs when we lose sight of the very clear fact that our little unremarkable good deeds are done more for our own pleasure than for the benefit of others. It escalates when we demand that other people adopt our personal and very arbitrary little priorities.

For instance, I know some people who are irritated by the fact that I spend a bit more for free range eggs. I haven’t always done so. When I was feeding five children, pennies counted. Well now I’m older and I have more money. I choose to buy eggs laid by hens not locked up in tiny cages---not because I think chickens are the most important creatures in the world, and not because I am an obsessive advocate of animal rights, but because I rather enjoy the prospect of the little hens running around in the grass and eating bugs. I like chickens. And I rather think that God enjoys the little hens running around enjoying themselves as well…I dare to think that having created these charming yard birds, and having given them all kinds of little virtues and personalities, He gets satisfaction from seeing them at their happiest. It makes me happy, so I do it. I know the difference in a child and a chicken, ma’am, but I do not wish to give, instead, to your very well-publicized campaign to feed the children of Somalia, although, if I could GO to Somalia and have my way for a few days, I would gladly give whole herds of chickens to the hungry people so that they could have chicken stew. But I won’t contribute to your charity. For one thing, I really don’t think it’s doing those children much good, and I can see that it’s very bad for you. Your children, your own dear children borne by you, are bored bullies in school because you’ve made them hate charity---it takes so much of you that you have nothing left to give them. I’ve seen the contempt on your face when poorly dressed, poorly behaved dirty children pass too near you in the grocery store. You don’t love them. How can you love the children of Somalia? Oh, How you love humanity with love so pure and pringlish, as Chesterton opined…

I like to think of what it would be like if every one of us behaved for only one day as if no one could see us except for our guardian angels. Would we notice the child standing before us who needs us emotionally or physically? Would we notice the merriment inherent in all of creation? Could we stop acting long enough to be TRULY virtuous?

Please take a day this Lenten season to cut yourself off from the admiration of the world and see a child---any child, even your own---who needs something now, whether a gentle word of encouragement, a cookie, or a pair of shoes. And give that child what he needs. And don’t let ANYONE else know what you’ve done. Keep that wonderful little joy and cherish it in your heart. Then go watch a chicken play, and praise our Loving Father for his incredible providence.

The Sincerity of the APE (Atheist Power Elite)

[I have given up social networking for Lent---I need to spend more time blogging, and actually THINKING and less time just visiting...]

The problem with the Pelosis, the Reids, the Obamas, the O’donnels, the Garafolos, ad infinitem, is very simple: They have rejected God, they have rejected His laws, and they have totally rejected the concept of eternal reward and punishment. Yet, being the creatures that He made them, they still innately yearn for justice. I don’t think they are a bunch of sociopaths, although they certainly behave that way. No, they are truly concerned with justice---but it is a justice from which they have excluded God and everything that represents Him. So the only authority they have to go on is their own confused and directionless sense. They truly want to punish the evil and reward the good---in this life, because there is no other---and they have no arbitrary authority to appeal to. The so-called Conservatives of the same metaphysical stripe appeal to the “Constitution” and the “Founding Fathers” to avoid involving God, although the have invented a complex fiction regarding the founding fathers’ spirituality in order to appease the average American, who still, in his heart of hearts, believes in and defers to the Almighty. But all these practical atheist elites do what they do because they believe that they are God. That no one else knows what’s best. That the individual should turn to them, and not himself, in making personal determinations. Because they are compassionate, but not wise, they embrace the “downtrodden”. Period. Without regard to why he is “downtrodden” or whether he could become otherwise, and because they embrace the downtrodden, they assume that someone else is treading on him, and they foolishly assume that it must be the successful, the moral, the people with religious conviction. They have made conviction the cardinal sin—almost the ONLY sin--of their tragic communion: the sin of “Intolerance”. It is a fatal misnomer, for “tolerance” is the very thing they hate: in order to tolerate a thing, one must have a conviction against it, and this is the thing the Atheists in Power will not allow.
The frequent show of real intolerance from their own ranks is not mere hypocrisy. They are God. They must be allowed judgments which are denied those unfortunates who fall under their “providence”.
The entire thrust of their creed is in reality the justice they instinctively yearn for. The success of those in opposition to them is, in their minds, injustice. Taking money from those who have earned it and giving it to those who “need” it is, in their minds, justice. There is no sense in pointing out that they themselves live well. Their luxuries are mere necessities for facilitating their godhood. They are obsessed with injustice, and eaten alive by it. The question “why do good things happen to bad people” haunts them---and remember that “bad people” are simply those who do not share their creed.
As a Catholic, I don’t have to worry about eternal justice---I only have to be kind to whoever or whatever shows up at my door or falls under my sphere of influence---small as that may be. As a Catholic, I am required to practice courtesy, largesse, and defense of those weaker than myself. I am required to be an example of nobility, so that those I touch will hopefully be influenced to go forth and act accordingly to those THEY touch. I am required to use wisdom and true charity, not simple sentimentality in my giving to others both of my time and my material possessions. And I am allowed to sleep peacefully at night, because the ultimate question of Justice is not up to me.
When “Bob Rogers”, the mafia don, stands before the Judgment and hears “Eternal Damnation” he will protest, “But GOD! I was always kind to animals and my mother!” and God will say, “YES, Bob---yes you were. And that’s why I gave you that big house and all those cars and boats.”

Syler