Angry America

(I’m in a spiritual mood so please skip if you aren’t into these kinds of things.)

Like most of you, I have been troubled by the murder of an unarmed man and the anarchy that followed in the streets across America. Hard to believe that there is so much evil in the hearts of men: The systemic abuse of power exemplified in broad daylight and goons paid to create havoc. These shameless animals on both sides of the fence! Above it all I saw an evil puppeteer pulling the strings …. pressing all the sensitive buttons. Everybody shouting. Nobody listening. Shattered glasses. Stolen merchandise. Teargas. Bullets. Anger. Pain. Fear.

Last night I wanted to pray but I didn’t know how. I grabbed my Bible and I was led to Romans 8:21:

“For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.“

These words were written as if today, but actually written by the apostle Paul in the first century amidst the tribulations of his time. Paul reminded me that prayer sometimes cannot be spoken in logical coherent words but in (what is called) “praying in the spirit” (Praying in the Spirit is prayer with divine help. It’s trusting in faith and relying on God to hear, understand, and act. Praying in the Spirit is a gift to be received through faith in Jesus.)

So I closed my eyes, allowed myself to just make utterances … no words … just groanings of sadness … and allowed the Spirit to take over. No. It wasn’t speaking in tongues (no language was invoked). It was ecstatic prayer. And you know what? It felt good …real good. A burden was lifted. In its place was a reminder that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” — Romans 8:28

No definitive answers but a clear acceptance of what God is allowing to happen. Imagine that! God scolded Israel (His beloved chosen people) when he declared:

“All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” — Romans 10:21

God has been stretching out His hands, bending backwards patiently to an America that has been going in the wrong direction for so long. The events of today were/are inevitable. (When you go to the edge of a cliff, don’t blame anyone if you fall off). We may not like it but be at peace that this is part of God’s plan to bring the nation back to Him or to force it to its knees.

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”  — John 16:33

I’m sorry for the heavy stuff. (Hey, I told you to skip this.) Of course, this is just me.

Stay safe, keep healthy and vent your frustration peacefully. TGIF people!

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. for sharing this joke.

Video: The Rotary Phone

Don of Kelowna, B.C.

Video: Thank You Teachers

Thanks to Mike of New York for this video.

Video: Adorable Drill Instructor

Thanks to Vanessa of Hacienda Heights, CA.

Don’s Puns

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C.who loves puns.

Parting Shots

Thanks to Naomi of North Hollywood, CA. Nothing else kneads to be said.

Finally, here are two from Don of Kelowna, B.C.

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A Divided Nation

I guess we’re starting the new year with a bang. A real BANG! with the hit on a terrorist in Iran. Predictably, the politicians are not shy about expressing their opinions. Sadly, the country is more and more divided even on something you would think they should actually agree on. It’s almost automatic — what one side says, the other side always has to disagree.

Some say that we shouldn’t mix politics with religion but last night I was reading Matthew 12 and it just hit me that this is one of the most politically charged passages in the Bible — and it’s as relevant then as it is today. It’s about Jesus vs. the Establishment — Jesus’ miracles (that are obviously good) are condemned and questioned by the Pharisees. Listen to their heated debate:

“Our long established rules demands that you shouldn’t do that!” they said.
“You mean I can’t do this?! *bling!* and Jesus heals a man’s crippled hands.

“Grrrr! Why you defiant little twirp! You belong to the dark side!” they said.
“Oh yeah? Why would I be doing good if I belong to the dark side? That doesn’t even make sense! Talk is cheap but the proof is in the obvious good that is accomplished. Good trees make good fruit. Bad trees make bad fruit.” Jesus argues.

“Well, we demand more proof than just miracles!” they retort.
“I already sent you lots of ’em. Remember Jonah and the whale? If you still don’t get it now, what’s the point in showing you more?” Jesus says.

“Lookie here! Our ‘fact-checkers’ say these guys are your Mom and brothers! How can you be the Messiah if you come from this ordinary family? Gotcha!” they smirk.
“Nice try diverting the argument. Those are just my earthly family. These guys who believe in me are my true family!” Jesus ends.

