Iran and Democracy

All week I have been following the Twitter feed on the Iranian Uprising over election fraud, as well as a really good continual tracking blog on The Huffington Post. (I don't know WHEN writer Nico Pitney gets any sleep - his blog posts are around the clock!)

Anyway, it's inspiring and exhilarating and deeply moving to read various tidbits from individuals in Iran who are resisting tyranny and the Khamenei government's efforts to block anyone from trying to write about the events online. See an example (from Huffington Post) below:

4:16 PM ET -- "Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed." A blog post in Persian, translated by the NIAC.

"I will participate in the demonstrations tomorrow. Maybe they will turn violent. Maybe I will be one of the people who is going to get killed. I'm listening to all my favorite music. I even want to dance to a few songs. I always wanted to have very narrow eyebrows. Yes, maybe I will go to the salon before I go tomorrow! There are a few great movie scenes that I also have to see. I should drop by the library, too. It's worth to read the poems of Forough and Shamloo again. All family pictures have to be reviewed, too. I have to call my friends as well to say goodbye. All I have are two bookshelves which I told my family who should receive them. I'm two units away from getting my bachelors degree but who cares about that. My mind is very chaotic. I wrote these random sentences for the next generation so they know we were not just emotional and under peer pressure. So they know that we did everything we could to create a better future for them. So they know that our ancestors surrendered to Arabs and Mongols but did not surrender to despotism. This note is dedicated to tomorrow's children..."

My God, what can we possibly say to that?! Can you imagine preparing yourself for possible death in this way? If this new revolution succeeds, then Iran will far surpass America in the sacrifices required for Democracy. We've not had to truly fight and sacrifice in a long, long time for Liberty (despite what current extremists might say to the contrary); we've become soft and complacent. But they will be heading out soon for an unsanctioned demonstration, where they have already been warned by the tyrants feigning a mandate that they will be prosecuted... which means, attacked and beaten and killed. All we can do here, really, is pray; there's no material assistance we can give like after a natural disaster. Money won't help with this sort of battle.

Daily Chuckle

A good morning for funny children videos!

A Crisis of Faith

Boy, this is a doozy.

I have been listening to Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates audiobook this week for the second time (I adore her writing, and have listened to/read all of her books several times), and it is hitting me much harder than it did the first time through. While not as entertaining as her other historical treatise Assassination Vacation, it is so packed with interesting little historical tales that it is still good the second time through.

It is all about the founding of the Massachusetts Bay
colony; John Winthrop and his utopian "Shining City on a Hill," Roger Williams and Anne Hutchenson, the native Americans... and lots and lots of appallingly UNCHRISTIAN behavior. Vowell is an atheist, despite a religious upbringing that mirrors my own in many ways, but she does not despise religion to the point where she condemns all of it; I think she is reasonably fair-handed in her descriptions of the more egregious abuses of those who came to America for religious freedom.

However.

It has kicked up a whirlwind in me about how horrible we Christians can and have been throughout history. A truly honest appraisal of the history of our faith is so galling in what it reveals in our contradictions to the love of Christ, that it cannot help but make you wonder how we can possibly make any claim for the morality of our religion. How can we possibly expect anyone to hear a sermon about what Christ did for us, and how they should join our faith, with our track record over the last 2 centuries?

I still have faith in Christ; I'm not questioning my belief in him... but how can we say we're really following him with things like the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the wars of the Protestant Reformation, and the near genocide of the native Americans in the name of founding a Christian nation? How can we get SO MUCH wrong, if we think we're doing God's will? I can explain the violence of their methods a little bit by remembering how incredibly brutal daily life was through the 1800s... when brutal methods are practiced by everyone as a matter of law, government, and general social life, it tends to seep over into the subconscious. In our human weakness, I can sortof understand why they would think a suitable punishment for contrary religious beliefs would be to slice off the offenders' ears and banish them from the area.

