Category: Events

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Vote and Pray: May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

Two critically important topics today: vote and pray.

(I couldn’t help myself with the dystopian line. Effie Trinket’s voice popped into my head the instant I woke up this morning and I find it very fitting. I digress… sort of.)

Vote

First, if you are an eligible voter in the United States and have not yet cast your ballot, please do so. It’s a civil duty that protects our voice as a people by also being a civil right.

A quick note about lines: expect them to be longer than usual because people are spacing out due to the coronavirus pandemic. Don’t let a line deter you. The line I was in seemed daunting, but I received my ballot in ten minutes.

Voting, vote, election, poll, polling place, patriotism, patriotic, ballot, line to cast, early, Buffalo, WNY, Tonawanda, school, gymnasium, civil rights, civil discourse
So many people are turning out to vote!

Pray

This has been on my heart a lot recently. There is so much unrest in our country, and people are concerned with who the next head of the federal executive branch will be and what that will mean for our country. Division is at an all-time high, and many of us are literally afraid to have open discourse with our neighbors because of fear of retribution for having an opinion someone dislikes. The presidential election will turn one way or another, and about half of the country will feel unwelcome here – though hopefully not for long. The American spirit has shown a fantastic ability to rebound and reconnect, and I hope and pray we can do so again.

Vigil

The church I attended is hosting a Eucharistic Adoration and prayer vigil today to pray for all candidates and our country as a whole. Regardless of who wins, we need to come back together an eschew this era of hatred and vitriol. What better way to do that than through the common cause of praying for our candidates and our nation? Someone will win, and we will want that person to do the best that they can for our country because that bodes well for the country and, in turn, bodes well for us.

If you can carve out the time and have a place to congregate with neighbors to pray for the candidates and the country, please do so. Pray without ceasing. Pray for the outcome to be God’s will, and for the strength to carry on whatever God’s will may be.

“But what if my candidate doesn’t win?”

I admit to being concerned about this myself. Specifically, between the riots and the cancel culture, I fear we are descending the depths into darkness. I had a t-shirt when I was a teenager that said: “THINK: it’s not illegal yet,” and I’m actually concerned about my physical safety due to the contentiousness of this election simply because I refuse to follow the narrative. I’ve spent the majority of my voting life stumping for a third-party (any third party) and third-party candidates because I realized that eventually we would end up in an over-the-top contentious situation and believed that a viable third party would be the best deterrent to it. Well, here we are: hiding in our little corners because we’re afraid of our neighbors.

Think about that.

I moved mid-pandemic for work, so I haven’t had much of an opportunity to meet my new neighbors. One of my neighbors has a very bark-y dog. I met her briefly, and she said his bark is worse than his bite (though it would be difficult for the bite to be much worse – that bark is fierce, let me tell you!). Another of my neighbors (the household, as there are several) generally doesn’t pay attention to what is going on in the world around them as their phones are way more interesting. Another of my neighbors is fabulous (we get along swimmingly and I am utterly blessed to know them). And of course, we had some trick-or-treaters for Halloween (though not many). I only have the most cursory look into the lives of the people around me, and they’re good, decent folks. So why are we demonizing each other?

The best thing about a federalist system is that, regardless of who wins a national election, the local authorities have the most say over our daily lives. If there is a problem, we can talk with our neighbors to solve it. We know that our neighbors are good people overall, so even though we haven’t met various people in distant states, we know that we can work with the people in our immediate vicinity.

The song is a brilliant reminder that God has brought me safe thus far, and He will see me home.

Trust in God’s Will

It is more vital than ever to appeal to God and ask for His will to be done and to pray for His help for us to want God’s will. That first one we do all the time, right? But that second one… Man, why can’t God just will what I want instead of making me seek Him, right?

I have been struggling with today’s election for months: who to vote for, what would happen if this candidate won or that candidate won, what I would have to change about my own day-to-day life in either situation. There are certain areas I avoid at work (generally, conversation topics that may be remotely tangentially related to politics) because I am afraid of losing my job for having an unpopular opinion. (I hold many opinions; some of them are bound to be unpopular.) As though life isn’t stressful enough!

When I catch anxiety rising, the best counter I have is a very simple prayer:

God, please help me to trust in Your will.

I found myself saying it some time ago when I was starting to have trouble breathing because of the scenarios playing out in my head. I don’t know where I heard it from originally, but I find great solace in it. Now, when my mind starts to take off on me about how bad the situation in the country will probably be under a certain candidate, I repeat this simple prayer asking God to trust Him and His will.

God wants what is best for us. God allows us to make decisions, and part and parcel to that is living with the consequences, but God wills the best for us. Sometimes you have to go through tumult and strife to become the best person you can be; if you are suffering, look to God and ask how it fits into the grand picture. Ultimately, God loves us dearly, and He acts accordingly. If God loves us more than we could possibly love ourselves, what have we to fear?

