Gregg A. Granger

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. John 8:6b-7 NIV

I have collected, in my fifty-five years, a fine history of stupid. By grace, this stupid fails to define me; by cunning or cleverness in concert with the lack of Youtube during the peak of my stupid era, I wasn’t caught. Let’s face it, whether sin or stupid or more often, a combination of both, we all have certain areas in each of our lives that we aren’t proud of.

Some of us get caught.

The purpose here is not to create a stupid competition, or to air my stupid as it relates to your stupid; rather, my purpose is more of an appeal to rid ourselves of the notion that when stupid is caught in the act, we must collectively mount our pedestals and thump-out our righteous indignation to bring the perpetrators of such stupid to justice. This week’s case in point: four marines and a Youtube video.

Leon Panetta described the act as ”utterly deplorable”; Hillary Clinton found herself in “utter dismay”. A stampede of U.S. officialdom loudly proclaimed that swift justice will prevail to restore honor to the United States Marine Corps. For what? Stupid? Further, does the whole United States Marine Corps truly lose honor when a few of its members get caught in stupid? I don’t think so.

Some thought my post last week dishonored those in the military and the armed services as a whole. A greater dishonor to the United States Marine Corps, who undoubtedly have the ability to govern acts of stupid committed in their ranks, was ‘uttered’ by Clinton and Panetta and other leaders engaged in perpetuating the wars I spoke about last week.

By all means must stupid be addressed with consequences, and just as I believe the whole of the United States Marine Corps is not dishonored by the acts of a few individual members, so too do I believe in their capacity to mete out these consequences without outside help.

My reaction on learning of the video was gee, that was stupid. It was not a reflection on the Marines, or on the Armed Services in general, or even a reflection on the five guys at the peak of their stupid-bearing age (if my own age of heightened stupid serves as an example). No, my reaction was more personal–but for the grace of God, it wasn’t me (getting caught).

Links for further understanding:

Explaining the Inexplicable, Nate Smith

US Marines: Watch where  you aim, Tarak Barkawi

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Self-promotion seems the reality of writing, and I ask for your help. Help me promote my work by sharing. Help me build a platform of readers by telling others. Help me survive by donating here or by purchasing my book below. Thanks

My book, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home, is a finalist in the Family and Relationships genre in 2011 Forward Review’s Book of the Year awards, and the Multicultural genre in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I ask you to purchase a copy, and email me at gregg@faithofholland.com, I will be happy to sign a copy or several copies for you.

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Additionally, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home in Print Edition and in Kindle format are available through Amazon.

Greggii had a snow day. The girls were still in China. To celebrate, we went out to get ingredients for Hot and Sour Soup, and stir-fried pork with vegetables. Cooking Chinese is not a one-stop affair. Meijers had the pork and only a few of the other ingredients, Sieu Thi Kim Nhung Super Store had the rest of what was called for. If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Division and 44th St. S.E. in Grand Rapids this store is worth a visit, especially now as the Lunar New Year bears down on us.

We stop at the Sieu Thi Kim Nhung Super Store every couple of months or so to get certain things we have acquired a taste for, such as durian and Indo Mee noodles. We also restock on soy sauce there, as we believe that Chinese soybeans are not genetically modified to the extent they are here. And to me at least, Chinese brewed soy sauce has a better taste than the usual offering around here.

The shopping for dinner was an event in itself and Gregg II and I both enjoyed it. We returned home to spend the next two and a half hours preparing the meal. The actual cooking of a Chinese dinner is ten minutes or so of sheer madness with several expletives flying under my breath as I hold the directions in one hand and a stirring utensil in the other and bark orders to Gregg II between the expletives, while the products of the previous two hours and twenty minutes of chopping, cutting, shredding, dicing, peeling and praying are placed in the wok or soup pan at the specified minute. In the end, it was all worth it.

The meal was delicious. Hot and sour soup and pork with vegetables just the way I remember.

Hot and Sour Soup and Pork with Vegetables over rice from a friend's farm in Thailand

So Gregg II and I sat down to the table, said grace, decided to take the photo before eating, then ate the best dinner of our temporary bachelorhood yet.

Aah, this is how bachelors should live, and we ate and sat together to let it settle and all was good in the world. We wondered why we didn’t do this more often.

