Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Rosebud

Websters defines the word enchant as to influence by charms and incantations, obviously not a Christian proposition but a somewhat frequent theme in children's books and film. Images can have a powerful effect on the human mind. Edvard Munch's The Scream has to be one of the most depressing paintings I have ever encountered. It was in the news recently alongside of the erupting volcano in Iceland as some believe that Munch did this work after seeing the frightful skies caused by a similar eruption. Some say the scenario is improbable but his diaries were used  in support of it. The swinging naked light bulb over the corpse in Hitchcock's Psycho gave me nightmares for quite some time, way back then. The recent photo of Hillary goose-stepping behind Russian soldiers on a diplomatic visit to that country had the same effect. I was about ten years old when I saw a movie, made in 1945, on television called The Enchanted Cottage which starred Robert Young and Dorothy Malone. A short synopsis of the plot has a returning veteran from World War II who was disfigured from a plane crash. He is despondent on life, his plans of marriage shattered by his accident. He retreats to a cottage where he previously planned on spending his honeymoon. Unknown to him, the cottage comes with local yore that it is enchanted, for so many newlyweds had come there. The housekeeper was a young girl who makeup transformed into a homely person with little prospects of finding a husband. They marry, then fall in love. The enchantment arrives as both Robert Young and Dorothy Malone see each other as beautiful, the makeup removed for the viewer although everyone around them saw them as they physically were. The movie ends with their happiness. Love had transformed their vision of each other. Now, I'm not one who would seek benefit from an enchantment. I won't even read the paper in a Chinese fortune cookie for a laugh but I see a parallel here. Admittedly, I could see a parallel in Hillary's pantsuits and Mao's Cultural Revolution but I submit it to you anyway. The socialist agenda in the minds of those who proclaim to seek equality, therefore happiness, in the redistribution of wealth acts upon the assumption that if all people have access to $150 bluejeans, we will have achieved a more fair, thus peaceful, society. I see it differently. When we come to see $150 bluejeans as narcissism, we may not be as susceptible to political promises made solely to keep the politicians in a Rolex and Gucci as they party in their dachas on the Potomac.
I'm obviously a lover of good poetry, this being one of my favorites:
Green acres  is the place for me.
farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
I may often have my foot in my mouth but I wasn't born with a silver spoon there. Some of my fondest memories emanate from a three story apartment building in Buffalo, New York. We rarely had an automobile when I was growing up which makes them more of a blessing today, a thought which I often bring up in prayer while driving one. My only vacation as a youth was cabins and a swimming pool outside of Ligonier, Pennsylvania where I learned to swim. We had the electricity and telephone turned off on many occasions which makes me so thankful that I can pay my bills today upon receiving them. My favorite toy ever was a 110 pound iron weight set that we lugged home in a taxi, after having a steak dinner in The Flame (yesterday's Bonanza) at the Point in Pittsburgh, which is a memory I cherish. I do not remember the last time I did not pray for an individual walking along an isolated stretch of road for I have been there. Today, I stood outside the Giant Eagle praying for the man collecting shopping carts. The homeless, the family in an automobile that looks as if it may not make it another mile and aimless youth gathered on street corners with obviously no supervision soberly effect me, but the answer is not a permanent welfare and entitlement society or taking the job of another and impoverishing him. It is not in envying the rich so much that it morphs into hate. It's not in 60 cable television channels in every house. The Liberal and the Conservative both struggle with the best ways to show compassion but the new extreme liberal in charge of the Democratic party today, the Progressive and those who have bought into its narcissism seek compassion only upon themselves who are forced to live in a world that does not serve them adequately and places responsibilities on them that make them cringe. No the answer is in respecting the person next to you and hoping for God's grace upon them so that they would respect you. It is in being an example of someone with the means to, but the rejection of flaunting the appearances of wealth. It's in supporting libraries and schools in low income areas instead of sports arenas. It's in moderation in entertainments and not fertilizing a culture of celebrity worship. It's in churches being more concerned about the gospel than latte cafes in the foyer. One cannot help anyone else without discernment on how to best do so. One cannot love without seeing the love bestowed by God upon oneself, the vilest of all. Fairness cannot be attained without truth and without laws based on that truth. If we become a more religious people, we will become a people of peace and if we become a Christian people we will become a peaceful and joyful people.