"Wisdom" for Life

I think there is value to collecting some of the old e-mail circulars, since this is a fading phenomenon.  A lot of the wit in these circulars is not being brought into social media. 

• Death is the #1 Killer in the world.
• Life is sexually transmitted.
  
• Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one could die.
  
• Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day.  Give a person the internet, and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.
  
• Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.
  
• All of us could take a lesson from the weather.  It pays no attention to criticism.

  
• In the 60's, people took acid to make the world look weird.  Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it look normal.
  
• Don't worry about old age: it doesn't last that long.

Art TELLS Life

This 16th century Flemish [Belgian] painting takes a dim view of what happens when we humans turn on one another and devour one another.  This is happening right now, when uncaring and unfeeling economics are leaving too many workers in the U.S. with too few resources. 

(from the Chicago Art Institute---that city's museum):

Memorialized

The words of the First Amendment, immortalized on the wall of the First Amendment Building, Northern Arizona University.

     Notice what is says about religion:  the government should neither try to create a state religion nor repress citizens' rights to hold their religions.  Both "sides" in the Cultural Wars have it wrong. GLAAD & the LGBT community aren't going away, the Southern Baptists Convention isn't going away.  Evolutionary scientists aren't going away, and creationists aren't going away.  Etc., etc, so we might as well learn how to agree to disagree.

Wiry

The audio on a commercial started out:  "Tired of itchy bands and digging wires?"  I was thinking about dental braces (which I recently got).  Turns out it was an ad for bras!   😉   --Marie Byars

[for crawling bots, be advised that this is a joke based on the wire in underwire bras versus the wires in dental braces; just want to assert our human capacity for sorting out multiple meanings and making humor out of them]

Ted, Jr., Yet Again

     Brigadier General Theodore (Ted) Roosevelt, Jr., was President Theodore Roosevelt's oldest son.  It is especially good to remember him on D-Day,06 JUN.  He was the first General Officer on the beach on D-day.  Not only this, but he was leaning on a cane.... from injuries sustained in World War I!!!!
     As World War I had been drawing to a close, young Major Ted Roosevelt was asked to help form the American Legion.  The picture below is from the preamble to the Legion's constitution.  It mentions freedom from the "autocracy of the classes and the masses."  Neither mob rule nor oligarchy should define our country. These words are clearly those of Ted, Jr., and his father before him.  It's a shame we can't get that balance now!  (Of note, the "classes" are mentioned first... definitely a risk in our time... has been growing since the 80s.)

     For the record, the "100% Americanism" is of note.  Both Ted and his father wanted Americans to define themselves as "Americans without hyphens."  (I don't always do this because I do sometimes define myself as German-American.  I want to keep my ancestors' culture alive, particularly as I see little actual culture afloat in White America.)  But I take the point... and it cuts both ways.  It means we also have to let people of other races and other immigration statuses fully integrate as Americans. A lot of White Americans have griped over the years that minorities don't seem to fully integrate but have blocked them when they tried.  Not cool.

Theodosius the Atrocius

"My Kingdom is not of this world."  --Jesus Christ, John 18:36

It's real popular with a certain crowd of conservative Christians to talk about creating "a Christian nation" here in America.  Talk about misguided!  That's never commanded in the New Testament.  We're supposed to get on with our work of sharing the Good News of Jesus through private endeavors.

In fact, an early attempt to create "a Christian nation" did not turn out well.  The Roman Emperor Constantine is somewhat well known for making Christianity legal. Before this, Christians had suffered episodic persecution*.  

Then Theodosius came along and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.  Theodosius did some really foolish things as emperor.  (He does get credit, though, for ending some on-going conflict with the Germanic Goths.) Though Theodosius' rule was not the final cause of Rome's fall, it did add to it.  This is not the most in-depth article on Theodosius I, but I hope it's more readable to those who don't closely study theology and church history than some of those articles are.  I believe some of my education and life experience give me some standing in discussing this matter. 

Adaptation of a bust found in Turkey, thought to be Theodosius I

Plus, the Christians turned around and persecuted the pagans, something we were never told to do.  In fact, both Jesus & St. Paul gave us such injunctions as "put up your sword [regarding religious matters]", "shake the dust off your feet [just go on your way]", and "as much as it is possible for you, live in peace with others."  

It seems to work better to use the economic benefits that come from well-run governments and societies to support the Christian Church privately.

It's interesting that Rome fell AFTER it became "officially Christian."  This should be a warning that creating a Christian nation is not going to guarantee an easy life.  Read on:

Theodosius I- Wikipedia

Theodosius I- Encyclopedia Britannica

Theodosius the Great: Saint or Sinner

Plus, you had people "glomming on" to Christianity to curry favor with the Emperor and other high officials. Christianity lost its glow as a movement of grace and love, first God's towards us, then Christians' towards each other.

