Facebook. Conditionally.

I have gone back and forth and up and down and all around about Facebook in the last 6 months. Deactivated it numerous times. Deactivated others. Said too much. Said nothing. I'm still trying to work out the kinks of using Facebook in a positive way and working the kinks out of not seeing posts that aggravate me. It is a blessing to me so many times to see posts by people I love about their journey in life, but it is not a blessing to read thinly veiled criticisms or ones posted to cause others sadness or grief. Since this is a blog post resulting from reading a post I perceived as such on Facebook, BEWARE! You may not like what you read. I like having a blog because I can write to my hearts content and you can CHOOSE whether you read it or not.

Facebook. Fast communication. Instant, efficient, a platform for quotes, insights, backhanded scoldings and...mostly unaccountable. Rarely researched. Usually accepted as true, yet many times it can be proven upon deeper reflection, flawed.

A recent post I read on Facebook gave me pause - a comment that love provided to the person "without conditions and expectations" was "the spirit of what Christianity was all about". That statement has prompted these following statements as my way of wading through them in an effort to gain clarity if they are essentially true.

Christianity was about Christ, the son of God. Christ came as a child  - divinity humbling himself to be confined in flesh. Immortality to be made mortal. The condition of the process of redemption. As Christians we acknowledge Easter as a time of celebration for the end result (resurrection) from the submission of Jesus to conditions put upon him regarding his time on earth.

Marriage. We expect fidelity. A condition of marriage vows is to love and honor and keep oneself only for the other. Do people fail in this? Yes. Are they forgiven sometimes? Yes. But that does not mean that to truly love the other person you don't put expectations on their behavior nor does it mean there are not consequences when those expectations/conditions are not met, even violated.

The "unconditional love of God". People sling that phrase around so easily sometimes that I wonder if they are confusing God's love with their own will. God loves therefore I can do whatever I want. If that is the case, then there are no standards and conditions in life and I believe there are. And when they are violated, are there consequences? If the violation is acknowledged, then the forgiveness is always there, in the love of God. So maybe it is more true to say that God loves always and forgives you unconditionally when you ask to be.

Words are tricky. You may mean one thing and choose an inappropriate one in which to convey that thought which results in people misunderstanding what you are trying to say in these formats. That happens all the time in Facebook, Twitter, Text and Email. I understand that. I acknowledge I could have done that in the post that prompted this writing. So be careful when we are sure we have something to say to others we are appreciating and to the ones we are attempting to correct through the long arm of social media.

Haiti Angst and Go Forward, Please!

I see posts on social media from Haitians saying they do not stand in solidarity with France from the recent terrorist attacks because of the real and documented atrocities from France against Haitians in their past history.  I can't say I don't sympathize with the Haitian resentment, who wouldn't feel resentment against an oppressor - BUT -  France did not kill Jean Dominique - Haitians did. Nor did France employ mind control over every administration of Haitian government since independence. I suggest for Haitian's who want to help their country in a real way,  that dedication to education for the masses, a blind eye to degrees of color, and building a strong infrastructure be main priorities - and - without a victim mentality doing so. You can't change the past but you can work to a better future.

Blue Ridge Scenic Railway

Waiting on the train

Conductor

Looking Forward

Looking Back

LINK to INFO on TRAIN

FACEBOOK PAGE - Blue Ridge Tourism

Walking Blanket Creek in Early October

Walking Blanket Creek trail today in Woodstock, Georgia, I stuck to Mosquito Flats, a Green Trail for biking, green for easy. There are many families riding and it's quite a beautiful walk - and the bikers have right away. Mosquito Flats meanders along the creek and you will usually see a deer or two. I like to take photos and today, since it's still warm and there has been recent rains, mushrooms and fungi seemed to be what caught my eye. I hope you enjoy taking a look!

LINK TO INFO - BLANKET CREEK MOUNTAIN BIKING

Nelson Mandela - A Long Walk To Freedom

I'm almost finished reading Nelson Mandela's Autobiography, A Long Walk to Freedom. I'm on page 589 of 625 pages. I guess I could read the rest and then write this but I wanted to put these thoughts down now while they are so fresh in my mind.

