Sodomy: A prime example of what’s wrong with #ALpolitics

A dear friend who is a long-time retiree, aged 78 years, entire subsistence is from a meager pension (earned from a lifetime of work in a unionized organization), supplemented with a paltry Social Security check.

She’s lived through breast cancer surgery (mastectomy) & reconstruction, other major surgeries (knee replacements) and procedures, and lives in a trailer which she owns, situated upon a lot which she rents. She has resided there many, many years.

To save money, she recently

All You Need Is Love

I recollect, a few years ago, having gone with a dear friend to the apartment where her former husband lived.

He had died alone.

D’Angelo (not his real name) was a retired Army NCO, whom had volunteered for service. He was genuinely a “squared away” soldier, and rose to the rank of First Sergeant (E-8), which rank is politely nicknamed “Top,” because, aside from Sergeant Major which is also an E-8 position, it is the highest rank and position a NCO can obtain.

His generosity was well-known, and his humility, honesty and genuine love for his fellow man was evident throughout his life. And though he was a good man with many admirable character qualities, a congenial fellow, well liked – even loved – by many, it seemed he never could win the battle over the bottle.

What little I knew of him from others’ reports and my own limited interaction with him, he was an honorable family man. And yet,

On the Bleeding Edge of the Front Line

Uncle Dean never spoke to his blood relatives about his WWII service – even though they inquired – which was for them, perplexing, and they eventually stopped asking. However, he voluntarily spoke at length about it with me.

Perhaps it was because we shared a common bond of military service, I don’t know. They never understood why he didn’t talk about his experience. His Purple Hearts, Bronze and Silver Stars, and other medals of valor that

A Special Thanks to Friends

A special thanks to my friends Lee Marshall, Al Whitaker and other Huntsville local media magnates who have run with my idea of the “Rosado Law,” which was that “The State of Alabama should enact a law requiring all restaurant employees to know the Heimlich maneuver and CPR, and have an AED on premises.”

The only thing is,

I am saddened

This evening, I have been weeping.

Yes, I – a full-grown man – have shed very sorrowful tears upon learning of the untimely death of a long-time college friend and colleague.

My friend Jeffrey Rosado died this evening. Apparently, while dining at

“Say ‘hello’ to Jesus for me.”

Several years ago a friend of mine was suffering from terminal cancer. He is now deceased.

At his request one afternoon,

Who are You?

The Eastern Shore of Lake Tahoe, also known as Galilee Image via Wikipedia

 

Some years ago, a good friend of mine had encouraged me to begin a blog.

“Why do I want or need a blog?,” I asked him.

“You write very well, and a blog would seem to be a natural outlet for your thoughts,” he said.

Never being one whom chronicled or maintained a “dear diary” in my youth, I was quite amazed to hear his words. I had, however, been periodically sharing thoughts with my kindred and friends via e-mail. Alan was kind enough to host my writing for quite some time, gently guiding me through the technical process.

As things go – at least according to the Law of Entropy – things tend toward deterioration, decay and chaos. In other words, they move from order to disorder. And in time, because of the age of his servers, the bulk of traffic and the increasing complexity of software, he began migrating his servers to another resource, at which point he also began encouraging me to move my blog, which I have, and which you are now reading.

I had purposed to republish my original writings – and inspired by a recent status update posting I’d made to FaceBook – piqued my desire to republish this one post immediately.

Some background: I was in Lake Tahoe, NV at the time of the writing, staying with an extended family member, having traveled West in response to a spiritual urging I sensed. The events surrounding the same are another story in themselves, which I shall reserve.

Without further ado, I give you…

Sam… in memoriam.

A dear, longtime friend of mine recently made a difficult and heart wrenching decision to euthanize his beloved pet. He is an excellent writer, and shared about his decision in the following post.

“On Saturday September 18th, I lost something else that meant the world to me. I finally had to make that awful decision to put my oldest dog Sam, to sleep. I admit it was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make. With deeply loved pets, it is the ultimate contradiction: Along with the joy of ownership comes the agony of responsibility. Like anything that you love, you always know in the back of your mind that the day will eventually come when you have to let it go. Even though you know, you can never quite prepare yourself for it fully and you still can never quite say goodbye. I knew someday the day was going to come for Roxie, but I did not have to make the decision for her, as I did with Sam. Roxie passed away before I had the chance to make it. Sam was a different case. She was

The Saga Continues…

In a previous entry entitled The Mute, Poignant Ironies of a Life Well Lived,  I had shared how God’s provision for my life has included some very seemingly coincidental times, which in reflection, I have perceived as mute irony.

Thankful as I have been and remain, I promised to share this entry with you a bit later, and in keeping that promise, here it is.

I hope you enjoy it.

The Mute, Poignant Ironies of a Life Well Lived

Ironies are rarely mute.

It’s just that they choose to speak afterward.

They’re kinda’ like God.

It’s sometimes said that, “Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.” Or, as a dear friend of mine once put it, “I don’t believe in coincidence. I believe in God-incidence.”

Thanks be to God, I’ve recently accepted an offer of employment in my field, and will shortly be relocating to be more near that job. For me, that means an out-of-state move. I am thankful… IMMENSELY thankful, for the opportunity, in so many different ways.

As part of my expression of thanks, I had written a note of thanks to one of my Flickr contacts recently, and wanted to share the essence of that letter with you all.

So, with little editing, what follows below represents the gist of the idea I shared in the message.

And before you read further, be aware that this note contains very poignant irony.

