Tried and True on Pinterest

Welcome to Saturday! Even though we have another small bought of colder weather headed our way....along with some of our famous Kansas "breezy" (translated means gale force winds) conditions, it still feels like spring might just be close at hand.

In case you are wondering about the tantrum and pity party I spoke of the other day....well I decided to use my powers of pity for good and I channeled all my "poor me" energy into cleaning. I did a two day marathon cleaning and by last night around 7, I had no energy left to tantrum or party (pity or otherwise). The fact is that my house is REALLY clean which was actually a mental boost and the non-stop clean-a-thon left me too exhausted to do anything but fall in bed and go to sleep. So...currently the pity problem remains unchanged, but rather than handle it in a non-productive way, I chose to put it all in God's hands and clean. Hmmm....perhaps I should take note of this for next time.....'cause there will ALWAYS be a next time.

Well....quite honestly, I had every intention of talking politics today. I have had some things on certain issues of late just about ready to burst the seams of my brain, but truthfully.....today I just can't bring myself to the negativity which my political posts often cause inside of me. Add that to the fact that I am mentally trying to prepare for tomorrows blog (do you like that little teaser????) and I just wasn't up for it today. Trust me though...it is coming. Maybe next week after the surgery and all.

If not politics.....what then? I know that it hasn't been that long ago when I was singing the praises of Pinterest. Well today I thought I would tell you a little about what that sight has taught me. First of all....there is a meme going around that says something like, "Pinterest is just electronic hoarding." From what I have seen....this isn't far off the mark. In fact...if not for Pinterest, it is quite clear to me that I would likely be on an upcoming Hoarders episode. I currently have 96 boards and 5,551 pins. For those of you lost at this point.....a board is something you create virtually much like you would create a physical file. You name the board and then each time you see something either on Pinterest or most anywhere on the internet that falls under that board topic....you pin it to the board. For instance....if you name a board Food, then recipes that look good or you would like to try would likely be pinned to that board. The 96 boards I have are quite detailed and some are even sub categories of a main topic. As I said.....Pinterest either shines a glaring light on my propensity to hoard or it casts a rather favorable light on my new found organizational skills. I prefer to go with the latter.

Something that Pinterest has done for me personally has been to give me simple and effective ideas on everything from cooking to organizing. It has also made me realize that really there is no recipe or project that can't be found on the internet and most with very detailed instructions. Going back to Pinterest though.....I am sure like thousands of other people, it is one thing to see something cool or interesting and decide to pin it, but a whole other thing carrying it out. I will see a recipe and think, "Wow....I have to try that, but I wonder if it is as good as it looks?" The same goes with craft and organization ideas. Do they really work? I especially wonder when they have cheesy comments under the picture like "We tried this tonight. You will throw out all other recipes," or "My husband is begging for this meal for the third night in a row." They just sound a little too good to be true.

I decided with my Pinterest hoard, that before I pinned more....I needed to try some of what I had already hoarded. My one issue is that unlike all these other smart hoar.....errr....pinners, I keep forgetting to take pictures of my befores and afters of my finished meals and projects. Sigh....someday perhaps I will get it all together, but until then....please bare with me. At any rate...most things that I have tried off Pinterest have been successful and I have been very pleased with the outcome...so I thought I would share them with you....minus the pictures.

Lets start with ORGANIZATION! If you know me at all...you know that my greatest enemy has been holding onto things both physically and emotionally and because of this...clutter. Once I was finally into the mindset that things are just that....things, then it was easy to start throwing and giving away things. After the purging....then comes the organizing of what is left. This is where Pinterest came in and here is what I learned and did:

* Buy clear shoebox size containers with lids. Our Dillons stores regularly have them 10 for $10 or the Dollar Tree has them. These boxes have a million and one uses. Because they are see through you can easily see what you are storing. I have used them for storing:
shoes
tools
craft supplies
spices
craft projects by the project
pictures
scrap booking supplies
misc. bills and papers
The list could go on and on and I am sure I have only just broken the ice on uses for them. I will always keep several around as I am always finding new ways to use them.

* Dollar Tree. Unlike Dollar General or some of the other places with "Dollar" in their name...Dollar Tree is actually the real deal and everything inside their walls is a dollar. One lady pinned 100 storage ideas that you can find at Dollar Tree. We have a Dollar Tree in the next town over but I simply never went in. After reading her pin which was attached to a blog...I decided I had to go in. They change out their merchandise frequently, but they really do have amazing things. I have bought tons of small baskets to organize drawers, bigger colorful baskets to hold toys and many other neat things that I simply didn't know Dollar Tree carried. Because of Dollar Tree...my house is a thousand times more organized and this is a very good thing.

* Under cabinet storage. My kitchen is 50 years old and 50 years ago...apparently people didn't have as much kitchen "stuff" as they do today. Storage has always been a pain...to the point that I have to have a designated pantry in another room. Pots and pans storage has always been a nightmare and I was about at my wits end with my kitchen. What didn't help is that I have always had a corner cabinet that was two tiered which was ackward at best. Then a year or so ago I had a pipe break behind the cabinet and it caused me to have to have the cabinet doors taken off and the shelf removed to repair the pipe. I never put the shelf back or the door on because it was my intention to put a lazy susan cabinet back there, but after all this time it had just become a huge space with no purpose. Then I saw a picture on Pinterest of almost the same cabinet configuration with all the pots and pans stored neatly underneath. They took a board and secured it the width of the longest part of the triangular space and then attached large hooks to the board. The pans with hook holes were hung and then the large stock pot type pans were arranged neatly on the floor of the cabinet. A large Dollar Tree container was also set inside the cabinet for lid storage. I knew this could work for me...and it did. I love it and instead of putting a cabinet door back on...I am making an easy access curtain which coordinates with my kitchen colors to go over the opening.

* Scarf and tie organization. Go to Dollar Tree and get shower curtain rings. Attach rings to the bottom of a hanger and then simply pull scarves or ties through the rings. They hang beautifully and take up no more space than any other piece of clothing in your closet.

* Purse hanging. Secure a slotted metal shelf holder to your wall. I did it in the back of my closet. The shelf holder I am referring to can be bought at Lowes fairly cheep. You usually use two with adjustable arms that jut out to hold a shelf. For my closet I put several adjustable arms into the slots of the holder and then hung my purses from it. Neat purses and neat closet.

CLEANING:

* Do you get those nasty mildew stains around your tub in the grout? Do you fight to get them out? Pinterest showed me the easiest way to get white grout with almost no work. Go to Sally's Beauty Supply and get the cotton that comes in long coils. It is usually used for perms. It costs about $3. Before you go to bed....take a small glass bowl of bleach and set it in your tub (this makes it easier not to get bleach on anything you don't want it on). Cut a coil of cotton that will fit the mildewed area. Saturate the cotton with the bleach and then lay it along the mildewed area. Mine happened to be the entire grout line around my tub. Now discard left over bleach and go to bed. By morning the cotton will be in the process of disintegrating. I took a small trash can and a paper towel and went around the grout line wiping off the cotton. My grout was bright white and according to the pinner that pinned this.....it will stay that way for months.

