Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Out of Whack! Whack! Whack!



Don't You DARE Cross This Line With Your Broom!

I've always felt that we in this country get a little crazy about the whole Christmas thing: is it a religious celebration? Is it an extended Black Friday? Is it a chance merely to eat and drink a lot with no reason to deny excess? Is it simply a reason for entire families to get together and cry and whine and shout and pout about crappy gifts and "who should be a better parent"? Much has been made about this latest generation's "entitlement" issues, and I have to admit that as I sat in a food court the other day watching a junior high-aged person listening to Dr. Dre Beats headphones (which I cannot afford), the same idea occurred to me: there should be a big stink because we are spoiling our children rotten...and they expect it!
Maybe Jimmy Kimmel was onto something when he asked people to give their kids crappy gifts then record the reaction. Mean-spirited? yes. He did the same thing at Hallowe'en when he asked parents to lie to their kids that they had eaten all of the candy...and record the children's responses. Wait a minute! Why should we be doing the job of making HIS show funny? Anyway, every year the same old argument comes up about the excess and capitalistic greed infecting this country and especially our children. Maybe so.
We gave one of our children a sheep this year. Fortunately, the sheep goes to some family in the third world as part of a World Vision plot to make everyone healthier and somewhat happier, despite troubling situations. Now, whether or not, he will get a letter from the sheep giving its name and showing how its wool will be used or how many sheeplings it has...nobody knows. It was a great gift, I though...and he did not complain about it. But, I digress...we are not the only ones confronting issues at Christmas.
It seems in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity, two religious groups have been in actual combat over their mission to clean the church for Midnight Mass...again.
Priests from the greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox persuasions share the task of keeping one of the holiest shrines in all of Christendom in good shape; thus, every year, they get together to sweep the place up and give it a thorough going-over. However, this year, just like previous years, a melee broke out over some minor issue involving who was doing what and where...so several dozen of each sect went to swinging brooms at each other and (probably) swearing as well. Police had to be called with batons and riot shields (again), but no one was arrested since the combatants were all "men of God."
Funny, that religious angle is what people have been using as an excuse for blowing themselves and others up. And, of course, there were several versions of the Crusades...but swinging brooms IN church?
There will be more smiting before long, I suspect!

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