BLESSED

How to pronounce it? Just "blest?" One syllable? Or "bles - sed," two syllables?

What a beautiful word, either way. It means various things, but among the more common are "consecrated by a religious ceremony . . . hallowed, holy . . . enjoying supreme felicity . . . happy, fortunate . . . enjoying the bliss of heaven." Oxford English Dictionary.

Bliss = your own copy of OED.

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Last night EO woke up in the middle of the night, thinking. It happens often enough that I wonder if I should form a pre-dawn support group, consisting of people I can reliably email or phone at zero-dark-thirty to discuss what is keeping my eyelids open, even though I am very tired.

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Early this morning my thoughts happened to be a frequent - though not a welcome - guest. Up through my bubbling subconscious came the sense of having not been enough: not enough for my children, not enough for my wife, not enough for God, not enough for my friends.

Now this may have been fueled by the wine I had at supper, but these thoughts have been frequent enough visitors that I cannot blame alcohol entirely. Alcohol is simply a facilitator, not a cause.

I was not feeling bles-sed, or blest; quite the opposite. I was feeling a failure for not being enough. I was thinking of what a small and inadequate life I have led.

But through the haze of weird chemical reactions, odd personality disorders and bad memories came a very short and quiet thought, the kind I have come to believe is the "word of God" that people write about hearing.

"Aren't small lives the ones Christ was talking about in the Beatitudes?"

Region of the Beatitudes. Not a lot of big stuff here.

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So this morning I read the Beatitudes again, after Mrs. EO gave me a pep-talk (she is, fortunately, a life-long cheerleader for the wounded and sad).

I noticed that nowhere in the Beatitudes did it say "blessed are the rich and powerful" or "blessed are the famous." Nope.

Brangelina.

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Instead,

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who
hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean in heart,
for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted
for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew chapter 5.

No matter how small and insignificant my life may be, and no matter how poor my decisions may have been, at this moment and at every moment of my life these doors to blessedness are available to me on exactly the same terms as to every other human being, whether great or small.

And in God's economy, in His society, these are the things that count. Fame and beauty, power and prestige, wealth and privilege: all of it "withers and fades," in the words of Isaiah.

"The Prophet Isaiah."

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He wrote in the 8th century B.C., but his words still strike home, because they are true:

The grass withers, the flower fades
but the word of the Lord stands forever.

Isaiah chapter 40.

So, as the noted philosopher Carl Spackler once said,

"I got that goin' for me. Which is nice."


Philosopher King Carl Spackler.
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HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

All in Green this fine day, for obvious reasons, I should hope.

March 12, 2010 a good man died. Joe Cassario, an old friend, was lifted from this world and went to be with his Lord, whom he loved. I am privileged and happy to know Joe and his family, who every one of them share in his genuine kindness, good spirits and humility.

Tonight Mrs. EO and I have been listening again to a song based on St. Patrick's words. To think of the love that man had for those who had enslaved and tormented him. He deserved the name "Christian." What a beautiful song. What a beautiful life. I thought what a beautiful way to celebrate Joe's life and his new life above.

Joseph, please introduce me to your friends when I arrive. Soon and very soon.

I arise today
through the strength of heaven.

Light of sun, radiance of moon,
splendor of fire, speed of lightning,
swiftness of wind, depth of the sea,
stability of earth, firmness of rock.

I arise today
through God’s strength to pilot me

God’s eye to look before me, God’s wisdom to guide me
God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me
From all who shall wish me ill,
Afar and a near, alone and in a multitude

Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body, and so…

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ to shield me.
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me;
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me.

I arise today.

READER MAIL

(Eternal Optimist is trying to catch up on Reader Mail, and thought he would publish some of his correspondence.)
*************************

Dear Eternal Optimist,

I noticed that I get a headache whenever I read your blog. I think your blog entries are too long and hard to follow.

Headachey in Madison


Dear Madison,

Your headaches are due to the snow and cold in Wisconsin. EO's blog entries are much shorter and warmer than President Obama's speeches. You ate too many of those during the last election and they gave you an "ice-pop" headache, maybe.