When we were finished, we rose, picked up a few dishes from the table and turned to face the kitchen. It was at that moment we learned why we didn’t do this more often.

And then the cleanup reminded us why.

The cleanup is now finished and all in all, Gregg II and I had a great snow day.

Thanks for reading, have a blessed day!

Gregg

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Self-promotion seems the reality of writing, and I ask for your help. Help me promote my work by sharing. Help me build a platform of readers by telling others. Help me survive by donating here or by purchasing my book below. Thanks

My book, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home, is a finalist in the Family and Relationships genre in 2011 Forward Review’s Book of the Year awards, and the Multicultural genre in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I ask you to purchase a copy, and email me at gregg@faithofholland.com, I will be happy to sign a copy or several copies for you.

Please personalize my book for:

 

Additionally, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home in Print Edition and in Kindle format are available through Amazon.

I joined my dad and mom and dad’s two brothers for lunch the other day. In the circle of subjects orbiting the table came the practice of honoring veterans. My uncles commented that some people believe that time honoring veterans is not time well spent. In pondering this, the subject of the sixties and of Vietnam weaved itself into the conversation, followed by suggestions of generational differences; hearing this, dad pointed to me and said, “There’s the generation, ask him.”

Wow, there I sat, a little boy at the grown-up table, and the grown-ups looked to me and asked, “So Gregg, what do you think?” Only this time, the little boy was fifty-five years old and hardly represents a generation.

Boy, was I scared. Sometimes I don’t know what I think about something until I think about it. I generally like to squeeze the juices out of ideas and allow them to age a bit. If these juices are aired before sufficient fermentation, an acidity renders them worthless–like vinegar. This is one of the greatest generational differences. These three men and my mother have this ability to take ideas, right and wrong, and fling them willy-nilly over the table and wait and watch as wrong ideas fall off the edge and right ideas sort of coagulate into a concensus. Maybe it’s the age of certification, or licensing, or promotions, diplomas, and other forms of high value placed on being right, but I have a dread of letting wrong ideas pass my lips.

Anyway, they were counting on me, so I did the best I could, managing only to address the generational differences, and suggested that indeed, growing up in the sixties created in me a distrust of leadership and mainstream media. I pointed out that even Walter Cronkite, that trusted icon of journalism, told us to no longer trust our leaders:

“We’ve been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders both in Vietnam and Washington to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds.” (1968)

It was a grand answer that served magnificently to not address the main question they raised, the honoring of veterans at this or that church or social function. I admit that I am one who always stands to recognize our veterans whenever the request is made, but not without a degree of ambivalence. I never stopped to think about this ambivalence until asked by the grown-ups.

After thinking about it, I composed an email on the subject to answer their question. I’ve already said that I’m fifty-five years old, so add a generation’s years to my age and you have theirs. This is what I wrote:

My life has seen the United States of America engaged in armed conflicts on foreign soils. The enemy during my life has been abstractions: The Threat of Communism, Drugs, and Terror (these latter two being criminal acts arbitrarily redefined). To my knowledge, no defined outcome exists from which to determine the success of these operations. My only experience is my country perpetually engaged in undeclared wars with no end in sight.

While your lives witnessed the notion of being in the service as service to country, in the service for my generation, with exception,  is a stepping-stone to one’s future interests, not unlike other career-path options–diplomas, certifications, or apprenticeships. As an adult (the draft ended the year I turned eighteen), I have witnessed only volunteer armed forces focused not on what one can do to serve his or her country, but on what military service can do for the individual. Note the nature of the slogans used to recruit individuals to the various branches: the Army–Be All You Can Be, or Get an Edge on Life, the Navy–It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure, the Air Force–Aim High, and the Marines–Looking for a few good men, or The few, the proud. Our armed services no longer rely on community interest to attract individuals, but on those individuals’ self-interest.

In writing this, Jessica Lynch comes to mind. Remember Jessica? The first American POW to be successfully rescued since WW II? The first woman POW? This young woman debunked the Pentagon embellished, mainstream media reported stories of her GI Jane-type heroism. Very little of the story was true. She joined the Army because there were no jobs in West Virginia. She hoped the Army would lead to college where she wished to become a kindergarten teacher. While I might feel ambivalent about honoring her as a veteran, I will never feel that ambivalence toward honoring her for her honesty.

