THE FALLEN CLERIC

When I got this from YouTube, there were people there commenting, “This is crap — all those groups ARE evil.”  Cleese’s point is not that every person in every one of these groups is angelic, his point is that that isn’t the point.  His point is precisely that targeting this or that group is a way for us to avoid looking closely at ourselves.  This video, funny as it is, speaks volumes about basic human nature and gets to what I believe is humanity’s core problem.

What do you think?  Does Cleese have a point here?

Here is another example of the paranoia that is coming so often from the political right these days.  This is a great illustration of how we can assign meaning to things that seems to resonate on a visceral level, and yet we can miss the mark completely.

[disclaimer: I realize political paranoia is not the exclusive domain of the right.  But with a Democratic president, it just appears to be the right's particular forte at this time]

[another disclaimer: I do not endorse every single thing about the clip below.  But I wholeheartedly endorse its general point about the paranoia]

[final disclaimer: comment if you wish, but I will only post comments that are about this clip.  I will not post comments that simply want to show how the other side is just as absurd.  Until each side takes responsibility for its own absurdity, there can be no progress.]

To skip right to the main point, start viewing at 2:20.

Okay, I’m completely kidding.  I just put that as a headline because I knew it would get your attention.  Worked, didn’t it?    Besides, there’s already a Famous Dave in the world.

Having said that, this post is a shameless appeal to those of you who read my blog to help me get the word out.  I don’t presume to know everything, and I know not everyone will appreciate my ideas, but I’ll bet everyone who reads my blog has one or two people in their life who might find some of this stuff worthwhile.  Either that or it’s just the 200 or so of you who are regular readers, and I’ve already tapped out every single person on the planet who might care to read!

Let’s face it.  You don’t owe me anything.  I write words.  You happen to care about some of them because they form some kind of intersection with your life.  I get what I need (readers) and you get what you need (hopefully words that sometimes challenge, encourage, inform, or inspire you).  Officially, that’s the end of our transaction.  You’ve done more than your share just by showing up.

Having said that, I want to reach as many as possible.  Would you consider passing on the URL of this blog to a few other people?  It is http://thefallencleric.com.  Or better yet, maybe there’s a particular post that you think could really help someone who is in need.  If so you could go to my blog, use the search box (top right) to find it, then click on the address in the address bar to send a link directly to that post.

I will send a $1,000.00 Barnes and Noble gift card to the person who refers the most people to my blog in the next week.

Okay, that’s me kidding again.  I will do nothing of the kind.  I wouldn’t even really have a way of tracking that.  Maybe someday when I’m actually making money to write, I will be in a position to do something cool like that.  For now, I pretty much depend on writing stuff you give some kind of a crap about, and then just hoping you might pass it along to others who care.

Whether you pass my stuff to a thousand people, or whether you only read it every 29 days yourself, thanks for your involvement.  Whatever the case, I’ll be right here, doing my thing – famous or not.

Peace out.

Originally posted 2009-12-09 23:45:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Most of my readers probably know I have multiple sclerosis.  In fact, I was diagnosed with MS 20 years ago, December 5, 1990.  1991 was the scariest year of my life and [in my best Forrest Gump voice], that’s all I have to say about that.

But here I am 20 years later doing better than I ever imagined.  I have run in a 5k recently with my teenage daughter.  I carried my three babies up the stairs to bed every night, and played on the floor with them, and have been at all their events, and rode roller coasters with them at Cedar Point.  I trained for the Crim with my wife.  I bought a cane 10 years ago but have only had to use it a couple of times.  I have lived a productive life, largely free from MS, with the exception of some significant and scary flare-ups here and there.

This morning I was reading the blog of another person who, like me, was diagnosed with MS 20 years ago and who, like me, has had very few problems.  But lately she has noticed that she is having increasing difficulty walking.  I must admit this tapped into very deep fears, and I found myself looking back over the last few months to see if I too have had problems.  So far, so good.  I mean, I have definitely noticed some extremely annoying symptoms, but nothing I can’t ignore, and nothing that is obvious to anyone but  me.  So far, so good.

