Moms vs Dads

Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers.  If I had my way, you would have had a week set aside for us to pay homage to the women who cared unselfishly for us.

Moms are so awesome, aren’t they?  Without them, the world would be filled with wannabe macho men trying to live up to their dads’ expectations.  Ever been to a youth soccer game and listen to the parents of a kid?  The dad would shout in his gruff man voice, “Come on boy! Kick that ball like I showed you in practice!  You could do it!”  Mommy’s little voice would chime in, “Go baby, you are doing great!  Nice work.”

A dad gets home from work to find his 4-year old has made him a card with drawings that he toiled on for hours.  “Daddy look what I made for you!”  He shouts excitedly.  Dad glances at the thing and thought in his mind, What the heck is this? but says, “Good work son,  show it to your mom when she gets home.”   Sure enough mommy is quick to gush over her kid’s handiwork.  “Awww…that’s so sweet.  Look at it!”  And that’s why we love em.

Moms recognize their roles and accept it.  That’s why when a kid is acting up they would say,  “Just you wait until your Dad gets home!”  Dads recognize their roles also and play it well.  If the child does something nice, Dad would say, “Just wait until your Mom gets home and show it to her.”  Because Daddy doesn’t really care about such things that much.  He would add in his mind.

So that’s why we love our mothers.  They keep us in touch with our feminine sides and let us know that it is ok for grown men to cry.  Even if Daddy is watching.  We love you Mommy!  Have a Happy Mother’s Day!

Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned

As a kid growing up in the Catholic church, I had to take my First Communion and also Confirmation.  Us kids were excited to make our First Communion as it meant we could ‘partake’ in holy communion.  To most of us, we were just happy to do what that adults did.  Plus it involved eating that ‘bread’ and drinking that ‘wine’.   Bread and wine sounded not too bad.  But before we could be awarded with such a prize, we had to first go to confession.

Confession meant kneeling at the side of a small room inhabited by the father. (preacher).  We would tell him what we did wrong (sins) and he would forgive us on behalf of God.  Well the problem was, we barely knew right from wrong and had to go to pre-confession classes so the nuns could tell us what to say.  Beep!  Shouldn’t confession be a bit more private and personal than that?  A few of my friends confessed to stealing bread from the dinner table.  I confessed to lying even though I didn’t know of any recent lies I had told.  I also confessed that I had stolen dried milk and sugar from my parents.  Something kids enjoyed from time to time.  To me and my friends, confession was a joke.  We confessed what they wanted us to confess.  We were not penitent.  We were too young to understand what it really meant.  Which brings me to the reason for this post.

A friend of mine has a young daughter who is about to make her first communion.  Or is it confirmation?  They are basically the same to me.  Anyways, she told me that she’s attending confession and knowing her tender age,  (She’s not much older than my 6-year old)  I immediately remembered my first experience.  I am sure her daughter does not fully grasp the concept of confessing her sins.  Her kiddie sins.   Can you imagine that little girl going home after confession and changing her ways? Staying in her room reading her bible?  I can’t.  I didn’t.

So do you really think kids should go to confession?  Ignore the fact that confessions should be solely between a person and their God.  Remember that after God died on the cross, the way was opened for us to communicate directly with him and through and intermediary but we won’t go into that right now.  Should kids go to confession?  I think not, but then again

It’s just my take.

 

 

 

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• I went to confession. (sarahberardi.com)

 

Highly Sensitive, Are We?

In yet another example of how sensitive we have become, Target store was forced to release an apology after the label on one of their plus-sized dresses described the color as ‘manatee grey’.    How distressing!  How rude! The nerve of them to even associate plus-sizes with a manatee!  One shopper took offense and complained.   She tweeted that it was not fair that standard colors were described as ‘Dark Heather Grey’ while the plus-sizes were ‘Manatee Grey’.

You are kidding me, right?  We have nothing better to do than to dissect and read into everything someone writes, do or say?  Man oh man…Maybe I should complain that some clothing in stores are described as being ‘black’ in color, which I find insulting and racist as I am a black man.  Then I could perhaps have all the offending garments given to me to appease my wrath.

We are so sensitive to everything lately that even our sacred laws are threatened.  Can’t say Merry Christmas or call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree.  Can’t pray in school.  Can’t treat women like…women.  Politically correctness.  What are bunch of whining ninnies we have become!  And, the complainers seem to always win.  When is someone going to take a stand and say enough is enough?  Our poor children…

My take. No apologies.

http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/04/05/Target-issues-apology-for-manatee-label-on-plus-size-dress/2621365160035/

Related articles

• Target Dress Apology: Company Sorry Over ‘Manatee Gray’ Label (theepochtimes.com)
• ‘Manatee gray’ plus-sized dress debacle (newsnet5.com)
• Plus-Size? You Get To Wear ‘Manatee Grey’ At Target! (thegloss.com)

What Are You Giving Up For Lent?

I don’t believe in giving anything up for Lent.  Or any other day for that matter.  Well unless you or someone else can convince me otherwise.