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Self-promotion seems the reality of writing, and I ask for your help. Help me promote my work by sharing. Help me build a platform of readers by telling others. Help me survive by donating here or by purchasing my book below. Thanks

My book, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home, is a finalist in the Family and Relationships genre in 2011 Forward Review’s Book of the Year awards, and the Multicultural genre in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I ask you to purchase a copy, and email me at gregg@faithofholland.com, I will be happy to sign a copy or several copies for you.

Please personalize my book for:

Additionally, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home in Print Edition and in Kindle format are available through Amazon.

My son and I are currently without supervision. The women of our house, those responsible for… well, let’s just say those responsible, are in the middle of a month-long excursion to China and Hong Kong.

Hunting, if you can call it that

During our first unsupervised week, we acted-out our new-found identity of temporary bachelorhood. We belched, we farted, we left the toilet seat up–that is to say, nothing changed except that “excuse me” was replaced with “good one.” We hunted and lied to each other about extravagant accomplishments never achieved. We ate a considerable amount of junk. And we moped because we missed the girls.

Nourishment for bachelors

The girls left on Tuesday of Gregg II’s final week of Christmas break, so we both found ourselves with an unhealthy amount of time on our hands.

Oh, certainly our freedom ushered in a host of opportunities as we cast our responsibilities aside. Never with the women here would we find ourselves engaged in an ‘air-soft’ war in the living room. Never would we be eating so much wild game–venison chili, venison roast, venison steaks. Never would we be shooting squirrels from the neighbor’s trees and soaking the carcasses of those squirrels for two days in the refrigerator had the supervision been here to tell us otherwise.

Redecorating

Gregg II had the antlers from this year’s successful deer hunt aging in borax in the garage for the past months. We took the opportunity to mount these antlers on an oak mount we purchased for this purpose. Then, lacking the supervision necessary to stop us, we set out to redecorate the living room.

GreggII and I learned something about cleaning wild game when we sat down to a nice looking dinner of squirrel, gravy and biscuits. After one bite, Gregg learned he should have been more thorough de-hairing the little critters. The look on his face drained me of my adventurous spirit–I can say to this day, I have never eaten squirrel. Thank goodness for Sandy’s Country Kitchen.

Gregg and Gregg II with temple

Lorrie, Emily, and Amanda with temple

We attacked the building of a wooden model of the Temple of Heaven, a Beijing landmark located less than a mile from where our girls were lodged for their own adventure.

Before they left, Gregg II and I would signal each other during this or that episode of supervision the number of days before we wouldn’t be subject to such treatment. We weren’t looking forward to them leaving, but since they were going to be leaving, we decided to make the best of it.

Now, nearly halfway through their planned excursion in China, Gregg II and I agree that going this long without supervision is not a good thing. (Lorrie often reminds me that I don’t listen to her anyway, implying that I don’t take well to supervision even when she’s here.) We’re now counting the days before their return.

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I’m not the greatest at self-promotion, but self-promotion seems the reality of writing. Help me promote my work by sharing. Help me build a platform of readers by telling others. Help me survive by donating here or by purchasing my book below. Thanks

My book, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home, is a finalist in the Family and Relationships genre in 2011 Forward Review’s Book of the Year awards, and the Multicultural genre in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I ask you to purchase a copy, and email me at gregg@faithofholland.com, I will be happy to sign a copy or several copies for you. Thanks, Gregg.

New Years in Sydney Harbour

Another year beams rich promise on the world.

For perspective, 2012 might well be 1774; preceding both of these years a common theme prevailed–the peasantry made rumblings of protest. The Tea Partiers–those silly folk believing their voice to be as relevant as The East India Company’s voice–rebelled against the status quo. The Occupiers–those silly folk believing their voice to be as relevant as the mighty institutions that define democracy in our great nation–rebelling against the status quo. “Corporations are people, my friend,” cried the favored Republican child in preparation for this year’s presidential race.

