LIBERAL RANTING AND RAVING

I didn't used to consider myself a liberal.

Partially because of the sheer pride in which my husband has always declared himself a liberal Democrat - it always rubs me a bit the wrong way, it seems to be him bending over backwards to not be his Republican father.

And the term "liberal" always seems to be, excuse me, too ACTIVE a term for someone as politically lazy as I have been.

So what is now driving me to apply this term to myself?

The conservatives.

GUN CONTROL immediately becomes TAKING AWAY ALL OF OUR SELF-DEFENSE.

GAY MARRIAGE THREATENING AMERICAN FAMILY.

BIRTH CONTROL = WILD GROUP ORGY SEX

(well, maybe this one is exaggerated a bit).

I'm not saying they are the only ones who use hyperboles such as this; the liberals can use the same ammunition.

It just seems to be the ONLY way they will "discuss" controversial subjects.

The one that triggered this blog today is in response to the tragedy in Connecticut.

IF GOD WERE ONLY ALLOWED IN SCHOOLS...

This really gets my blood pressure up.

Sure, this sounds all cozy-sweet-Jesus-loving-cotton-candy-sweet.

But, if, as they say, PRAYERS WERE ALLOWED IN SCHOOLS...

Then WHAT prayers?

Catholic rosary? Christian? The five obligatory Muslim prayers?
Prayer over lunch? Prayer over snacks? Prayer to visit the restroom in safety?

Who decides when? What kind? And who leads it?
What if someone wants silent prayer, and another wants to sing it?

And what about the child who does NOT want to pray? Should they be forced to? Or banished because they don't?

Freedom of religion means that YOU don't get to decide what MY form of worship will be. That I do not have to worship as you do, and in particular my CHILD does not have to worship like your child does.



And this one kinda says it all for me:

Okay, Hope, now take a deep breath and move on to more important things - like loving all these people making all these bumper-sticker slogans regardless of their political views.

LABYRINTH

The 1980's were a lot of things to a lot of people.

I lived the majority of that particular decade in Hawaii - where, despite the heat, we wore leg warmers with our leotards at exercise classes - shoulder pads were in all women's business suits - computers were just beginning to really come into regular use - we all tried to solve the Rubiks' cube in under five minutes.

We listened to the Culture Club, we drank Shasta soda, and we imitated Valley Girl talk - we played Pac-Man on our computers (and wow, was THAT hi-tech at the time!).

But for six years of this decade, I lived on Oahu - on a hillside with bananas growing in my backyard, a view of Honolulu all the way from Diamond Head to Pearl Harbor. My kids were in one of the better school systems in the state (schools overall in Hawaii were poor), and we lived in a small enough military neighborhood that the children had free run for about half a mile.

And I ended up with on of the most satisfying jobs in my life - working for the American Heart Association in the school and workplace heart education programs. Our affiliate was one of the top per capita fund raisers, so we had a lot of money and programs to share throughout the state - and boy, was that fun!

So what does the title of this post have to do with anything? Labyrinth, for those of you who remember or have seen it on television, was a 1986 movie with David Bowie and an incredibly young Jennifer Connelly in a nice fantasy full of Jim Hensen's Muppets. In fact, I think it may have been Jim Hensen's last movie - he died in 1990.

And watching this on television this past week, I could not shake the memories of the evening breeze wafting through our always-open louvered windows. Dave Gardner, our friend, sound asleep in my rocking chair while his wife Janice and I chatted and watched this movie. My three kids entertaining their toddler, Christopher, underneath the full-size grand piano that took up 3/4ths of our living room.

I realize this 'memory' is probably a combination of many different evenings, but in my mind it is incredibly realistic and is many ways extremely reassuring. I discovered a lot of strengths and talents I didn't know I had while we lived in Hawaii - I think a significant amount of my growth as an adult occurred while there.




So Goblin King, you just rock.

At least for me.