You should pack EO's blogs on your forehead, like a warm compress, for your headaches.

Or, you could just read every third word. It is much faster and more entertaining.

Warmest Personal Regards,
EO


***************

Dear EO (whoever you really are),

You make me SICK!! What right do you have to be so judgmental about people's moral views?! People like you and Bush have ruined this country!! Look at the shambles we are in because of Bush! If people were more tolerant of one another (something you can't seem to understand) we wouldn't have so much gridlock in Washington! I would call you a stupid joke, but you aren't funny!!

Tolerant in Minnesota


Dear Tol,

I don't appreciate your intolerance of my judgmental attitudes. It is your intolerance, and the intolerance of the other people up there, that makes Minnesota so cold and miserable. Why are people in Iowa so nice, but Minnesota is so mean?

You elected Al Franken, so you can't be all bad. Check out "Stuart Saves His Family." Great movie. Remember, "progress, not perfection."

Warmest Personal Regards,
EO


*************

Dear Eternal Optimist,

The last election demonstrated the problematic nature of the democratic/republican insistence on either/or propositions during elections and, more broadly, during any political debate. The underlying dementia in the current toxic political environment is the insistence on a zero-sum mentality, when the reality of today's multi-dimensional social and psychic time/space continuum is that we rarely confront a bona fide zero-sum game; rather, we are most often involved in games that promise less for all players (or, correspondingly more for all players), depending on the inter-connectivity and biological relevance of the answers we suggest and, ultimately, implement. Contributing to the misidentification of dialectic imperatives does nothing to enhance the reformation of what can and must be relatively benign processes for change and overall paradigm shifting toward the symbolic and actual sharing of both political and economic futures. We cannot afford to continue along these lines and fool ourselves into believing it does not matter.

Earnestly in California


Dear Earnie,

I can't disagree. I think you've said it all.

Warmest Personal Regards,
EO


**********

Dear EO,

I find your blog offensive in the extreme. Please take me off your mailing list at once.

Stuck in Rhode Island


Dear Stuck,

(A) I don't have a mailing list. (B) If I had a mailing list you wouldn't be on it. (C) Doesn't it embarrass you to have the same number of senators as California?

Warmest Personal Regards,
EO


*****************

Dear EO,

I am your mother, and even I find you difficult. Why don't you stop writing these silly blogs and just find a job and be kind to people?

Love,
Mommy


Dear Mommy,

I used to work at a job, but that made me so sad. Everyone was mean to me. So now I just write blogs and play the guitar and the bongos, and I feel more happy. And I've lost a lot of weight.

You want me to be happy, don't you?

Don't you?

Mommy?

MORAL ABSOLUTES

Pope John Paul II. Pray for us.

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This weekend I read an article about moral absolutes in a local paper (The Hotville Herald). The article took as its starting point Pope John Paul II's statement, "In the end, only a morality which acknowledges certain norms as valid always and for everyone, with no exception, can guarantee the ethical foundation of social coexistence . . ." Parenthetically, Pope Benedict XVI probably agrees with this.

Pope Benedict XVI. Still going strong.

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The article went on to cite a Marist College Institute poll that found that 82% of Catholics between 18 and 29 agreed with the statement

"Morals are relative; there is no definite right and wrong for everybody."

Now, the 82% figure includes anyone who self-identifies as a Catholic. If you took a poll of people who go to Mass even once a month (the Church teaches you should go at least once a week) the answers to the poll change significantly, as the article points out.

Nevertheless, the "buy-in" on the statement is fascinating.

I had some questions I wanted to ask of the 82% (we will call them "The Eighty-Two.") Feel free to write in with comments.

First, when you said "there is no definite right and wrong for everybody," did you mean, "categorically and objectively, there is no definite right and wrong for everybody?" I will assume so, since otherwise the statement boils down to

I don't think there is a definite right and wrong for everybody,
including myself, but I am actually not so sure.
Besides, it is time to watch "Lost."