. . .The Presidential Race

No landslide decision is on the horizon, as a number of strong candidates continue to jockey for position. While Wall Street Banks show an early lead, their influence peaked early; their popularity among purchased pols is diminishing. Big oil interests will remain strong contenders. Health care will sit on the sidelines following the massive gains of health insurance providers early in the current reign. The projected winner in this year’s presidential race, dictated by the Supreme Court, is agribusiness. Agribusiness–bolstered by recent cuts to the FDA, and led by Justice Clarence Thomas, former corporate council for Monsanto–seems poised to carry the upcoming election by a slim margin.

Image from the Telegraph, UK

Foreign Wars

The Defense Industry will place a close second in the presidential race. Armed conflict with no military presence in Iraq will continue to result in civilian casualties as armed contractors supply not-American military ‘support personnel’ (mercenaries) there.

These same contractors will paint for their shareholders a profitable portrait in Afpakistan, as well as a bright long-term forecast arising from the current saber-rattling in the direction of Iran.

Liesure and Travel

College students will continue to disregard State Department warnings about travel to Mexico during Spring Breaks, as America’s failed War on Drugs successfully maintains Mexico’s murder rate. Surprisingly, the American college kids and other tourists ignoring such warnings will once again not become statistically significant casualties in this War.

The Cold War

Following years of dialogue between scientists of different factions, American scientists representing the ‘squander all our resources now faction’ will  declare victory in their war on cold. Skirmishes led by a small band of climatologists, namely all of them, will continue against global warming.

The more the merrier for the bottom line

The prison for profit industry will find a new stream of revenue as illegal Maldivian immigrants escape the inexplicable rising sea levels in their homeland. . .

. . . And yet within two years of the Tea Party, the United States was born. And here we are in the twenty-first century witnessing blatant disregard for our leaders’  human constituencies. Entities as soul-less as the East India Company provide more lucrative political potentials. My hoped-for outcome of Occupy Wall Street is a democratic system where people, and only people, are recognized as people–a society of human citizens establishing a structure in which all entities, be they human or legal, for profit or for some other aspect of life, coexist. Two years is probably too great an expectation, but one is always free to hope.

Feedback is welcome.

An advertisement:

I’m not the greatest at self-promotion, but self-promotion seems the reality of writing. Help me promote my work by sharing. Help me build a platform of readers by telling others. Help me survive by donating here or by purchasing my book below. Thanks

My book, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home, is a finalist in the Family and Relationships genre in 2011 Forward Review’s Book of the Year awards, and the Multicultural genre in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I ask you to purchase a copy, and email me at gregg@faithofholland.com, I will be happy to sign a copy or several copies for you. Thanks, Gregg.

Please personalize my book for:

Additionally, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home in Print Edition and in Kindle format are available through Amazon.

The table setting at Emily's host family's home. Photo 2011 by Emily Granger

While in Thailand this past year, Emily’s host-family invited us to dinner at their house–a treat consisting of six or so dishes, a soup, a chicken, a fish, prawns, and a couple of veggie dishes, plus rice. Her host-mother told Emily she would retrieve us from the Suan Doi House at 5:30, so Emily, knowing these things, began promptly at 5:40 to prepare for her host-mother’s 6:10 arrival. Sabai-sabai–Thailand’s unofficial theme translates roughly to “whatever,” and life is easier once one understands the broader implications of this term.

Perhaps Emily’s host-mother drives with great skill when alone, but the act of maneuvering a motor vehicle through the crowded, narrow streets of Chiang Mai becomes secondary when passengers pose conversation opportunities. When the lights turn green and all of the other cars are changing lanes and tooting horns to avoid our car, it is only after a current thought is expressed that she shifts into first-gear and again begins forward progress.

Emily, in her four and a half months here, has been given a glimpse of cultures far removed from our own—what with paddling down the Mekong River in Laos, visiting the Karen people in the area of Mae Hong Son, and visiting the fishing villages in the south–worlds spawned by rivers, forests, and oceans, respectively. Emily and I both engaged in many cross-cultural interactions during the time our family sailed around the world on Faith. We learned then, and continue now to avoid areas solely engaged in the business of tourism, especially tourism by Westerners. We used to think we were in search of more ‘traditional’ places, but find that term increasingly incorrect. In both of our accumulated observations one constant emerges: The concept of culture is a fluid outcome of interrelationships between changing men, each other, and their changing political, economic, and physical environs. For one to say, “I am in search of traditional areas,” is similar to that one saying, “I am in search of a living dinosaur,” the latter being sure to be met with more raised eyebrows.

