Tag Archives: commentary

Rambling

A Ramble About Doing The Right Things

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Being humble and holy are two things that should work hand-in-hand with one another. No matter your faith you have a responsibility to represent it well in community and play will with others.

Christians should be known by their love among other traits. People of the “Jesus Movement” should fight for justice, peace, equality, fairness and for those in the margins. The greatest display of ones faith is to be active in your community to make it better, not worrying about minor things that in eternity won’t matter when it’s all said and done.

Believers of all faiths and even those who have chosen not to believe all have a responsibility to one another as people in a global community. We must be willing to love one another and to fear not. Maybe we need to be bolder in how we care about things that impact us all like education, racism, sexism, economic disparity and the like. The March on Selma and the non-violent protests from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King as well as Gandhi were statements about love for humanity and reflecting the divinity of their respective faiths. Former President Jimmy Carter who has cancer is still working on building homes for Habitat For Humanity. Pope Francis opened a homeless shelter for men in the Vatican and goes into prisons to wash the feet of inmates. Bill and Melinda Gates give generously to help keep Malaria at bay in areas where its a health crisis.

When it’s all said and done we are all called to do the right things for one another. My friends may this be a call to all of us to have extravagant displays of compassion, hope, charity and most importantly love.

Tony's Posts

Things Aren’t All That Bad

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I find it interesting that people say certain things are destroying our country when in reality the things they defend do much greater harm. The people who complain a lot are the ones who see others getting the rights and privileges they have exclusively enjoyed. People feast on fear of things that are different and we all know what fear can do to a person. Yes things aren’t the way they used to be and change is a fact of reality.

We pick the wrong fights about things that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I am not big on doomsday but prefer to have hope for a brighter tomorrow. Fear not is a common theme throughout scripture and maybe we should just chill out. Maybe we should work to be better and not bitter when we don’t get our way. My friends everyday is a new opportunity to make things better for everyone, not just a select few. The freedoms you have are the same freedoms people are struggling for elsewhere. Yes there are people who seek to do us harm but the best way to counter that threat is to live our lives and to share love, not hate.

Things aren’t all that bad. Don’t worry, be happy as Bobby McFerrin once said.

Rambling

Rambling About Mega This and That

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Mega is a buzz word these days when talking about something huge. Whether it be a store or a church mega seems to be what many like these days. It’s all about making the biggest splash and the biggest impact. Computing has megabytes and now there is terabytes. Mega is the thing and if you aren’t mega then you aren’t worth much in the minds of our consumer driven world. Buy in large is the thing and if you aren’t big then you aren’t worthy. We have a Jurassic Park mentality where you have to spare no expense and always provide something to amuse people. Are we still saying bigger is better or can we change the culture there? Megaminds want to know.

Tony's Posts

Not Fun With Flags

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Flags are a symbol of a nation, team, organization. When you see them fly you get an idea of what it’s about. They can represent heritage and identity. People are so wrapped up in flags that they almost feel like blankets of comfort. We like to be comfortable in our attitudes, beliefs, ideology. When someone dies flags are to be a certain height on a pole…however we miss the greater point of the persons being dead. If we lowered the flag every time someone died it wouldn’t be at the top of the pole, ever. Is the tradition of the pole something more than the death itself. Flags are essentially decorated fabric and in the grand scheme of things is it worth more than someones humanity or feelings. Maybe we should focus on people more than flags or their poles. Sometimes flags aren’t anything to have fun with.

Tony's Posts

Comment or Friendship

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I fear commenting on stuff a lot of times because I am left-of-center on many issues. Everyone has the right to their opinion but when yours goes against many of your friends it can become a problem. There are times I need to keep silent so that friendships can remain. I don’t know but I don’t have a lot of really tight friendships in this life so sometimes I have to keep silent.

Maybe I don’t fall for the lemming thing and I have chosen to think on my own. Maybe not having a great number of friends has freed me to form independent opinions on things which has informed me about the world in a deeper way. On Facebook and even Twitter there are debates of the day which has raised the volume of rhetoric and venom among people who have been life-long friends. Perhaps I choose to be different and the voice of what is fair, just, inclusive and loving.

So do I comment or choose friendship…that is a tough one.

Tony's Posts

A Ramble About Calling Me “Bud”

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I have been in a couple of retail environments lately where male retail assistants have called me “bud” because they don’t know my name. Now I know I live in the south and for some it just comes naturally but for some reason when they call me “bud” it irks me. My grandmother called me “bud” on occasion but that’s my grandmother, she could call me whatever she liked, she earned that right. In a retail environment I would rather be called “sir” not that I am snobby but to me it makes sense to address strangers as sir and to be a little more formal. Perhaps it’s a generational as well as a cultural thing but I think the word “bud” is for a buddy or someone you know.

Also I hate the term “big guy”, yes I know I am a larger sized person but that one also makes me cringe. If you know me call me Tony or T-Bird, either is fine but if you don’t know me or any other person, start off with “sir” it’s a matter of respect that will be returned in kind.