As I was reading this woman’s blog, I scrolled down to the comments section and read where one of her friends was encouraging her by saying, “I’ll continue to walk in the MS walk with you to help you raise money to treat your disease.”  I got to thinking about how intentionally uninvolved I have been with MS-related causes.  The course of my MS has been mild enough to allow me to live months at a time without hardly thinking about it at all.  Given that in 1990 and ‘91 I figured that by now I’d have been in a wheelchair for years, I have determined to simply not think about MS as long as it is possible to not think about MS.

Isn’t that in some ways what separates people who have chronic illnesses from people who don’t?  People who don’t have chronic illnesses are free to take their health for granted in most ways.  They are free of the burden of wondering what will happen next, and whether their current flare-up will get worse or stay the same, and how far this one is going to spiral down, and whether and how much functioning they will recover if it does get better.  I got to wondering what I’d do if tomorrow a flare-up started that got worse and worse until I did end up in a wheelchair, or maybe blind, or suffered some other type of permanent disability.  I realized the first thing I’d do is start trying to raise money for MS.  It’s no wonder that people without MS don’t get involved in finding a cure for it.  I’ve had MS for 20 years and I’ve never been involved, nor have I ever given a single dollar to fight the very disease that one day just might start to catch up with me.

This has to change.  Now is the time I can do the MS-Walk to raise money to cure the disease.  Now is the time I can do this simply because I am part of a unique group of people – people with multiple sclerosis – many of whom can no longer walk, much less run, exercise aggressively, and work three jobs like I do.  I have focused so long on the blessing of not having to think about MS that I have not enjoyed the blessing of being in a position to help do something about it while I still can.

There are many diseases and they all suck.  But MS is my disease.  It’s a natural way I can reach out and do a little good for other people who are suffering.  My MS may never get any worse, and I hope it doesn’t, but we all need to find a group of people to serve.

So I’m going to walk in the MS walk this year.  I’m thinking of the one in Traverse City in June.  As a pastor I’m weary of coming across like I am using my position to raise money for my pet cause, so I will probably not talk much about it in public.  On the other hand, if you think you might be interested in supporting me in any way, keep an eye on this blog and I will be posting more definite information once I get signed up.  Heck, even if you only give $1, it’s $1 more than I’ve given in 20 years of actually having MS!

That’s about to change.

I have just made it a bit easier for you to find my blog.  You can now leave “wordpress” out of the address, and just type thefallencleric.com into your browser.

Now for a word about subscribing.  About 98% of my readers are simply clicking on the link I post to this blog after I write each new post.  While there is nothing wrong with this, it is kind of the roundabout way of reading a blog.  The easiest way to do it is to simply have each post automatically download into Internet Explorer or Firefox as it becomes available.  In Internet Explorer, do this by clicking on RSS – Posts in the Subscribe box at the top right of this page.  At the top of the page, you will see a message like this:

You are viewing a feed that contains frequently updated content. When you subscribe to a feed, it is added to the Common Feed List. Updated information from the feed is automatically downloaded to your computer and can be viewed in Internet Explorer and other programs. Learn more about feeds.
Subscribe to this feed

Click on  the Subscribe to this feed link in your browser.  A dialog box will come up.  Click the Add to Favorites Bar checkbox, and click on the Subscribe button. That’s it.  From now on, every time I finish a new post, Internet Explorer will notify you.  You’ll see The Fallen Cleric on your toolbar at the top of your browser, and when you mouse over it, the most recent posts will pop up underneath, newest to oldest, top to bottom.  Just click on the one you want to read.

In Firefox, simply click on the orange RSS symbol on the right side of your address bar.  A new page will come up.  Make sure it says, “Subscribe to this feed using Live Bookmarks.”  Click Subscribe Now.  That’s it.  Now you will be able to view posts in your browser as the blog is updated.

The advantage to subscribing is that you don’t have to a) remember the address of the blog and keep typing it into your browser; b) look for the link on Facebook.  This can cut Facebook out of the picture entirely, as you’ll no longer be dependent on Facebook to know when a new post goes up.  Simply open your browser and if there’s anything new, you’ll see it by mousing over The Fallen Cleric icon on your browser toolbar.

And there is your tech training for today!

Originally posted 2009-11-03 02:36:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter