Sad

For many with chronic illness, doctor visits are their main form of social interaction. Do you wonder why they are sad?

Put on the China Hat

A friend of mine was counseled on how to help a chronically ill person who was going to stay at her home for a few days. The host said, "I'm going to put on my China hat." By this, she meant that just as she had to learn the culture of China when she lived there, she was willing to learn the culture of the chronically ill person when she came to visit her.

This is much wisdom in this. The chronically ill may be part of your "culture," but their experience of that culture is far different, given the abnormalities of their bodies. If you want to help them, put on "the China hat" and listen to their culture. Please.

Contemporary Philosophy at Denver Seminary

Terry Smith, who has an MA from Talbot under JP Moreland, will be teaching Contemporary Philosophy this fall at Denver Seminary. Please consider taking his class and telling others about it. Here is his description.

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY

Contemporary Philosophy attempts to identify current “hot issues” within the field of philosophy. This course in Contemporary Philosophy will attempt to answer the following question: Is Secular Humanism philosophy's best method for answering problems facing humanity in the 21st century? We will give special attention to the following "hot issues": Meta-Philosophical Foundations to 1) The New Atheism; 2) The Epistemology of Scientific Naturalism; 3) Secular Humanism; 4) The Meta-Ethics of Moral Knowledge; 5) Justice, Human Rights, and the Problem of Genocide (and whether any of the above secular outlooks have a sufficient answer to the problem); and 6) Meta-Ethical / Moral Psychological Concerns with a Realist Ethic

Weather Drops

Many do not know that precipitous weather changes, particularly from warm to cold, are torture for those with chronic illnesses. When the barometer plunges, so do the spirits of many who suffer, suffer, and suffer from fibromyalgia, arthritis, chronic fatigue, and other such plagues. Some are consigned, against their wills, to live in areas where this often occurs--such as Denver, Colorado.

The next time you laugh or even get a kick out of such a weather changes, remember your brothers and sisters in sorrow. Yes, "this is the day the Lord has made," but it is next to impossible to "be glad in it."

I am getting a lot of stupid, one-line posts, or posts in some Asian language. These, of course, will not be posted and are a waste of my time. Is it really a good idea to litter a page on chronic illness with this kind of pollution?

For The Personhood Amendment in Colorado

Societies will ultimately be judged by how they treated the least, the last, and the lost. The most fragile need the most protection and love from those with the power to provide it. None are more fragile or more endangered in American today than the unborn. With fewer rights than endangered animal species, unborn human beings are slaughtered legally at the ghastly rate of more than one million a year. This must change. The fetus is living being with potential, not a potential life; a human being with potential, not a potential human; a person with potential, not a potential person. As a member of the human species and family, the fetus has the right to life, the right not to be killed.

This is why I support the Personhood Amendment. Join me for the sake of sanity and morality.

Difficult People

We are the difficult people.
We do not fit in.
We stand out, awkwardly.
And we annoy you, perplex you, vex you.
We try your patience.
We loathe being this way,
but we cannot help it.

We raise the bar of love.
We call forth new patience,
new kindness.

"Love never fails,"
but many fail us.
We are too damned hard to deal with
We stand out by falling down.

We raise the bar of love.
Our hurt hurts you.

Let that hurt help
Let that aching pain raise the bar of love
So high
So high
That only grace can raise it.

The shape of our Cross is sharp;
it cuts away life.

What is the shape of your Cross
before our Cross?