The tension and outright vitriol seen between our two political parties got me wondering why this is the state of our politics. Both parties are filled with American citizens. Both parties are full of folks who grew up in America. Both parties pledge allegiance to the American flag. So, how can the two be so diametrically opposed to each other? Is one party more concerned about the citizens than the other one? Does one party embrace possibilities while the other party rejects efforts to enhance humanity’s opportunities? Does one party care about American people while the other is only concerned about self-interest?
Here is what I have settled on as the basic difference between the two parties causing our political process to grind to a screeching halt.
One party wants everyone to contribute to American excellence. The other party wants to create an exclusive society ruled by the minority. Let me show you why I believe this is the fundamental cause of the disfunction in our political system.
Healthcare
One party wants to ensure every citizen has access to healthcare so all people can be productive members of society.
The other party expects only those who can afford it to have access to good healthcare keeping the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ separated.
Poverty
One party wants to provide a hand up for the unemployed and underemployed, so they have an opportunity to make valuable contributions to the nation.
The other party believes everyone has the same opportunity so if some cannot make it, it is their own fault and they deserve to be poor, hungry, sick, and useless to society.
Race
One party wants to level the playing field between the races so all citizens can reach their potential and, in the process, make our nation stronger.
The other party believes only the white race is of value and the other races are only good for serving the white ruling minority.
Education
One party wants all citizens to have access to educational opportunities so they can reach their full potential and make positive contributions to the future of our country.
The other party thinks education should be available only to those who can afford it leaving others to fall further behind and never become valued citizens of the country.
Law and Order
One party wants every citizen to be safe and secure on the streets of America so they can live to reach their full potential.
The other party wants to use the criminal justice system to keep the ‘other’ from living a life of fulfillment in a segregated society.
Guns
One party wants to make the streets safe for all the people to live productive lives.
The other party supports the gun related carnage that is disproportionately killing minority citizens.
Legislation
One party tries to pass legislation that makes life safer and more productive for Americans.
The other party is filled with elected officials who spend their time trying to be more outrageous than each other to gain more press coverage for their own purposes.
Voting
One party wants everyone to have the opportunity to vote with as little difficulty as possible.
The other party wants to restrict voting rights so the minority party can maintain power over the majority population.
Timeliness
One party wants to take action to make the future more secure and livable for the next generations.
The other party wants to drag the nation backward to a past where blacks were enslaved, and poor whites lived in servitude to a few white male landowners who wielded all the power.
To me it is clear which party cares about America. The party that cares is the one wanting everyone to contribute to American excellence. The other party wanting to create an exclusive society ruled by the minority does not care about America.
My spouse was hired as the director of Stay and Play Preschool center soon after we arrived in Centre County at State College Presbyterian church in downtown State College.
She was in her element. My sweetheart has a heart for children and her true calling has been with the little ones since I have known her. She is amazing teaching and loving the little ones.
It didn’t hurt that she worked across the street from one of our favorite restaurants, The Green Bowl, where we could grab an occasional lunch together. This restaurant was a Mongolian Bar-B-Q.
I loved experimenting with the multitude of sauces and piling my bowl as full as possible for the chef to grill. The three of us ate at The Green Bowl when we could coordinate our schedules. Just the other day Sarah was telling us how much she missed The Green Bowl. That was some good eating.
Sarah graduated from State College High School after one year in town. Our daughter needed so few courses for graduation that she worked at the local supermarket (Wiess Market) to complete some extra credit. She was enrolled in something called Diversified Occupations and got to leave school after her core classes were completed. The businesses where students worked had to guarantee at least 20 hours a week of work. The experience was designed to help teach students how to establish relationships with bosses and build a resume. Sarah received 2 High School credits while drawing a paycheck. I think what she liked best about this program was that the students involved in Diversified Occupations had priority parking at the school. After checking out grocery shoppers she returned to school where she participated in the excellent theater program at State College High School.
The connection with Hartman Center continued for Sarah when she transitioned from camper to Summer Service Team member after graduation. Now instead of one week a year in Milroy she lived at the camp for two months.
Sarah and I made a road trip to Williamsport on maybe our last Father-Daughter ‘date’ before she moved out into the world. The trip had something to do with a car accident. After taking care of business we became tourists exploring Williamsport attractions.
Sarah’s move out into the world began with her first semester of college at Penn State Altoona campus.
My Jane and I knew the way almost blind folded after weekly trips to and from the campus that first semester. Gratefully, Sarah was able to transfer to main campus for her second semester where her room and board were provided in our house.
By the time Sarah was in college we had purchased a house in State College and moved out of the Sears and Roebuck parsonage in Boalsburg. Our new house was at the end of the street on top of a hill overlooking the north end of College Ave.
Relaxing on the screened in porch.
The front of the house faced the country club that flowed down the other side of the hill. The view from our living room window looked across the valley to Mt. Nittany.