But we're supposed to be above that! And for a society so newly enraptured and soaked in scripture, (since translated Bibles had only been actually available to the general population for a few decades) you would think that directions from Jesus like the Sermon on the Mount would be the new set of rules for daily living... instead, it was a constant barrage of Calvinist fear and trembling and "you must behave like this or you're damned."

With every disillusioning chapter of this book, I find myself searching desperately for a rock to hold on to, and with all of the falsities and sins of Christian history being burned away in my mind, the only thing to remain is Christ and the Bible. I cannot make amends for the sins of our Christian forebears, nor can I end the modern church's ugly battles over homosexuality and abortion. The only thing I can do is try and saturate myself in the 2 commandments that Jesus said were the most important: Love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart and soul; and Love your neighbors as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. If I'm doing my part by sticking to those 2 tenets, then I'm doing what God asks.

Related Vicissitude:
In a more practical sense, the Christian charity that would result if all Christians automatically behaved as dictated by these 2 tenets, would have VERY interesting political ramifications. I'm so continually disgusted by the Conservative Right's 24-7 rants about the efforts of Obama's administration to ameliorate some of the more devastating effects of our current economic crisis--because I'm always thinking now, "If we Christians were doing what Christ told us to do, then our government wouldn't need to create such legislation." Taking care of the poor and the sick and the helpless is part of Christ's mandate for us; but we're not really making much of an effort. So the government is having to do it. Attacking them for actually making an effort to help the pitiful (despite the probable freeloaders who will take advantage of the system, and the inevitable, ill-conceived methods of relief that might make things worse) is a nasty, mean-spirited thing for Christians to do. Make such legislation unnecessary by your charity.

Aaaaand here I am telling other Christians how to behave. It didn't take me any time at all to start judging, did it?! *sigh*

Lengthy Absence

I do apologize excessively for my extended absence from this blog; it's been an exceedingly busy 6 months, and only now has it wound down enough to have the leisure to go a-blogging. Let's see, what noteworthy comments have I to make...

• I sang backup in the cover band "Banana Bread" with friends Rebecca and Monique at the end of March for my friend Rachel's 30th birthday (she sang lead). It was quite fun, although with the schedule I've been enduring lately, it made my attitude less than agreeable at times!
• I went to the beach for the first time in 4 years a couple of weeks ago. I pretty much was running at top speed until the night we arrived, at which point I had an anxiety attack at the sudden and unexpected drop in my stress levels. Obviously, I need to make sure that I kick back and relax more regularly in future!
• I joined a Chamber Singers group at my church last fall, and we are having a big concert on Sunday May 31st. You should come!
• Facebook is marvelous. The high school reunion I REALLY longed for, that of my Choir group the SophistiCats, is now an almost quarterly event, as we are getting together periodically for dinners. We could NEVER have made such wide-ranging connections without the help of Facebook! Our director, Bobby Jean Frost, is the sort of teacher who changes lives, and it was amazing to have her come to our last dinner and find out what she's been doing since retirement.
• Work is steadily increasing... not to the extent of being full-time, but enough to keep the bills paid in conjunction with my part-time job at the AEA. It'll be 4 years come August!
  

A Good One!

thanks to failblog.org!

Historical Comedy

My latest obsession: historical comedy; namely, the cartoons of Kate Beaton. Go visit her site, especially if you have a historical or literary bent (or have ever watched Black Adder obsessively). You might not get all of the references, but go nonetheless. In the example below, we have a Victoria and Albert scenario...

Epic Auto Saga

Aren't I doing a better job of posting consistently lately?

I feel like I need to start this off like a Bard, "...and this is the way of it..." (Stephen R. Lawhead holla!). My Toyota Corolla has been burning up oil in the exhaust for a few years now, and it has gotten so bad that I have to top up the oil TWICE between oil changes... basically, every 1000 miles. It's been looked at by 2 exceptional mechanics, whose attempts at repair have been fruitless, because it needed major surgery to fix - leaky valve covers was the proposed problem, which would necessitate taking out the engine, which would necessitate $1000 or more.