* Dirty grout on kitchen floor. My grout lines on my kitchen get horrible. No matter how I scrubbed they remained discolored. A pinner said to put baking soda in the grout line and then put white vinegar in a spray bottle and then spray the baking soda. It will immediately begin to bubble. Don't touch it until it is done bubbling, then take a small brush (got mine at Dollar Tree) and lightly scrub where the baking soda was. Afterwards....take a sponge and go over with warm water to remove any residue from the baking soda. The grout looks like new.

* Baking soda and vinegar: Speaking of this dynamic duo.....they have literally a thousand and one uses and in most cases work better than expensive cleaners. Have a clogged drain pour about half a small box of baking soda down the drain and then add add about a cup of white vinegar. It will begin to bubble. Leave it alone and let it do it's job. In about 30 minutes run hot water down the drain. It should be running clear.
Also use this duo on hard water stains in coffee pots.
Use it in the oven to clean burnt on messes. It works better than any oven cleaner.
Scour pots and pans with it. No need for SOS pads.
Soap scum on your tub.....let these two tackle it.
Again.....I know there are many more uses....and I intend to find them all. Best part....no chemical smells left from cleaners.

Well....these are just a few of the things I have tried and recommend whole heartedly and we didn't even get to the food. Sigh.....well more blog fodder for another day. I also plan on trying to make my own laundry soap and carpet cleaner. This should prove interesting...so stay tuned.

Have you tried something on Pinterest and want to share? I would love to hear about it. Also....is there something you want to know about on Pinterest but don't want to try yourself until you have an opinion behind it. Let me know and I will see if I can be your guinea pig.

So hear is hoping you have a wonderful Saturday and don't forget to come back tomorrow for Catholicism Through My Eyes. I guarantee it will be an interesting topic!

No One Ever Said Life Was Fair

If you are a reader of my blog....you will know that often I will refer to the wisdom of my late mother. If only I had understood how wise she was when it counted, but alas....... She instilled many things in my head over the years; some religious, some political, some practical and some were just common sense about life and the world around us. One thing I heard from  the time I was old enough to have temper tantrums when life didn't go my way was......"No one ever said life was fair!" It didn't matter if I was in a fight with a friend, got in trouble and couldn't do something I really wanted to or got dumped by a guy. Instead of allowing me to wallow in the "unfairness" of it all, she would throw out the "No one ever said life was fair," line and then ask me if I was going to sit around and feel sorry for myself. Often for awhile....I did. It is hard to understand why difficult or bad things happen. The fact is....life is often unfair and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it other than throw a tantrum and then a pity party. When those achieve nothing....then we pick ourselves up and move forward.

All of this was going through my head this morning as I was having a very frank conversation with God. Yes....there was a lot of begging, pleading, a few tears and a whole lot of "this isn't fair," going on. Money issues often bring me to my knees and yes....I was right! It was not fair and there have been a lot of unfair things in my life, but if I truly look at the checks and balances of it all....there has been as much good, happy and totally miraculous in my life that may even tip the scale in my favor a bit. Then I began to think of others I know...of others who even this week have been dealing with so much. Their lives aren't fair either.....but they also move forward and many of them completely bypass the whole tantrum and pity party, which leads me to another one of my mothers pearls of wisdom. "Look around. No matter how bad you think you have it...there is always someone who has it worse." Sadly....this is true.

This week I have watched a mother who gave her child up in an open adoption....suffer because the adoptive parents suddenly closed it. I can't imagine that pain. To give such a precious gift to someone with an understanding of an open door....only to have that door slammed in your face, now THAT is not fair. How about having a family member who bleeds you dry both emotionally and physically because they feel like their bad choices robbed them of happiness and now somehow you are suppose to pay for that. I have a dear friend going through just that thing. It is not fair but sometimes family has a hold on us like no other people in our life. It isn't fair....but sometimes that is just how it is. Then there are those who are suffering the loss of a family member or friend and those suffering with illness. Sick kids, out of work, not enough money....we all have issues to deal with. None of it is fair and yet at some point....we all get a great big helping of unfair piled on our plates. It is simply life. None of us gets out alive and none of us gets out without the pain of unfairness.

I want to say that I am strong enough to pick myself up and move forward once again....but truth is, the older you get....the more times life seems to throw those unfair curve balls and sometimes it is not all that easy to pick up and move forward. I suppose this is where our faith comes into play. We have to look at past history and realize that no matter what we have had to face.....we have survived! Sometimes our survival has resulted in strength and sometimes all we are left with are battle scars,  but always we have survived. I have survived!  I suppose I will again and I know that after I finish with both my tantrum and my pity party I will as always realize that there is simply nothing left to do but pick myself up and move on. I tell myself that things could be worse and I have a great deal to be grateful for. It is very true, but some days even that doesn't help the moment you are currently living in. Guess it is all part of being faulty humans.

You know....it is funny, just this week....two of my friends have commented on my strength. One told me that she does not understand how things no matter how bad.....simply never get me down. I had to laugh at this very kind but truly distorted picture they have of me. The truth is....things do get me down...alot! I am not superwoman. I cannot leap huge problems in a single bound, nor can I hide my fear, frustration and sometimes sheer grief as well as I used to. So for today...or at least for the next hour or so....there will likely be a little tantruming going on and a whole lot of pity party.....and then once again, I will do my best.....to pick myself up and once again.....move on.

Communication in a Techy World

So Tuesday I went to the doctor because I really thought I simply had not fully gotten over the flu that started way back in December. After all....I have fought congestion forever and my stomach has never been the same. On Monday they did a sonogram of my stomach and Tuesday I went in for the results. Instead of seeing the doctor right off, a D.O. (doctor of osteopathy) and a student came into talk to me. I immediately disliked the D.O. right off the bat. He was young and had that air of knowing it all and somehow being on just a slightly higher plain than the rest of us. I've known too many like him. At any rate....he asked me numerous questions never adverting his eyes from mine. I locked his gaze and answered each as he asked it. Each answer was met with a smirk from the D.O. I was getting irritated but refused to show it as I was wanting the final answer on what was going on with me. Apparently though Dr. D.O. wanted to continue smirking at my answers as if he didn't quite believe what I was saying. Finally....after I had answered what I was hoping was his last question...he looked at me and said (again with the direct gaze and smirk), "So how attached to your gallbladder are you?" It was obvious he thought himself quite amusing. Without missing a beat I replied, "No more attached than I was to my tonsils, my appendix or my uterus. Why?" It was fun to watch the smirk fade from his lips and his eyes avert mine while trying to think of something to say. Yeah...I am evil at times. What can I say? That's just how I roll. And yes.....I do have gallstones and as of next Monday....just like my tonsils, appendix and uterus.....my gallbladder will no longer be residing in my body.

When you can see someones face when you are speaking with them....like in the case of Dr D.O., you can often read their expression and know the context of what lies behind their words or conversation. In fact...in most people unless someone has their poker face honed down to an art...you can know context with expression with just a look. That is the beauty of face to face conversation.

The other day I was watching Z as he was talking to me and obviously carrying on a texting conversation with someone else. His fingers never stopped as he answered the perfunctory "yes", "no" and "I don't know" to the questions I asked. Then I asked him if he did that at school. He wasn't sure what "that" I was talking about. Why texting of course. He let me know that yes, in some classes it was okay to text.....and I am sure that even in the classes that it is not okay.....they do it anyway. It was the equivalent of my generation writing notes....and yet nothing at all like it.