Along the trails on Mt Nittany there were two openings in the trees I could look through towards Beaver Stadium and find our house. On the other side of Mt Nittany I could look down on Boalsburg and St. John’s UCC.
Enough wooded acreage grew between us and College Ave to provide shelter for deer to find their way into the yard. There were even enough woods for a bear to find its way to the neighbor’s beehive on top of the their garage and eat the honey. We lived in a beautiful spot that was quiet yet just blocks away from downtown State College and another one of our favorite restaurants. Baby’s was a ‘50’s’ joint with waitresses wearing Poodle Skirts and saddle shoes. Each booth had a wall mounted jukebox filled with 50’s and 60’s titles to add to the atmosphere (a quarter per selection). (Alexa: Play, ‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Haley and his Comets) The hamburgers, fries and shakes were delicious.
The only drawback to our property was winter snow and ice which could prevent us from driving up either side of the hill leading to our place. I only remember one time My Jane could not get back up the hill but there were a few times we were sideways on the street going down.
In our first year of ownership, we rented the house to a Penn State graduate student. Before we moved in a year later, we deep cleaned and fumigated. After Gadget marked the place (a dog had lived with the grad student along with several other assorted human beings) we had to clean again before we moved in.
The place needed some work even before the graduate student lived there and we went to work like this was our retirement home. Our first major project was installation of all new windows and garage doors. We replaced the wood fireplace in the family room with a gas model and put in a new kitchen. I remodeled the downstairs and turned it into a train room/weight room/ music studio.
Outside I planted a privacy fence on one side of the back yard connected to a chain link fence against the woods connected to a split rail fence on the third side. A metal mesh was attached to the split rail fence and we had a large space for Gadget to roam.
During the fence installation I unknowingly left a tiny space open between the fence and the shed. Gadget found that space and caused My Jane and me some alarm. I wandered around the neighborhood with a handful of treats until the dog and I connected and returned safely to the house. Gadget never did get trained off the leash. My Jane tried often but he never could be trusted to roam free and return when he was called.
Somewhere in this time frame Sarah discovered her passion during a Student internship at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. She liked it so much that she went back down a second time. These photos might not be from the correct time frame but they are pretty cool.
While Sarah was in State College her parents where thrilled to attend theater presentations in which she was involved as a stage manager. The university had a fine theater department and we looked forward to each new production.
The stage manager and the actor
Sarah also made friends with a church member who was a retired women’s sports director at Penn State. A huge thrill for our daughter was an afternoon hanging out with the women’s basketball team. Our almost five-foot-tall daughter decided the Lady Lions were ‘tall’. Another perk of her friendship was the gift of tickets for our benefactor’s seats when she was out of town. Sarah and I enjoyed those trips up to The Bryce Jordan Center to watch Big Ten Women’s Basketball.
The first game we attended was before Sarah’s friend was giving us tickets. We had seats behind the basket near the pep band that night. Watching, and hearing, the players banging around under the basket that night made me happy I wasn’t on the floor getting beat up. Those women were tough. We might even have been splattered with sweat that night.
In football season we always managed an invite or tickets to a game from church members for one game.
Our first year in town Sarah and I attended the Illinois game. It was a huge thrill walking out from under the bleachers into the stadium. We were spoiled by one of the church members who owned a business with a box at the stadium. The difference watching a game in the box instead of the stands is like two different worlds. The biggest difference was being out of the weather. In Happy Valley the weather can be brutal during the second half of the season. Watching from a box also means no crush of humanity trying to get some snacks or visit the restroom. But the big difference was the food. Cold sandwich fixings showed up in the first half along with other snack foods. During the second half a cart with dinner arrived followed in the fourth quarter by a dessert cart. Oh my! I was truly in Happy Valley!
Penn State and the Pittsburgh Pirates built a baseball stadium across the street from Beaver Stadium to be used by the University team and a Pirates rookie league squad. Sarah loved collecting the players autographs when we went to see The Spikes in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Living in a major college town certainly has its perks. We did our best to enjoy the opportunities while living in Centre County, Pennsylvania.
Many states have been proposing and passing legislation since the election in November 2020. I have watched this barrage of activity with increasing concern for the well being of our republic. How does a government determine what is good for the people? How does a government pass legislation that makes life better for the citizens? Is there a litmus test that determines if a proposed law will be a positive or negative decision for the masses? What would be a credible test for a proposed law in a nation that claims to be ‘under God’?