It also led into centuries of forced state church religion in Europe. After warfare done in its name, a lot of Europe has shed Christianity.

This is NOT the way to go.

     *Persecution of Christians was not constant, universal, nor uniformly harsh in the Roman Empire.  The worst persecution, the Great Persecution, occurred from AD 303-AD 311.  It was under Diocletian.  Other emperors noted for their persecutions were Nero (who by tradition had both Peter and Paul executed), Trajan, and Decius.

     Prior to Diocletian, there were even some dedicated church buildings.  Many were converted house churches, at least one was specifically built to be a church.  Diocletian had them destroyed. 

     Diocletian agreed to the persecutions because he felt religious differences contributed to disunity in the Empire.  It appears he did not necessarily want to start the persecutions, but he was goaded by Galerius, one of the "tetrarchs" (four sub-rulers) and various philosophers, confirmed by a favorable utterance from the Oracle of Apollo.  Galerius' high ranking military service likely prompted his dislike of Christians:  Christians refused to take oaths to other gods or human emperors.  Additionally, various philosophers and possibly Galarius' own mother were forces that goaded him towards persecution.

     Diocletian peacefully abdicated in AD 305, the only emperor to do so. When he did, Galerius became "Augustus", or "senior emperor", of the eastern portion of the empire.  For a while, he continued the persecution of Christians. When he became ill, be believed he may have angered the Christian God and ended the persecutions through the Edict of Serdica.  This predated Constanine's more well-known Edict of Milan (AD 313) by about two years.

Encyclopedia Britannica: Galerius

University of Chicago: Diocletian Persecution of Christians

Patheos: Early Church Buildings

Nuremberg

Nuremberg [Nürnberg] is an absolutely beautiful city in Germany.  These photos are from the Frauenkirche, the Church of Our Lady (the Virgin Mary).  Nuremberg also stands as a stark reminder of other things. Because this city had a primary palace used for important events by the Holy Roman Emperor ("The Second Reich"), Hitler chose it for his Nazi rallies. Because of this, Nuremberg was nearly bombed out of existence by the Allies towards the end of World War II.  The Germans did rebuild it, but there are buildings in the city that were never rebuilt. Some of this was intentional, as a perpetual reminder of the evils of Naziism.

This city, of course, was also the scene of the post-war Nuremberg trials. The Allies found a venue which was not destroyed to host them.

Being in Nuremberg brings to mind opions about social trends in the US. As some of our foolish U.S. population toys with oppressive rhetoric, even daring to borrow German phrases when they probably don't speak the language, it is important to remember that eventually justice comes to those who oppress and terrorize others.

Uh, Yeah, Sure

So, let me get this straight-- it's only "trampling on the Constitution" if the other "side" does it, right?     --Marie Byars, original quote     😏😕😖😦😧😵

Signs of Life

     E-mail circulars were a social phenomenon from the 1990s to about 2015.  Around that time, similar lists surfaced on Facebook, but that phenomenon is dying back.  This blog has gathered many of these lists to remain as a "social artifact."  This blogger is not without some expertise related to social phenomena.

     This blog has made it a point to collect and curate such lists for a long time. This blog poster edits these curated lists for clarity and organization.

    This collection itself was gathered by various people who suggested these signs existed in real life, not just in the electronic world.  This blogger is not able to go back and verify this and is only sharing the humor.

A SIGN IN A SHOE REPAIR STORE IN VANCOUVER: 

"We will heel you
We will save your sole
We will even dye for you."

AT AN OPTOMETRIST’S OFFICE:
"If you don't see what you're looking for, you've
come to the right place."

ON A PLUMBER’S TRUCK:
"We repair what your husband fixed.”

On another Plumber's truck:
"Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.”

ON AN ELECTRICIAN'S TRUCK:
"Let us remove your shorts."

AT A CAR DEALERSHIP:
"The best way to get back on your feet – miss a car payment."

OUTSIDE A MUFFLER SHOP:
"No appointment necessary. We hear you coming."

AT A RADIATOR SHOP:
"Best place in town to take a leak."

IN A VETERINARIAN'S WAITING ROOM:
"Be back in 5 minutes.     Sit...   Stay.."

AT THE ELECTRIC COMPANY:
"We would be delighted if you send in your payment on time.
However, if you don't, YOU will be de-lighted."

OUTSIDE A FUNERAL HOME:
"Drive carefully.  We'll wait."

ON THE BACK OF A SEPTIC TANK TRUCK:
"Caution - this truck is full of Political Promises."