Of course this is just a paraphrase of the debate. Read it yourself and pay particular attention to the dynamics and tactics employed. Don’t they sound like today’s politicians?

What has me worried is that America may not survive with all of this internal bickering. I believe there are powerful forces that want to take America and the world down and they have already infiltrated our system.

“any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart.”
— Matthew 12:25

But through prayer, there is hope. Can’t we grant each other patience and respect? Let’s really listen to the other side. It isn’t a matter of who’s smarter or more informed. Facts don’t matter when you’re up against pride. We all win when we lower our pride. And I say this to myself too and I know it’s hard.

Of course this is just me. TGIF people!

Raoul

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Tom of Pasadena, CA for sharing this joke.

Don’s Puns

Sent by Don of Kelowna, B.C.

Video: 1933 Self Parking

Hard to believe there are millions of drivers out there who do not know how to back up or horizontal park. Here is an invention that can still probably help today. Thanks to Chuck of Whittier for sending this.

Video: Bird Mimic

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, BC for sharing this adorable bird.

Parting Shots

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. who shared this:

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7 German Words that Perfectly Capture the Feeling of Living in Trump’s America

There is a word for how you’re feeling — it’s just not an English one

Courtesy, Liz Posner, Alternet

When I set out to research the German words that capture what it feels like to be an American living during the era of the Trump administration, I didn’t expect there to be so damn many. Like many of my fellow citizens who have flocked to therapists’ offices over the past year, eager to sort through their trauma at being governed by a narcissistic megalomaniac, I was already aware that the current political era was doing something strange to my psyche. But it can be hard to pin down exactly what these emotions are, if words for them even exist.

It was one particular moment of schadenfreude (as I laughed at Steve Mnuchin’s wife revealing her true self on social media) that got me wondering: what other gems of the beautiful German language could help me diagnose the roller coaster of emotions one feels during a typical day in Trump’s America? There’s so much relief in having a name for these feelings of fear, paranoia and anger, after all. Here are a few, for starters.

1. Fernweh or “distance pain,” is like the opposite of homesickness. It’s the feeling of wanting to be elsewhere, anywhere but where you are at this moment. The fernweh many Americans feel today is a bit like wanderlust, minus the glamour, and with the added fear that you may be harshly judged as an American traveling abroad in the time of Trump.

2. Weltschmerz translates literally to “world pain,” and boy oh boy, does that say it all. It’s the state of weariness one feels at the state of the world. Some of us may have felt a constant state of weltschmerz since Nov. 9, 2016.

3. Kummerspeck: If your state of weltschmerz has been really getting to you, it’s possible you’ve put on a few extra pounds of kummerspeck, or literally, “grief bacon.” Know that you’re at least in good company: last year, Barbra Streisand, Judd Apatow and others complained they’d gained a “Trump 10″ in the months following the election. Eat your feelings, indeed.

4. Kuddelmuddel: This wonderful heap of syllables evokes chaos or a hopelessly messy, unstructured state. Sounds like the White House as told by Michael Flynn.

5. Fuchsteufelswild: This is a state of unfiltered, primal rage. You may have felt it over the past year while listening to any White House press conference, hearing Trump describe Haiti, El Salvador and many African nations as “shithole countries,” seeing the president troll Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on social media… or really, any time at all.

6. Fremdschaemen: Ever felt ashamed on behalf of a member of the Trump White House? Like the time Kellyanne Conway told Fox viewers to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff”? Or when Trump claimed his inauguration speech literally made the clouds part and the sun come out? That’s fremdschaemen. 

7. Backpfeifengesicht: In German, this means “a face that deserves to be punched.” Insert your own joke here.

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Recently I visited Berlin and Warsaw – the former an established European capital, the latter lesser-known but equally sophisticated.  It was an opportunity to relax, speak grammatically incorrect German, devour pierogies by the dozen.

But more than anything, it was a welcome respite from the nonstop circus American politics has become.  I needed a Trump timeout.

Instead, what I got were even more reasons to feel embarrassed as a citizen of the self-proclaimed greatest nation on Earth.  America has fallen behind in far more than politics. We’ve fallen behind in everyday life.