All of this got me to thinking about this new generation of texters, facebookers and tweeters. What has happened to the art of conversation? Perhaps my brain is more in tune to this right now because I gave fb up for Lent. The first few days.....although I didn't post anything....I confess I still read a few posts to make sure that I wasn't missing something. After that though.....fb and the computer (other than blogging) has almost become non-existent to me. I have also noticed that I have talked on the phone more in the last couple of weeks than I have in years....and you know what????? I like it!!!

It seems to me...and I know what I am about to say is not an original thought....that we are losing our ability to communicate face to face. We are relying on technology for communication without ever even seeing the person we communicate with. Granted....most people we text we hopefully see semi-regularly, but lets face it.....in this high tech world....how many people do we fb, tweet and email every week that we have never laid eyes on? Facebook has fooled us into believing that if someone is on our "friends" list....that they are then in fact our friends. The fact is.....when we first start talking to them....they are not our friends. They are acquaintances and many of them we are likely never going to meet. Yes....there is a an upside to this. I have met some truly wonderful people on fb that even though we have never laid eyes on each other.....I consider them amazing friends. However...most that are not personal and local friends are just people that may have my same political beliefs, have a child with special needs or they are friends of friends who thought we ought to be friends. Likely I will never have a face to face conversation with any of them.

Also the downside to all of this fb, tweeting and emailing is that unless we are communicating for business...there is every possibility that at some point, something that we say is going to be taken out of context or misinterpreted because the people A) don't know us and B) can't read our expressions through fb or email. It is very easy to have even the most innocent of posts be taken completely out of context and thus cause hurt feelings or the loss of a "friend." There have been times that I start to post something meaning it as funny or maybe slightly sarcastic but not hurtful....but when I go back and reread it.....I feel the need to put some kind of a smiley face or and (lol) at the end, so as not to be misread. Lets face it...if you can't see someones face then it is often hard to tell if a sentence is accusatory or a simple question.

In so many ways....communicating through technology has caused us to lose not only the art of conversation but also the art of communicating properly through the written word. As I said about Z.....he would much rather text than carry on an actual face to face conversation. With me as his mother though....he has no choice at times....therefore when forced, he can communicate quite eloquently. Other kids his age though....not so much. I fear many are so drawn into the world of technology that making actual verbal sentences are almost impossible for them. I have tried on occasion to talk with this new generation and if they can't answer with a yes, no or shrug they are completely out of their element. It is really sad and I can't imagine how trying this all is for Speech and Interpersonal Communication teachers.

As for communicating through the written word....a teacher friend of mine said that she feels like pulling her hair out at times. She will actually have students turn in papers with abbreviations such as lol on them and be full of abbreviated sentences. She basically believes that all of this technology is actually dumbing down and stunting the intellectual growth of kids where it counts.....COMMUNICATION! If you can't communicate properly then how do you apply for jobs, professionally contact others through business or function in society? I know on fb sometimes I will see even young adults make a post and it is nearly unreadable as the grammar is all but non-existent and it is full of abbreviations and four letter words (and that is another subject you don't even want to get me started on.) I just cringe when I see this. And if they post like this....can you even imagine them trying to write a letter?

Yeah....I know! Letter writing was thrown out in the 90's with roladexes and big hair and I find this truly sad....because I really liked all three of those things.  As a kid....I honed my writing skills on letter writing. I also got quite a bit of practice at school writing notes. Yes....I got caught on numerous occasions, but you know what??? When the teacher inevitably read my note allowed to bring on the desired humiliation factor of getting caught......he/she could read every sentence perfectly. Today I doubt a teacher would even try. It would likely cause them more embarrassment trying to read what passes for the English language now a days than it would the offender.

I know that social media along with technology in general has its place in today's world and I know that there are even benefits to fb and twitter. That being said though....after my hiatus from fb and technology in general, I have to say that I really don't miss it that much. I have enjoyed my conversations on the phone with friends. I quite like cornering Z and making him actually converse with me....and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the look on Dr. D.O.'s face as I verbally punched the cockiness right out of him. It just goes to show that sometimes the old ways still have their place and who knows....they might even find their way back into main stream society. Well a girl can dream can't she?

Catholicism Through My Eyes: The Saints

It has been a crazy busy week and I just realized that I haven't blogged since last Sunday. WOW! Another WOW was the reaction to last weeks blog both in the comments and through email and in person. Perhaps I put a different perspective on the subject for some and for the most part....people told me that after reading the blog, they seemed to have a clearer understanding of how Catholics viewed pedophilia and priests. All in all....I think I am satisfied that I did the subject justice.

It was requested that I take on another hot button topic this week, but instead I decided to go a different route and discuss a subject that often causes a rift between Catholics and Protestants greatly in part, due to a lack of understanding on the subject. Fear not though...I will likely tackle the hot button topic next week. We'll see how things go and what frame of mind I am in. ;)

Okay....so today I am going to talk about saints. Saints are a very important part of the Catholic church and an important part of my own life. Knowing that you have a saint praying with you can get you through some pretty bad times. Saints are also a very misunderstood part of the church for many on the outside looking in. Growing up in a Catholic home....especially with my Catholic mom....we learned about saints at very young age and in my family.....some of those poor saints haven't had a moments rest in years.

So just what or who is a saint and what do they mean to the Catholic church?According to my good friend Wiki.....the general term for Saint is "one who has been recognized for having an exceptional degree of holiness, sanctity, and virtue." To be viewed as a saint by the Roman Catholic church one must have all the above, be a baptized Catholic and have verified miracles attributed to them. I think this is where many outside the faith become lost, so let me clear up a few things before continuing. A saint is not looked on as God's equal nor are they worshiped in any manor. A saint cannot be a living person...but actions such as a healing that happened during their life can be investigated and after their death be part of the documentation that can lead to their eventual sainthood.

Contrary to popular belief not all saints started out good and virtuous. Some came to their holiness and sanctity through tough roads and hard life lessons. Others though...they began and ended life with obvious virtue and a holiness not only spiritually but also visible to all whom they came in contact with. One important thing that all saints do have in common....is an extreme willingness to accept God's will without question and an absolute understanding that this life is only a prelude to the next where their greatest desire is to spend eternity with God. Because of this...they are willing to pray, sacrifice, suffer and even die for the greater glory of God.

Saints come from all walks of life; from the very poorest to the richest and everything in between. Many ended up turning their back on all worldly and material possessions and  choosing religious vocations as priests and nuns. Others lived their lives as mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors giving themselves wholey to God and His will. Some died very young and some lived to be quite elderly. Some died as martyrs and others died after living long lives of prayer, devotion and sacrifice. In the end though...all marked for sainthood were God's special ones whom He used to help spread His word and show the world that through God......all things are possible. 

To become a saint....not only has their life been one of holiness, virtue and sanctity, but two "miracles" have to be documented and proven beyond any question. The final decision is made by church officials in the Vatican after much study. In the process of sainthood the individual in the third stage of investigation is declared by the Vatican to be Blessed. Only after all documentation has been presented and all other possibilities of what might have occurred other than the supposed miracle are exhausted by doctors and scientists....then and only then can the individual be declared a saint.  