We will call this mushier statement "Lost," to keep things brief. Lost is not much to get excited about, so I will ignore it for now. More on Lost later.

If your answer was yes, "categorically and objectively, there is no definite right and wrong for everybody," my question is "how do you know that?"

Do you know it (A) empirically, having tested all possible knowledge and all possible variations of right and wrong, or (B) via some type of deductive logic, reasoning from an accepted first premise?

Deductive reasoners.

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I will take a wild guess and rule out (A). So we are left with (B). Somehow you were able to move step by logical step from an accepted first principle to the conclusion that, categorically and objectively, "there is no definite right and wrong for everybody."

Let me know what the universally accepted first principle was and what the logical steps were. My guess is that the universally accepted first principle looks awfully like an absolute moral value. But I will wait to see the arguments before passing judgment on that.

Here's a second question. Let's try a "Moral Absolutes Experiment." I guess that even The Eighty-Two will agree with the following absolute moral norms:

(1) torturing small children to death is never a moral good.
(2) racism is never a moral good.
(3) forced conversion to Christianity is never a moral good.
(4) listening to Rush Limbaugh is never a moral good.

Okay, I'm sorry, get rid of Number Four. But am I wrong about the first Three? I like Three, for reasons I've explained elsewhere.

If you want to argue that any of the first three propositions are only relative (i.e., sometimes it is okay to torture small children to death), my only stipulation is that you let me know who you are so I can keep an eye on you.

If I can think of three (possibly four) absolute moral truths in 15 seconds, you maybe see why I am siding with the Pope on this issue? You can try stating moral absolutes at home, just for fun. It's easy. For example, "launching nuclear weapons purely for the purpose of self-gratification is never a moral good."

Maj. Kong rides the bomb.

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(Check out the Slim Pickens clip, from Dr. Strangelove, on YouTube.)

You get the idea for the game. It will keep you busy on the weekends and provide plenty of fun comments with which to infuriate your teachers during the school week.

I will step out on a limb here and say that the actual thought in the mind of every one of The Eighty-Two was, in fact, "Lost" (for those who forgot the details on Lost, including me, it means "I don't think there is a definite right and wrong for everybody, including myself, but I am actually not so sure. Besides, it is time to watch 'Lost.'")

LOST.

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I will step out further on the limb and say that the originating impulse for Lost is that The Eighty-Two wanted to have sex with their girlfriends/boyfriends and didn't like the Pope or anyone else telling them it was wrong.

I will also stand on a twig at the end of the limb and say that each of The Eighty-Two heard or read the statement "there is no definite right and wrong for everybody" an average of 10,097 times in high school and college. And many of them heard it right after the class on the Holocaust, where they heard (and agreed) that genocide was never a moral good. I will venture that the contradiction never registered.

So the basis of this profound moral nihilism is that the The Eighty-Two really, really want to have sex with their girlfriends/boyfriends. Without the Pope telling them "no good."

You are going to dump the Pope, maybe your Mom (although there are some odd Moms out there these days), almost certainly your Grandmom, together with 5,000 years of a very sensible moral system (dating back to at least Abraham) so that you can have sex with your girlfriend/boyfriend? On the advice of that teacher with the bad haircut and body odor, to whom you probably wouldn't entrust your bicycle, much less your eternal soul?

Weird Teacher.

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How about instead of jettisoning a time tested system of morality, you just deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus? Maybe start by going to confession and trying to quit sinning?

It's Lent. Great time of year for that.

I'm just saying.

It seems simpler to me. Occam's razor, know what I mean?

Occam's Razor: New, Improved!

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A SLAB AND A PACK

As confessions go this one is weird. But it's mine.

I have a Jones for Graham Crackers and Cream Cheese. I capitalize the title because they are just that good.

I realized I had a problem years ago, but I've been rationalizing for a long time. One of the big problems with this particular addiction is that the name is long and combines two mundane things. To get any respect, an addiction has to be short and punchy. Booze. Crack. Sex. Boggle.

