And here you can see someone actually acting out Mr. Beckwith’s suggestion.
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Beckwith’s Follies
Francis Beckwith, who happens to be one of Eldest Daughter’s professors at Baylor, suggests in this blog post that social conservatives engage in some “street theatre” in order to demonstrate the absolute absurdity of what’s going on in San Francisco. He suggests that conservatives go to city hall and “request marriage licenses, but not for gay marriages, rather, for other sorts of “unions” that are also forbidden by the state: three bi-sexuals from two genders, two men and a goat (or another non-human companion), one person who wants to marry himself (and have him accuse the mayor of “numberism,” the prejudice that marriage must include more than one person), two married couples who want a temporary “wife swap lease”, a man who wants to add a second wife and a first husband in order to have a “marital ensemble,” etc., etc. Let’s see if the mayor will give these people marriage licenses. If not, why not?”
I even thought of more ideas. Why couldn’t Eldest Son and I get married? Or since he’s not yet “a consenting adult,” Eldest Daughter and I could tie the knot. After all, we love each other, and why should anyone be able to deny us the right to express that love? I do already have a husband, but why should that be an obstacle? Why can’t I be married to both of them? I love both of them. I heard that in France the other day they issued a marriage license for a woman to marry a dead man. I want to marry Tolkien. And why do we have to limit marriage to humans? My friend loves her cat; why can’t they get married? (I, on the other hand, would pay good money not to live with or marry any cat. Each to his own.) The permutations are endless–if marriage means whatever Mayor Newsom and I choose for it to mean.
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’ –Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Who is defining the words these days? Is anyone out there?
Voter’s Helper
I found this website somehow connected with the Houston Chronicle (see they ARE good for something) where yu can figure which races you are qualified to vote in for the March 9 primary election and then mark a sample ballot with your choices, either print it out at the website or email it to yourself and have a self-made “cheat sheet” to take with you to the polls. I’ve been doing a little research, and so far these are my choices for the Republican primary:
Railroad Commissioner Victor Carillo
Supreme Court Justice, Place 5 Steven Wayne Smith
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2 Lawrence Meyers
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5 Cheryl Johnson
Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6 Mike Keasler
Justice, 14th Court of Apeals, Place 9 Eva Guzman
District Judge, 177th Judicial District Emily Munoz
District Judge, 228th Judicial District Marc Carter
District Judge, 334th Judicial District Reece Rondon
Sheriff, Tommy Thomas
These are all subject to change if I find out more about the election or about the candidates before March 9. (I don’t like to vote early.) If you have any information you think I should know, email me.
Alan Paton
Today is the birthday of Alan Paton, born in 1903, died in 1988. Cry, the Beloved Country is one of my favorite books, tragic in the truest sense of the word. I also own and have read Too Late the Phalarope, but I can’t relate as well to the themes and characters of that book–although the descriptions are beautiful. I like a lot of little things about Cry, the Beloved Country— the way the dialog is written with dashes instead of quotation marks, the way the characters greet and take leave of each other with the words “go well” and “stay well,” the descriptions of home and the South African countryside, the two Episcopal priests who become friends in the midst of tragedy, the word “umfundisi.” Here are a couple of quotations:
—Cry the beloved country, for the unborn child who is the inheritor of out fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, not stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.
–I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men, desiring neither power nor money, but desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it.
He was grave and silent, and then he said sombrely, I have only one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find that we are turned to hating.
i’ve always thought that was an incredibly sad and true thought. There is a window of opportunity for many things. Now is the window for Iraq. If the people of Iraq grab the opportunity, and forgive the Americans for whatever mistakes we may make in trying to help rebuild that country, and if the right people come forward to do the right jobs, and if we don’t give up and if Christian groups are allowed to work there and demonstrate the love of God, there is a possibility that Iraq can become a showcase for peace and democracy. But there’s the possibility that “one day when they are turned to loving, they will find that we are turned to hating.” What a waste that would be!
Here’s a pages with links to information about Alan Paton and his books. I noticed the other day when I was at Barnes and Noble that Cry the Beloved Country was displayed prominently, and I wondered why. I found out that it’s Oprah’s current book club selection 🙂
My Favorite Columnist
I just read on the web that Peggy Noonan’s weekly column will be back in December. Last time I read at the same site it said that it would be back “in the fall.” I hope December is true. I miss Peggy Noonan’s column. She seems to me to epitomize “compassionate conservatism.” I even enjoy her solid Catholicism. She stands for something, and she writes well. And she’s not as sarcastic as Ann Coulter–also not as funny.