I want to leave you with a Bible verse. The first line I seek often, and the context of the following lines is all the more essential on days like today.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make straight your paths.

– Proverbs 3:5-6

God bless you, and God bless America.

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Lo, Jesus Is With Us Always

Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

– Matthew 28:18-20
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No Mandatory Injections – Period

As the coronavirus pandemic starts to ebb, some are discussing a vaccine. It’s great that there’s a promising vaccine already! Absolutely phenomenal! If the vaccine that is currently being tested turns out to be effective, it will be the fastest developed vaccine in history. Seriously: the community has been working on it for less than six months and the expected turn-around time with a fire lit under the scientific community is in the realm of eighteen months. To be so close so quickly is an amazing show of human ingenuity.

I am a fan of vaccines. Vaccines have helped to effectively eradicate some of the most deadly diseases in history. Vaccines and medicines of that ilk make it relatively safe to travel to far-off lands with known widespread infections – or just those with water that the natives can handle but would otherwise be dangerous to foreigners. Modern medicine is a marvel.

But nobody should ever force medicine on a competent individual.

(For anyone wondering why that adjective “competent” is there, it’s because sometimes people aren’t capable of making decisions. I use the term “competent” in the legal sense – effectively, a person who is able to rationally consider decisions. Legally, to be competent, a person must have reached the age of majority and be free from any ailment preventing soundness of mind such as dementia or insanity. Anyone who is incompetent should have a guardian to either assist in the decision making or to make the decisions for them. For example, if a child refuses a vaccination against the flu but the child’s parents insist, the parents win and the child gets the flu shot.)

Some world leaders are making the rounds saying that people should be forcibly vaccinated. “Mandatory vaccinations for all!” Why would the government insist on putting a piece of metal in someone’s body, spill blood, and put a foreign substance in that person’s body? For the public welfare, comes the cry. But why would the government have that kind of right?

There are numerous reasons why someone might not be willing or able to be vaccinated. There are the stubborn people like me (healthy young individuals unafraid of taking the brunt of the virus); there are also many concerned with what else might be snuck in with the vaccine (such as bio-tracking devices which would allow corporations or governments to trace movements and also trace and potentially control various bodily functions). Moreover, there are conscientious objectors – the people who cannot accept a vaccine in good conscience because of how it was made (such as any pro-life activist accepting a vaccine made from aborted children). In addition, there are people for whom taking a vaccine could physically harm them, such as the immuno-compromised or people with allergies.

Regardless of which of these or other reasons someone might ascribe to, the dignity of being human demands that people be able to decide for themselves if they will be injected with something. No government has the right to force its population to endure a vaccination. Many of our leaders need reminding of this, though.

As such, there’s a petition making the rounds: No to mandatory vaccination for the coronavirus.

I highly recommend taking a look at it. If you are so inclined, please sign it, pass it along to friends and family, and even contact your local representatives. Anyone, regardless of where you are, may sign. If you’re in the United States, I highly encourage you to not only sign but to also call your local, state, and even federal representatives to point out that the Constitution does not permit mandatory vaccinations. Even if you’re not in the United States, there’s a very good chance that there is some government official you can call to air grievances about such a horrendous idea for mandate.

I’ll leave you with this for now: please consider signing the petition against mandatory vaccinations. Even if you intend to get vaccinated when it comes out, there’s no reason for the government to force it on anyone. Please consider the consequences of the simple act of not acting in this circumstance. If we fail to protect our individual liberties at this stage, what next? This is a literal invasion of the body, the piece of creation that God gifted to each of us as individuals. If we can’t stop the government from stabbing us with needles containing synthetic chemicals (the testing of which has been accelerated and cut short due to the pressing requests for it post-haste), how can we claim that there is anything that the government can’t take from us?

Again, here’s the petition – and please share it with family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and anyone and everyone else:
https://bit.ly/2TrRaxs

Let’s stop this assault on individual civil liberties.

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Crazy Times: Treason, Injustice, and Rebellion

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.

– Lisa Macdonald, Socialist Alliance, quoted by Green Left

Strange times we live in.

The quote above often passes with an attribution to Thomas Jefferson. Nope. But I liked the quote when I first read it, so I won’t let that it was spawned from the mouth of a socialist sour it for me. As they say, even a blind squirrel stumbles paradoxically into an acorn every once in a while.

The quote is doubly triply (given that it comes from a socialist) fitting per current events. News coverage of previous presidents orchestrating a coup and setting the country up for failure is the only new thing on the circuit this week. The COVID-19 coverage is the same day in, day out, and the question there boils down to, simply, when will the government stop infantalizing citizens?

