Off The Grid

One full week for vacation. A complete week away, not just a day two. This is the first full week we have gone away in a couple years. I am not sure what the first day back at work will be like, but what I remember from years ago, it will be busy and might make me think I need another vacation.




Our vacation was more than just a vacation from work and home. It was also a vacation from the news and regular TV.



See, we kinda fall off the grid where we stay when at the beach. We visit the hotspot to check the weather and email, and that is pretty much it. We have a TV and VCR – oh wait, DVD player (Yikes!!). No cable or local stations. Only DVD’s.



So lets add to the list:



No Internet/Cable – means: no Facebook, No online streaming, no reality TV, no NEWS, no Olympics (first time I have not watched the opening ceremony in I don’t know when).



We have resurfaced having missed most of the media pressure pushing whichever side of the Chic Fil A issue they happen to support. Apparently, based on some pretty strong Facebook comments by my step-daughter, we have missed some new news on the birth control issue and women’s rights.



I still have not turned on the news and turned Faebook back off.



The thing about 2012 that has me most puzzled is this:



The haranguing of those on one side of an issue, against those on the opposite (or appearing opposite) side of the issue.



Each side of any issue seems to think that hurling names and accusations or insinuations questioning the intellect of the other perspective is ok. While they put down the “other” side for hate comments and an inability to consider another viewpoint, they are in turn spewing hate in the other direction and holding as firmly to their side too.



In what little bit I have kept up with the Chic Fil A issue, there is a point that scares me the most: freedom to have one’s own beliefs.



I think it is ok to hold firmly to your belief, especially if you are NOT hurting and harming another in words or action. I believe that if you do not hold the same values as another, you can choose to disagree and carry on, or part ways if the issue causes you to falter.



I remember in my teen years, the Southern Baptist Convention calling on it’s churches to boycott Disney. I know I had classmates that attended churches that boycotted the parks and what not. That was their prerogative to not financially support Disney. That was fine. That was good if that was their conviction. Our family did not join in. My mom is COMPLETELY against tattoos and sites a verse or two in support of her belief. I, on the other hand, do not really have a problem with them. I don’t have one because I don’t really want to go through with the needle thing, and I know I would get tired of it. While tattoos and same sex marriage are not the same, it still boils down to an individuals choice and their calling and spiritual walk.



As our Country has moved through the post 911 days, and many in the nation have expressed concern about the Muslim community, how many heard Chicago, or any other large city, deny a practicing Muslim the right to open and run a business? Many Muslim's do not believe in homosexuality or same sex marriage - that is a strong belief in their religion and even justifies honor killings if in a country that allows it.



But we are in the United States of America where we have the basic right to believe what we want to believe. I will not claim to understand all sides (I believe there are more than two sides on this one) of same sex marriage or try to figure out why this is such a major political issue day in and day out, and I will not judge those that do. I find great discomfort in what appears to be a leaning towards that of controlled thoughts and beliefs in this country that was founded on religious freedom. The more the government makes moral issues a platform, the more we invite history to repeat itself, not the history of the United States of America, but that which I was taught, that the Founding Fathers wished to leave behind.



Maybe all sides need to reconsider the Golden Rule and apply that measuring stick to our choice of word and actions.

• I love my family! They are all great - even with differing opinions and view
• I love not having the news rule my life
• I love that my Wednesday Morning Woman's group begins this week. Everyone should have one of these
• I love vacations
• I love chocolate, everyone should
• I love being able to read. Having access to books from more than one perspective
• I love a healthy passion for a cause that is filled with kindness
• I love kindness and being able to choose quiet when the other can't be reached
• I love all the venues in our community that provide a chance for us to reach out to one another

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