A Toast To Scrooge!

Here’s to Scrooge!

Huh, whassat, you say? Honor a hard-hearted, grouchy old miser? Toast he who thought so little of good works, aid to the poor and such that he saw the death of starving souls as a Malthusian economic benefit that would “decrease the surplus population?” Humbug on that!

Were this Scrooge’s whole story our revulsion at the mere mention of his name would be duly warranted. But it’s not. Indeed the reason that “A Christmas Carol” is one of literature’s most popular tales is the joyous redemption and salvation of Ebenezer Scrooge.

His turnabout was so complete that Scrooge “became as good a friend, as good a teacher, and as good a man, as any person could hope to know,” a man who honored Christmas in his heart all the year.

So why is it that we continue to greet his name with a sneering contempt, forever condemning Dickens’s creation as a cold, callous curmudgeon despite his incredible conversion?

Is it that we tend to see mainly the negative in life and not really trust in the possibility of miracles? Does it betray a latent tendency we have to pre-judge, label and pigeonhole the “other” in a way that smothers the potential for good?

On one end of that spectrum are those everyday acquaintances with whom we may give short shrift, letting the negative we see cloud what good that is there. At the extreme are death row prisoners condemned to a fate worse than their execution: man’s judgment of their utter unredeemability.

Similarly, in today’s red/blue divide faith and hope seem at times to be flying the white flag of surrender. Each side so certain of the righteousness of their cause and the stupidity of the other’s. Even “Merry Christmas” has, for some, become a rallying call of in-your-face defiance instead of the heartfelt expression of warmth and goodwill that Jesus would want.

Fact is, like Scrooge, we may all be wrong in our assumptions. Scrooge was so sure of the rightness of his harsh ways that his discovery of how wrong he had been, and the harm caused thereby, devastated him. The thought that this was irreversible was unbearable.

So imagine his joy upon discovering that he had a second chance to correct his past and make a better future. All that mattered to Scrooge, given this new lease on life, was to do good and to love his fellow man. Hard economic theory melted in the warm glow of Scrooge’s newfound charity.

Others’ deficiencies mattered not to Scrooge, only what HE could do to keep Christmas in his heart every day of every year. No wonder he was “as light as a feather, as happy as an angel and as merry as a schoolboy.”

At heart what we celebrate in Christmas is the essence of Dickens’s masterpiece: the Good News of salvation and redemption for all humanity! Comes the Prince of Peace with tidings of gladness, of joy, and of the hope that humankind will climb the higher path, collectively and individually.

God’s greatest gift, whether seen or not, is ever present. Perhaps it will take a Scrooge-like Spiritual visit to open our eyes. Or maybe like a wondrous tot on Christmas morn we can grasp with joy what is already there! Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

Moo on! Richard F. Dawahare December 24, 2004

From Gospel to Gleason

A full day. How lucky am I? Starts with a crisply cold morn with wisps of snow, blessed holiday snow, on the way to early service, just in time for the Decalogue.

Interesting--upon reading the 2nd Commandment… “Thou (i.e. YOU, suckah!, okay me too) shalt not make unto thee any graven image of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” and I thought, WOW is the very cross that we revere AN IDOL? Seems to fit the definition, but who am I to say, a cynic and a sinner and one who actually liked Kentucky’s smiley-faced license plate (before it won the award for the country’s best).

Rev. Sally’s customarily great sermon rightfully praised Joseph’s faithfulness in God’s word that his fiancé’s pregnancy was of the Spirit, and not by what Joseph supposed was Mary’s philandering. Rev Sally had us put ourselves in Joseph’s shoes and realize that indeed, to have the faith of Joseph in a circumstance where he discovers his betrothed to be pregnant (without of course having “relations” with her), then to marry Mary, and name and raise Jesus as God’s angel, Gabriel, directed was an incredible act of faith that resulted in the world’s salvation [in my belief for Christians and non-Christians alike, as I do not believe Jesus would have chosen ANY religion, but that is another subject…].

She then noted the blessed nature of the “Virgin mother” Mary, considered the most high, especially in the Catholic faith. Then a thought hit me like a bombshell: Jesus’ own attitude and treatment of his mother—at least what the Gospels show—was NOT very respectful…at least not near the adoration of her Catholic followers.

One of the few times the Gospels show Jesus’ interaction with his mother is in John 2:4 at the wedding in Cana where Mary, “the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, WOMAN, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE?” Wow, THIS is “honoring thy mother” (the 5th Commandment)? I dunno about that, but hey, he’s Jesus, so give him the Michael Jordan no foul call.

I mean, he thinks so little of his birth mother that he says in Luke 8:21 “My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it” in response to his being told that his mother and brothers were there to see him.

I am not judging, but simply observing what appears to be Jesusian behavior diametrically opposed to what we would assume and suppose to be the ideal, that is, what follows to the T the TC (Ten Commandments). Like when he healed on the Sabbath, and says—and I paraphrase in the lingo of an independent Southerner… "By Gawd the Sabbath was made for MAN, not the other way around!”

You know, there’s something about “Mary” because not only was that the name of his mother, but also his consort of sorts, Mary Magdalene. No proof that Jesus did more than absolve her and restore her to God’s embrace, but who knows. There’s so much missing, like all those years between his youth and his last days—weeks--months from which we learn all we know about Issa (the Hindi name for Jesus, apparently he spent some of those missing years traveling India, perhaps picking up and/or sharing his own, spirituality…definitely another subject).

