Only A Mere Woman

WARNING:  THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT MAY BE CONSIDERED OFFENSIVE BY SOME READERS.                     For all of us, I'm sure that we understand laughter to mean a good thing, that things are going well. Laughter is a sign of acceptance, of things being okay. This is a good thing, and perhaps something that not too many of us think too much about. But I think we should. Therefore, I hereby challenge you to stop and consider the effects your laughter has, the message you are sending, and the things you may not really be aware that you are giving your approval to by it.        Most parents will tell you that much of what babies do is rather funny, especially if it is something that they really ought not be doing, whether it is tugging and pulling at Mom's earrings, or slapping their Dad's around the shin when they don't get their way. Such antics often cause grown-ups to let loose a chuckle or two. Good parents do their best to repress this almost inst

      It is awesome to me how almost everything in this life is a reflection of God in some way. It is even more amazing when such a resemblance is not intended. Take love songs, for example:  they are not meant to be anything other than what they are at face value - songs about human love. But, if one listens to them with the intellect, and not just the ears, we can easily see how it could be a retelling of God's love for us. How He loves us with a deep and passionate love; desires greatly to be united to us; is jealous when something else comes along and turns our affection away; is so ecstatic when we finally return His love. Such themes may not be so manifestly evident, but they are usually there if one seeks to listen with an intellect inclined toward the Divine.      What absolutely floors me, though, is experiencing God's love directly through the love of another person. This is one of the kind of things that many of us know, but don't fully comprehend or realize t

     Where have all the good men gone? What has happened to the male species? These were questions which I remember hearing some years ago among conservative, religious, and family centered circles. The members of such circles were wondering what had become of the quintessential man:  one who had convictions and stood by them; who protected the weak and assisted the less fortunate; who was faithful to his God, wife, and family; who would work hard and honestly for what he wanted; who was not afraid to be gentle and kind, but would not let emotion cloud his judgement. They had seen the definition of manhood swing from one extreme to another - from the tough-talking, hard-hitting, no crying, emotions are weakness, "I don't need anyone anyway" macho-masculinity of the '70s to the ultra-sensitive, dare not to offend anyone, effeminate masculinity of the '90s. Speculation abounded among the different circles as to the causes behind this, and the general consensus was t

I was cutting up an obsolete rectangle today and it occurred to me that the more one cuts corners, the more corners one has to deal with. Kind of like the hydra:  for every one corner cut, two more appear. Which brought to mind the idiom "cutting corners" (to take shortcuts which usually reduce the quality of a work) , and how doing so usually doesn't work out so well. Perhaps this is why.

     I had thought about this topic over the winter when my then fiancé and I had been about 15 months apart and still had 8 months before our wedding, and it has just recently come to my mind again.                   Now, there is never a good enough reason to cheat, ever, for cheating is taking that which is properly due to one and giving it to another to whom it is not, and such a thing is an offense against justice. That being said, I have come to an understanding of how some may come to find themselves accidentally in a cheating situation, especially if they are in long-distance relationships. There are different kinds of cheating, broken down most basically into emotional and physical, with physical being the one which most identify as cheating. (Again, a little disclaimer, sexual infidelity can not be accidental. Sex requires an act of the will, an act of consent for one's body to be acted upon in such a way, which is manifestly different than one realizing that he has had

     Well, Fall Break has come and gone for my alma mater. It wasn't very long ago, just about two years in fact, that I was still counting time by the number of breaks, and how soon it was that I would be home again. Now, I am off and married (j ust over 2 months), making a new home for myself. And, in uniting myself to my husband, I also unite myself to his family, and gain his childhood home as well. So now I have three homes:  the one in which I grew up, the one in which my husband grew up, and the one we are making together. With so many, it is sometimes difficult to keep up with the places in conversation. For example, it is pretty simple to know where each of us is referring when we are in our home. But it was not quite so easy  to keep things straight  when we went back to his home in OH to visit last weekend. I would mention such and such a thing about home, and would be questioned as to which one I meant:  ours in VA, or mine back in NH. Anyway, that trip is what started

The winds of change are blowing about once again. Will they lead us back to where we have once been? Constantly blowing, never-ending.   Storming, straining against the cliffs of our souls, daring us to go, memory bending.   Shall we give, and follow that torrid yet frigid road? What flotsam of the past await our mind to return and behold? The winds of change are once again blowing.  Yield! Do not fear to pass where memory is flowing. Find what was lost, a stranger no longer! In knowing the past one becomes stronger. The gale within slowly subsides --  In the soul a new peace resides. The clouds of doubt have blown and gone.   Rejoice!  For the return of Blue and Sun. Laugh and go back  To where you have once been -- The winds of change have come again.

Where have you faded to, Sunshine?      From where have these clouds come? Who was the girl you shined so kindly on?      Who is this broken form, left under these clouds? Where have you gone, Sunshine?      Without your light, how can I find myself? Who am I, broken beneath the overcast sky?      Sunshine, where have you gone?

Here - Where Blue -  No Longer - Signifies - Happiness ~  Here - Where It - Has Taken - On The - Conventional - Meaning ~  Here - Where It - Fades To - Grey ~ ~ ~ ~   Soon It Ends In Nothingness

     They say that a girl who marries in June is a bride all her life. But what of those who marry in the remaining 11 months of the year? What are the rest reduced to:  Wife?  Mother?  What?                                      Now, I can possibly see the attraction of being a bride forever. Who doesn't, at least at one point in their life, wish to be young, pretty, doted on forever? It is a normal wish, especially of those who are of the gentler sex. I, however, do not wish to be such forever. To remain so would be to forfeit all of the joy, sorrow, hardship, and victory which comes through living out a normal life.      One of the greatest fallacies propagated by our world today is that a woman who becomes a wife somehow degrades her status as a human being. For a woman to bind herself to a man, to take his name, to depend upon his livelihood rather than her own is to loose herself, her identity as a person. Especially if the couple has children -- the general perception

To The Editor:  In response to all those who fear violence from state legislators, representatives, and the general populace as a result of allowing weapons in our state buildings, I wish to say this:  the fear that violence will erupt simply because there is a weapon present is irrational and absurd.  To assert that our esteemed representatives would shoot one another during a debate shows a lack of faith in the self-control and intelligence of those we have chosen to represent us in the governance of our state.  Heated debates are engaged in all the time and we never hear of people getting into brawls and throttling their opponents.  The addition of a weapon will not suddenly result in the eruption of violent fights in what had previously been a peaceful, though passionate, debate.  Weapons are never the cause of violence – the uncontrolled passions of men are, and it is irrational and absurd to assert otherwise. Printed in the New Hampshire Union Leader (Sunday, February 20

MERE: adjective, superlative mere-est. 1.   Being nothing more nor better than: a mere pittance; He is still a  mere child. 2.   Obsolete.    a.  Pure and unmixed, as wine, a people, or a language.   b.  Fully as much as what is specified; completely fulfilled or developed; absolute