Reflectionary

Commitment

I'll admit it. I love the 4th of July! Maybe it's because it's a holiday for which I have no worship responsibilities, so I can just enjoy it along with everyone else. Maybe it's because there are no presents involved. I'm sure parades and fireworks have something to do with it, too.

 

At our house, there is a ritual re-watching of the movie version of "1776," that musical telling of the story of the Founding Fathers of our nation, complete with dancing. We have spent many long car trips over the years singing along with the original Broadway cast recording, sharing John Adams' frustration with the people reluctant to declare, as he put it, Independency.

 

One of my favorite moments comes near the end of the show, when Adams is discouraged, convinced that the conclusion he KNOWS is the right one will never be reached. He has done everything he can to push and pull others along; now he must step back and watch, see how things play out, and he feels profoundly sad.

 

In real life, Adams and his wife, Abigail, carried on a lively epistolary relationship, writing to each other about everything from their farm and children to religion and politics. In the play, she stands at the side of the stage, singing and talking to her husband, offering the encouragement he needs, a living letter of love. At his most downcast, she reminds him of something he once said to her:

 

There are only two creatures of value on the face of the earth: those with the commitment, and those who require the commitment of others.

Then she sings the most unlikely love song ever. I get choked up every time I hear it, or rather sing along with it:

Abigail:
Compliments of the Concord Ladies Coffee Club,
And the Sisterhood of the Truro Synagogue,
And the Friday Evening Baptist Sewing Circle,
And the Holy Christian Sisters of Saint Claire
All for you, John
I am as I ever was and ever shall be,
Yours, yours, yours!

John (speaking):
Abigail, what's in these kegs?

Abigail (singing):
Saltpetre, John!

What are you committed to as we observe this 232nd Independence Day? What are you hoping will come to pass, but perhaps need to sit back and just observe?

Whatever those things might be, and however you might be feeling about our country's place in the world today, remember that there is hope, just as there was in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy...Philadelphia!

Random Bullets of Saturday, Including Books #24 and 25

• Snowman got as far as Beantown Airport, where his flight is mightily delayed due to weather at an airport that is now officially my worst enemy.
• UPDATE: THE PLANE HAS LEFT THE GATE AS OF 5:52 P.M.
• That's only 3 hours and twenty minutes late.
• The 4:50 flight left early.
• Sigh.
• I believe I said not only "goodbye" (to end the call) but also "thank you" (because I am reflexively socialized) to an automated operator at United.
• Because he is on his way to camp, rather than school, he is traveling without his computer or -- gasp! -- his iPod!
• Since we consider the iPod to be his musical prosthetic device, we wonder how he will survive the many hours of waiting.
• Yes, he has a book.
• A book is not the same.
• At.
• All.
• Not to Snowman, anyway.
• The one time we planned another route, he ended up on a bus from Detroit to Traverse City when the wind in TVC was too bad for a plane to land.
• And going back from spring break, he spent the night at O'Hare.
• Can we get a break here?
• Fortunately, Land O'Lakes Arts Camp is, just like the Arts Academy, equipped to deal with travel and weather emergencies.
• Meanwhile, to take my mind off his departure, I went with Pure Luck to see "Get Smart."
• Enjoyable. 
• Almost no one goes to the movies at 11:20 a.m., in case you were wondering.
• I could almost have a crush on Dwayne Johnson (aka "The Rock"), if I were not afraid Pure Luck will stop taking me to the movies.
• (Remind me not to tell you how much I enjoyed the star of "Iron Man," okay?)
• (I really don't know how that picture made it into this post.)
• In the mail I got a letter from my denomination's health plan, a heads up that they will be calling me to help me learn to manage my newly diagnosed illness.
• I am glad to know they have this program of support.
• I am not so glad to be eligible for it.
• On the Book Challenge Front, #24 was Elizabeth George's Careless in Red.
• Mysteries are great on the Kindle!! So light to hold and carry around!!
• I also read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off, #25, which I enjoyed, and it is a good example of a book that would be no good on the Kindle, since a great deal of its appeal is in the special fonts and formatting.
• Both books are linked in the sidebar.
• I  am working on a book I need to finish before Interim Training in early July, and it is hard to hold, which is a bummer.
• Fortunately the chapters are short.
• I am keeping it in the bathroom and try to pick up a chapter every time, well, you see what I mean.
• Earlier in the week, uncertain about how I would tolerate my new medication, I made plans to re-purpose my last sermon on this week's Genesis text.
• Now it doesn't seem like such a great idea, though the general theme is okay.
• So I think I need to stop writing this list and work on that instead.
• But first, a little coffee seems to be in order.
• Also, Molly asks me to tell you there is funder, which, as she has told you all before, "is NO Fun!!