When the engine light went on for the 3rd time in the last twelvemonth, I said ENOUGH. I was not going to replace another O2 sensor and catalytic converter. I had never been happy with the car, which I bought from Carmax when my beloved 98 Civic Hatchback was dying. EVERYONE said, "oh, a Toyota's as good as a Honda!" so I believed them. I have just discovered that, in fact, the 2001 Corolla was MADE BY GM. Yes, THAT GM. I have been driving a GEO PRISM for 5 years now. It's the same car under the hood.

So, my dislike was entirely justified. It wasn't helped by the fact that red cars are statistically more likely to be pulled over for speeding (as I can attest to) and it kept getting hit or dinged (twice by my sister). Just dismal. So I decided that it mattered not that it wasn't paid off; I would sell it and hope to break even, and go get myself another Civic so this wouldn't happen again.

I got a broker - very kind man named Marvin Nischan, who found a buyer for my Corolla, then went to work looking for a Honda that met my very basic requirements (price, any color but red or yellow, under 70K miles, AC and automatic). He and I both knew that it would be hard to find, as Hondas are in high demand in pre-owned sales. He found my dream car... but it was residing in the Hell known as Crest Honda, and they wouldn't deal with brokers. So he gave up any commission he might make, told me about it, and I went into battle. It was worth it - white car (the color I wanted!) dark gray interior (the color I wanted! doesn't show dirt) 2004 Civic, with only 18,900 miles on it, and a really low price.

I will not detail all of the frustrations and road blocks that arose for the 48+ hours I struggled to win this car... I will mention that although I was treated respectfully and politely by all staff at the dealership, they would attempt to get me to finance the car at a ludicrous interest rate (12.99%) by not letting me know the rate until I'd signed all the other paperwork. "Well, THAT will have to change!" I said when I finally spotted it, "I know I only paid half that on my last car!" The financial director claimed that "things had changed" in the last 4 years which explained the higher rates, but that he would try to improve it.

I took the car to my mechanic to give it a once-over, and called everyone I could think of who was knowledgeable about car sales to tell me what the going rate on car loans was... I finally got my bank on the phone and discovered their lowest rate was 4.9%, so I went back to Crest to (politely) give them the chance to cut their rate in half. Nope, 8% and no lower. So, off to the bank!

I waited over an hour and a half to see a bank officer to apply. By now, I was tired, frustrated, and not really sure I wanted that car anymore, but I would just think about how dreamy the car was; white, 19K miles, low price and a Civic!, and I would decide to struggle on. The loan officer was SO nice - overworked, but nice and patient and willing to help in any way she could. God bless Joan Watkins at US Bank!

More paperwork and proof of income would be required. More fuss and bother and delay. Staying away from Crest helped. When finally Joan said I needed this past year's tax return to prove my income (I'm nowhere near to having that done!) she suggested that to not lose the car, I might go ahead and accept the higher interest rate at the dealership, and then refinance in the next few weeks after my taxes were done. As I prepared to go back and do just that, my mom stepped in and gave me an alternative arrangement; she'd pay upfront, and I'd finance it later. That way there was no chance of any penalties or additional costs.

So I got my car. I'm debating whether or not it was an answer to prayer, or whether or not I tried to force it to become an answer to prayer. I do know it was prayed for, and that it was precisely what I wanted, and did not think I could actually get!

Why am I reciting all of this in a blog posting? Several reasons: 1) to put out there that Crest Honda should be approached with real caution, (and cash, if you're buying); 2) that some Corollas are lemons; and 3) that a car to a single woman is as important as a child, and almost as emotionally draining. I am exHAUSTED. I will be driving this car into the ground (or 10 years, at least) because I do not want to have to go through this again anytime soon!