During a pandemic there is a lot of time available to think about these things. And I have stumbled upon an idea. Remember in Sunday School as a kid when you heard about the Ten Commandments? You might have learned the first four commandments are about love for God and the last six are about love for neighbor. You also might have heard about how Jesus emphasizes the two-fold nature of the ten in his ministry. You know the story about a teacher of the law who asks Jesus what the greatest commandment of the law of Moses was. The law of Moses is what we know today as the Torah. The reply Jesus gives would be a fabulous litmus test for the passage of legislation today. In his answer Jesus states,1) the most important law is to ‘Love God’ and 2) the number two law, which is of equal importance is to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. Then Jesus clarifies the entire law giving process by stating, 3) all the other commandments (laws) must lead the people to one of these two. Jesus teaches us that humanity is living according to God’s Word when all the laws enable humanity to live in love of God while treating others the same way the law makers want to be treated. How great would it be if our laws had to pass this ‘Jesus Test’ before they are enacted. How great would it be if our legislation would always provide security or health care or sustenance for the citizens the law governs.
In a nation under God legislators might make better decisions if the laws had to pass a ‘Jesus Test’. Legislation that had to pass a ‘Jesus Test’ would never be harmful to any of the people living within the borders of the nation under God.
Looking around I am not seeing a lot of legislation that would pass a ‘Jesus Test’! On the contrary I am seeing laws being passed by states that are diametrically opposed to the ideal of loving God and neighbor. The anger, hatred and meanness being spewed by lawmakers is off the charts. The anger, hatred and meanness directed at marginalized members of our society is repugnant and just plan nasty. The efforts to harm minority populations in our country by angry, mean, hateful lawmakers is sickening. The laws being written and passed by state legislatures do not pass the ‘Jesus Test’.
The lawmakers decry the call to wear masks during an international health crisis as an infringement of their liberties. Yet the call to wear masks to protect ourselves and our neighbors from a deadly virus passes the ‘Jesus Test’.
The same lawmakers are passing laws that do not pass the ‘Jesus Test’ to restrict the liberties of minority citizens as they increase the difficulty for those citizens to vote. Being able to vote is the right of every citizen. That passes the ‘Jesus Test’. Making it difficult to vote does not pass the ‘Jesus Test’.
Lawmakers whine that staying six feet apart to prevent the spread of a killer virus is trampling their liberty. Yet the call to protect our neighbor by keeping a safe distance passes the ‘Jesus Test’.
The same lawmakers are passing legislation that does not pass the ‘Jesus Test’ to restrict the liberty of colleges and universities to practice their freedom of speech. Laws governing who a college or university can invite to speak on their campus does not show a love for neighbors’ freedom of choice. An historical black college or university should never be required to invite a percentage of white supremacist speakers to its campus. No historically women’s university or college should ever have to invite a misogynist to speak on its campus. No university with a science department should have to invite a percentage of science denying speakers to campus. The first amendment protects the freedom to choose what you will listen to just as much as it protects the freedom to speak. The first amendment passes the ‘Jesus Test’. Laws limiting that freedom do not pass the ‘Jesus Test’.
Lawmakers spew invectives at health officials who are trying to stop a virus that has killed nearly 600,000 Americans claiming they are infringing on American liberty. I believe trying to save lives passes the ‘Jesus Test’.
The same lawmakers are passing legislation aimed at infringing the liberty of transgender children, their parents, and doctors. These laws do not pass the ‘Jesus Test’. In actuality these transgender laws are simply mean and serve no purpose other than to bully a marginalized minority of American citizens.
This is a personal response to the attack on the one percent of the population that is transgender in America by state legislatures. I knew a sweet little girl who was living in a body that had boy parts. I know she was a girl. The minute she was old enough to make decisions she, unlike her older brother, was drawn to ‘girl’ stuff in the stores. She loved the color pink and wearing frilly clothes. She wanted dolls not trucks. Her Mom was incredibly supportive. Her Dad took a little longer to get over his grief at ‘losing his son’. This girl’s brother had the roughest time accepting her because he took plenty of abuse at school over his sister. When she was about seven or eight her family moved to a more accepting community and we eventually lost touch. I do not know if that little girl has had any surgery since the move. I do not know if she is now transexual. I do know that a sweet little transgender girl living in a body with boy parts is no threat to anyone. This child just wanted to live her life the way she was. She is no different than the other transgender children struggling to survive day to day in our world. If we determined to use the ‘Jesus Test’ to pass legislation we never would pass a law that does harm to precious children if they are transgender or cisgender.
We have a political party trafficking in hate and anger not the love of God and neighbor. These discriminatory, mean laws are harmful to American citizens, our neighbors. What these state legislators are doing is heartless and cruel to the American people. They are failing the ‘Jesus Test’ at every turn.
I have my Indiana Jones hat on and my travel bag in hand. I’m so ready to set off in search of the holy grail but first things first. We need a shot, a COVID-19 vaccine to be exact. In the beginning of the process leading to getting the vaccine there was confusion upon confusion. Initially, in the vaccine rollout the information about getting the shot was sketchy at best. In Florida, each county was doing its own thing and information was convoluted. Orange County was doing one thing and Seminole was doing something else. We had a very difficult time finding any information on what Osceola county, where we live, was up to. The Florida Department of Health eventually put out a website which caused further confusion.