Because the name is so long, people ignore it. By the time you were done reading "Cream" you were thinking about something else.

But not me. I'm concentrating on every loving word.

And thinking of when I'm getting my next fix.

Last two nights I've been on a bender. Right now I'm feeling good off the high. I ate about a quarter slab of cream cheese with a pack of graham crackers. By lunch the high will wear off. And I'll be irritated. And sad. And wondering why life is so crummy.

And thinking about how I can slip out and buy another slab, so Mrs. EO doesn't notice the last one is gone.

A "slab"

"Slab" is junkie talk for the 8 ounces of white heaven in a tin foil wrapper that talks to me every time I open that refrigerator. It's sitting right on top, in the door, looking innocent. But I know better.

I woke up bolt upright at 4:30 this morning. I knew I had to stop. The rationalizations, the benders, the calling out from work because I'm sick from eating cream cheese.

Late at night, wiping the crumbs off my T-shirt. Wondering if that pain in my left arm is the big one, where my heart just gives out under the strain.




Volunteering to go shopping so I can buy extra cream cheese and hide it.

All the signs are there. I know who I am. And still I don't stop.

Like any addict, I can't imagine life without a slab and a pack.

A "pack"

It's easy for you. But for me, that slab and pack are jammed like an ice-pick into my brain and my heart and my life. The lie is so deep inside me that I can't even guess who I'd be without a slab of cream cheese on an endless series of grahams. The triptophan, the sugar, the fat content, the sense of dreamy peace.

You tell me "just quit." I say quitting is easy. I've quit a hundred times. Anyone can quit. But try staying quit.

That's the tricky part.

So today I'll get up. I'll drink a lot of water, some green tea, eat a salad, get on the bike for 45 minutes. Take my Omega-3 supplements. I'll dress nice, go to work, look just like you.

But deep inside I know who I am.

Thank God for Lent.

PET INSURANCE

First let me say that I think dogs are wonderful. Cats too. Birds, rabbits, hamsters and lizards, all have been pets over the years. Once long ago EO shed tears watching "My Dog Skip" with his middle daughter (MD). MD did much better, happily munching on her popcorn while EO leaked and got snotty watching Skip die.

I will blubber buckets when Cookie's gone.

Now to the subject at hand. This weekend I read that pet insurance has become quite the vogue here in Hotville. A quote from an article caught EO's eye:

"No one would want to be in the horrible position
of not having the money to save their beloved animal."

Au contraire, EO is deliberately positioning himself to be in that position. So the quote is palpably false, since it says "no one."

Here's another quote from the article:

"I love my dogs" she said. "They are my family,
and I want to know they will be taken care of."

Help me, please, I think I am going to puke.

They're like my babies.
Photo credit.

Sorry, but my family consists of human beings. Dogs are genetically excluded. Wasn't my call.

EO tries hard not to be cranky, but merciful heavens, what is wrong with this country?

EO being cranky.

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As you may be aware by now, EO is not a fan of mandatory health insurance for America. Read about his cranky views here. Having worked closely with the federal government for 20 years, he is nervous about the government's unbridled growth and inefficiency, and our concomitant loss of freedom.

But PEOPLE. Get real. We have tens of millions of human beings that don't have health insurance. People eating cat food and taking pet antibiotics. Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare are going broke.

Could we maybe use the bucks we are paying for Tricky Woo's oral surgery to pay for people insurance?

Tricky Woo, classic symbol of pet pampering from

"All Creatures Great And Small."

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While we are on the subject, we kill off 1 million American humans each year through abortion. But we are buying pet insurance so we can pay for surgery for our "beloved animal[s]" when they run in front of a car?

"It's just a dog" says Cesar Milan.

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There is something bad sick about a society that pushes pet health insurance, yet has 40 million uninsured human beings and 1 million abortions a year.

Look, it's not my money. People want to buy health insurance for their dogs, that is their business.

But for the love of God please don't write happy-slappy articles gushing about how we treat our dogs better than our poor people and our babies.