What exactly is a miracle? Anyone who believes in miracles knows that they happen all the time and are unexplainable incidents that happen often times.....after much prayer. However, a Vatican approved miracle is an undeniable and documented act (often a healing without medical explanation) that has no other explanation(including scientific) except the fact that God is working through an individual to bring about the act. Often miracles have happened after a saints death when a piece of their clothing, hair or a personal possession of theirs (these are called relics) is touched. By touching a relic of a saint....there have been many documented cures of diseases, blindness and even deathbed recoveries. A relic though is not necessary, for often simply asking for prayers of intercession from the saint can also bring on miracles.

This brings me to prayers for saints. A huge misconception of those outside the faith is that Catholics worship saints as gods, because we pray to them asking for miracles. This is simply not the case. We NEVER worship saints. We do however ask a saint or saints to pray with us! Saints don't just quit working for God after they die. They offer themselves to God in life and in death. Just as they prayed for those in need while on earth....they continue to pray for them in heaven and the fact that God still works through these special souls even after death is evident in the miracles He allows. Yes...I said He allows, for nothing happens through these humble individuals that God did not make possible. And as for Catholics viewing saints as God's contemporaries.....we know that these saints humbled themselves in life viewing themselves as God's servants. Even those who had miracles attributed to them in life always made it known that they themselves did nothing....that God was responsible for the miracle. ALWAYS GOD! They were merely the human vessel He used to make the miracle happen.

Possibly because these individuals worked so hard for God in life...this is the reason that there have been many documented cases of some saints maintaining an incorruptible body even after the soul is gone. In the book The Incorruptibles by Joan Carroll Cruz, there are many stories as well as pictures of the bodies of saints who after years and sometimes even centuries their human bodies remain incorrupt or undecayed without the assist of embalming. This my friends is a miracle all on its own and again....another reminder that God is in control.

So what do saints mean to the Catholic Church? Saints are people just like you and I....and they never quit trying. They had their sites set on heaven and gave themselves over to God body, mind and soul. These holy souls are the teachers and role models of the church. They have shown us true love, devotion and humility for God. They have given of themselves in every way possible and have brought about conversions and brought many closer to God with their undying faith and purity of heart. It is for these reasons that when we receive the sacrament of Confirmation (remember the Seven Sacraments I talked about a while back?) which makes us official soldiers of Christ....that we choose a saints name as our religious name. Mine is St. Bernadette. They become our special saint and for most become the saint whose intercession is called upon the most.

What many don't realize is that each saint had a special purpose in life and in death they continued to be associated with certain things. Examples of this are St. Anthony who is the finder of lost articles, St. Jude who is known as the Saint of the Impossible and St. Joseph who is the saint of workers. As a kid...if I ever lost anything (and I was always losing something) St. Anthony was my go-to guy. Mom always told me to ask St. Anthony to help me look and it never failed.....I would always find it and usually in a place I had already looked. As an adult....St. Anthony and I are best buds as after 50 years....I still lose everything I touch and he still spends many a day helping me find it all. I have also called upon St. Joseph for prayers when I needed a job and no job could be found. And finally....I am almost positive that St. Jude runs for cover every time life throws one of those impossible situations at me....because he knows he will be hearing from me sooner rather than later. I was explaining all of this to someone once and they said..."you talk about them (the saints) as if they were friends." It made me smile because really I had never thought about it like that before, but the reality is....spiritually....they are my friends and I am blessed to have such friends to turn to and to pray with me.


The saints are a rich part of our church history and even in our modern times....our lives are still being touched by saints and saints are still being canonized. One who is very close to my heart is St. Pio who died in 1968 and was canonized in 2002. What a holy man who spiritually never left my side while my son was in the NICU. Another who is well on her way to sainthood is Mother Teresa who died in 1997. In 2003 she was beatified (she became Blessed Teresa) and there is every belief that the woman who lived a life of poverty, holiness, compassion for others and great virtue will soon be proven a saint in the Roman Catholic church. Finally....one of my favorite candidates is Father Emil Kapaun. Father Kapaun who died in1951 has been declared a Servant of God by the Roman Catholic church (the first step of sainthood) and the miraculous recovery of a young man named Chase Kear who happens to be from Father Kapauns home state of Kansas(a favorite state of mine too might I add) is being investigated.Yes...Father Kapaun holds a special place in my heart and he too hears from me quite often.

So as you see....saints are not viewed by Catholics as god's to be worshiped. The reality is that they are servants of God who devoted their lives to His will and they are viewed as role models in their grace and sanctity. They are our friends in prayer and ones that God chose to work miracles through...not by their power....but by His.

Okay....so what do saints mean to me? They give me hope. By the very existence of saints I am made aware that God will never give up on me and ever so often He chooses someone very special to remind us that He is here, He is listening and that miracles really do exist. They give me comfort knowing that when I pray.....I never pray alone....I always pray with a friend. Finally.....they give me strength, for if a poor girl from Lourdes could overcome the ridicule and doubt of others, could dig a spring responsible for hundreds of thousands of miracles and humbly serve God through excruciating pain....then whatever God has planned for me...I shall gratefully accept. As St. Bernadette quoted our Lord: "I do not promise you happiness in this world, but in the next."

So perhaps now there is a little better understanding of saints and how Catholics view them. I hope by now many of you who have had preconceived ideas about Catholicism and how we believe..... are starting to see that our religion is one of great love and faith to Our Lord. We have many beautiful traditions in the Mass and in our prayers. We are blessed with role models hand picked by God and we have learned that life often requires that we stand on faith alone...and yet we are never alone. There are so many reasons I love my faith and writing this Sunday blog continues to remind me just what a lucky girl I am to be a part of a such a beautiful faith. So I will end this blog with my favorite quote...one you have likely seen me use before if you have read my other blogs. "For those who believe...no explanation is necessary. For those who do not....no explanation is possible."

Catholicism Through My Eyes: The Church, Her Priests and Pedophilia

Okay...I will let you in on a little secret. When I write a blog....usually it is spur of the moment, meaning that I don't do a lot of pre-planning or pro and con thinking on it. I usually get the idea and then run with it. Since I have started doing my Catholicism Through My Eyes blogs though....I try to plan ahead and pick topics which I think will be both interesting and subjects that I myself have been asked about. Today's blog took a little more thinking as I wanted to be sure that I did the subject justice. Many have asked me about my thoughts on priests and pedophilia in the church and I decided perhaps now was the time to discuss it. I hope this blog helps to clear up any misconceptions and also helps to educate at least a little on this subject.

Before I begin....I would like to reiterate what I have said from the beginning. These blogs are how "I" see my faith and the issues surrounding it. Unless otherwise notated...what I write is strictly my thoughts and my opinions and are to be viewed as such.

Being Catholic my entire life, I have had the honor of knowing some extraordinary priests. I have also known some passable priests, one priest whom I am not sure the priesthood was his true calling and another priest whom I can say hands down was the saintliest person I have ever known. As Catholics...priests are a part of our lives. They are our spiritual guides and are there when our spiritual life here on earth begins at baptism and again when it ends when we are anointed for our final journey home. In between life and death their job is to prepare us, guide us, counsel us and do whatever possible to keep us strong in our faith.