Kayaking the Mekong River in Laos provided Emily insight into the impact that dam construction places on the environment and on the lives of thousands of persons displaced by their construction. The dams themselves are political constructs to increase Laos economic base with the export of hydroelectric power, in addition to serving the demands of a growing population and changing agricultural processes. Lives and culture in flux.

The Karen people that hosted Emily and her classmates in the area of Mae Hong Son have themselves been displaced from the Karen states of Burma over the past five or six centuries, and are in a state of flux from the current political pressure—refugees crossing into Thailand in search of asylum. Lives and culture in flux.

Thailand’s south is conspicuously Islamic, Islam having followed trade from the Middle East to this part of the world centuries ago. The fishing vessels are powered by diesel or petrol, the cooking is with gas. Lives and culture in flux.

Yet underlying all adaptation to life today, in all places, thought carries a thread of foundations—call them values, beliefs, or perspectives—germinated in the most ancient of times. Faith of our fathers–Iman, in the Quran, of our fathers–so to speak, as these foundations, both that distinguish us from others, and those that we have in common based more on the unproveable concepts in which we believe to the point of claiming knowledge. Can cultures and cultural differences be summed up this simply? Faith of our fathers?

Yes, faith of our fathers is an additional cultural determinant, but regardless of its defining factors, culture is a fluid concept.

A pervasive fear exists of dead space, of actually taking a moment to pause to think during conversation. This is especially true for those engaged in providing information or misinformation about the world around us. The only ones who say more and think less than on-air journalists are those we choose to lead us–politicians. We can point to a number of blunders politicians make when persuasively arguing their qualifications, but I can’t remember ever hearing a politician say, during a debate or otherwise, “gee, I don’t know right now. I’ll have to think about that.”

And yet, what’s so wrong with saying I need to think about that? Further, what’s wrong with I don’t know? Plenty of media personalities take the more difficult road of throwing a bunch of words together in a pretense of intelligence that leaves the listener wondering in awe, if she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, why can’t she just say so? 

John Steinbeck, in The Log of the Sea of Cortez, wrote of this phenomenon in the writing of scientists and other supposedly learned individuals–it is equally applicable to the spoken word:

There is a curious idea among unscientific men that in scientific writing there is a common plateau of perfectionism. Nothing could be more untrue. … It has seemed sometimes that the little men in scientific work  assumed the awe-fullness of a priesthood to hide their deficiencies…We have not known a single great scientist who could not discourse freely and interestingly with a child. Can it be that the haters of clarity have nothing to say, have observed nothing, have no clear picture of even their own fields?

And so it goes with broadcast journalists and politicians, although sometimes we are treated to a rare hiccup. Rick Perry treated us to one of these hiccups when the wiring in his brain failed send the right signals to his mouth to name all three of the federal agencies his administration would eliminate if he were elected. I agree with his position on very few of the issues and for this reason wouldn’t cast a vote for him, but his stock increased with me when this happened. Gosh, he’s human, it’s refreshing! As a public speaker, this happened to me just yesterday. I turned my back on the audience, suggested I needed a drink, grabbed my water glass from behind the podium and took a slow swig to regather my thoughts.

This idea that dead space is a bad thing causes a filter of wisdom to be bypassed. Let me think a moment is replaced with words of nothingness.

Even in everyday conversation an awkwardness accompanies a pause; we insert meaningless words into otherwise thoughtful moments, moments that would be better served by silence. We speak to fill the void replaces we think  and our witticisms are greeted with a healthy belch of relief. Yet nothing is said, relationships are not fostered, and wisdom is not proffered. We speak only as fools to those foolish enough to listen.

I don’t know about you, but my brain doesn’t function well when my mouth is running, I’m certain I’ve never learned anything in that state.