WOBAL GLARMING

This quote, from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies website:

In total, average global temperatures have increased
by about 0.8°C (1.5°F) since 1880.

You could look it up. That is the number. Mind boggling, eh?

Chart of 2000 years of temperature estimates.

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EO prefers to use the 1.5 degree figure that we can actually document. There has been a lot of ferment lately about the famous "hockey stick" chart, which became an iconic symbol of global warming during the late 1990s, but which has been taking some scientific head shots recently. Apparently the "hockey stick" smoothed over or ignored significant evidence of previous temperature spikes and dips. Compare the two charts, above and below.

The iconic "hockey stick." Turns out not to be so accurate.

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So we will just use 1880 as a base line, because that is when we started keeping serious records of temperatures throughout the world. From 1880 to the year 4 billion B.C. we are not so sure about how cold or hot it was around here, except for hints like tree rings, which don't tell us much about where the tree was not. Average global temperature doesn't translate well into tree-ring thickness. That's why no one uses tree rings anymore, and everyone's been using thermometers lately.

Before you get angry with our forefathers for screwing up something this important, just know that prior to 1880 people were distracted by their death rates from cholera and bubonic plague, so they failed to organize reliable global temperature measurement societies. It's no excuse, I understand.

Now let's do some math. From 1880 to 2010 is 130 years. For discussion purposes I am rounding that to 125 years, which will slightly overstate the speed of global warming.

If we continue at this rate, by the year 2130 - about 250 years from 1880 - the average global temperatures will have increased by a total of 3.0° F. Just to understand the scope of this disaster, say an average May day in 1880 in Hotville, where I live, was 80 degrees. Right now that day is 81.5 degrees. By the year 2130 it will be 83 degrees.

83 degrees. In May. In Hotville.

By the year 2400, about 500 years from 1880, that comfortable 80 degree day in May will have jumped to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

How we will look in 2400 A.D.
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Now you can see why global warming has kicked up such a fuss.

Parenthetically, as I understand the Book of Revelation, the whole earth winds up even hotter than 86 degrees by the end of time. Which is sobering.

As a result of global warming, our best estimate is there will be a significant net increase in the land available for crops and for human habitation, as much of Siberia and Canada become more "user friendly."

Since cold weather kills many times more people than hot weather, a lot more people will be living longer in the 6 degree hotter weather in the year 2400. So societies will have to adjust to more people, more food and more land.

No way can we adapt in just 500 years. Think of how little our technology has advanced since the year 1500, for instance, and you see my point.

Right now even the most expensive fixes can only avoid a fraction of that 3 degree climb by 2130. So the bottom line is we need to spend tens of trillions of dollars to set up international global warming bureaucracies to make sure that the average global temperature only goes up 2 degrees in 250 years, instead of 3 degrees.

Already we can see the impact of global warming in this winter's monster blizzards on the East Coast. With every year that global warming goes unattended, the world as a whole gets a little bit colder and grayer. Like Cleveland.

Southern dogs trying to figure it all out.
Hotville had about 6 inches of global warming recently.

I know it's all upside down and crazy. That's why it is so darn hard to figure out.

I say we call it "Wobal Glarming," so people don't get confused by the cold weather. With a name like "Wobal Glarming," we know it is a crisis that's here to stay, whether we wind up in a New Ice Age or the Worldwide Saharan Scenario.

And how about an anthem for Wobal Glarming? Maybe Pete Seeger and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"

"when will they ever learn?"

Probably too old. Besides, didn't Seeger get all pissy with Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Jazz Festival? I've never understood that.

How about Martha and the Vandellas and "Heat Wave?"

My head's in a haze

It's like a heatwave
burning in my heart

It's hard to hate the Vandellas. On second thought, "Heat Wave" could be confusing, if the blizzards keep coming.

I know the perfect song, by REM:

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it
and I feel fine.

Okay now, EO's done the hard part, making up a new name and finding an appropriate anthem. You go ahead and shovel that Wobal Glarming off your sidewalk. Take some aspirin before you go outside.