Growing up I was a product of both Catholic and public school. Where public school was laid back and informal....Catholic school was far different. You had teachers, you had nuns, you had some nuns as teachers, you had a principal and then you had the priest. At every Catholic school I attended (3 in all) if the priest walked in the classroom, lunch room, etc....everyone stopped what they were doing and stood. We remained standing until Father either left the room or took a seat himself. It may sound like a lot of pomp and circumstance for just one person....but the reality was that it taught us that priests were called to serve God and they held a very special place in the eyes of the Church and the school and therefore they deserved reverence and respect. It took me years after leaving Catholic school not to stand at attention when a priest entered a room.

In my life priests have been wonderful people who have worked hard to help others, guide others and keep their parish families faithful in the ways of the church. This is truly the only kind of priest I have ever known....(except for the one and he is another story for another time). Nearly my entire life my mother always included prayers for priests in all our family prayers. Once I asked her why we always prayed for priests and she said that since Jesus made Peter the first pope....the church had been at war with satan. Satan would love nothing more than to destroy the Catholic church and the best way to destroy anything is from within. So it was because of this that we prayed that our priests stayed strong, faithful and worked according to God's will and not their own. As a kid this didn't really make a lot of sense to me as somehow I felt that if you were a priest you were above sin. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that priest are holy men....but they are all human with human frailties and if a man becomes a priest without a true calling or with bad intentions....he can become a cancer on the church.

It used to be that every Catholic mother had one fervent prayer for her children. She always prayed that at least one would be called to a religious life in service to Our Lord.  When there was a calling in the family it was a time of great joy and happiness and of course the family felt it was very blessed to have a religious person in their number. A calling though had to be a true desire to give up all worldly goods and to be willing to spend the rest of your life serving Christ. With a true calling there is never a doubt although there are those that have thought they had a calling only to find that while going through the first stages of studying for the priesthood that perhaps they were meant to serve God in other ways. There is no shame in realizing such a human mistake as God calls us all in one way or another. To be called to the priesthood means that you give up any life outside the church. You give up money for you will only have what it takes to feed and clothe you. You give up family...as you seldom see the family you came from and you give up a future family (wife and kids) as God and those you serve become your only family. You also give up roots as you can be transferred from parish to parish as the Bishop deems necessary or you can even be transferred to other parts of the world. When you are called....the desire to serve God is more important than any worldly or physical desire or need and all is easily given up. However...if the calling is not truly there...then giving these things up is no longer done with joy and humility and the desire to serve God can become a frustration causing human frailty and human desires to take over. It can be a road to disaster. There is also the very real knowledge that men with no calling at all but rather a desire to destroy both the church and the faithful also enter the priesthood. As my mother used to say "satan walks the earth in all forms for his own greater glory and to destroy the Catholic Church is his one true desire," and if you have picked up a newspaper in the last decade or so....it is quiet evident that he has darkened the doors of more than one Catholic church in the guise of a priest. He is working very hard to try and destroy us from within.

The facts are that according to a quick look at wiki....currently in the world, there are somewhere around about a half a million priests. Of those half million about 3,000 have been accused of pedophilia. As you can see....the number of good and faithful priests far outweighs the number of priests who have entered the priesthood with bad intentions or those who have fallen to human wickedness. When the first cases of pedophilia came out...the media latched onto them and ran. The headlines not only tried and convicted the priest in question but they cast such a vast and dark net that suddenly the entire Catholic church was tried and convicted in the press......and it seemed that all priest everywhere had to watch their backs as they were viewed as deviant and dangerous in the public eye. As time went on....more and more stories of young boys who had been molested by their parish priests were surfacing. Bishops and Cardinals were trying to calm the waters and reassure both Catholics and non-Catholics that these incidents were best case scenario false...worst case fairly isolated....but the media would have none of it and soon the Catholic Church was the butt of every late night comedians joke and the headline of every newspaper and broadcast news report around the world. It was horrific, embarrassing and although not a true representation of the Church or her priests.....it was the view that the world now had of the Church and her priests. The Church then did the worst thing it could do. It tried to deny and to some extent cover up and if I remember correctly there was even talk of victims being paid off. It was a horrendous situation made even worse by a Church who simply either didn't know how or couldn't face the fact that there were those among them who were not men of God but men who used their position to gain trust and then take advantage of those whom they were suppose to be protecting both physically and spiritually.

After a time, the Church realized that they couldn't run from this. The men.....priests or not, who had committed these crimes were in fact criminals and should in fact have to suffer the same consequences as any other criminal charged with the same crimes. It took awhile but eventually some of the Bishops and Cardinals over the churches where these crimes were committed did publicly speak out and apologize to the victims for these tragic and life altering acts, and the Pope too apologized for the unspeakable crimes committed by these priests. Some saw this as too little too late and for the victims....it was.

Pedophilia amongst priests though must be put into perspective. Not ignored, white washed or excused.....but put into a perspective that shows the reality of the church, priests and pedophilia. Out of half a million priests....approximately three thousand were accused of this criminal act. Were all guilty? There is a great possibility that a percentage accused were not, but I don't have any facts to back that up. However...those three thousand suddenly became the face of all Catholic priests. There were no headlines about the priests who quietly said daily Mass, headed up their parishes and worked in their communities to make them better places. We never heard about the priests who worked tirelessly to help those in need, who sat by the beds of the dying, fed those who needed fed, helped find housing and necessities for those who had lost jobs or were down on their luck. No....we didn't hear about the majority of those who gave their lives to God and lived their faith daily. We only heard about the few. The few who had no real faith and who had left God behind in favor of their own sick desires. It hardly seems fair.

A little further perspective? There are pedophiles in every walk of life. There are teachers who not unlike these priest gain the trust of kids and then use that trust to lure them into sex acts and molestation. I would guess that if the number of good teachers in the world were compared to the number of teachers who have taken advantage of their students that the percentages wouldn't be a lot different than that of the priests. However....I have never heard anyone openly accuse all teachers of being dangerous pedophiles because of the few. While those teachers who have committed these criminal acts do make parents take a step back and assess their own kids teacher a little closer.....there has been no mad dash to pull kids from school because there are those teachers who use their jobs as a means to a sick end.

What about police officers, firemen, rabbi's, ministers, youth group advisers, scout leaders, politicians, neighbors and family members? There have been cases in all of these sectors of pedophilia. It really doesn't matter if a child is molested by a priest or a scout leader, the fact is someone they trusted used that trust against them and in the end they will never be the same. Funny though....you just don't hear the damaging headlines about policemen, rabbi's or scout leaders like you do about priests. In no other group is the whole held accountable for the few.

My take on all of this? Any time a child is harmed in such a way....no matter who does it, it is a crime. Those kids will have to live not only with the molestation but also with the knowledge that someone they trusted took advantage of that trust in order to cause them harm. I feel that the priests who committed these crimes should have been treated the same as any other criminal who committed a crime of this nature. The Bishops and Cardinals should have taken an honest and open stand on priests and pedophilia from the get go and they should have taken the power from the media where the Church is concerned by facing the allegations head on. I also believe that the Pope should have spoken out immediately on the allegations apologizing to the victims and their families and assuring them that the Church would not stand for this type of behavior among its priests....thus giving the offending priests no place to hide and showing support and protection for the multitude of good priests.  Much pain and suffering could have been alleviated with swift and straight forward action, but then again...hine sight is always 20/20.