This thread (which I had no intention of starting at this post’s inception) of biblical reality in conflict with traditional perception, I will sew up with a referral to Acts 4:32-37, a section you won’t often see cited, as it is a God-given prescription for the ideal way a community should live so as to maximize the COMMON WEALTH. These passages are really a description of what centuries later would be called theoretical COMMUNISM/SOCIALISM (NOT Soviet or any Communism as practiced today with tyrranical, terroristic force!), where the disciples had the townspeople sell what they had, bring all together for the common good so that people took what they needed and all lived happily and well thereafter. Incredible, but true, read it!…

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**OOH, OOH (Car 54 Where Are You OOH, OOH)-- watching It’s a Wonderful Life as I write this, it’s just at the point where George Bailey defends his dad and lays into Potter who criticized giving easy, generous terms to low income working class citizens which he claimed created a “discontented lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class all because a few starry eyed dreamers like Peter Bailey stirs them up and fills their head with impossible ideas!”

George Bailey stood up and CORRECTLY said his dad selflessly forsook higher profits, lived frugally so as to help others live better and observes “Don’t it make them better citizens, don’t it make them better customers?” Yes, yes, a thousand times yes it does.

So what is today’s selfless (low, little, private profit that enables low income people to have more) version of Bailey’s Building and Loan? To be continued….**

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The rest of the day included a heartfelt talk with a friend at the bookstore, another one or two in other stores, including our own, more Christmas decorating at home, more space heaters bought (hopefully ones that will actually WORK so that I can pay the electric company instead of the gas co.), then to my one of my best friend’s party at his festively decorated new home, and now for the past few hours typing and watching Smokey and the Bandit and Holy Christmas was JACKIE GLEASON HILARIOUS!!

It doesn’t get funnier! What a day.

Moo on! Rfd, December 19 & 20, 2004

Where's the "est"?

My last post extolling Kentucky's beauty on a recent drive seemed a bit braggadocious, as if I had some kind of pride of authorship in making my native state something special. I am particularly sensitive to this feeling as I just returned from the Netherlands where I kept commenting on it being the "est"--the prettiEST, the artiEST, the quaintEST.

Will is a friend I met through Rotary on a previous trip to Amsterdam. On my recent trip Will showed me that famed Dutch hospitality as he had me over to his home in the very center of old Amsterdam, then on Sunday he took me to a number of small villages--places all the tour books say "you simply MUST go (dahhh-ling). " Vollendam and Marken are two of the most picturesque. They are seaside villages with the typical Dutch wooden homes, windmills, cows and geese that just oozes with quiet, quaint serenity.

Like my drive through Central Kentucky, what accentuated this tour was the unbelievably dramatic skies. Even Will gazed and repeated in his Dutch-accented English "This is Fan-TAWS-tik". One could now see what inspired Vermeer and Jan Steen to paint those Dutch countryside landscapes featuring the very same multi hued clouds stretching across the bright blue sky that we were then experiencing.

One could be forgiven for believing--and saying--that this spot at this time was the most beautiful place on earth, the bEST.

Fact is, though, that across the globe there were countless others right at that exact time who were similarly experiencing there own Nirvana. For each of us, THAT what we were then experiencing was, for us, the "EST." Objectively were we to share each others' milieu we may agree that ALL such places were EST.

And while Kentucky and its people are wonderful, the quest for EST is a non-starter. It is an irrelevant and limiting journey.

Truth be known Jack Daniels is still the most popular single brand of whiskey. And in Haarlem, a village just outside of Amsterdam, I met a Thai gentleman working in his aunt's restaurant who lived for 5 years in both Knoxville and Lexington. He said by far Tennessee was much friendlier and more accepting to him.

So is Kentucky EST? Yes, it's est and so is the place that touches your breast.

Moo on! RFD 12/10/04

A Postcard Perfect Day in the Bluegrass

It all started with Bobby. He is our sales rep for various men's accessories products like Tommy Hilfiger belts and wallets and Geoffrey Beene jewelry. Bobby came up from Florida--where he recently lost his home and every material thing he and his family owned in Hurricane Ivan to visit our stores and insure his product was properly displayed.

So he asks me to do him a favor and drive him around our stores in central Kentucky. This was a pleasure for me as I love visiting our stores, greeting our associates and driving the rural Kentucky landscape.

We started from our Gardenside store, where we keep our central offices. Next was Fayette Mall. But it was the remaining portion of our journey that was simply SPECTACULAR!

Leaving that store we headed out of town through Nicholasville to our store in Danville, home of Centre College, who beat Harvard 6-0 in a 1921 game that the Associated Press later billed as the upset of the century. It was the first time Harvard lost an intersectional game in 4 decades.

We then circled back east to our store in Richmond, KY. This drive, though field after rolling field, over, by and through streaming brooks and windy two lane roads, was “over the river and through the woods” awesome! Cows so peaceful, either laying in the field, or munching on their feast of greens. Circling hawks, flying geese, ravens and roosters, pristine ponds--'twas as if Audubon himself had ordered this farmland fantasy.

And most dramatic was the sky: it was alive with action. Crystal blue with crisp, gale force winds blowing massive billowing clouds--some white, some various shades of gray--a real Dutch Masters portrait. From Richmond to Winchester we even caught a choo-choo train as it snaked by the tumbling stream.

Bobby said it best: “This is the most beautiful state and this is the most spectacular postcard perfect scenery I have ever seen.” Bobby, a 30 year road warrior veteran, echoed the sentiments of every salesperson I’ve worked with who has traversed our Commonwealth. From Chicago to New York, California to Florida, all who’ve visited Kentucky calls it the most scenic of states.

I woulda paid for this drive, but like most of life’s best things, it was free!

Moo on! Rfd 12/7/04