Thou hast done a deed whereat valour will weep.

L

ots swirling around in my mind of late…. Not the least of which are my lines for the show I’m in.

It  has been almost 3 years since my last acting gig, and I am seriously out of practice in the memorization department.     If you don’t use a skill regularly, it gets rusty—and I am proving that right now.      So I am really struggling to get the dialogue into my memory bank—I even wondered if banging the script repeatedly against my forehead would work.     It didn’t.

 I’m also worried about why the “check engine” light came on today in the car I’ve owned for less that 2 weeks—please God don’t let me start with a whole new set of car issues.     I couldn’t take it.    Guess who’ll be calling the dealer tomorrow.

Then there’s the new position I applied for at work—and didn’t get.     It would have been totally up my alley, so I’m really disappointed.      I love the group of folks I work with, but I’m over the whole phone thing.     I need new challenges.      Well, I’ll keep looking for other opportunities... And hope my age isn’t going against me.

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But the big thing my mind is wrestling with is how 9 years after the attacks of Sept. 11^th we haven’t seemed to learn much of anything.      We have people attacking Muslims in parts of this country.    [How can you call yourself a Christian and want to burn a Holy Book.    And how can you have the gall to say you prayed to God and he told you to go ahead and do it??!!??]   We have people running immigrants out of their towns.      [My grandfather was an immigrant—should I not be here?]     

We still have people with the same ignorant attitudes that are causing others we share this planet with to hate us.     And I can’t really blame them.

I know that’s not going to be a popular viewpoint, but I’m just being honest here.     Why are we still so arrogant—and ignorant?     Where do we get off thinking our way is the only way to do things?     There are cultures in this world that have been around WAY longer than we have.  

For many years—since my days of being a student in Catholic school actually—I have said we should be teaching children all over the world about all religions and cultures.      The more you know about something, the less you fear it.  

I have tried in my own way during my adult years to learn about other religions and cultures.      And the differences aren’t what strike me—it’s the fundamental similarities.     We are all worshipping a deity of some sort—we just choose to call him different names.

So, get over yourselves America—we are not the “be all and end all” of how things should be done.   Open yourselves up to the wonder of how other people live—and worship.