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for his efforts to end apartheid. Apartheid "the state of being apart",  a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced by the National Party, 1938 - 1994.
Mr. Mandela was a member of the African National Congress, and served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

In reading this autobiography, I have really been touched by the dedication that he, and many, many others had to work towards righting injustice. They put  heir lives on the line for a real purpose, equality of human beings.  I know I have heard people put Mr. Mandela down as a radical and a communist and thereby dismiss the validity of his purpose. But Mr. Mandela was not a Communist. He was a Christian. He was indeed a radical if that is defined by challenging status quo. And for those who read this and can think of nothing else but the upheaval in this process in South Africa, and blame Mr. Mandela, I am not a person who is very political, and you will most likely win any debate of politics and policy during this time. That is not what I am writing about here. I am writing about an individual and that individuals dedication to a cause, which I find very admirable.

In reading this book I saw dedication and a purpose that was followed through with, at a great cost. And it is inspiring to me, in this present age I live in.

If you want to be surprised at maybe liking this man you perhaps have heard many negative statements about, I suggest you give it a read. You might be surprised as well as you might come away with a source of inspiration, as I have.

I feel like my time has been well spent in the time it has taken to read this book.

**I did finish the book and it was very much worth the read!

Lion Killer

Regarding this recent sad issue about the Minnesota dentist killing the African lion - and all the outrage...I am outraged too and think it's terrible.

I'm very sorry about the lion and I think this man has some serious issues to pay the amount of money he did to kill the lion, and to want to do it in the first place BUT I am more disgusted that the killing of an animal gets way more attention when it is brought to the attention of social media than the daily, even hourly killing of unborn human children that happen every single day.

An Unheard Voice from Iraq, evil echoing in Charleston

I am so sorry and horrified of the recent Charleston murders of those wonderful human beings that joined together to pray and were cut down by evil.

I went to a poetry society meeting today and the reader, editor for Atlanta Review (link at bottom) read some poems from a book of Iraqi poems, Flowers of Flame, Unheard Voices of Iraq. This is just one in the collection.

The pain of this recent Charleston assault is not just a horrible experience in the USA, it is part of a flowing thread of evil in the world when we do not love our fellow man.

Bags of Bones

What luck!
At last she has found his bones.
His skull is also in the bag.
The bag in her hand
Is just like all the other bags
In other shivering hands.
His bones look like thousands of bones
In the mass graveyard.
But his skull is unlike
Any other skull.
Two eyes, two holes-
He saw too much through them.

Two holes for ears
To let music in
The story of this skull
Is his alone.
A nose
That is just an empty gap,
A mouth open
Like an abyss-
It was not like this when he kissed her
There. quietly
Far from this place
With its clatter of skulls. bones and dust.
This place where all our questions are exhumes:
What does it mean...
To give your mother back,
On the occasion of death,
The handful of bones
She offered you
On the occasion of birth?
What does it mean that you depart
Without a death certificate?
The dictator does not give a receipt
When he takes your life.
...His skull, alone, has figured all this out-
How to multiply one death by million
To equal the county.
He is the director of this tragedy,
And as his audience applauds
It shakes the bones,
The bones in the bags,
The full bag in her hand at last.
Her luck. at least a little better
Than her neighbor, who, also,
Still goes on looking
For her bag
Of bones.

Dunya Mikhail

Atlanta Review

Birthday Appreciations

I turned 58 years old on May 24th. Really, I have a hard time seeing myself that age - I feel the same way as I have years ago. I guess that's either youthful thinking or immaturity but whatever it is, I am grateful for another birthday and the nice views in North Carolina I was able to experience on this short trip, some of those views I have captured, below. I hope you enjoy them. I was in the area of Lake Nantahala, and the towns of Franklin and Highlands, in North Carolina. And yes, the armadillo has been seen in North Carolina, as my husband and I discussed while driving.

Suspended

New Mexico - A Certain View

Seagulls