Looking forward.....I would like to think that both Catholics and non-Catholics alike would be able to see the big picture. There are those in every group whose actions have the ability to damage the whole. The Catholic church is no different. It is obvious that the main stream media has little love for the Church and will take any chance it gets to tarnish, defame or annihilate her anyway they can. And now.....Mom's words ring true with a crystal clear meaning that only in the last few years have I fully understood. We pray for our priests because they are the heart and soul of our Church. We pray for those priests who live their lives daily for God and hold their vows deep within their hearts. We pray that they stay strong and faithful even in the face of those who wish them harm either physically or spiritually.  If these last few years have taught us nothing else....the point has been dramatically brought home that the Catholic Church is under siege and the battle lines have been drawn among her priests. Yes satan continues to walk the earth in all forms for his own greater glory, but his efforts to destroy the Catholic Church continue to fail for as long as there is continued prayer and love for God, His Holy Church and our beloved priests.....satan will never stand a chance. 

MeTV and Maude

If you are a child of the 70's, then you might remember that the early 70's were a time of great change in the world of television viewing. It was a time when many new sitcoms such as The Jeffersons, Good Times and All in the Family became staples of the airwaves. Times were becoming political and writer/producer Norman Lear was cashing in big with his sitcoms which had a decidedly liberal edge. Thanks to Lear and a few others like him....many shows were off limits in my house. Well...off limits for me as I was just a young child and these shows were considered way too mature for kids. My mother however did watch many of them....at least for awhile. The three shows that I remember Mom watching but being completely taboo for me were Maude, Soap and Mary Hartman Mary Hartman. Since we only had one tv and Mom held all the power in the house....I had no idea what I was missing all I knew was if I couldn't watch it....it must be good!

With the channels now like TVLand, Antenna TV and MeTV.....at least some of these shows are getting new life breathed into them. New generations are getting to see a birds eye view of what the world was like through the eyes of Lear and others. TV was quickly changing from squeaky clean Ward and June Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver and heading straight into a raunchier and somewhat edgier Archie and Edith Bunker on All in the Family. 

What I have learned from watching these shows as an adult is.....for that time these shows were ground breaking. They were a mix of edgy bordering on blue humor along with a lot of political and social statements. The thing most of these shows had in common were that they were superbly acted by stars such as Carroll O'Connor, Bea Aurthur, Sherman Hemsley and Billy Crystal. In a conservative climate...these shows were shaking up the airwaves, causing some to turn off their tv's and in some cases causing even more to turn them on (albeit ushering their children from the room) to see what Archie and Maude were going to do this week.

The three as I said that we never were allowed to watch were considered the more risque' and shocking of the new order of sitcoms. Soap was one that went at every social taboo of the time from infidelity to homosexuality and hit them head on. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman to this day as an adult I am not sure what it was about. It was filmed as an old time soap opera with a modern (1970's) comedic twist. As I recall it was another one that broke ground, threw out everything everyone had ever known about soaps and comedy and wasn't afraid to offend. I have seen several episodes as an adult and quite frankly....I wasn't that impressed, maybe because I found it ridiculous....but back in the day, it was a guilty pleasure for many. Finally.....there was Maude. My mother (a very conservative lady) watched Maude until Maude did the unthinkable and had an abortion. My mother refused to watch it after that. Well for awhile anyway.

Other than knowing that Maude had an abortion....I really knew very little about Maude until recently. Yes....I am still kid enough to think that if Mom forbade it....then I just had to know why. Thanks to MeTV......I have been able to find out. For the early 1970's Maude had to have been culture shock. The premise is a four times married liberal woman who constantly feels the need to prove her liberalism while putting up with her neighbors/best friends who are far more conservative than she. The show dealt with the ERA (equal rights amendment), civil rights, homosexuality, divorce and yes...abortion. All of these were hot buttons of the 70's and some had never before been discussed on tv. To think of going from Lucy and Ricky having to have separate beds to Maude discussing premarital sex had to have caused the vapors in more than one household.

Looking at Maude now though....I have to laugh. First, let me say that Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan were just as funny in the 70's on Maude as they were in the 80's in the Golden Girls. Arthur had a stage presence and a way with physical comedy that few other actresses of her day or any other for that matter.....had or have. Her facial expressions alone could keep an audience laughing well into the next scene. By today's standards Maude is mild mannered and pretty non-offensive (sans the abortion episodes), but the humor remains timeless.

What I find most interesting though..... is that in so many ways....Maude's liberalness was more of a persona she wanted rather than who she really was. Examples of this are Maudes stand on free love. In the 70's free love was the new hot button. Sex was becoming casual and couples were having sex outside of marriage and even living together. Maude was all for it....except when it came to her grown daughter. Just the thought of her adult and divorced daughter Carol having sex in her house sent Maude into a melodramatic frenzy. Her liberal views on sex also did not trickle down to her teenage grandson who was not allowed to be alone in the house with his young girl friend. Maude also went overboard with her civil rights views when hiring a black maid. Rather than hire a white maid (yes....they still called them maids even in the enlightened 70's) she actively sought out a black maid to prove how socially progressive she was. Then in her guilt over hiring the black maid....rather than let her work, Maude was treating her to three martini lunches and telling her how supportive of black issues she was....all the while racially insulting both the maid (Florida) and blacks in general far more than any racist ever could. Even when it came to her abortion....Maude believed other women could have abortions but for her it was inherently wrong. If not for the urging of her daughter....the Maude character likely would not have had the abortion because even in her self proclaimed liberal ideology....right was right and wrong was wrong.

What I see in Maude is much what I see in a lot of the liberals of our current generation. So many liberals wish to be seen as forward thinking, accepting of all views and both civilly and socially conscience to the extent that right or wrong they tend to support any liberal agenda. Thus when you try to get to the center stone of why they feel or believe a certain way....they can't really tell you, because they really don't know. They simply want to be viewed as liberals and all that implies....even if they aren't sure what all that implies. Maude is very much this way in the respect that often she tries to support what she thinks any good liberal would, but when push comes to shove.....it becomes almost ridiculous because her core belief is simply not there. She also learns that like it or not.....she does have prejudices and even some conservative values that she just can't get beyond. I think Lear got it right with this character. Just as he did with Archie Bunker the polar opposite of Maude. Bunker's hard core conservatism didn't always bid well for him and as the character grew both Bunker and the audience found that underneath the racist, hard nosed extreme conservative exterior lay a man who didn't really hate anyone who wasn't white and even grew to tolerate his liberal son in law.

I think Lear tried to show us that in every liberal there are some conservative values and in every conservative lies a little social liberalism. Possibly this was modeled after his own experiences. Lear was a decorated WWII soldier who fought proudly for his country. His politics and social views were and I assume even at 90 something still are, liberal but when he felt the Carter administration was a failure and not a good fit for the country he fought for.... he was not afraid to vote against the democratic party. Many of his characters also show this same strong but not unbendable stance which in my opinion makes them both human and likable regardless of your own politics or beliefs.