Now, some counties were not using the state program, and some shifted to the State system. Also, the Publix grocery store chain began offering the vaccine through their pharmacy.
Hanging out with the Publix mascot before the pandemic.
At home we continued our attempts to get the three (My Jane and my favorite mother-in-law and me) of us registered. Mostly, what we found on the vaccination sites were messages that all appointments were full, or the site was not taking reservations.
The process began to turn around when our congressman, Dem Darren Soto, included a preregistration in his monthly newsletter. I registered the three of us on that sight. Every time I received an email from the congressman with that form, I registered us again. No messages came back so I felt sort of like I was sending messages into cyberspace never to return to earth.
While I was using the congressman’s website and trying to connect with Publix my neighbor informed me, he had been vaccinated at the VA hospital. After this revelation I talked to another neighbor who works at the hospital.
She gave me a phone number to get started. After repeated attempts to get through on that phone number I was becoming frustrated. That was when the miracle happened. I answered a phone call from FDOH (Florida Department of Health) to hear a very pleasant gal ask me if I wanted to schedule time for a vaccine. Well, this was the most excitement we have experienced since we began the lockdown. The gal registered me and then registered my Jane and my favorite mother-in-law. We all had appointments at 9:30 a.m. to get our shots at the drive through location over on the other side of town. I did not expect ever to be so excited about receiving a shot. During the next two days we received three more calls to register. I guess the system was finally catching up to the slow start to the vaccine roll-out.
The day of our appointment we joined the mass of people receiving their vaccines. We pulled into the line, assured a worker we had an appointment, then moved around some orange cones before giving our names to another worker who marked us off the list. It was reassuring to know we were on a list.
We were handed forms and directed into a four-lane cattle pen. We had plenty of time to fill out the forms while moving at a crawl through the cattle pen. The four lanes became one lane when we handed in our forms and a laminated cardboard number card was placed on the windshield (very high tech but extremely efficient).
Fortunately, I had brought along some pretzels, so we had sustenance while we waited. Eventually we flowed into a two-lane section within sight of the shot tents. A worker asked us questions while we moved closer to the shot tent. Under the tent we were handed three shot records with our names on each one as simultaneously the three of us received our vaccine.
The process lasted two hours and forty-four minutes, according to the car clock, before we were directed to the holding area. We received our shots while Brian Hyland sang his hit, ‘Sealed With a Kiss’. (Alexa: Play Sealed With a Kiss by Brian Hyland) I’m glad we weren’t listening to “Last Kiss” by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. That would have been weird.
Sitting in the parking lot My Jane suddenly exclaimed that she was having a reaction. The parking attendant ran for the nurse who came running with a blood pressure machine. My sweetie was hooked up to a blood oxygen level and blood pressure monitors quick as could be.
Fortunately, the crisis was over as quickly as it began, and we were soon given the ‘okay’ to leave.
Yes, it was a long time to wait but the FDOH personnel on site were very efficient and extremely well organized. I was impressed with the folks working to get shots in arms in the fight to beat back COVID-19.
Our second shot experience was much the same as the first except we waited in the cattle pens less than an hour, my honey did not have a reaction to the shot, and we had pretzels and trail mix for sustenance. That was yesterday. Today all three of us are feeling our arms but we are fine otherwise. And most importantly, we are two weeks away from completing the immunization process. The end of this pandemic does appear to be in sight.
After receiving our second COVID vaccine shot we headed straight home to the bathrooms stopping only for red lights. Those ‘port-o-potties’ just do not entice the gals in my house. So we headed straight home because ‘micro bladders’ struck again! That might be an issue on this quest because it is possible we will find ourselves in some uncivilized places with no ‘facilities’. I hope that doesn’t discourage my life partner from joining me on this quest.
The Florida legislature has sent the following bill to the governor for signature. “CS/CS/HB 233: Postsecondary Education
GENERAL BILL by Education and Employment Committee; Post-Secondary Education and Lifelong Learning Subcommittee.
Postsecondary Education; Prohibits State Board of Education and BOG (Board of Governors) from shielding students, staff, and faculty from certain speech; requires State Board of Education to conduct annual assessment on intellectual freedom & viewpoint diversity; creates a cause of action for recording or publication of certain video or audio recordings; revises provisions related to protect(ed) expressive activity, university student governments, & codes of conduct.”
Censorship by any other name is still censorship. HB233 is an assault on the first amendment disguised as protection of free speech. What is happening in this legislation is a Republican effort to stop non-conservative speech from being freely spoken on college campuses. The bill is written in such a way as to give control of academic speech to the legislature.
Who determines what is an appropriate mixture of topics discussed? Does one comment about some folks thinking the world is flat qualify as sufficient to meet the criteria in a Geography class?