The adoption of a pen name–an alter-identity of sorts–for the purpose of sharing writing, blogs, and opinions is older than Samuel Clemens. Marketing, family, fame, occupations at the day-job and other considerations play roles when various individuals choose to adopt a pen name. To folks in possession of such an alter-identity, by all means, go for it, establish that name and build that character to the limits of your creativity. If you have something to share, share it.

In my own writing, my decision was to not create such an alter-identity. The story I first shared was that of my family and me and our trip through many cultures in a journey around the world. As I began to write Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home I learned that the only rigid rule in writing memoir was to be honest. Tell the truth, not as it relates to facts, but as it relates to heart. No inner struggle erupted over the sharing of my name, or of the names of other members of my family as I laid down the story. To have changed the names would have made more difficult the task of remaining true to other elements of the story as well.

Due to the learning curve of social networking and commenting on various stories, a few remnants of my own alter-identities continue to float among the clouds. The usernames sailingfaith and faithofholland both find roots in my website–a search of either will easily return to my own identity. I am a writer. At times, I am a good writer, and being easily found is part of my marketing plan. When I write my posts, I sign my name to them. When I comment on somebody else’s posts, I sign my name to them. During those times when I don’t want my name associated with my opinion, I find this a warning to keep my opinion to myself–the internet would be well served if more people adopted this warning system.

The web seems filled with opinions, my own opinions, bad opinions, and yes, even my own bad opinions. So be it, at least they’re my opinions and they’re signed by an identity I maintain. It could just as well be a pen name or other easily searchable identity.

One aspect of comments on articles and blogs that grooms frustration in me is anonymity. Anonymity is where the bile spills and users by the names like maddog and tiredofdems and firstnamesonly fill the slate. The cowardice of anonymity renders the comment meaningless–nothings posted by nobodies and not worthy of a glance.

I invite anonymous posters to seek help, qualified people are available to help work through your feelings of anger, and might even help you realize your true identity. Until you reach that point of healing, give it a rest. Nobody cares what your imaginary friends might think.

It has come to my attention that you should collectively, seek therapy.

The  general consensus is that Social Security will be unable to meet its obligations in the next twenty or thirty years. Medicare is the only system pointed to as an example in health care of how a public option might work. The prudent move by you appears to be to cut the funding of these programs by extending the payroll tax holiday. It doesn’t matter which label you hide behind, be it Republican or be it Democrat, you seem to agree that extending the payroll tax holiday is a good political idea.

What are you thinking? Note the already booming economy from the payroll tax holiday that has been in place for the past year.

First,  let’s talk about the temporary nature of temporary tax cuts or tax holidays. They are temporary. Whether the ‘temporary’ Bush tax cuts that have cost $1.5 trillion since 2001 and provided oodles of jobs by this country’s ‘jobs providers’ (note how that’s worked out),  or the payroll tax holiday, these were and remain temporary. Now, when extensions to these temporary measures are reviewed, you coin their loss as a ‘tax increase’. Coming down from the precipice of a ‘tax holiday’ and coining it as a ‘tax increase’ is like getting home from vacation, going back to work, and calling it a work increase. It is not; it is simply getting back to reality, which, I know, places a high expectation on you in Washington.

You Republicans have been chomping at the bit to eliminate these safety-nets for years, defunding them plays into your hand. Your goal is not to do the right thing, but, as Sen. McConnell has stated, to get Obama out of the White House. Trying to force the President’s hand in making a decision about the Keystone tar-sands pipeline that is not remotely related to the payroll tax holiday extension demonstrates this.

The only reason you Republicans have the issue of Keystone at all is because the Democrats, led (by title if not by strength) by President Obama are in a race to the bottom of the sewer with you. Mr. President, you clearly chose to not-lead on the pipeline decision, instead punting that decision down the road until after next year’s presidential election. Sure, Mr. President and all you Senators and Representatives, we understand it’s just politics and you’re politicians. You must be to be elected. But, and this is a big but, nobody elected you to be politicians, we, the American people, elected you to lead.

All we, the American people, ask of you is to do your jobs, not for the insurance companies, not for the banks, not for Israel, not for the myriad other entities funding your lifestyles, but for us, the living, breathing Americans that trusted you when you told us something before the elections that put you in office (It is my sincere hope that Occupy Wall Street helps you realign your priorities). You might find quite a following for your next election if you simply started working for us, your employer.

