by Ken Brown
Springfield, MO
Choice...
...what a critical and difficult mental exercise. Interestingly, CHOICE is something for which adult chooser holds responsibility, she/he/it needs to be the judge of the selections. Unless directly affected, one should be careful in judgments of other people's choices. For example, presently too many within our American society cry out from one side of their mouths for unfettered "freedom to choose" while demanding legislation to end some choices of those not like-minded on certain issues. The target group are the "haves" judging the "have-nots."
From the Ozark Uncle's perspective, quite a few judgments of others are clouded because the judge simply has too much food in her, his, it's gut. Explain that, Unc! Well, very hungry people just view things differently than the well-fed among us. If you're in the latter group, then try it some time and notice the difference--your perspective could very well turn upside down after prolonged hunger. This oddity is best explained by Maslow's Needs Hierarchy.
Many of us, the Ozark Uncle included, started at or near the bottom of Maslow's chart and advanced up the tiers to where physiological needs are not so pressing. Unfortunately, once a few rungs higher, we often forget what it was like when on the bottom. Again, the disconnect is simply the result of having too much food in one's stomach. Food for thought?
THE UNCLE'S RELISHED AND REGRETTED CHOICES
- Relished (No Organized Religion) - Those who chose to read an earlier Ozark Uncle's blog posting, BAPTIST TURN GREEN, learned of the Ozark Uncle's choice of secular education over a narrowly scripted one based on the Protestant Bible. That choice (which was a couple of decades in the making), plus a later decision to turn away from any formal religious institution, would set him on a path of spiritual loneliness but not hopelessness. In the process, however, the message of Jesus somehow got hard-wired within the Ozark Uncle by no conscious choice of his own. Perhaps, that's why the Uncle truly enjoys church services when he attends and observes the uplifted and ignores the indifferent ones.
- Regretted (No Military Service) - While the Ozark Uncle is comfortable with his position (albeit ever changing) on religion, he probably only rues one of his most critical choices--to opt for college over military service. It was the 1960s part of the Vietnam War era, and he wishes he would have chosen to join with those who served in the U.S. Air Force or the U.S. Navy. [Readers, correct the Ozark Uncle if he's wrong on the following statement] In general, those who either couldn't choose or simply neglected to do so were drafted by the U.S. Army and were closest to the action. It was a war among men and a war within men where their morals and ethics were challenged.
In the Ozark Uncle's opinion, those like himself who haven't served are not complete, and a little hollow inside. (The Ozark Uncle's Vietnam-era vet friends know that he has the utmost respect for those who did that job for all of us).
Like all Americans, the Ozark Uncle has made thousands of choices during his 66 years of existence--choices about schools, jobs, relationships, money, religion, and even movies. While he has few regrets regarding his choices, he does rue his choice to watch the 1982 film, Sophie's Choice, with Meryl Streep. Her choice remains lodged in his brain like a festering splinter that can't be removed no matter how much he digs with the longest and sharpest needle.
Related to ABORTION, the Ozark Uncle has had three occasions in his life to encourage a women not to abort a child; once, his advice was taken, on another instance the child was aborted for perhaps the wrong reasons, and the third was aborted for perhaps a rational reason; but again, who is the Ozark Uncle to judge. Being the last born to a mother of five whose health should have stopped her childbearing at one, the Ozark Uncle recognizes that life is a very random event; if it had turned out that his mother died because of his birth, the Ozark Uncle would wish she had aborted him. She was a wonderful person, and her husband would die only four years later than the Ozark Uncle's birth. Four orphans would have been created. Make any sense?
Regarding GAY LIFESTYLES, the Ozark Uncle staked out his position in the posting MOST EVIL--MUSLIMS, GAYS, OR SERPENTS? Credible individuals (e.g., Jerry Falwell's ghost writer, Mel White) have come out of the closet in recent years to report childhood and teenage same-sex attractions that they could neither explain nor control. Who is the Ozark Uncle (or anyone) to not accept these testimonies such as that of Mel White's. A response from a conservative Christian friend to the aforementioned blog posting was "I don't care what he said, it's a choice he made, [damn it]!" The Ozark Uncle pondered this response and now posts this rebuttal--really, only gays CAN possibly know whether it is a choice or not--just think about it. At age five, the Ozark Uncle knew he had no choice in his attraction to the female gender.
But gay bashers need to call it "CHOICE." To demonize a group of people, just say that the "sinner" can help it by simply making a different choice; then compassion is taken off the table helping to ensure that the group is expelled with no hope of re-inclusion. In recent decades the same tactic has also been used to declare that all poor people choose to shun work and live the way they do. Within that group are millions who deserve some compassion. Read on.
UNCLE! SEGUE NOW--Readers Don't Leave Yet, Please....
Professor Uncle encouraged open-mindedness always regardless of the perils that accompany it. That segues to the stories of (1) Edith, Lot's wife, and (2) Ethel. Both made dramatic choices that deserve some discussion. Read on.
____________________________________
EDITH'S CHOICE
 |
| Magdalene Collums |
Magdalene's poetry is so wonderful that even the unpoetic Ozark Uncle has come to love all of it. Magdalene's works are far ranging--flowers, birds, people, family and school memories, places and events, social issues, and religious dogma. Also included are poems in which she defends Arkansas against outside critics' condescending remarks.
When the Ozark Uncle was working on Magdalene's manuscript, several different poems caught his eye including a couple in which she provided a defense of Lot's wife as she looked back at Sodom and turned to a pillar of salt (Genesis 19 of the Protestant Old Testament). Here's one of the two poems:
Sundown at Sodom
by Magdalene Collums, Hope AR
copyright 2011
But she did have other reasons.
