All Posts Tagged With: "parents"

Last week, zTruth posted a similar story, except that the religions were reversed…

If this doesn’t take the prize for being two-faced, I don’t know what does.

… a very controversial Islamic organization wants an investigation because a little toy of Jesus was handed out in a kids meal at a Long John Silver in the Mall of America in Minnesota that offended the Muslim parents of a 3 year-old boy.  A 3 year-old boy, folks.

At the end of the post, zTruth rhetorically asks, “isn’t this totally two-faced?”

I don’t know, is it? Perhaps. But consider this: If it had been Christian parents of a 3-year-old boy who had just found a Muslim “toy” in their Long John Silver’s kid’s meal, do you think they might be offended? If so, would they and/or any one of the fundamentalist Christian organizations who would undoubtedly join the uproar be considered “totally two-faced”?

Also consider that this wasn’t just a toy. The local news reports about this story describe the “toy” as “a notepad that featured a quote from the Bible.” Also worth noting is that the parents requested an alternative toy, but was told “only notepads with Bible verses were available.”

This wasn’t just a toy figurine. It was “a notepad” with Bible verses. Now, again, imagine if this were a notepad with passages from the Koran and Christian parents found it in their child’s meal. Would they be offended? Would it be considered “totally two-faced” that they were offended?

If Christians are offended by the encroachment of other religions — especially Islam — into “our” spaces, especially in non-religious settings where we don’t expect to be confronted by religious expression, how then can we ridicule and lament people of other faiths and religions who get offended by Christian symbols found in non-religious settings?

What was Christian literature doing in a Long John Silver’s kid’s meal anyway? Seriously? Are we going to be proselytized at the restaurants that we eat now? Is that what we want?

I can tell you that I don’t want to find a Muslim or any religious item in my child’s meal at a fast food restaurant. Do you want a local fast food restaurant to add Muslim, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Scientologist or Kabbalah symbols or evangelistic materials to your meal?

Just some food for thought.

On this day, at this moment, 39 years ago, a child was born in Pensacola, Florida to a young military family — a U.S. Navy pilot and his bride. They dragged led him around this great country throughout his childhood years, affording him the opportunity to experience the rich culture and traditions of its many states, from Florida to Texas to Florida to Virginia to South Carolina to Kansas to the middle of nowhere in western Kansas to Illinois to Indiana to Oklahoma. From living the nomadic life of a military brat to the nomadic life of a rural-church pastor to the nomadic life of a military brat (again), from the times of plenty to the times of famine, it was an adventure never to be forgotten (and hopefully never repeated).

It was the humble beginning for a man who would leave an indelible mark on those who came to know him, admire him and love him dearly. A man who is larger than life (and larger than most). A man who is wise and aged beyond his years, yet maintains a child-like (or childish) quality. A man whose humility would prevent him from telling you just how exceptional, unequaled and legendary he truly is. A man who has been called (even if only by himself) “God’s gift to mankind.” That man is yours truly, your most humble scribe.

Happy birthday to me!

In all seriousness, I want to sincerely thank my wonderful parents for bringing me into this world and for raising me to be a positively contributing member of our society, reared on “Real America” values, through some really good times and some very challenging times. I wouldn’t trade any of my life experiences for the world.

And thanks to my wonderful wife, my two beautiful girls, my three canine kids, my brother and sister, and my cherished friends for making this a very special day.

And thanks to my Creator, my God and my Savior for this life and for granting me another year of life and bountiful blessings.

My “time out” went longer than I originally had planned, but that’s for a very simple reason. I’ve been that busy and that tired. And my blogging will likely remain significantly lighter than in the past, at least for the foreseeable future.

In fact, I only blogged yesterday because the story got under my skin for some reason — perhaps I was a little sensitive about glaring hypocrisy due to the overabundance of it in the last few weeks for this interminable presidential campaign. It was enough to force me to set aside a few minutes to write a quick post, even though I hadn’t intended to start blogging again for at least a few more days. But this overly intrusive election cycle pushed its way into my consciousness even though I’ve been desperately trying to avoid as much of the coverage as possible. It’s just too much crap for me to stomach. (In fact, there’s been so much BS flying around, that I just added the “FactChecking the BS” feature on my sidebar, in case your interested in the facts, i.e. the truth.) I find myself asking daily (and often many times throughout the day), “can’t it just be over already?”

In any case, my blogging for the time being will be less than what I’ve done previously. One of the reasons is that I’m adding another hobby — I’m concentrating on learning Spanish. I invested in Rosetta Stone’s highly acclaimed software to help me achieve my goal of eventually being fluent in Spanish. I even have help from a couple of the native speakers here at work, who seem to be delighted that I’m trying to learn their language. Starting Sunday, I plan to start a daily lesson plan to help me toward this goal. When the software came in a couple of weeks ago, I tried one of the first lessons and it seems pretty darn effective to me in their methodology. After trying it out herself, my daughter Sarah, who has been taking Spanish in school, says that she finds their method very helpful and makes learning easier. She’s been more faithful with it so far than I have been and she’s doing a pretty good job!

As I mentioned previously, I went to Las Vegas last week for the Photoshop World conference. I had a good time, even though I missed Karla and the girls and my “babies” (the pugs). The conference was really good and informative and overwhelming in its scope. This was my second trip to Vegas in as many years. Last year wasn’t as much fun, but I blame myself mostly for that. This year I knew more of what to expect, both with the conference and especially with Vegas. With that knowledge, I was able to plan better and set me expectations appropriately. Consequently, I had more fun.

For one thing, the hotel accommodations were much better this year. Last year I stayed at the Luxor. I didn’t like it and its location, although “next door” to the conference, was far enough to make the constant walking back and forth between the conference and my hotel room not very much fun. This year, I stayed in Mandalay Bay where the conference was held. The much closer distance to the conference was much more convenient and much easier on my feet. Even more, the rooms were much nicer. That, in and of itself, made the trip much, much better.

What also helped was that I had a specific purpose for my off time — playing Texas Hold ‘Em poker. I played each night I was there (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) at the MGM Grand Casino. A friend from work told me he played there and liked it. After checking out the poker room at Mandalay Bay and not liking the environment or having to wait too long for a $2-$4 Limit game, I decided to go over to MGM to try it out. And I liked it too and will go back there next time I”m in Vegas.

The first two nights, though, weren’t very good for me at the table. I just wasn’t getting good hands to play and there were some very aggressive players — and I’m not very aggressive, but try to play a “tortoise-rather-than-the-hare” style of playing. The first night, I was $62 down. The second night, I was $50 down. The last night, I turned things around, leaving the table early $54 up. The way I was playing that night, I probably could have made more, but I didn’t want to press my luck. I wanted to end my trip on a positive note, so I walked away while I was ahead. And it felt good too. I felt good about my play and I felt good about coming away having a profitable night.

When others asked me how I did in Vegas, I told them I ended the week $58 down. Both Vegas locals and friends here said that was a pretty good week in Vegas. I thought so too. I learned a lot and I enjoyed playing a lot and only being out less than what a single show would have cost!

Since Vegas, I’ve been catching up at work and it’s been a busy week on top of catching up for missing three work days (plus the Labor Day holiday) last week. This weekend, we’re headed to Enid, America to visit my parents and also see my sister, her husband and my baby niece. I hope to have pictures to share by Monday.

Take care and go Thunder!