In History would it be deemed too inappropriate to discuss lynching and mass murder of black people? Would it be off limits to mention slavery, reservations and internment of Asian Americans? Who decides according to what metric? Would mentioning that the fear of perceived threats creates paranoia and inappropriate reactions in Psychology be forbidden? An example of this paranoia might be in response to a perceived threat, not an actual threat, a state legislature passing HB233.
Anytime we have political entities determining what is appropriate and not appropriate we have totalitarian governance. The end desire of this bill is to erase any discussion contrary to the Republican think embraced by Republican legislators. Who wants to limit speech in any nation and why?
In answer to that question let us see who in the world makes laws to restrict speech? Here is a short list for you to contemplate; Hitler and the Nazi Party, Mussolini of Italy, Erdogen of Turkey, Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Putin of Russia, Stalin of The Soviet Union, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. These are the types of leaders the Florida Republican party emulate with HB233. These are the totalitarian government examples the Republican party is copying to destroy democracy in our Country. Note: authoritarian regimes always attack the academics and freedom of speech in their initial movement to take total control of the government.
Couple HB233 to the voter suppression bills being passed in twenty plus states and it is easy to see that the Republican party is fast becoming the Paranoid Anti-American Party (PAAP). Please, do not allow the PAAP to take away the freedoms you hold dear.
You say, ‘Oh that can’t happen here.’ I assure you it can happen here and is already happening. HB233 is one example. The January assault on our Capitol is another example. The former President’s disregard for law and order and constitutional integrity is a third example. Censorship is happening in The United States and censorship by any other name is still censorship.
During the interview process with St. John’s UCC the search committee expressed a desire to see growth in the congregation and an increase in the number of younger people. As stated already we set about translating the vision into action.
My Jane did her part through super engagement with the women of the church. The women began gathering around a study entitled ‘Creation from a Gardener’s Point of View” written by my gifted spouse that included hands-on activities. It was at one of these meetings I learned how to grill watermelon and onions coated in an Italian dressing creating a taste bud sensation. One day the gals learned to create beautiful flower arrangements.
When we attended Sarah’s orientation at the High School, we met a Norwegian couple who were attached to Penn State for a year. We enjoyed the reconnection with our adventures in Norway and the ladies of the church adopted the Norwegian gal and threw her a party on her birthday.
The ministry was special. The group began sharing annual tea parties in the church hall. A number of gals took responsibility for one table each. The table ‘captain’ would provide a center piece and china as well in keeping with the festive nature of the event. The table ‘captain’ also invited enough friends and neighbors to fill the seats at her table.
A program was always included as part of the days activities. One year a band of a dubious nature provided a concert of forties music. Note: the drummer. This might have been a sing along event but my memory is not clear. I can however count to four and sometimes six which is all a drummer is required to do.
The women traveled down the mountain to Hartman Center to share some intimate time for a spiritual retreat and to grow their friendships. We spent many hours at Hartman Center during our stay in Boalsburg. A sad note: Hartman Center closed last summer due to financial concerns. Our family cherishes the memories associated with our adventures on the property in Milroy, PA
The sanctuary began to see new faces and most Sunday mornings there were few empty seats.
Interest in a second worship service began to gain traction. A group of folks interested in an alternative worship service began meeting to discuss the creation of a ‘contemporary’ worship experience. We met regularly, visited other ‘contemporary’ worship experience in the area, canvassed the neighborhood probing for interest, gathered for studies on alternative worship and presented two different contemporary worship experiences during the regular worship hour in our effort to discern how to move ahead.
A year after we started the exploration ‘Sunset Casual’ was initiated on Saturday evenings at 5:00. We had a band, ‘Blessed Hope’ of 10-12 people who led the singing and a team of audio-visual folks who created the video presentation and operated the the newly installed projector and sound board.
The band was ‘out-of-the box’ with some of our numbers due to the imagination of our octogenarian leader. She taught us a line dance to perform while singing a country-ish number and wrote new lyrics to popular music. Two numbers she rewrote that I remember were ‘Bad Bad Saul (Bad Bad Leroy Brown) and ‘Jeremiah was a Prophet’ (Jeremiah was a Bullfrog).
‘Bad Bad Saul’ began, ‘On the southside of Damascus, is the badest place of all, if you go down there you better just beware of a man who’s known as Saul’.
And ‘Jeremiah was a Prophet’ began, ‘Jeremiah was a prophet, said that God was comin’ to town, told everyone to be lookin’ for a king but he won’t be wearing a crown’. You get the idea, and we had a whole lot of fun.
Our attendance seldom varied from 30-40 at any given worship but we did spike attendance when guest contemporary Christian bands came in for concerts. One outgrowth of the bands was a summer series of concerts on the church lawn that also expanded our attendance.
In our continuing effort to improve our experience four of the band members participated in the Contemporary Music Camp at Hartman Center. The time at camp helped us hone our musical skills and share joys and issues related to creating and maintaining contemporary worship experiences in Penn Central Conference of the United Church of Christ.