Yes...I have to say that watching Maude of late has made me laugh to the point of tears at times. I love the contradictions in Maude and can sort of understand how my ultra conservative mom was drawn into the show all those years ago. Although Mom was the antithesis of Maude, to her I am sure this new sitcom was like a train wreck. You just couldn't not watch. I think aside from the pure humor that Maude creates with every episode....I also appreciate both the writing and the acting of this show. Arthur, McClanahan, Conrad Bain, Bill Macy and Adrienne Barbeau were a cast that was hard to beat....although Arthur, McClanahan and Bain are by far my favorites on the show and sadly....they are all gone now. 

So it is Saturday morning....snow is on the ground, we didn't get to go to St. Louis and I have obviously been watching too much tv. Two 4 day weekends in a row is just a little too much tv time. However...if you are like me  and are really tired of all the reality shows, the blood and guts crime shows and some of the current sitcoms that have a whole lot more "sit" going on than "com"....I encourage you to take a walk down memory lane. Check out Maude or if Maude is not your cup of tea....MeTV has everything from My Three Sons to Emergency. All the shows we grew up with and even those that some of us were not allowed to watch. ;)

Breaking Point and Limits

So....we've all been there. Even the nicest, calmest most easy going individual has done it. What am I referring to? Being pushed to your limit. Some people are non-confrontational, some have a knack of letting things just slide off their back.....and some....like myself, get to an age where they/me....simply learn to pick which battles are worth busting a kidney over and which ones are not. However.....it doesn't matter who you are or how generous of spirit, kind or even tempered you are.....we all have our breaking point and when pushed far enough....we are left with no choice but to stand up and fight.

I have talked in the recent past about what I have seen on facebook (fb) lately. A lot of people who have spent literally years on fb talking about their day to day lives, showing pictures of their families and sharing recipes.....have suddenly become hyper political. Daily their wall is filled with pictures, quotes and news stories of what is going on in the political arena and none of it is good. In fact it is down right depressing to the point of bringing others down so low that they are deleting long time friends and family. It isn't even about disagreeing with these posts for many. Some totally agree....they just simply feel they can do nothing about it and therefore they can't deal with every time they look at fb all they see is more of the same negativity. So why are these once mild mannered fbers suddenly spending literally hours of their days watching news reports and combing the web for political information and then filling their fb page with it? Because they have been pushed to their limit!

What has happened in this country since 9/11 is astonishing. If you sit back and really look at the big picture...you can't help but be amazed (and not necessarily in a good way) at how we as a country and a people have changed. Before that day in 2001...we were a country that wasn't particularly political as a whole. Yes we had our two main parties...democrats and republicans...most politically affiliated because that's just the way our parents had always voted....and we had the occasional independent or other rogue party, but that was it. No one much thought about politics unless it was an election year and even then we were living in such an apathetic world that even the presidential elections were pretty lack luster at the polls. We had lived in a world where our freedoms were in tact, war was far removed from us and we were the greatest nation in the world in all areas where it counted. Other countries either feared us or wanted to be us and our enemies were held at bay with the knowledge that we could crush them without even breaking a sweat. We were smug in our belief that this was forever how the world would be....and we let our guard down.

On September 11, 2001...our apathy was blown apart and fell to ashes with the Twin Towers. The bubble of safety, security and superiority was burst with the crashing of the first plane. We as a country and a people were changed forever. Instead of deflating though and tucking our tails and running....we did what Americans do. We regained our footing, stood tall and fought! We had been pushed to our limit as we watched workers remove rubble and the body count climbed higher each and every day. We weren't defined as any one political party...we were all Americans and as Americans....we were going to handle this together. The enlistment lines were blocks long, flags were flying and people teared up and filled with emotion each time we heard our National Anthem. We were a people united and no terrorist or group of terrorist was going to destroy what our forefathers had fought so hard to create.

In hindsight....the war was not what anyone (including the president) thought it would be. We had the image of ourselves striking fast, striking deadly and returning home victorious and that all those lives lost that day would be avenged. The reality though is that all these years later we still have soldiers deploying and although two very dangerous enemies to our country are gone....we still know that many more are out there just biding their time to once again strike and try to destroy us. At the time of 9/11....the president...George W. Bush was reading a story to a group of school children. When he got word about the first plane hitting the Twin Towers...rather than jump up and run out in a frenzy....he opted to finish the story he was reading and then head out, thus not alarming a roomful of school children. Should he have done that? Many jumped on him for that and said it showed he didn't care. For years that was brought up in the media and he was taken to task over and over again for this one act. Did those few extra minutes really matter that much? Could he have really stopped anything or made it any better? Would any fewer lives have been lost? It was Bush's Benghazi...and the beginning of the end for Bush in the media's eye and from that point on....he was the butt of every late night talk show host's joke and the villain of CNN and MSNBC. However...even with the negative press he was getting....when fighting fire with fire was on the table, the majority of American's regardless of political affiliation along with most of Congress voted for and supported us going to war. We had been pushed beyond our limits and we were not going to just stand idly by while we were attacked. We were going to fight!

The first few years of the war this country stayed strong and united. We believed in what we were doing and if ever there was doubt all we needed to do was look at the crater left by the Twin Towers or think about all the families who had lost someone that day. By 2007 though, the war was still going strong. Every day more troops were being deployed and every day the American body count was rising. Our quick in and out war was turning into something much bigger and much uglier than anything we had ever dreamed and American's were losing hope. We were tired of watching our soldiers coming home in body bags and seeing families being torn apart by this unwinable war. It felt as if we were just sending our young men and women to a country where the people were incapable of taking care of themselves and in an effort to protect and defend these people...our people were dropping like flies. Once again....we were being pushed to our limits, so when "hope" and "change" became the battle cry of a man from ChiTown.....people listened.

It didn't hurt that this man was black and that he spoke with a charm and ease that could sell ice to Eskimo's. The war suddenly was the fault of one person and one person alone.....George W. Bush (forget all the Congressmen and American's behind him when it started) and this was the beginning of the what I like to call Operation Scapegoat. Suddenly everything from Bird flu to Global Warming was Bush's fault and the media ran with it. The American people heard absolutely nothing good about Bush during the entire campaign and election process of 2008, BUT suddenly this little known ChiTown ice salesman was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Barrack Obama was not a name I knew. I cared nothing about his color....but his charisma was something that could not be denied. Every time he spoke...the words "hope" and "change" flowed from his tongue like honey. He was making promises of an end to the war, more jobs and an end to the recession. We also heard murmurings of "free" healthcare for one and all. The picture was bright and suddenly everyone put on their rose colored glasses and rushed to the polls. People were sick of war, sick of funerals and sick of thinking about 9/11 and terrorism. People wanted hope and change and they rushed to the polls to make it happen. Once again Americans had been pushed and they took a stand. Was it the right one?

During this time....there were those who didn't quite buy into the charm exuding from Obama's lips. It had nothing to do with race and everything to do with research. There were questions about his birth origin (which he himself and his wife helped put into question in past interviews....when she called him Kenyan born and he called himself a foreign exchange student when he was going to school in this country). When these discrepancies were pointed out.....the media began an immediate and steady character assassination of any person or group who should even question this new president. Rather than immediately show a birth certificate that would have undoubtedly relieved many minds and gone miles towards uniting Americans after a political split during an election year.....Obama chose to remain indignant and refused to relieve anyone's mind. Many of us who had just left the Bush years where he was bashed for days on end by the media if he smiled wrong, were amazed that there was not more outrage at even the possibility that we might have a nonAmerican born president. We all knew that if it was Bush people would have been yelling for impeachment on speculation alone. Instead...Obama supporters ignored it and conservatives suddenly became the new American terrorists in the media.

