I’m doing a story on these guys for our local paper. A couple years ago, I did another story on another semi-pro football team out of Findlay, Ohio, as well. What’s more, they let me play quarterback during practice for several plays — with some contact. That’s right, while there’s questions about how physically fit some of the other presidential candidates are, I’m taking some knocks with a semi-pro football team.
In my spiritual reading this morning, I came across the “Tower of Babel” story in the Old Testament. It seems God had told “man” to go to the ends of the earth, or at least to Des Moines, and “populate” the whole thing. Instead, many of them congregated in this one place and started building a city that would “…reach to the heavens,” so, apparently, they could be god-like. Or something like that. God, the real God, said: bad idea, scrambled their one common language, and people of like languages were then forced to disperse to other places around the globe. Fast forward to today… Man, through advanced technology, has developed a common language (computer language). What’s more, there is computer software now that instantly translates any spoken language. It’s name: “Babel.” Fascinating, huh. In essence, we’re doing it again. Rapid advancement in technology, in science, in architecture (Skyscrapers stretching into the heavens?) are making “man” perceive himself/herself as “god-like.” And the more “god-like” one seems to become, well, the less of a seeming need for reliance on the real God, right. Note: We need to be doing all this in a measured, prayerful fashion — instead of going at it in breakneck speed.
Kobe is dead. The ‘world’ mourns… Last night at my Bible study, Moses comes back down the mountain and the Israelites have built a “golden calf,” a false “idol,” if you will. Notice the ‘golden’ trim in the uniform above. A metaphor? Of course it is. Our society, through media infused pop culture, has made “idols” of some of these top players, no matter what the sport. How much time do we spend obsessing about them, watching them, reading about them, practicing to be like them… In comparison, how much time do we spend thinking about God, praying to Him, reading about Him, practicing what He taught…? For many of us, sadly, we’ve got this all tremendously backwards. Note: Was the incident sad? Sure it was. But so were all the other unexpected deaths yesterday across the country.
Okay, looking at this picture, it wouldn’t take an anatomy professor at Dartmouth to figure out that abortion is murder. Period. Yet our society has become so unbelievably evil at this point… There are all those on the “left” who, outright, want this killing. And there are all those on the “right” who are doing virtually nothing to stop it. Some lip service maybe, a “March for Life” once a year, a few prayers… For abortion to end, a sustained, prolific protest climate similar to what was created in the South to end Segregation, needs to be created nationwide. But, well, us “pro-life people” are too busy with work, with entertainment, with… WHILE THE HOLOCAUST RAGES ON ALL AROUND US! We’re at 60 million abortions in America, and counting. Way worse than Nazi Germany! And look at how history looks at the Germans who knew, but just stood by. Of course, to protest in Nazi Germany would have meant certain death. To protest abortion in America? Some neighbors might think you’re a little too “zealous,” huh. And we wouldn’t want that, would we? We’re all going to be standing at Judgement answering for this one day soon. What’s your answer going to be? Note: Trump joined the “March for Life” this year. I told the Lewiston (Montana) Argus newspaper that as president, I’d go to the streets regularly, as I have done often over the years, to spark this nationwide, prolific ongoing abortion protest. Listen to my “Communion Reflection” on stopping abortion on this page…
A just published report by Swiss scientists says that planting “1 trillion trees” worldwide could significantly impact climate change. And we could let Ada, Ohio, take the lead. I was covering a village council meeting there last night. It was noted that the village had a quite active Tree Commission, has been a Tree City USA town for 40 years, and Ohio Northern University there was designated the first “Tree Campus” in Ohio years back. And there was talk at the meeting about ramping all this up more. A ‘treemendous’ idea: Our administration would back such initiatives with matching federal grants. [To be a Tree City USA town, for instance, 2% of the town budget must go to the planting and upkeep of trees. The federal government, under our administration, would match the 2%.] For more on our stance on this, and other environmental issues, see…
While I went into downtown North Baltimore, Ohio, to stump early Saturday evening (see previous entry), virtually nothing was open. So I headed out to McDonald’s on the outskirts of town. While passing out a “Joe campaign card” to an older couple at a booth by the window, I asked who they were considering voting for this election. Republican? Democrat? The wife, whose countenance visibly changed, for the worse (And I’m not making that up!), said: “Nobody.” I smiled and replied: “Then I’m your guy!” If only the whole electorate was that fed up, huh.
While out campaigning early Saturday evening, I stopped in North Baltimore, Ohio. A sepia-toned downtown mural’s center piece is a train of yesteryear billowing smoke (background in the photo). In the foreground, as timing would have it, a train of today was passing through. We are often struck with a “romantic nostalgia” about the old trains. History books portray the crisscrossing of America with rail as a major advancement. Was it? This, for one, started moving the “local production for local consumption” paradigm away. The trains belched — and still do — all sorts of global warming gasses into the atmosphere. The railroad was yet another arm of an ill-considered, breakneck paced Industrial Revolution that should have been much more considered at the start.
While Democratic candidates are stumping in Iowa, I headed to Middle-Point, Ohio. Call it a hunch. While passing out campaign cards in the Fire House Pizza & Carry Out, one woman said she was impressed I was stumping in, of all places, her little hometown. I said I stump all over. She also said that Middle-Point isn’t the center of Ohio, but rather it is the geographic “middle-point” between Chicago and Pittsburgh on the railroad line. She also explained that the volunteer firefighters in the village were also volunteering all kinds of time to build a new firehouse there. Note: I picked up a local newspaper and read the high school students in the area had been involved with a month-long fundraising initiative to help outreach organizations involved with impacting human trafficking. Highly commendable.
I interviewed a local driving instructor today for a newspaper article. She noted that “distracted driving” was getting to be almost epidemic. I noted in the story that 33,000 people (and this doesn’t include the maiming, and so on.) die in traffic accidents every year now. That’s like a half full airliner going down every day in America! If that was happening, we’d close the skies. While nobody wants to admit it, because we’re pretty much all (except the Amish) addicted to motorized transportation, we have created these highly dangerous motorized traffic “patterns.” And not just dangerous in terms of accidents, but also dangerous in regard to an infrastructure that predominantly supports the burning of fossil fuels, helping to accelerate climate change to the nth degree. Time to obey the “YIELD” sign. And our position paper on transportation indicates how we’d tangibly go about shifting the transportation paradigm in this country. Quick.
My son had an away basketball game in Convoy, Ohio, the other night, so I went a bit early to stump. (It’s a low budget campaign, and I often try to combine these trips. Anyway…) This night I, in ad hoc fashion, found myself doing a bit of campaigning in Gibson’s Barnyard BBQ Restaurant. I passed on a campaign card to owner Thomas Gibson who, in turn, said he was “a politician too.” He’s a township trustee in the area. An affable sort, Mr. Gibson takes pride in his “family restaurant,” and in the work he’s doing for the township as well. People like him are the ones who form the real backbone of this country.