In our effort to continue building and expanding community, plus have some fun, we instituted Trunk-or-treat on Halloween night. Our members brought their cars to the parking lot and the town’s roaming trick-or-treaters paraded from car to car picking up treats while Halloween music played over the scene. My favorite part of that event was the hot chocolate on those chilly nights. (Alexa: Play ‘I Want Candy’ by Bow Wow Wow)
Boalsburg lays claim to being the home of Memorial Day and the big day found St. John’s UCC involved in a food ministry that also served as a fund raiser. On that Saturday there were half a dozen huge roasters stuffed into the tiny church kitchen heating a delicious home brew of chicken corn soup. The church was a popular eating stop for Boalsburg’s visitors.
The church sponsored an annual trip to Altoona where the Curve play baseball and scheduled work parties at Witmer Park. We had a faithful group that walked in the State College annual House Walk in support of Habitat for Humanity and a Clown Ministry that led worship. The handbell choir participated in the area’s annual handbell extravaganza and there were opportunities for ministry, fellowship, and spiritual growth most days of the week. There was a ministry for everyone who wanted to engage at St. John’s.
A government cannot survive if it functions most of the time in the fight-or-flight brain response mode.
A political party will not survive, long term, if it continually preaches fear to its constituency.
A human organization that functions in the reaction mode most of the time is doomed to die.
Here is why.
The fight-or-flight response (also called hyperarousal or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. Walter Bradford Cannon states that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, preparing the animal for fighting or fleeing. I could tell you about the hormonal cascade of catecholamines, like norepinephrine and epinephrine, estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol as well as the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. But all those terms make my eyes cross so instead I share in simple terms that the body reacts to a perceived or manufactured threat by becoming faster and stronger. The flight-or-fight response is a reaction without thought the body uses to protect itself from perceived threats.
When someone experiences a stressful event, the amygdala, a tiny area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing, sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus (another small area of the brain). The hypothalamus functions like a command center, communicating with the rest of the body through the nervous system so that the person has the energy to fight or flee. All this activity happens without any conscious thought, it is a reaction.
However long the threat is perceived the hypothalamus keeps the sympathetic nervous system — the “gas pedal” — pressed down. If the brain continues to perceive something as dangerous, the hypothalamus keeps the cortisol flowing. The body thus stays revved up and on high alert. When the threat passes, cortisol levels fall. The parasympathetic nervous system — the “brake” — then dampens the stress response and the person should go back to normal.
However, many people are unable to find a way to put the brakes on stress. Chronic low-level stress keeps the cortisol moving, much like a motor that is idling too high for too long. After a while, this influences the body contributing to the health problems associated with chronic stress.
When people live in constant fear, whether from physical dangers in their environment or threats they perceive, or from someone telling them they should be afraid, they can experience negative impacts in all areas of their lives and even become incapacitated.
Fear which triggers the flight or fight response can interrupt necessary processes in our brains. Living in fear interrupts our ability to regulate emotions and read non-verbal cues and other information presented to us. Too much time in fight-or-flight response diminishes our ability to reflect before acting, and to act ethically. This impacts our thinking and decision-making in negative ways, leaving us susceptible to intense emotions (usually anger) and impulsive reactions. All these effects can leave us unable to act appropriately.
When we live with constant fear of perceived threats, we lose the ability to move our thought process out of the tiny amygdala and hypothalamus into the large part of the brain where decision-making and reasoning occur. When things and people that are unknown to us or different from us are perceived as threats, we remain in the reactive part of our brain which can only result in a reaction to flee or fight. No problems real or perceived can be addressed if we can only flee or fight. Human beings have a wonderful cerebrum that gives us the ability to move past our animal reaction to a place where we can think and reason through a situation.
The cerebrum controls decision-making and reason. Specifically, the frontal lobe of the cerebrum does the thinking which is necessary for a person to overcome their fear. The cerebrum, which is a lot bigger than the amygdala and hypothalamus is the part of the brain we need to use most in our daily travels. When confronted with a dilemma it is the cerebrum that will help us find an appropriate solution to the issue.
So what example are we receiving from Republican leadership where fight-or-flight is concerned? Sadly, the examples from the Republican leadership are failing their constituency and the country. Here are three quick illustrations of how the Republican leadership is stuck in flight-or-fight.
When Texas was suffering a power outage during a frigid winter storm the Texas senator stayed in his amygdala and fled to Mexico. There was no attempt to work on a solution to the problem. There was no outreach to his freezing and dying constituency. He reacted by fleeing. He did not use his cerebrum to think through the dilemma and find solutions to ease the suffering.
South Carolina is not even in a natural disaster, but the senior senator of the state is stuck in his amygdala. He has stated publicly that he is going to fight if his state suffers a natural disaster. He is going to shoot his constituency because he is afraid. There is no willingness to move to his cerebrum and contemplate some appropriate responses to ease the suffering of his neighbors.