My mom was telling me in a proud voice that she gave up eating meat for the Lenten period.  She is Catholic.  I said to her,  ”Mom, it’s really not what you eat or don’t eat for Lent.  God sent his Son to die for us in the ultimate sacrifice.  There’s nothing you or I could give up or sacrifice that could begin to equal this.  In my opinion, God didn’t do this for us to pay him back by giving up the stuff we enjoy, even temporarily.  He wants our hearts, not our food.  I think that being good people and helping others is what he wants from us”.

That’s what I said to her but she was not deterred.  I could be wrong but it’s the way I see it. I seriously can’t see how giving up something could trump say, helping the poor.  How about for Lent, praying more earnestly?  Or, adding praying for your friends and family?  Sounds more effective to me than not eating meat.  (I am not in any way trying to belittle or question any religion and their practices.  If you subscribe to this practice, good for you. As they say, ‘to each his own’).

Yesterday, my mom ate meat.  The temptation was too much I guess…Oh and for the couple of weeks she didn’t eat meat, I didn’t see any changes in her.

Love you mama! Meat eater or not.

Just my take.

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• What Lent is Really About (cwoznicki.wordpress.com)
• You can’t lose, unless you give up (contemplativehomeschool.wordpress.com)
• Making Lent Real (encourageandteach.wordpress.com)
• Lead us not into temptation (fsdm.org.uk)
• What are u giving up for Lent?…. (tumietango.wordpress.com)
• Lent Heart Prayer Day 17 (mikeraburn.com)

He Said What?

This morning I was listening to 92 CITI FM when I heard the dj say, “Son of a b###h!”    Now I’m not a prude or nor am I perfect, even though some may think I am, but it sure caught me off guard.  Does everything goes on radio and tv now?

I have three young kids and I censor what they hear and see on radio, tv and computer.  I  know most kids these days hardly know what a radio is much less to listen to one early in the morning but I still think colorful language and conversation has no place on radio.  That fine line that separates the acceptable from the not-so-acceptable is getting blurrier and blurrier.

 

 

Let’s Talk Turkey – Christmas Reflections

Ok, one holiday down, one more to go.  How are you doing so far?  How was your Christmas?  Were you overwhelmed by everything around you?  Did you stop and consider the real reason for the season?  So many questions.  It is so easy to get lost in all the hoopla surrounding Christmas.  So easy to forget what Christmas really means.

Christmas is almost synonymous with gift giving.  We sometimes feel inadequate if we cannot get a gift for a loved one.  On the flip side, we also feel hard done by if a loved one does not give us a gift.  I am not sure why the gift giving, especially when it’s between people who can afford their own gifts but you know what? I am not knocking it.  I have gotten some darn good items, thanks to this tradition.  It would seem weird if my friends exchanged presents with each other at my birthday party, wouldn’t it?

Shopping is another activity that goes hand in hand with Christmas. Shop till you drop seems to be the acceptable mantra.  Gifts, food for the parties, clothes, boxing day sales, buy buy buy!  Again, I am not sure how this ties in with Christmas but someone is making a killing, don’t look at me.

Even though I partake in all the above mentioned Christmas activities and delight in them, I would have no problem with Christmas being more of a time to focus than to stress out over who gets what and who gives what.  I would enjoy the old-fashioned style of Christmas that you see depicted in stories of old.  Where parents tell their kids stories while they listen in rapture.  I would enjoy a Christmas where we the fortunate ones take the opportunity to get ‘gifts’ for the less fortunate.  I know some of us do include this in our list of ‘things we do at Christmas’ but I would like to see the stress placed on it.  We say ‘Christmas is for children’,  I couldn’t disagree more.  It’s not for Children.  It’s for all of us.  If we consider all of us God’s children, then yes, it is for children.

In case you are wondering, “If you like it that way why don’t you celebrate it that way then?” Well I do.  Kinda.  As a team effort it would be even more special and far reaching.  Just imagine it.

Have a Happy New Year!  And remember, it’s all my takes.

Related articles

• What If Christmas Didn’t Exist? (corynikkel.com)

Don’t be a Christmas grump

This morning, I woke up early.  Too early for a Saturday morning but it wasn’t your ordinary Saturday morning.  This was the last Saturday before Christmas and with only 3 more days to go, I had to make every shopping chance count.  So I went to Costco tire shop to have tires installed on our van and wandered into the store to pick up a few things.  While inside, I was jostled and pushed in every direction but guess what, I didn’t lose my cool.  I kept a positive air about me and went about my business as though I was alone in the store.  I watched and listened to my fellow shoppers as they swore and stalked around the store as if someone was trespassing on their personal property.

Now if you are one of those people who get annoyed and stress out over things they cannot control, please don’t go out to the malls.  You should have made your shopping earlier anyways.  It’s Christmas if you didn’t notice and that means chaos at the stores.  With a capital C.  You do not own the store.  You do not have VIP status.  You are not a star.  Grin and bear it or stay in the safe confines of your home.  Sorry.