I’ve got to obey flylady and go to bed now. Thanksgiving is only four days away. Eldest Daughter comes home on Tuesday.
WORLD Thoughts
I’ve been reading my WORLD magazine for November 22, 2003. The front page has a picture of Jackie Kennedy, her two brothers-in-law and the children–Caroline and little “John-John.” There’s a piece inside by someone named Uwe Siemon-Netto about his recollections of the Kennedy assassination. I remember that I was in first or second grade and the principal announced over the intercom that the president had been shot. I think my teacher cried.
Actually, I was more interested in the article about Iraq in the same magazine. US administrator Paul Bremer, according to WORLD, seems to be fine with the imposition of Shariah law in Iraq–as long as no one gets their hand chopped off. Does this mean that stoning adulterers is OK? Or that women will have to wear burqas? I’m not sure Americans are going to be very happy to see our guys dying and getting wounded so that Islamic fundamentalists can oppress their own people–with or without the consent of the majority in Iraq. After all, the majority of Germans supported Hitler, but we won the war. And we didn’t allow any Nazis back into power in Germany. I know it’s not exactly analogous, but we need to be thinking about the long-term interests of the Iraqi people and of the US. Mabe we need to impose our values for long enough to let the Iraquis try them and see if they like Western-style freedom.
Fate and Predestination
I’ve neglected my blog lately. I’m reading Oedipus Rex for the class in ancient literature that I’m teaching on Fridays. I haven’t read Oedipus since I was in high school–lo, these many years ago. I had forgotten most of the details of the story. My first impression this time around is that the Greeks had a very depressing worldview. If your fate is fixed and you really have no choices, what’s the use? Maybe Iraq is fated to be a violent, tryannical state run by power-hungry Islamic terrorists. Maybe America is fated to be their victim. Maybe the victims of September 11 were meant to be murdered. Ah, but here’s one for the liberals, maybe George W. Bush was fated to be president. Then again, I don’t believe in fate or even in strict predestination. I believe God leaves room for choices in this world even though He knows all things and holds all things within His all-powerful will. How? I don’t know that. Isaiah 55:8-9 says,
8″For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD .
9″As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
That makes sense to me. We are not capable of understanding the thoughts of God.
I finished reading Patrick–good book.
I finished reading Patrick–good book. I just started The Bounty by Caroline Alexander, subtitled The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. So far, it’s interesting, but a little slow.
I also read some of my favorite columnists on the web–Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Suzanne Fields. Then, there’s the other three, the one I read to keep up with what the liberals are thinking: Ann Quindlen, Molly Ivins, and Maureen Dowd. I couldn’t read Maureen Dowd tonight because NY Times wants me to register in order to read her column now, and I’m not yet willing to do so. However, judging from the first few words of her column, Maureen is worried about the same thing Molly is worried about, namely that some good news from Iraq might actually escape the liberal news filter, reach the masses, and corrupt the picture of unmitigated disaster that we’re getting from all the major news outlets. The idea that someone somewhere might think that something good is happening in Iraq apparently drives Molly (and Maureen) crazy. And, of course, if we believe this good news stuff, we’re bound to forget that “since Bush declared our ‘mission accomplished’ in Iraq, more than 200 American soldiers have died there, and thousands have been wounded.” How could we possibly forget this fact for a moment; Molly’s on the job and won’t let us.
The liberal columnists do seem to have forgotten a few things themselves. A month ago they were complaining about the electricity and the infrastructure. Now we’re told that the electricity in Iraq is back to pre-war levels–in spite of the sabotage still going on there. Molly doesn’t mention it, and if she did, she would probably only consider this another example of “PR.” US Intelligence now think that much of Iraq’s WMD was transferred to Syria before the invasion, so I notice that Molly isn’t blathering about how there never were any WMD in Iraq in the first place and how Bush deceived us all. Neither does she mention the current danger from Syria which is a direct result of our giving Saddam so much time to hide his WMD while we were trying to placate the French, the UN, and American liberals.
I’d better go to bed. I’m starting to sound like a war-mongering neo-conservative.