She writes “Faith is My Superpower” – ’tis mine as well!

I’ve come across a really good blog entitled “Faith is My Superpower” written in a voice of authority and wisdom; a blog written by Sharon Light, I believe.  Light takes me in with her voice of authority and wisdom; touches my heart with her love of the Lord as she writes about the Days we’re in and how faith will see us through.  Anything.  Her wish to inform and bring more preople into the family of Christ is inspiring.  I hope you’ll visit with her on her Faith is my Superpower blog.

How-to on Civility by P. M. Forni

Some of you may recall I’m a fan of P. M. Forni, professor at John Hopkins University, who co-founded the John Hopkins Civility Project in 1997, an aggregation of academic and community outreach activities, to assess the significance of civility, manners, and politeness.   He’s the author of Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct [how we ought to treat each other] listed below.

• Pay Attention
• Acknowledge Others
• Think the Best
• Listen
• Be Inclusive
• Speak Kindly
• Don’t Speak Ill
• Accept and Give Praise
• Respect Even a Subtle “No”
• Respect Others’ Opinions
• Mind your Body
• Be Agreeable
• Keep It Down (and Rediscover Silence)
• Respect Other People’s Time
• Respect Other People’s Space
• Apologize Earnestly
• Assert Yourself
• Avoid Personal Questions
• Care for Your Guests
• Be a Considerate Guest
• Think Twice Before Asking Favors
• Refrain from Idle Complaints
• Accept and Give Constructive Criticism
• Respect the Environment and Be Gentle to Animals.
• Don’t Shift Responsibility and Blame

Peggy M. Parks, AICI CIP, writes her opinions on The Civility Solution here.
You can hear excerpts of The Civility Solution on WNIC here.

The greatest festival Christians have….Easter

God Bless Tom Wright for telling it like it is, namely, that the Church has been trivializing Easter and that “Christians must keep their nerve – the Resurrection isn’t a metaphor, it’s a physical fact.”  Amen, Brother!

Tom Wright’s article, The Church Must Stop Trivialising Easter, is one every Christian ought to read and that’s why I’m providing a link to it today.   Here’s just a few of Wright’s gems embedded in his article:

• Easter was the pilot project.  What God did for Jesus He intends to do for the whole creation. Christians are called to be new-creation people here and now.
• True meaning has remained hidden; the Church has trivialised it; the world has rubbished it. Church has turned Jesus’s Resurrection into a “happy ending” after the dark and messy story of Good Friday.
• “Resurrection” to first century Jews wasn’t about “going to heaven” rather the physically dead being physically alive again. Nobody back then expected just one person to be bodily raised from the dead in the middle of history.
• The Resurrection is not what social science calls “cognitive dissonance”. Resurrection is not about someone coming back into the present mode of life, rather, someone going on into a new sort of existence, bodily.
• Split between God and the “real” world produces a public life lurching between anarchy and tyranny; an aesthetic swinging dramatically between sentimentalism and brutalism.
• Politicians can not save the world.
• Death is final weapon of the tyrant, the anarchist; resurrection indicates this weapon doesn’t have “the last word”.
• Church must work with Easter energy of justice and beauty, facing down skeptics, speaking once more of Jesus in a way that will be heard.

The Right Rev Dr Tom Wright is Bishop of Durham

It’s time to teach “ethics” in schools…again

Some 30-40 years ago, a certain Cabal of Intellectuals decided to prohibit teachers from teaching “ethics” to their students. You know, the personal qualities that set one above what some refer to as the common herd. A sea of renegades you can see so evident in Today’s world. By the term “herd” I think they mean those who are unethical, dishonest, refuse to be civil and lack character. Sadly, we need not search far and wide for examples of uncivil/unethical behavior. We need only to look at our present “professional representatives,” our own Congress, rift in unethical behavior. It’s terrible that we can’t even trust our elected officials to come down on the side of “ethical, professional representation” deserving of the public trust. Not so long ago, in the not-so-distant-past, we as a People could count on our professional sect – white collar workers and elected officials – to hold themselves to a higher standard than the average citizen. They are role models, after all. This aforementioned Cabal of Intellectuals, be it academic, military or governmental, seemed bent on socially engineering a population of unruly renegades worthy of containment, worthy of imprisonment, internment or martial law in order to facilitate seizing complete control over us plus our precious land and resources. Fleece us, if you will. And sadly, we need not look for some future catastrophic event to put this dastardly scenario into effect.  We are this scenario – now.

Think about it. What would you imagine need be done to bring about complete control of a population? What need be done aside from taking away from the People their jobs, their homes, any semblance of a secure future?

That select Cabal of Intellectuals had a plan, a set of strategies to take down the intellect, reasoning powers and critical thinking faculties of the People, a dumbing-down principle, in affect, so People would be easier to control, corral in, manipulate and exploit for their own purposes.

So what can we do? you might be thinking in disgust. I offer this – educate yourself. Find out what you’re an heir to – left to you by those who fought so hard for your freedom and your right to be left alone. Familiarize yourself with self-empowering documents – like our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Then, educate others.

Insist, as parents, that schools teach our children how to be good, upstanding, ethical citizens with knowledge and information to ensure they become pillars of our communities; able to guide others into “good practices” applied to every good endeavor.

We need to lift our children up to their full potential. We need to imbue them with high standards of personal conduct, truthfulness, honesty, and the rewards that come from public service, fair & equal treatment for Everyone, and reverence for every living creature.

How else can we stem the onslaught of indifference, complacency, cruel & unusual behavior that is evident every where we look? The antisocial & psychotic behavior in our “professional” ranks – like doctors and health care workers who molest and rape their patients? Or, high-level managers who steal and lie their way into personal riches? The despicable behavior of our governing bodies?

We hold the future in our hands – now! We are the future! We are the oil that greases the upcoming Machine which is our children who will be the next governing body. They will decide what “we” are to “them,” what means of employment will be available to us, what services they will provide to the needy & poor, what laws will be enforced and how we will be punished for breaking them. Our children will be responsible for our future care as senior citizens. With these things in mind, you can see why it’s imperative that we raise up compassionate, decent, upright, honest and ethical children – they are our greatest and most important resource!

Why develop “character”?

Character draws admiration to us like a magnet. It’s because there’s not enough of it in the world and those who have it look like brilliant balls of light. Much like why there is death: it makes life more precious. A beneficial but scarce commodity is always prized. Something of value, like personal character, is well sought out, and snapped up quickly. Imagine everyone thinking of themselves as having value to the whole of society, yet retaining their own individuality.  One teacher of character can turn out into society 30 people of character. One high school of character can turn loose as many as 1,000 almost-adults into a community. One family of character can turn loose into the world a Toby Tanser, Jason McElwain, Talia Leman, Craig Kielburger, John-Henry Lambin, Suzie Tipton, Melissa Poe or Sabriye Tenberken.

A person of character is:

• A good person, someone to look up to and admire.
• Knows the difference between right and wrong, and always tries to do what is right.
• Sets a good example for everyone.
• Makes the world a better place.
• Lives according to the Six Pillars of Character*:

-Trustworthiness
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Fairness
- Caring
- Citizenship

*Six Pillars of Character

Nostalgic for days past

Stymied, for several years now, on how my country got so far away from respect for one another, civility and reverence for every living creature. It just bugs the snot out of me. Who’s responsible for putting me in this situation; a situation of pondering, reminiscing of days past, and feeling nostalgic for those kinder, more gentler times of my youth. Who ever is responsible for this, I’d punch in the nose, right now.