Oh, and do not be like that rude woman who saw it fit to cut off everyone in line.  If you cannot stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen, plain and simple.

And it’s not just my take.

Opening your gifts

 

I was thinking, like I always do, about what I would have liked to be doing instead of doing what I’m doing.  Where would I be and so on and so on.  This thought led to another and another and soon enough, I was thinking about the gifts that we are all born with and how some of these are extraordinary and unique yet they sit in our mental cupboards, unopened.  We are scared to open them as doing so could drastically change our lives the way we knew it.  We are influenced by our peers not to open them or we are too shy.

 

On Christmas morning, parents sit with expectant looks on their faces as they watch their little ones rip at the gift wrappings on their presents.  Cameras are cocked and ready to record the looks of excitement and glee on the little ones faces as they see what is inside.  Upon opening a much-wanted present, all unwrapping comes to an end as the child is now occupied with that one gift.  “Come over here and open the other presents you have under the tree”.  Each present is special and without opening each one, the child would never know if there’s one that trumps his now-prized present.

 

This can be the used to describe our lives.  We choose our paths based on financial reasons, popularity, peer pressure or other.  We settle on that one gift that make us at least comfortable.  We have not explored our other gifts because we feel comfortable ‘settling’ with what we have.  Married with kids and a basically comfortable life, we fear rolling the dice could upset our lives and so our gift, our unique talent is left unopened and unexplored.

What is your talent that sits unopened?  Life is short, rip it open and see where it takes you.

 

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Sexual Assault Case Tossed Over Technicality

In yet another gross and blatant miscarriage of justice by our Justice system, a case involving sexual abuse of a minor was tossed out based on a flimsy technicality.  Tossed out like dirty dish water.  If there ever was a right time to yell B**L  S**t! this is it. Totally BS if you ask me.

Let’s talk.  In a nutshell, the victim who was just seven at the time of the alleged abuse, which included fondling and oral sex, is now 17.  She went to the cops with a statement of the incidents when she was 14 but a request by the police to speak to the accused, her mom’s ex boyfriend, was refused.  A warrant for his arrest was served but never executed until 18 months later and that my readers, is where the technicality lies.

The presiding Judge tossed the case out because it took too long.  My question is, would he have felt the same way if the victim was his own daughter?  So now we have a child molester and pedophile out there somewhere probably preying on some other kid as we speak, and a girl who was betrayed by the very system that was put in place to protect her and other kids like her,  from this nightmare.  Unfortunately, because justice was never served, her nightmare will continue.   For her, it would not just disappear because time elapsed.  The judge felt that the accused rights were violated.  Well, seems like this judge has his sense of responsibility all confused.  How about the rights of the young victim? Wanna talk about violation?  The perp violated her and you, your honor, violated her further.

A sex crime against a 7-year old is disgusting and disturbing to say the least.  It is reprehensible.  No technicality should exist that would enable the perpetrator to get off the hook once he’s proven guilty.   Granted, this guy was not proven guilty.  The court never got the chance to prove his guilt or innocence.

Injustice and lack of compassion is what this is all about.  I hope that the victim could find strength to make a full recovery from her abuse and subsequent misrepresentation by a toothless Justice System.

Related:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/girls-sex-assault-case-tossed-177816061.html

Remember The Soldiers? Or Go Shopping?

November 11 is Remembrance Day (Photo credit: Enokson)

On November 11th, the commonwealth countries will show their respect for the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy the benefits of living in a free world.   It is recognized as a national holiday here in Canada and up until a few years ago, the entire day was set aside to reflect and remember.

A recent editorial in the local newspaper bore testimony to how even a day such as Remembrance day is no match for commercialization.  The editorial was titled “Sunday shopping affected on Nov. 11″.   Sunday shopping affected?  Affected?  Doesn’t that sound to you as if Remembrance day is intruding on one’s right to shop?  Yes, that’s what I got from that also.

I have always had an issue with the new Sunday shopping laws that now allow stores to opening earlier on Sundays to help those who make shopping their hobby.  Read my blog here.  When a holiday as important as this falls on a Sunday, the least we could do is show some respect and observe it to the fullest.  It’s only one day versus how many days some of these soldiers spent in war zones fighting to make it possible for us to go shopping.

Remembrance day is a great opportunity for us to sit down with our kids and tell them stories about the wars.  Children love shoot em up stories with villains and heroes so we could take advantage of this and spin an interesting story for them.  This way,  the fading memory of our soldiers would never be forgotten when we are gone.

The editorial should have been, ‘Remembrance day halts Sunday shopping’.

Just my take, Lest We Forget.

Related articles

• Vets say bar is ‘sexualizing’ Remembrance Day (lfpress.com)
• Remembrance Day 2014: Calls To Close Shops (news.sky.com)
• Why Wear a Poppy (insidehalton.com)
• Sunday Shopping Affected On Nov. 11
• Shop or Family?