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This is a catch all area for thoughts and things. |
| This is merely a collection of my thoughts on various topics, as I think of them, or find them in my other writings. All are original, and I state freely that they are generally highly opinionated. |
| Church is a positive influence on many people's lives. Yet, sometimes, people go to church merely because of peer pressure; it's a societal thing. How about a church for the faithless, a place they could go on Sundays and religious holidays to lighten the load of peer pressure without actually having to listen to religious drivel? The church would look like a church from the outside and have some really spiritual sounding name, say, "Church of the Prodigal Sons (and Daughters)" or, "Lost Lambs Liberal Lutheran for Lax Lutherans" or, better yet, "Church of the Wayward Flock." Each Sunday there would be parties, coffees, dances, brunches, discussion groups, picnics, or whatever else appealed to the congregation as a whole. There could even be splinter groups, with some opting for brunch, while others attended discussion groups on their favorite books or TV shows. The basement, depending on the size of the church, could hold anything from card tables, to pool tables to a small bowling alley, perhaps even a gym could be built adjacent to the church. So many real churches these days have gyms, so it would not appear to be out of place. There would be no tithing, but there would be an annual membership fee to pay for the services each week. Food and drink could be sold, perhaps the church could even get a restaurant license, or whatever license a private club gets. Such a church would be, indeed, a sanctuary in the truest sense, a sanctuary from the nonesense of organized religion. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write  |
| I am thinking of outsourcing some of my chores to India. I have researched bundling our garbage and our litter boxes for shipment to India, so that some low-paid worker can carry the garbage out and clean the litter boxes, shipping back the cleaned boxes, along with a certified note to my wife that the garbage has been carried out. Perhaps I will do this with our laundry as well, if the garbage and litter box projects work out to my satisfaction. On the other hand, I could hire some foreign students or some Mexican immigrants to do the work in my own home. I must make a note to perform a cost analysis between the two, outsorcing or hiring aliens here at home. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
| Why "The Black Community" is Not Making Progress: For Blacks who claim they are still down-trodden in our society, in order for their plight to improve, "Saviours of the Black Community" would have to work, and to get their constituency to work to change the negative images. Those in the Black Leadership position would have to start valuing education, dependability, and their constituents would have to exhibit a willingness to be employed, and a willingness to be responsible for themselves. Those things are possible, but many in that "Black Minority" have a long way to go. The problem with the "Black Community" today is that they have so few leaders, and many of the self-proclaimed leaders are too self-serving, such as Jesse Jackson (a worthless and racist egotist) and Al Sharpton (a political huckster), and many others in and out of Congress. To make it in this country, one must take an individual responsibility to bring himself, and those with whom he chooses to travel on the road to success, into a realm of reality and of focus, focus on what is really needed to go into a successful future rather than a focus on what was and what cannot be changed. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
| Years ago, a group of our friends, my wife, and I started a "Church of the Perpetual Brunch." It was satiric in nature, but we did manage to feed our spirits as well as our stomachs. We started out by meeting one Sunday a month in one of our homes, the host being responsible for preparing and serving brunch to the rest of us. All too soon, we had too many participants to do that easily, or cheaply, so we started going out to different brunch places around the area. Discussion varied from religion, to politics, to family matters to just about anything else under the sun. We did have our sayings: "May the fork be with you," was one. As their "spiritual" leader, I was known as "His Gluttonous." Tithing was a combination of paying our individual brunch tabs, as well as leaving a generous tip to the server who had to put up with our sometimes loud and often rowdy celebratory brunch bunch. We also had our own "relic," which was an old waffle from one of our earlier meetings when we still met in our respective homes. It was squashed (or squished?) and forced into a cheap frame someone picked up at a yard sale after one of our brunch meetings. In all, it was fun, and we did manage to celebrate life and to celebrate each other and to celebrate our friendships, which, in my opinion, are some of the things any church should do. We have all since scattered, and the chemistry among our newer friends has gone in different directions, but, who knows, some day, somewhere, somehow, we will resurrect the "Church of the Perpetual Brunch." Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
| Let's look at the Iraqi Religious leaders for a moment . . . They don't get it and we, or, I should state, our political leaders, are in danger of playing their game. Islamic Clerics in Iraq have announced that if their new constitution is too liberal in allowing women rights or if the religious are not given more than their share of power, or if their are too many individual rights given to the people of Iraq, then they will issue a fatwa against any who participate in the new government. That is blackmail, at its criminal worst, and deserving of disdain by our nation-building team. I am almost at the point at which I would favor annihilation of all religius leaders of all organized religions. I'm certainly at that point for the Islamic religion. I hereby declare my own personal fatwa against the Iraqi Islamic Clerics. Those Islamic leaders consider themslves to be scholars, yet they are blinded to any but their own narrow, bigoted ideals. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