From where I sit here in Michigan, two bright examples of positive leadership are apparent. Both find themselves on the Republican side of the ticket when votes are cast. As such, I don’t particularly agree with their positions on some issues. Note: I don’t have to agree. Justin Amash has bucked the Republicans in Washington enough to prove that he stands alone in voting for what he believes in rather than simply following the party line. The same is true for our Governor, Rick Snyder, who doesn’t seem to be too concerned about who he offends to take a stand and do what he believes is the right thing for our state. He puts his head down, closes his mouth, and gets to work. As for the rest of you in the political establishment, you may wish to take a lesson from these two–start doing what you believe in, not what your funding source believes in, and respect might just follow.

Sincerely

Gregg A. Granger

P.S. An advertisement:

My book, Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home, is a finalist in the Family and Relationships genre in 2011 Forward Review’s Book of the Year awards, and the Multicultural genre in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I ask you to purchase a copy, and email me at gregg@faithofholland.com, I will be happy to sign a copy or several copies for you. Thanks, Gregg.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Linear thought–contemplation that carries one through a problem in an organized manner until a conclusion is reached–eludes me. I was writing a witty post about a profound idea in which I was comparing the excitement level of being in the company of like-minded people to watching a test-pattern, when I thought, but we don’t have test-patterns anymore; I must define that for my younger readers. Then I thought, why don’t we have test-patterns anymore?  Then I thought, I’ll write about like-mindedness later, and write about the test pattern.

I seem to do a lot of this, which explains why I never seem to accomplish much. There’s always something more important to be writing about. That’s a problem I have; my thoughts always derail somewhere around the third paragraph of any masterpiece.

Sample Test Pattern

The test-pattern used to occupy the screen of any television left on overnight. Television stations did not offer twenty-four hour programming, and when they were off the air, they would broadcast a test-pattern–a couple of circles diminishing in size with cross-hairs or something similar in the center. I don’t know what the purpose of the test-pattern was, other than to notify late-night channel surfers that a signal was present. The test-pattern served as a reminder that it was time to rest. It was then that even us late-night folks would go to bed and get some sleep. Rest was an important component of life as I was growing up, for personal well-being as well as a means of honoring God.

On Sunday’s, we’d go to church, then go home to ‘not work’ for the day. As our family of seven matured such that the youngest five of us–my brothers, sisters, and me–could sit still long enough to eat in a restaurant, we’d stop at Bill Knapps or the House of Ing on the way home from church. “Is it okay for them to work on Sunday?” we’d ask on the way home. “Well, they’re going to be open and working anyway,” came the reply from the front seat.

It was a mistake, dad said, when a grocery store in Lansing first opened on Sunday; pretty soon all the other grocery stores in Lansing would be open on Sunday, and while everybody worked more hours and the lights were on longer, the number of loaves of bread or gallons of milk sold would remain relatively constant.

He said the same thing about the first store to stay open twenty-four hours a day.

Dad’s pretty smart and he was right on both counts. He helped us kids get a feel for the world through such greats as Walter Cronkite, Gilligan’s Island, M*A*S*H, The Rat Patrol, and Hee-Haw. Now, with hundreds of channels vying for attention twenty-four-hours a day, when my dad and my son watch television together, they watch reruns of M*A*S*H and Hee-Haw. Go figure.

More is not necessarily better, either in store hours as we again witnessed with the opening of Black Friday on Thanksgiving Day, or with the myriad offerings to fill our felt need for entertainment. More is just more.

Something will happen once again this Christmas. Watch for it. After the last of the stores close on Christmas Eve, after the candlelight services in church, maybe the air will be crisp and clear, or maybe a light snow or a heavy snow or an ice-storm will be taking shape–the weather doesn’t matter–during this hour in high anticipation of celebrating the greatest gift ever given and received, we will once again experience the test-pattern–in life, if not in entertainment. The world will stand still for a few brief hours.

Cherish this time; the trend in my lifetime suggests we will not hold it for long.

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And now for the commercial side of this post:

For a great  gift this Christmas season, give Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home, to your friends and relatives. A finalist in the Family and Relationships genre in 2011 Forward Review’s Book of the Year awards, and the Multicultural genre in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.