Then came the Healthcare Act or Obamacare as it is casually known. Many were against this act...Americans and Congressmen alike. There were too many unknowns and we as a country were asked to support something that we really knew little about. The word "free" (much like hope and change) were bandied about daily and people who had not been able to afford healthcare or those that had never had healthcare were sold. It was at this point that many Americans really started to question not only this administration....but also the mindset of some of their fellow Americans. Common sense was being thrown out the door. We seemed to have forgotten that you don't sign an agreement before you read it through and you know exactly what it is in it. AND you get what you pay for. Free is never free! We were told that we would know what was in the bill when it was passed. REALLY???? There was a whole group of highly intelligent Americans who didn't even flinch when this comment was made by Nancy Pelosi. They apparently only heard the word "free" and were sold. Forget that we had no idea what we were getting....and that it was a big bunch of unsubstantiated promises that we were not allow to know details on. All anyone seemed to care about was it's supposed price tag.....free. Suddenly....at the eleventh hour of signing this bill....Obama told the American people that it would be signed regardless and miraculously....those Congressmen that had either been on the fence or against the bill....were suddenly on board with it. And how about the fact that the president, his family and no one in Congress or their families will have to participate in Obamacare? Yes...people will say that their insurance was grandfathered in therefore they are exempt. My thinking...if the Healthcare Act is good enough for the American citizenship then why not as a show of support for this act as well as a good faith gesture.....did Obama and Congress not include themselves? Again...this could have done a lot of damage control and done some uniting of the division. Instead the divide grew deeper. Was all of this not a red flag? Apparently not for many. It was simply becoming business as usual.

As his first term continued on...."it's Bush's fault," became Obama's battle cry. When unemployment rose, gas prices became astronomical and our soldiers were still being deployed, his excuse was always Bush. Forget that he had promised that he would see unemployment decrease, prices go down and he would bring all our soldiers home within the year. Perhaps he was seeing that as president your best intentions are not always possible or maybe......this was actually the "change" he had intended all along.

It became more and more evident that rather than giving American's hope...Obama was causing more despair. Our national debt was rising at an unfathomable rate. More people than ever before were out of work and turning to welfare. Welfare was being run dry because of all the generational recipients receiving benefits and then add to that all the new out of work recipients and we had a mess. We were also dealing with weekly and even daily price jumps at the gas pump, food and necessities going up and small businesses going under at an alarming rate and we were in the midst of a recipe for disaster. When we got to the point where Congress couldn't even pass a budget....we started to see something new going on with Obama. I call it the presidential tantrum. This is threats he makes when things or Congress don't go his way. He will threaten soldiers pay, medicare and social security OR he will threaten to circumvent both the Constitution and Congress if he doesn't get what he wants. He has openly done this on numerous occasions something that I must point out once again.....Bush would have been crucified for....and yet his supporters don't flinch. What is going on????

When the 2012 election came around....those of us who had lost hope for any good change.....once again saw a glimmer. The common sense thought that if something is broke you must fix it, seemed to be more prevalent. Obama's leadership was not working and the numbers don't lie. Between prices going up, the job market failing and the inability for the president to reign in spending and unite Congress long enough to accomplish even a budget said.....it was time for real change. Not just the kind of change promised long enough to sway the voting masses...but then never delivered on....but REAL change. 

Prior to this election....Americans were killed in Benghazi and neither the president nor Hillary Clinton, both privy to what happened lifted a finger to help. They watched as Americans died and the media swept it under the rug. Try as people might....Obama and his supporters refused to discuss Benghazi. For any other president at any other time.....Americans would have demanded that he be held accountable. It would have been an outrage to every American in this country, but instead there was silence. It was as if those lives lost meant nothing. At this time there were also many rumors some substantiated and some not about the presidents past, his ties to Muslim extremists and his real agenda where the United States was concerned. It all fell on deaf ears as he was re-elected once again.

Since November, we have heard Hillary Clinton say "What difference does it make" in regards to Benghazi (a total disregard for American lives lost). We have seen a huge increase in censorship and major line crossing in our 1st Amendment rights. What was a right to free speech during Bush's presidency (disrespectful cartoons, outbursts from the other side during speaking engagements and social media posts that disagree with the president) are suddenly being censored and those speaking out are being viewed as American terrorists. One of the worst things though has been this presidency using tragedies such as the Sandy Hill school shootings as a way to manipulate the public and try to enforce gun control which is blatantly illegal according to the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. Once again common sense has been thrown to the wolves and mass hysteria is being used to convince the public that ANYONE with a gun is dangerous. People seem to overlook the fact that if you disarm law abiding citizens....then the only ones with guns will be the ones getting them illegally. And how about the fact that the president and his family are protected by guns...but he doesn't feel that the American people should have the same right? We have now gone past the red flag warning stage....we are now in the sinking ship stage. We sent a loud message when Obama was re-elected. It said that we don't care about our country, our Constitution, our rights, what our forefathers fought for, or most of all.....what our children will have to live with and clean up after. By re-electing him he knew he had won and that he had free reign with this country and we as Americans didn't have the moxy nor the patriotism to stop him. And this....pushed many of us to our limit.

Maybe when you see all of those posts of negativity you ought to read a few. Maybe if it raises a red flag....you should head the warning and do some research. Maybe you should quit letting the mainstream media lead you. Maybe you should ask yourself if you are really any better right now than you were before he took office the first time. Will you be when more comes out of your check to fund his healthcare act? How about when you realize that free isn't free and you have to pay for your healthcare or get fined for not having insurance? What about when your employer cuts your hours in order to not have to insure you and you are making less money and STILL have to pay for insurance? What happens when you can't voice your opinion on this because you are either deemed racist or a terrorist? The list of things to question goes on and on and some of us have been questioning it for a very long time. Those posts aren't made by people who want to drag you down, hate the president or even want to see him fail (for if he fails....the country fails). Those posts are made by people who care passionately about this country and about the future of our kids. They are made so that information besides what the mainstream media wants you to hear is put out there. They are made so that you can ask yourself.....if this was Bush or any other president....would I disregard it, accept it or fight it? 

Yes...we all have our breaking point....our limit if you will and I hope Americans....ALL Americans come to theirs soon. I hope that we are able to take the blinders off and stop listening to what we want to hear and start hearing what is really being said. We are given common sense for a reason and red flags should never be ignored. Obama is not the greatest president ever. He is not even a great man. He is a man in a job that he is not capable of carrying out. He works for us....and in any other setting....if a man was hired on promises and after five years had nearly bankrupted the company...took lavish vacations on the company dime.....carried out almost none of his promises....constantly worked on dividing the company.....and whenever was asked for accountability..... blamed his predecessor, he would have been out the door long before now. So have you come to your limit yet? Ready to stand up and fight? If not, you will be soon enough I'm afraid. I just hope by the time you are...it's not too late for us all.