Enjoy!

All You Need Is Love

I recollect, a few years ago, having gone with a dear friend to the apartment where her former husband lived.

He had died alone.

D’Angelo (not his real name) was a retired Army NCO, whom had volunteered for service. He was genuinely a “squared away” soldier, and rose to the rank of First Sergeant (E-8), which rank is politely nicknamed “Top,” because, aside from Sergeant Major which is also an E-8 position, it is the highest rank and position a NCO can obtain.

His generosity was well-known, and his humility, honesty and genuine love for his fellow man was evident throughout his life. And though he was a good man with many admirable character qualities, a congenial fellow, well liked – even loved – by many, it seemed he never could win the battle over the bottle.

What little I know of him from others’ reports and my own limited interaction with him, he was an honorable family man. And yet, his family didn’t know it, and apparently had low regard for him because of his human frailty, particularly for the bottle.

When he had retired from the Army, never one to merely sit still and wait for things to happen, he became

Huntsville, AL 9-1-1 Operators “a bunch of retards”

My recent conversation with a Huntsville Police Officer and a HEMSI EMT gave me some pause for thought.

They both shared some fascinating experiences, and opined about the same.

We three – the HPD officer, the HEMSI EMT, and I – are friends.

In context, our HEMSI EMT friend was relating a story about how, when sometime ago, he called 9-1-1 and informed them in detail of a particular off-duty scenario upon which he arrived and began rendering aid, the operator seemed to be mindlessly reading from, or following a script. In other words, the 9-1-1 operator didn’t listen.

My HPD friend shared an equally disappointing story, which he prefaced saying that

A Letter to My Friend

K,

I thought I’d share a brief note with you about what’s going on in my life.

It’s almost Easter, and I’m almost complete with the RCIA process – Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the process by and through which one becomes Catholic. Everything culminates on Easter. And though at this point

Tell me more about this One whom does not exist.

I have an atheist friend, for whom I have warm affection. We share several common interests, among them, Amateur Radio and some political ideals. Having visited with him and his wife on occasion, I can attest that they are genuinely nice folk.

He is my friend. And friends do things together. On occasion, we have dined, shared entertainment, and attended club meetings together.

Quite recently, I sent an email message to him that expressed my utter dismay at recent news of Wall Street’s record profits in the midst of our nation’s most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression.

In my original comment I did not mention God, though I did cite one scripture – 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.”

I thought his reply most interesting.

“God is not just.”

As I understand it, atheism is the denial of the existence of God. It does not mean that God does NOT exist, it simply means that their faith is in the negative, rather than the affirmative.

Philosophically and logically, however, one cannot prove the negative. Thus, it is impossible to prove that God does not exist.

And yet, it is equally impossible to describe something that does not exist. It is impossible to speak about something of which one knows nothing, or indeed, claims cannot be known.

Therefore, to make such a statement as “God is not just,” presupposes the existence of God.

As well, it points – at least in my estimation – to a more fundamental question which I perceive to be at the heart of his fundamental objection to God’s existence, and therefore denial – which is ‘why is there injustice in the world?’

Thanksgiving Carp (or should it be “crap”?)

My Thanksgiving this year was unremarkable.

I said jokingly – although with serious intent – that I should’ve gone to the homeless shelter to eat. At least that way I would’ve had some turkey, dressing and traditional food!

The ironic part of it all, was that I bought enough groceries to feed an army: 25 lb turkey, 20 lb ham, 10 lb pork tenderloin, 7 lb of three types sausage, 2 lb slab-cut bacon, mushrooms (shitake, portobello & white), onions, leeks, fresh spinach, cream, genuine maple syrup, pecans, walnuts, tomato paste, salad dressings, cheeses, and much, much more (over $300 worth)! The meat is now residing in the freezer, while the other perishables are in the refrigerator’s cooler drawer.

Perhaps it was my Matthew 22:9 moment. The well-read will recall that is the parable of the feast taught by Jesus Christ, in which the king made ready a feast but the invited guests didn’t show up. So, he commanded his servants to go out into the city streets, highways and byways and bid all to come to the feast.

My roommate is “vegetabletarian,” wasn’t invited anywhere by anyone she knew, and I didn’t get the invite from my folks because they were invited by my brother’s in-laws (Clifford & Jolene) to their place. I thought that was kind’a ass-holey of them, not my folks, to not invite me. I’m the elder of two, have neither spouse nor children, and don’t lead a secret life. Which is to say, C&J and all the gang know that. I guess they gave me the great big “FUCK YOU” this year.

But oh, dear LORD… don’t let ’em think for one moment they might be “dissing” me – their artificially nice world would cave in around them. But know what’s weird? He’s a Baptist-turned-Independent “holiness” preacher.

See what I mean? At least if I ate with the homeless folks, I’d have been around some folks that would’ve taken an interest in me.

As it was, I enjoyed the fellowship of one human being – my roommate and her dog Atticus – and one other… Mr. Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

Okay, enough carping.

So, the first turkey I had this season was at – of all places – a Chinese restaurant, the Sunday after Thanksgiving! Oh yeah… I also had some of my favorites: octopus salad, raw oysters, shrimp and kimchi, along with some beef – cooked, of course (though I’ve eaten it raw… yum! *LOL*).

I had a couple of laughs that day with my waitress and the folks at the table next to mine. I’m a personable fellow, and I like to laugh and smile.

Folks that know me, know that.

In retrospect, I suppose it all worked out for the best… though I still think it sucks.