Point One: Treason Charges Pending (Hopefully)

Apparently (hot off the presses, so the investigation is condemning but still ongoing), President Obama and many of his top advisors went above and beyond to be a thorn in candidate Trump’s side during the campaign including laying the groundwork to usurp his authority if he was able to win the election despite their efforts. I understand campaigning for your selected next candidate, even though it means going back on some things you said against them while campaigning against them in the primary (even though they were never false), and I understand campaigning against the opposing party, but sabotaging your own country to make sure the guy you don’t like can’t get much power? I’m fairly certain that qualifies as treason.

If nothing else, will there be justice for Lieutenant General Michael Flynn? Come on, the man’s a war hero. It was dicey going after him in the first place, and now he’s being exonerated because he was framed? Not just hot-potato-pass-the-blame framed, but people orchestrated a plot to invent what looked like a hot potato and then pinned it on him. That’s some serious salt, fabricating treason against a war hero. Ugh.

Point Two: The Shutdown (Injustice!) Has To End Soon

I’m ridiculously lucky in that I’m minimally impacted by the COVID-19 shut-down. The daily thing for me is that I am not generally allowed back in the office, and the most frustrating thing is the prohibition against public Mass celebrations. Unlike many people I know, I don’t spend much time out at movies, going to restaurants, or even getting haircuts. (I cut my own hair; it saves beaucoup bucks … and awkward interactions with hair stylists.)

Something has got to give, and it’s got to give soon.

Mental health problems have skyrocketed, many are out of work and don’t know how to feed their families, Republicans opt for massive expenditure bills to try to save lives, Democrats (read: Nancy Pelosi) block the bills to blame the other party for something (Hey! Don’t you know it’s an election year?!), and the American dream is being ground into the dirt. The world as we know it has gone bonkers.

“This would all be easier if there were a Universal Basic Income.” I heard this sentiment from several people. Uh, okay, commie, where would all that money come from – especially now given that everyone is out of work? Oh, by the way, how did that work for college tuition rates? (You know, many people who went to university decades ago paid much less in tuition, room, and board because the government wasn’t promising loans regardless of how awful the bill got.)

P.S.
Venezuela. If you still want socialism, go to Venezuela and be happy if you can find a stray dog to eat.

And that’s not even mentioning the crux of the issue: what about the will to live? Work isn’t a great purpose in life, mind you, but for many, it’s all they’ve got. If they don’t have to work to put food on the table, there’s literally no point to life. It’s one of the reasons we’re expected to lose 68,000 citizens to deaths of despair (such as suicide and substance abuse) just from this pandemic. It’s a scary time, and people are losing the only reasons they have to muster through.

I’m hoping (and, yes, praying) that this little socialist experiment teaches our great society an important lesson. Unfortunately, I’m doubtful we’re listening.

Part Three: A Socialist Encourages Rebellion

What state have you to depend on if you tear it down?

That is a legitimate question. Socialists don’t exist in the natural state of affairs because they require a fabricated system to lean on. Without the commons, there is no tragedy thereof. Without the tragedy of the commons, there is no socialism.

Rebellion is more of a thing for people who aren’t afraid of having a minimally-invasive government. It would make sense for a libertarian to say something like the above. For someone who wants the government to stick its sticky paws in places where the sun don’t shine and expect everyone to be happy about it… Well, that simply doesn’t make sense.

But I’m fine with that. You know, if the socialists want to tear down the blooming socialism, I say we cheer them on. We should also build up as they destruct so there is structure to return to at the end of the day, hopefully one without all the ridiculous plumes of absurd government overreach. Let’s let the socialists tear themselves down so the rest of society can build something better.

Ready For an Uptick?

I received an email today with this subject line:

Outbreaks ‘Inevitable’ as States Reopen

Well, yeah. If they weren’t, what was the point of the shut down in the first place?

The point was to “flatten the curve” to make sure the hospitals could handle the influx of patients, particularly as we figure out what works and what doesn’t against this novel infection. So yes, re-opening, whether now or a year from now, will inevitably result in more cases. If it doesn’t, then that means the shut-down had zero effect on flattening the curve, and we should all be outraged at being cooped up for no reason.

So, I’m ready for an uptick in cases, yes. An uptick in novel coronavirus cases means an uptick in the economy and, more importantly, a serious uptick in the quality of life of all those impacted by this disastrous scenario which will inevitably result in a flattening of the mental health crisis curve.

Much love. <3

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Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Mary Mag′dalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. Lo, I have told you.”

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Hail!” And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

– Matthew 28:1-10
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Creation Thundering at the Death of Jesus

Behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split;  the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  When the centurion and those who were with Him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

– Matthew 27:51-54

This is the day we’re in right now liturgically: pained at the crucifixion. Yet, unlike the fear of the centurion, we wait in hope because we know our Savior will rise on the third day.

May we all take this time to reflect on the glories of the Lord, to give thanks for His unending love, and to return to God with our whole hearts.

“Yet even now,” says the Lord,
    “return to Me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
    and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

– Joel 2:12-13