1. America is a second-world country.

Upon visiting Europe, America’s rabid patriotism seems woefully misplaced.  Like a die-hard sports fan too busy waving a “We’re #1” foam hand to notice his team getting clobbered, we’ve brainwashed ourselves into believing our place atop the free world remains unchallenged, let alone unsurpassed.

But infrastructure doesn’t lie: the proof is in the pavement.  And the trains. And the sanitation system. And the state of public buildings, parks and plazas.

The European trip marked my first 10-day stretch in recent memory without hitting a pothole large enough to bat an eyelash, let alone loosen a cavity filling (SEE: Parkway, Garden State).  Transit trains in both cities were quieter, cleaner and more frequent than their decrepit NYC-area counterparts.  They are also more modern: platform signs post remaining wait times, a 21^st Century touch for (go figure) the 21^st Century. Europe isn’t ahead of the times; America is behind them.

That Europe is greener than America – where a major political party denies the indisputable science of climate change – was no surprise.  Instantly notable is the smart segmentation of public receptacles, with different bins for glass, paper, plastics and traditional garbage. That something so obvious and easy is beyond us is shameful.

Finally, it’s remarkable how everything in the Old World seems newer than the New World.  Granted, both Berlin and Warsaw were decimated by World War II and therefore largely rebuilt; but the absence of dinginess in both cities is stunning and, as an American, unsettling.  As I enjoyed a free Chopin concert at a pristine Warsaw park, I wondered how a city barely a generation removed from Soviet-era poverty boasted public institutions more appealing than my native New York, the self-proclaimed capital of the world.

2. American media is more sensational and less substantive.

Traveling to Germany and Poland, it doesn’t take an in-depth, multi-lingual analysis of Der Spiegel or Gazeta Wyborcza to determine that, by comparison, American media outlets are more sensationalist and less sophisticated.  This notion was readily apparent by turning my hotel room TV to one channel: CNN International.

Doing so provided an apples-to-apples comparison between the over-produced, graphics – and chyron-laden hype-fest blared into American living rooms, and the lower-key, more thoughtful newscast I enjoyed after a day of sightseeing.  Same logo, different IQ level.

Gone were the 12-person panels, the six-way split-screens, the insufferable faux gravitas of lightweights like Wolf Blitzer.  In their place were longer segments with fewer talking heads – a setup less prone to superficial personality clashes and more conducive to actual substance.

An educated guess tells me that CNN International didn’t spend months speculating over a missing airliner or, more consequentially, give a charlatan like Donald Trump hours on end of commentary-free publicity to lie his way to the world’s most powerful office.

CNN International’s featured prime time anchor?  The highly regarded, no-nonsense Christiane Amanpour.  Back in the good ol’ U S of A?  Anderson Cooper.  Not bad… bad not Amanpour, either.  Why isn’t an American news network’s top talent headlining in the United States?  Probably because American attention spans aren’t long enough to finish reading this sente…

3. American pastries are too sweet, and our coffee is swill.

You can tell a lot about a culture by what people eat in the morning – what they wake up to, what they grab en route to the office to start a busy day.

Germany and Poland both have donut-esque pastries, providing a natural comparison with Dunkin’ Donuts, the northeast’s ubiquitous morning stop.  The primary difference is evident at first bite: European pastries are far less sweet.

I could taste the dough, the fruit filling… the other ingredients.  I didn’t feel it necessary to order my doughnut with a side of insulin or a belt extension.  Americans are eating the doughnut version of CoCo Puffs: tasty yes – but meant for children.

Some coffee to go with your berliner or pączki? You’re in for a treat. Both countries had chain coffeehouses with java that struck a Goldilocks Zone between the two American mainstays of Dunkin’ Donuts (often too light) and Starbucks (often too burnt).

It’s a minor yet telling detail: the quality of simple staples like pastries and coffee is simply higher in Europe.  We’ve become accustomed to, and tolerant of, inferior food products – even those we consume daily.  What we feed ourselves is a bellwether of sophistication, a taste test most Americans fail miserably.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

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