Finally, the Senate Republican leader can only react to efforts by the administration, any administration, to ease the burden on the American people by fighting. He does not propose solutions that his cerebrum might discover. He just says ‘Hell no’ we will fight you all the way. He has been doing this for so long that he cannot help himself even when seventy percent of the population and sixty percent of every day Republicans support the administration’s proposals.
Republican leadership is not only letting the country down they are feeding the perceived fears that are destroying the party, the government, and our country.
A country cannot survive if the leaders are constantly in fight-or-flight response. A country cannot survive when the leaders continually warn the masses, they must be afraid. A nation filled with people afraid of perceived threats cannot last.
Please stop listening to the leaders who function in the flight-or-fight mode and want to keep you out of your cerebrum. Please stop being someone who lives in fear of perceived threats. Please move into the frontal lobe of your cerebrum and work on appropriate solutions to our challenges. Please, recognize we are all in this together and we cannot overcome the issues facing us by fighting with each other or running away from those who are different than ourselves.
Get out of your tiny amygdala and move into that big, exciting cerebrum.
The first stop on our return to civilian life was St John’s United Church of Christ, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, next door to State College and Penn State University.
We would be serving a small congregation housed in a second story sanctuary while we lived in the parsonage across the alley. The parsonage was a tiny Sears and Roebuck house built between 1908 and 1914. Sears Roebuck houses were sort of prefab with the building materials being unloaded at a train depot for someone to haul to the building site and put together according to some directions (Like putting together IKEA furniture). These homes must have been somewhat popular in Boalsburg because another Sears Roebuck house sat across the street from the parsonage. The parsonage was so small that we had to move large items of furniture over the front porch roof and through a window on the second floor to get them in the house. I had to get used to ducking on the stairway to avoid repeated concussions. The church office and meeting room were in the former parsonage garage.
During the interview process the search committee expressed a desire to see growth in the congregation and an increase in the number of younger people. We began our ministry attempting to translate the vision into action.
The congregation had a core group of super teenagers and it was not long until we grew more teenagers around this group. Expanding on a fine crop of youth leaders who enjoyed hanging with the teenagers was a simple process and we were rolling. Above the office in the former garage were three rooms where the teens began meeting. To improve the meeting space the property committee approved the removal of a wall between the two smaller rooms to make two genuinely nice meeting spaces. When the project was finished, we had separate spaces for the younger teens and the older teens to gather. The teens were free to paint the rooms however they thought was best. The idea was to repaint the rooms every third or fourth year so the youth using the rooms could claim them as their own. The teens loved it, even the work of painting. After a couple of years of convincing we were able to take a group of teens on a mission trip to Harrisburg where we hooked up with AmeriCorps to remodel a house in a depressed neighborhood.
The following year we traveled to Washington D.C. to volunteer at a food bank, a neighborhood clean-up ministry and a hot meal distribution.
I hope the experiences expanded the teens’ understanding of our diverse national population and the needs of so many American citizens.
Our teens were highly active and seemed to enjoy being together. Tussey Mountain ski resort was just outside Boalsburg and we made an annual trip to spend a day tubing at the place. After tubing we stopped in the restaurant for much needed hot chocolate.
In the summer we hit Tussey Mountain to ride the go-karts and try the batting cages. We didn’t have Disney near by but we did have Hershey and a trip to Hershey Park became an annual affair.
Most years I didn’t have to engage with security at the park due to actions by individuals in our group. Actually, that only happened one time. The teens and leaders looked forward to the day at Hershey all year long.
Our photos tell of several different events with the teens including adventures into the wilderness near Boalsburg. We had parties and picnics in the church yard when we could think of a reason to party, which was often.
My favorite annual party event was the fifty foot long ice cream sundae. The fifty foot long sundae was prepared in a rain gutter lined with aluminum foil. Gallons of ice cream were scooped into the gutter and topped with the usual sundae extras. It was marvelous. This dessert idea was one I ‘stole’ from Julia during my Young Life years in Norway. And yes, the dessert became a food fight every year. We took the confirmation class to the annual Hartman Center confirmation retreat and participated in sleepovers for fun and spiritual growth. One weekend sleep over was a World Vision 30-hour famine and another year a homeless experience sleeping in cardboard boxes was endured. Once a year the teens led the worship service and the late service on Christmas Eve was theirs. I remember one year the Christmas Eve service was based on ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. Our narrator showed up with a ‘Grinchy’ green face to add to the spirit of the evening.
The Lutheran and UCC congregations were gifted a patch of woods just outside of town named Witmer Park and the confirmation class spent an annual weekend camping out, cooking and attending classes. That might be Jonah preaching to the Ninevites in the third photo below.
Part of our spiritual growth journey included building a labyrinth which was used for meditation once completed. After the construction project we needed a siesta more than we needed meditation. There always seemed to be a stone in a spot we did not need one.