She looked back mourning her silver bowl,
Carelessly while tying her sandal strap,
So she wouldn't have to stare at the righteous nape
Of her husband Lot's neck.
From the sudden conviction that if she dropped dead,
He wouldn't so much as hesitate,
Struck by the silence, hoping God had changed his mind.
Their two daughters were already vanishing over the hilltop.
The wife felt age within her,
The futility of wandering.
She looked back not knowing where to set her foot.
Serpents appeared on the path,
Spiders, field mice, baby vultures.
They were neither good nor evil now;
Every living thing was simply creeping
Or hopping along in the mass panic.
She looked back in desolation,
In shame because they had stolen away,
Wanting to cry out, wanting to go home;
A sudden gust of wind unbound her hair.
It seemed to her that eyes were watching from the walls of Sodom
And bursting into thunderous laughter again and again.
She looked back in anger to savor their terrible fate.
She ran on; she crept; she flew upward
Until darkness fell and with it scorching gravel.
She couldn't breathe and spun around and around.
She looked back involuntarily
Until a sudden crack froze her solid in her tracks.
In both the above poem and in a second one entitled "Lot's Wife", Magdalene suggests that Lot's wife did not feel loved by her husband. Even the Ozark Uncle has thought what kind of husband would be out front of his wife in that traumatic situation and not behind her in a protective manner. He knows the story...the scribe wanted to illustrate what happens when God's Will is not followed. Yet, was not God's Will communicated to her via a husband who did not love her--she was at a spiritual disadvantage, for Christ's sake?! Wow, I'm good--maybe I'm ready to write for one of those big news channels where the censor of illogical news items usually has a hangover and fails to show up most days.)
For Lot's wife, Edith, her choice caused the end of her earthly existence but not the memory of her. As luck would have it, Lot apparently went on over the hill, told his story to the elders and then relayed to the purported Genesis author. Mention of her name was omitted from the Protestant Bible but Jewish lore identified her as "Ildeth" or "Edith" (it was the answer to a 2004 Jeopardy question)."
In the early 1970s, the Ozark Uncle was climbing up his career ladder as a bean-counting bureaucrat at a state-funded college. On a warm spring day, he'd just finished his lunch of hamburger and fries at the campus grill, and as he stepped out into the busy quadrangle, he noticed all heads were turned to the southeast where a clamor was developing. In a split second, they appeared from that direction--running at a leisurely gait--two young men wearing nothing but head gear. They were engaging in a new campus craze--streaking.For Lot's wife, Edith, her choice caused the end of her earthly existence but not the memory of her. As luck would have it, Lot apparently went on over the hill, told his story to the elders and then relayed to the purported Genesis author. Mention of her name was omitted from the Protestant Bible but Jewish lore identified her as "Ildeth" or "Edith" (it was the answer to a 2004 Jeopardy question)."
________________________________
ETHEL'S CHOICE
The second streaker lagging behind wore only a ski mask and was otherwise unworthy of mention. His chosen head gear's statement was "I'm frightened--why am I here, and please, Lord, let this be over without my being identified. What would Mom say?"
The laggard's companion in front, however, was most impressive--his only apparel were an vintage leather aviator cap, over-sized goggles, and a colorful scarf that draped around his face and neck before flowing freely behind him in the breeze--not unlike Snoopy as he chased after the Red Baron.
I focused on the leader, quite impressed, until he disappeared in the direction of the dormitories to the northwest. His head gear suggested a daring and adventuresome fellow who no doubt went on to lead an interesting life.
The Ozark Uncle secretlhy wanted to join the students who applauded the escapade but withdrew into his conservative and prudish 1970s self . Several seconds after the streakers had departed, a couple of overweight campus security guards came shuffling along the same path asking what direction the miscreants had gone. They got little assistance, and they probably didn't really want to catch them anyway.
The Ozark Uncle secretlhy wanted to join the students who applauded the escapade but withdrew into his conservative and prudish 1970s self . Several seconds after the streakers had departed, a couple of overweight campus security guards came shuffling along the same path asking what direction the miscreants had gone. They got little assistance, and they probably didn't really want to catch them anyway.
The Mooning of Ethel
Streaking eventually faded away but stayed long enough for comedy musician, Ray Stevens, to get a hit from his 1974 song, the Streak. A link to his delightful music video is provided at the bottom of this post. Here is a portion of the lyrics:
 |
| Ray Stevens |
Once again, your action news reporter in the booth at the gym covering the disturbance at the basketball playoff. Pardon me, sir, did you see what happened?
Yeah, I did. Halftime, I's just going down there to get Ethel a snow cone. Here he come, right outta the cheap seats, dribbling. Right down the middle of the floor. Didn't have on nothing but his Keds! Made a hook shot and got out through the concession stand.
I hollered up at Ethel, I said "don't look, Ethel!"...too late. She'd already gotten a free shot. Grandstand. Right there in front of the home team.
The song finishes with the following:
"Ethel! Is that you Ethel? What do you think you're doing? You get your clothes on!" "Ethel, where you going? Ethel, you shameless hussy!!" Ethel!!
Bantering around about the relationship between Ethel and her husband would be fun. Was he trying to protect her from an act of indecency or was he controlling her? Deep down, did he sense that Ethel was impressionable and secretly had a desire for independence--for the freedom to choose? Taking Stevens' song further, the Ozark Uncle wonders how Ethel's marital relationship changed after her wild moment of self-expression. But he had better get on to the point of this post lest his few loyal readers rebel themselves.
______________________________________
TODAY'S THOUGHTS FOR TOMORROW'S GENERATION