| Religion is big business. Not just the hundreds of millions The Passion of the Christ will make, or the billions Shysters for Christ will wrangle from the gullible followers, but the side-show sales that abound. Can you believe they are selling replica nails for $15 a piece? Heck, you could go down to your local hardware store and get a nail, or even a spike for a fraction of the cost. To finish off the effect, you could buy a rawhide shoestring to attach the nail or spike to so that you could hang it around your neck. Then we have the religious book authors, who I don't begrudge, who will make more millions by confusing the faithful. In the typical Christian bookstore, one must be careful to buy books that agree with one's particular brand of Christianity. Heaven help it if you pick up a book from another denomination, or even from an off-the-wall author who is vehemently against something that other Christians may accept (dancing, for instance). Such mis-purchases could cause one to think, or to go into a coma from a cereberal short-circuit. Religion is becoming more and more popular these days. It is fashionable, more so than in the recent past, to pronounce your spiritual beliefs, particularly if they are the same as a majority of the people around you. What I am waiting for is a time when people realize the difference between Religion and Spirituality. That will be a time when people will realize no props are needed to grow spiritually; you don't have to read about it; you don't have to see a movie about it, and you certainly don't have to find out from someone else what your next step on the road to spiritual growth is. That will be a time of true enlightenment. Until then, "follow the money" to spiritual depravity. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
| Do the Dead really care what they wear? You'd think they did. But, I think the dead wear what makes their friends and relatives, particularly those arranging the funeral, comfortable and happy. It's kind of like my wearing a jacket whenever I visit my Mom because it helps keep her warm to see me in a jacket, even though I am a short-sleeved person even into the low 30s temperatures (Fahrenheit). The dead get neither cold, nor warm (Well, some may get really, really warm - but that's another post!). I wonder if nudist funerals, the funerals of people who are nudist, have their dead in the buff. I would like that myself, even though I am not a "certified" nudist. If I must go, let it be in ultimate comfort. It would be like leaving the world wearing exactly what I came in with, nothing. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
| Should a person going to church be comfortable? Well, there are two kinds of comfort when it comes to religion, physical comfort and spiritual comfort. I do believe that a church should be designed for physical comfort, at least up to the extent that you are too comfortable and fall asleep during a sermon or a ritual. Falling asleep in church is not a good think, and it is rude, particularly if you snore. On the other hand, church should be a place where we are spiritually uncomfortable. Looking into ourselves, into our own souls, should make us uncomfortable until we reach that pinnacle of spiritual purity and perfection (yeah, right! As if that will happen to a human being!) Spiritual discomfort will help point us toward that goal of spiritual growth. To be spiritually comfortable could be a great disadvantage, and in my opinion, a false comfort. A bit of stress in our spiritual lives may well help keep us on a road to true spiritual growth, whatever that may be. One need not recognize the road to travel on it. So, keep the seats comfortable, Pastor (Priest, Priestess, Rabbi, etc.), but don't let us get too spiritually comfortable with ourselves. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
| This morning at around 4, I finished my third book by Octavia Butler, Kindred. Previous books of hers I have completed are Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Currently, I am reading her book, Lilith's Brood and I am enjoying the experience. Butler is an important author for several reasons. First, she is a good story teller; she develops an interesting plot and characters one can care about, characters one may love or hate or both. Second, Butler has chosen to create a strong female character around whom fantastic things happen. The character must test herself and overcome some real, often harsh obstacles. There are, in my opinion, too few strong, believable female leads in today's fiction. Finally, and most importantly, Butler makes her readers think about issues. Even though the plot centers about different times from ours, or even unlikely situations, the problems encountered by the characters are relevant to us, honest, and the resolutions to the characters' problems are believable, not perfect, but satisfactory. I highly recommend any who have not been introduced to Butler's works waste little time in finding one of her books and getting acquainted with her writing. I recommend starting with her novel, Kindred. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
Whos said "All the best laid plans of mice and of men . . ."? My plans to write more during the holidays flopped. My writing accomplishments include one essay, still in progress and soon to be posted, and that is about it. With all the traveling, early morning and late evening work hours, finding time and inclination to write is more difficult that it has ever been. Those are, of course, excuses, lame excuses, that I need to extinguish. There is always time to write if one wants to badly enough, and I need to want to write more than I have been writing. I need to need to write. How does one motivate one's self? We are all different. Yet the goals are the same. Write. It is like a walk on the desert; you place one foot in front of the other or you die. In writing you put one word after another or your creative side dies. Archie R. Whitehill Mercenary Writer Have Words Will Write |
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