Of course, Witmer Park required constant maintenance to keep paths cleared and picnic tables repaired. The teens were always part of the crews who did the work. The teens also volunteered on work day at Hartman Center (Penn Central Conference of the United Church of Christ camp and conference center.) to help keep the camp looking good.
At the end of Sarah’s senior year I took the graduates to Pittsburgh for a daytrip. We spent most of the day at a hands-on science museum before looking for a mall. At first we found a ‘fake’ mall, so named because most of the stores were out of business, there was no food court, and no crowds were present. We did not stay in that mall awfully long and soon found a real mall. I remember circling around the food court and eating the free samples each time I passed by the freebees. That was surprisingly good eating. Our night event was attending a dinner theater. We got lost on the way. Remember, this was before cell phone GPS. We went through Squirrel Hill tunnel twice and drove down the Boulevard of the Allies three times. The photo of us at Heinz field is appropriate because we began to believe there was a Heinz Field franchise after passing it the fourth time.
After driving up Mount Washington and asking a mafia hitman for directions we got headed in the right direction. Leaving Mount Washington we arrived at the crest of the hill just as our navigator looked up from his map in the back seat to see only sky in the windshield. He almost passed out. Eventually, we found our way to the venue where I dropped the teens at the door and parked. Turns out it was the wrong door, and they crashed a wedding reception. We did arrive at the correct place in time for our food to be brought to us and the play to start. This trip is legend in our house but I never tried it again.
We had a great bunch of teens at Boalsburg and the leaders were excellent. My ministry with those young people and leaders holds a special place in my heart still today.
Another ministry with young people was the summer vacation bible school. This ministry was a joint venture with the Lutherans across the street and was already a well-oiled outreach. One of our gals wrote the curriculum with input from teams formed by both churches. The Lutheran pastor and I were assigned the leadership of the openings which we wrote ourselves loosely based on something that was popular on television or the movies that year. The openings took place in the sanctuary before everyone was bussed to Witmer Park for the day’s activities. Having that patch of woods gave us so much flexibility. I only remember one bloody episode during our tenure at St. John’s which means we were a relatively safe operation even in the woods. That one time a young girl had walked into a piece of branch sticking out of a log. By the time I arrived on scene one of the leaders had wrapped the wound with a red bandana which made it a little difficult to determine what was blood and what was red fabric. There might have been stitches involved in that injury but my memory is not helping me with this one.
My memory is also spotty on the themes we created for bible school but My Jane made me a ‘T-shirt’ quilt that includes two of the t-shirts from bible school.
I do not remember much about ‘The Quest for Living Water’. But ‘Rejoice as Gods Stewards’ was pirate themed, and my name was ‘Rags’ which was a homograph for the theme. I also remember being hoarse for a week after bible school from using a pirate voice those five days. (Alexa: Play, ‘Pirates of The Caribbean (Title Theme)’ by Voidoid) I have only one photo from the bible school openings but its a good one ‘Maty’. ARGH!
In 2007 we did a spinoff of Indiana Jones. That summer My Jane and I would be attending General Synod in Hartford, Connecticut the first two days of bible school which complicated the planning.
We decided to video me as if I was communicating with Indy on a video call. Since I was the Brody character, I was filmed on an archaeological dig (in the dirt part of the Lutheran church basement), and in the second scene I was lost in some woods (bushes in a field across the street) talking with Indy on those video calls. The other three days of the week I would be back to interact with Indy in person. It was a great plan and My Jane and I left for General Synod confident in a good plan.
Jeff and Randy, My Jane and I had a great time at the 50th birthday of the United Church of Christ at General Synod in Hartford, Connecticut. Unfortunately, I never did get to bible school that year. During the trip back from Connecticut we received a call that my Mother was in the hospital with appendicitis. To make the situation more complicated Mom’s dementia became impossible for her to hide from us and the medical personnel. Her doctor warned us that if we allowed her to return home, he would report us for elder abuse. Mom could not go back to her home. Fortunately, sister Randy still had connections with UCC Homes, and we found a place for Mom until we could work out a permanent solution for her care. My siblings and their spouses were all at Mom’s house discussing how we were going to make this work when Sarah called from Florida. She was working at Disney World on a student internship program. (More about this in another blog.) She wanted us to know that she was engaged to be married. Life comes at you fast sometimes. One aside about Mom. She was not happy about never returning to her home, of course. During early visits with her she would let me know she was mad at me for not allowing her to go back home. Soon during visits she couldn’t remember who she was mad at but it was one of her children. I would tell her it was one of the other siblings she was mad at. It wasn’t long until during visits she would say, ‘I love my children’. Dementia is a terrible disease.
The young people were continually active in the ministry at St. John’s UCC Boalsburg during our five years in Centre County. We have only fond memories of the time shared with the youth and their leadership team.