Acts of Love? Or Selfishness?

Since I'm one of those peculiar fellows who can over intellectualize and apricot, and who are given to sudden and unbidden moments of introspection,   I sometimes create difficulties for myself, in my own head.

We're going camping tomorrow, And I have been packing things up, like the dry food box, the dry goods box, the kitchen equipment box and now the Misc. Camp Gear box.  All the while I was thinking this is a labor of love, a way to provide my Family and Friends with an opportunity to get together in a relaxed and relaxing place, away from the City and it's noise, in a location where nobody has to travel too far.  The I suddenly had one of "those" moments.

Is this trip really an act of love, or is it an opportunity for selfishness?  Basically, in the last week or so people have been bailing, mostly for very good reasons.  Usually, the reasons are work related.  But I was feeling let down and disappointed, because The date has been set for months, and I've been planning for months.  So as I cleaned the chimney for the citronella lantern I was thinking that I had spent hundreds of dollars getting equipment for a Family camping trip, reserving camp sites, buying excellent foods to grill and cook over a fire.  To be blunt, I was feeling a little resentful.  That led me to reflect on my motives, to wonder if I wasn't doing this just for me, if i wasn't setting up the camp gear and supplies to show off how good I am in the woods (Actually, I am good in the woods.  One person told me, and I quote "YOu're Amazing in the woods!") how well I can grill, or what have you. 

So my motive is no longer clear in my mind. 

However, some of the family and friends are coming, the grand kids are coming, and I'm going to go, have fun, relax and play with the kids outside, grill good food, eat my sister's great cooking as well, and enjoy the trip.  I"ll offer the fun up in thanks for the fact I have a family, the disapointment in union with Our Lords hours in the Garden for remission of my sins, and any discomfort in praise of the Sacred Heart.

And try to quit thinking so darned much!

The Blogging Break is Over--Almost!

I had to break away from the blog for a while.

Now i have a clearer Idea of what i want to blog about--and how, and why.

But starting Sunday, I have a weeks camping trip with the Family planned, scheduled, paid for and nailed down, so it will be a bit longer before I get into the swing again.

Thanks for not sending Dragoons to the house to make me write.

Rally For Religous Freedom--My View

Well, I went to the Rally for Religious Freedom in Louisville KY today.  I'm not big on "protests" or "political rallies" but something needs to happen, and I was available, so I went.  I actually have no idea of how to report this to you, so I'll just put up categories and my observations about them.

The Crowd:  I estimated about 450 people.  I feel safe saying between 4 and 5 hundred.  I was afraid that the crowd would look very much like me:  middle aged males with the time to go do this. I was wrong.  The crowd was about 75% female, and most were young.   I found the numbers of High School and College aged females gratifying--the women, who are the supposed beneficiaries of the HHS Mandate,  were out in force, and were not happy with the Regime's attack on their dignity.  There were a lot of small kids, as mothers came out to make their voices heard.  I didn't include them in my estimate.  A smattering of religious, in habit, came out, as did some clerics, in clerical clothing. We were well behaved.  I didn't notice something--the female religious fromt he local groups affiliated with the LCWR were not in attendance at all.  They stayed away.  Well, I didn't expect anything else, since they are essentially schismatic heretics who hate the Church, love the State and really, they don't count for much anyway.

The Left Wing Thug:  Actually, I was surprised.  There was only one.  An African-American Woman came into the crowd, and began loudly denouncing us.  When one of the speakers read from the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers she started yelling that "That's not in the Constitution!" (To a reading of the First Amendment!)  The Moderator simply told her that we respect her right to an opposing opinion, but that we weren't here to debate, we were here to defend and demand our rights.  Then she started yelling about the crowd, screaming "Keep these people off of me!"--when people were actually backing away from her, to prevent her from having some sort of pretext for claiming violence.  Then she started getting into peoples faces and screaming, trying to pick a fight.  People still backed up from her.  No one would engage her in 'debate' or let her get close enough to start a fight.  She then started texting and calling--I'm sure she was trying to generate a flash mob, but I can't prove it.  Suddenly, she became aware that perhaps twenty people were using cell phones to take her picture--that started in response to her taking pictures of us--and making videos of her actions.  She left.  I've seen this before, at the march for life and among the escorts at the Abortuary in Louisville:  trying to make an incident that can be played.

Law Enforcement:  They were there.  They were  quite sure to make it clear that if a path wasn't left along the sidewalk we would be forced to disperse.  They didn't do a damned thing about the thug "lady".  One fellow in the crowd asked me about "active resistance" to the HHS Mandate.  I told him (truthfully) that no one had ever mentioned that to me. Then, on a hunch, I asked him what it was like being a US Marshall (we were in front of the federal courthouse) under a regime that ignored law and the courts.  He actualy looked embarrassed and hurried away.  Well, he had that LEO in civvies look... .

The Media:  I saw one media representative--WLKY TV sent a truck and a reporter.  They took the time to interview the least articulate person they could pass off as responsible for the Rally.  They also aired a 20 second report on it.  At least they didn't try to minimize the numbers.  But their report was, by my watch 1/15th of the time they devoted to I'll Have Another not running the Belmont.  The network news I watched tonight ignored that fact that in 147 Cities in the US there were similar rallies.  A free press is free to lie by omission.

The Rhetoric:  Uninspired, for the most part.  There were some good points made about the Federal Government, especially the Department of Health and Human Services, deciding that it can tell the people what constitutes religious activity, in defiance of over 200 years of legal precedent and the fact that rights are not granted by the Government, but carve outs by the people that the government may not usurp.  There was one speaker who managed to give a microcosmic view of the financial ramifications of the HHS Mandate, it Catholic Schools are forced to close (she's the Principal of a Catholic High School, and pointed out it would cost about 7 or 8 million for the local community to accommodate those kids--when they can't afford the schools they have now!) and went on to show what would happen, cost wise, if Catholic Hospitals, hospices, old folks homes etc were closed.  But that's not what got me.  What got me were Two speakers, plain ordinary women, who communicated how disrespected they are by the current Regime, and how they are ignored, and considered somehow flawed for raising and having kids as a priority int heir lives.  One said "I am Somebody--not a looser whose out of touch...".  The women in the crowd really responded to that--Women are feeling marginalized, disrespected and ignored by the Regime.

In Closing:  One thing that was the most important to me was the awareness among the crowd that  civil protests, and civil disobedience was the beginning of the Christero movement, and the reference to the Martyrs of the first centuries, and of the twentieth century.  The people there knew the stakes were high.  We know know that the election in November isn't just about the Economy, or the Budget, or the philosophy of government, but about our essential liberties.  We are aware that what happens in the next few months, perhaps years, will form the soul of our nation.  In the words of one speaker (a woman) we would rather they killed or imprisoned our bodies, rather than our souls.  I came away with one over riding realization:

We are Chisteros!