Between Us Girls

Domestic Violence Rages On

     One of my guiding principles in life is that, oftentimes, no news is good news.  But I don't mean that in the usual way.  What I mean is that, if you really want to be happy, don't watch the news. 

     Don't misunderstand me...I like to be informed.  I don't want to be completely ignorant of what is happening in the world around me.  But there is so much going on that is so unpleasant and that I have no control over, that sometimes, not watching the news is the best option.  In fact, therapists will often recommend this to patients who are anxiety-ridden or depressed.  Being bombarded with messages of doom and gloom over which you have no control is enough to drive anyone to the brink of suicide.

     Occasionally though, I forget.  The other day, I tore myself away from the computer, made myself some lunch and sat down in front of the t.v. to enjoy it.  It was exactly 12 noon, so of course the noon news was just beginning.  By nine minutes past the hour I had heard about a fire that gutted someone's home, an accident involving two trucks, a robbery or two, a home invasion, another fire, and two stories about two separate men in two separate places in our viewing area beating women with baseball bats. Not one positive story to give me any hope that life was still worth  (Read more...)

More On Mid-Life

    For those of you who are interested in the topic of mid-life crises, I have a little more advice to send your way.  I have written a guest post that provides some futher guidance on navigating the challenges of mid-life for a wonderful blog called "DumbLittleMan."  This post offers some simple do and don't guidelines for anyone who is floundering and fumbling their way through a mid-life crisis. 

"Sooner or later we all go through it.  We begin to lose parents, our friends or spouses start to come down with "old people" illnesses, our children grow up and (if we're lucky) begin to leave home.  We look around at the landscape of our lives and realize it has become unrecognizable.  What we once centered our lives around has changed, anchors that moored us have detached and, as the anxiety begins to mount, we find ourselves looking for something to hold on to. But what?"  (Read more...)

     Don't let the name fool you, the publisher of this blog is anything but dumb.  He's a smart cookie who posts a wealth of useful information that is certainly worth checking out.  Do yourself, and me, a favor and visit DumbLittleMan to check out my post and others.

Questions of Morality

     Psst...I have a secret to tell you.  You might find it quite shocking.  Religion does not have a corner on the morality market.  No really, it's true...left to our own devices, ordinary people all adhere (or at least try to adhere) to the same basic set of moral standards.  Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Humanists, Atheists all tend to agree on the same moral precepts...love and compassion, caring for the sick and weak, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, don't kill, lie or steal etc..

     Questions of morality have to do with how what we do effects the happiness and/or suffering of others.  Morals are our code of conduct, our rules for living, our ideas and beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong.  It turns out that most of us share a common set of moral standards.  Of course, whether or not we manage to live by them is quite another story.  But what we hold up as our ideals is remarkably consistent.

     Of course, religious leaders would have us believe otherwise.  Here in the U.S. the most vocal of those religious leaders are what we have come to call "Conservative Christians."  Christianity does claim the most adherents of any religion in America, but the most conservative of those Christians wield an inordinate amount of power.  They are very vocal and very forceful when it comes to (Read more...)

Softball Lessons

     My daughter started softball this spring.  She's seven, totally inexperienced and very excited.  I'm hoping that she'll learn all of the important stuff that she needs to become a good ball player, but I'm hoping she'll learn some important life lessons as well.  A very inspiring story from the news this week makes me believe that my hopes may be justified.

     Maybe some of you already heard this story, but it is well-worth repeating.  This past week, the women's softball teams from Central Washington University and Western Oregon University were competing in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  Sara Tucholsky, a senior player with the Western Oregon team came up to bat.  With two runners on base and a strike to her credit, she did something she had never done before; she hit a home run!  The crowd cheered as Sara began running the bases but, in her excitement, she failed to actually touch first base.  She turned to step back and tag it and, suddenly, collapsed.  Sara's quick turn had torn a knee ligament.

                                                                    Unable to get up, Sara looked to the first base coach who told her that it was against the rules for her teammates to help her.  The umpire stepped in and said that her team could send in a pinch runner, but the hit would only count as a single.

    In order for the hit to count as a home run, Sara herself would need to touch all of the bases.  Sara was devastated.

    It was then that Mallory Holtman, first baseman for Central Washington University, stepped up to the plate - so to speak.  Mallory asked if there were any rules that would prohibit her, a member of the opposing team, from helping Sara.  When the umpire said no, Mallory and her teammate, Liz Wallace, carefully picked up Sara Tucholsky and carried her from base to base, pausing just long enough for Sara to reach down with her uninjured leg and touch each of them. 

     The three-run homer counted and as a result, Mallory and Liz's team not only lost the game, but lost any chance of winning the conference and going on to the play-offs.  Mallory (Read more...)