Series - Losing Our Moral Compass (Harry Thomas Jr.)

Like a lot of other people, I am not a native Washingtonian. In the almost 20 years, I’ve seen a lot of unethical behaviors come and go. However, the news story yesterday about how DC Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. executed his kickback scheme two days after he was elected, was just too much.

Alan Suderman of the City Paper says it best “Harry Thomas Jr. wasn’t particularly subtle in how he went about stealing more than $350,000 in D.C. taxpayer funds.”  Arrogance and lack of ethics combined. “He plunked down nearly $70,000 for an SUV and $25,000 for a motorcycle. He even spent $1,374 on three pairs of what federal prosecutors describe as “exotic shoes.”"

I fail to understand why theft and lack of morality are so much a part of this area. Maybe it’s my calling to alert people to the obvious – it’s wrong to steal. It’s worse to steal from children. All I pray for is God to work this evil to an even greater good.

Source: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/looselips/2012/05/02/who-is-watching/”

What is your Go To "cry" song?

Last night, Rob Carson from Mix 107.3 posed the question “what is your Go To cry song?”

I didn’t know all the songs the listeners mentioned but it did take me back to a time, as they say, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. It was the ‘70s (1970s for you youngens) and my fiancé’ dumped me. Rocker Meatloaf just released the hit “Two out of three ain’t bad” and it fit our situation to a tee. I cried for a week and lost six pounds. Until this day, whenever I hear that song on the oldie stations, a little tear appears.

What is your Go To “cry” song?

What She Said vs What He Heard (volume 1, issue 1)

Several weeks ago the morning train ride into DC had an unexpected “repair” component. I had been sitting in the upper level of the “Chicago” double-deckers reading Our Daily Bread. FYI – MARC has money issues so when other transit systems retire their old trains, they buy them. Since I lived in the Chicago area for almost ten years, I take an extra bit of enjoyment in having Chicago in DC.

This particular ride, one of the regulars was clacking away furiously on his laptop when all in a sudden he jumped up and banged on the loose panel over the luggage rack. I laughed because that was something I would do and was glad I wasn’t the only one. Not thinking twice, I said “You’re a man after my own heart.” Well, my words apparently did NOT go through the “female-to-male”^© translator properly because he looked at me as though I had made an unwanted pass at him!

I know I am not as cute as I was 10 years ago so his unwelcoming facial expression was not a surprise but didn’t make my morning either - in two respects. First, I am not that bad looking that I need to put a bag over my face but second, and the bigger issue, is why did he assume my show of commiseration was a flirt?

Once I got over my mini mid-life trauma, I fished around in my cosmetic bag for my nail clipper and saying a lot more carefully “it’s a good thing I am old enough to have watched the original episodes of MacGuyver. Here try this.” Then, I handed him the nail clipper with an earnest, trouble-shooting look on my face. He looked carefully at me to see if I was giving him that moo face some women do when they are flirting. (BTW – I do not do the moo face.) When he realized I wasn’t, he took the nail clipper, undid the nail file part, and applied himself to the task of tightening up the screws. When he was finished I said “good job” the same way my friend Bobbie says it to her dogs - just in case the female-to-male translator^© was still malfunctioning.

Later in the day, I thought more about the “art” of communication. Even in the 2000’s you will notice no one calls it a science. Anyway, the expression (actually “idiom” if we are being grammatically correct) “after my own heart” is common enough. It’s even used in the Bible. To be sure I didn’t miss something in my education, I googled it and confirmed it is indeed used to express an area of commonality with the other person.

To close my first issue of “She said vs He heard”, I don’t know why he thought what he did. Perhaps he is arrogant or perhaps this is one phrase that needs to be converted to something else before it goes through The translator because I really don’t want other men to think the same thing.

Stopping to Help – Another View of the Good Samaritan

In the June 11, 2010 Our Daily Bread, Marvin Williams tells a story about Dr. Kurtzman who encountered a multi-car car crash on the way to giving a keynote lecture but stopped to help out.

With my many years in pharmaceutical research, I’ve come to know many medical professionals so I know, up close and personal, that not all of them stop to help. Your gut reaction perhaps, like mine was, might be to ask “how could they not stop and help? They are professionals.”

Just like the first two passers by in the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan, they didn’t want to get involved - at that particular moment. One senior nurse told me she was afraid of getting sued if the outcome was not good. She knows someone who got sued and even though she is a practicing Christian, she doesn’t want to take the risk.

For those of us who aren’t professionals, I feel the excessive use of electronic communication makes it easier for us to pass by live events even when we can help in some small way. I spend 90% of my work day on the computer and when I exit Union Station to see many disadvantaged people begging for money, I have one of two reactions. Sometimes I am just so overwhelmed with my own sorrows that I slink past them hoping someone else will step up to the plate that day. Other times, God opens my heart and I pour it over everyone in my path.

These disadvantaged people are mostly men - the women do not survive as long in that circumstance. Many are homeless and some get limited assistance but it’s not enough to live someplace and eat. They are part of the chronically unemployed who never get counted in the national statistics. They have no hope for a better tomorrow. And, it’s all they can do to make it through the day so they can huddle in the shelters at night.

Williams concludes his devotion with a call to action “let’s be those who stop to help.” I can help in some small way so I am taking this to heart.