Well, That's Just Wrong

Michael Chertoff (or as we call him at our house, Jafar) is on TV talking about the tornadoes in Iowa and says:

"It's just a tragic act of God."

And Snowman responds:

"Is that just code for 'I don't know how to do my job?'"

And I want to know:

Is Chertoff *that* well-connected? Because if so, I may be in trouble.

Seriously, though, the tornado that killed four Boy Scouts was not an act of God. Tragic? Yes. Act of God? No way. And I don't understand how people who think that way can worship that God. It defeats me.

Disciplines

In the background on this Saturday morning I hear a cat using the couch in our upstairs den as a scratching post. I believe she would tell you this is one of her spiritual disciplines, the maintaining of her claws in as sharply useful condition as possible.

Yesterday, I went out with Pure Luck to look at hybrid cars, because I not only need a new car (the Solid Gold Volvo having reached a point of needing repairs worth more than a reasonable asking price), but I want this kind of major shopping choice to have its basis in a discipline rather than a desire or an impulse. The Solid Gold Volvo while not exactly an impulse purchase was definitely a response to the desire for a wagon with a sunroof, and the only other brand that had both was a Mercedes. That is one weird way to make a Volvo seem cheap, relatively, but it worked for me at the time.

So, we went to the Toyota dealership to find out what's going on in the land of the Prius. We discovered that a Camry can be purchased in a hybrid version, too, and thus began the sorting out of desires versus disciplines.

What do I really want in a car?

Well, in an isolated fashion, I want a car that is both kinder to the Earth and kinder to my weekly budget. I realize that to get this, or any car, I will have to pay a chunk of money, so I'm trying not to let that come too fiercely into the dialogue. I'm starting with the base-priced Prius as the ground of the discussion with myself, but before I had been on the car lot five minutes I could see it would not be so simple.

First, there are no available Prius models on the lot. Two have been 'awarded' to the dealership and may arrive by mid-June. Although websites would suggest you can choose the features you want, in actuality, not so much. In actuality, I couldn't test-drive a Prius, I could only sit in one purchased by someone else and not picked up yet. In actuality, there are two coming, and one is the basic, and the other has the "Touring Package," and the difference is 6 or so thousand dollars, and if you're looking at the more expensive, isn't there something appealing about the hybrid Camry that is about the same price but has the 8-way adjustable seats?

Hang on, need a breath here.

What do I really want in a car?

Pure Luck kindly pointed out that with my ongoing joint issues I might need to consider the ease of adjusting seats and mirrors and windows and steering wheel, although these are things he would never consider himself.

I suggested he could buy his own Prius, with no added frills and furbelows.

He made that noise like Lurch on The Addams Family.

I wasn't really irritated with him; I am irritated by my current limitations and the idea that they may not go away completely. It's certainly true that on a trip of ANY length in the Volvo, I do adjust the seat with some frequency. A seat that has limited adjustability might prove problematic.

Also, the Camry is pretty.

Okay, so you can see how quickly we get off the path, right? I want the car with the best mileage, but if I'm going to spend more to get the one with the back-up camera that helps compensate for the poor rear view, why not get the Camry?

Or do I really want the computerized display that tells me my exact miles per gallon? Wasn't that sort of the whole point?

And also, no pressure, but if I want either Prius, I really need to put down a deposit, like, yesterday.

All I wanted was an eco-friendly car--okay, a safe, eco-friendly car, though I realize I hadn't yet mentioned safety--and I don't care anymore about a sunroof--okay, I really like my sun roof, and my neighbor's new Hybrid Camry has one, so they are available, but if you get the dog-friendly leather interior, then you're jumping to a different price range--okay, how can I stop this merry-go-round?

We stopped it by saying "thank you" and driving away.

It's a day later, but we have the same questions, or I do. Sometimes I wish someone would just decide things for me, but I don't really mean that, and Pure Luck knows it. I wish the choices, or rather the right choice, could be more obvious.

If I start from the basis of my spiritual discipline of wanting to be kinder to the earth, then I should eliminate the Camry from consideration simply because it is nowhere close to as gas-friendly as the Prius.

If I start from the basis of only looking at the Prius, I then have to choose between back-up camera and no such thing. Also Bluetooth capability and leather-trim and a bunch of other fancy-sounding stuff that makes no difference to the gas mileage.

And so it goes.

Maybe it's not possible to buy a car using a spiritual discipline as the only guideline.

(But what do you think?)