The Profoundness of the Number Three

Number 3 has a significance from ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras who said number 3 was considered the perfect number, of harmony, wisdom and remembering. Most people won’t remember beyond 3 sayings. 

Most drugs have 3 syllables, e.g. Fen Tan yl, Vi ag ra, Lib ri um

1 Corinthians 3:6 Paul said he planted the seed of the Gospel,  Apollos watered it, but it's God who causes the growth, conveying the importance of divine nourishment in the spiritual life of believers. 

Which begs the question, is the sun, the ultimate cause of growth, an instrument of God?  The Sun is the source of everything on Earth.

I'm reminded of the popular movie “Tin Men” at the vegetable banquet bar setup

“How can all these things come outta the ground?  With all these things comin’ outta the ground there must be a God.” - Ernest Tilley

Incidentally, the Fossil Fuel Billionaires hate the Sun, because you can't patent the sun.

I'm reminded watching “Democracy Now! shared history with an interview of Dr. Peter Salk, son of Dr. Jonas Salk, Polio Vaccine. Edward R. Murrow asked: “Who owns the patent on this vaccine?” Dr.Jonas Salk replied “well, the people, I would say.  There is no patent.  Could you patent the sun?”

Nicaea Turkey, Nicene Council - Nicene Creed-Christian Council of Nicaea 325 gives countenance to the fact that Constantine made  Christianity - around 300 AD.  

The Nicene Greed is a statement of Christian faith, affirming the doctrine of the Trinity, God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Nicaea Turkey is today’s Iznik and is known for Ottoman-era hand-painted Iznik tiles

Easter, Passover, and Ramadan coincide. This event happens three times a century or once every 33 years.

“To succeed in life, you need three things:  a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone.” Reba McIntire

“I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise.  The first step was a good thought; the second, a good word; and the third a good deed.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

"The three most important ways to lead people are by example, by example, by example."  Albert Schweitzer

Your friends are 3 and your enemies are 3.

 

“Your friends are: your friend, the friend of your friend, and the enemy of your enemy.

Your enemies are; your enemy, the enemy of your friend, and the friend of your enemy.”  

Hazrat Ali

I visited the Catacomb S. Callisto, Rome Italy.  Most impressive was a statute of Saint Cecilia, a Christian Martyr. The sword missed cutting her throat, and she laid dying, professing her faith with 3 fingers.

1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain"faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love."

Just trying to put a pattern to our thinking. We’re all born to this world with individual wonderment of the same universe, and the wonders of the mind are as vast as the universe. 

Rolling In The Dough or The Leaning Tower of Pizza

Flat Breads, aka Pizza, with toppings were eaten in ancient times by Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks.  Such a delight passed on by generations tells the story of why today’s Pizza is loved!  

I delighted in my children helping me make pizza as long back as they can remember.

I’ve been baking bread for 50 years, love the idea of rolling in the dough - even partnered in opening a pizzeria - Monroe Street Pizza in Dearborn MI about 1982.

My daughter Renee, born 7-7-77 at 7:14 AM, delighted in spending the day with me making pizza. She was 5 years old when when I put her up to the counter on the foot stool to punch pizza dough, and let her put her favorite toppings on her rolled out dough.

The next generation.  My email to Renee recently:

“Thank you Renee and Ferran for hosting a beautiful Birthday Party for Aunt Laura…

and enjoyment for my making Pizza, and to my delight with little Estelle’s fingers touching the toppings for everyone’s delight…”  This little 7 year old granddaughter loves making pizza.

My pan fried (no oil) flat bread: 1 cup flour, couple tablespoons wheat germ,, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, couple shakes with salt shaker, 1/2 cup water (or veggie broth), mix until wet dough (add tablespoons flour to firm), spread non-stick pan with wet fingers, sprinkle bagel seasoning, cook mod heat 8 min. covered, flip 7min. covered, let rest 2 min. then transfer to cooling rack.

Pizza recipe:  basic white bread dough (ab 1 1/2 cup flour) spread non-stick pan, cover & cook 7 min flip & cook 5 min other side, flip again.  Cook zucchini, veggies stove top in another pan, and top cooked pizza dough with tomato sauce, veggies, cheese, put on cookie sheet, then  under broiler for until cheese melts.  Enjoy! 

Life has always been celebrated with gatherings, and food the source of the gathering.  We cherish our Pizza Parties with fond remembrances.

The Religious Right Is Wrong

James Madison, fourth President of the United States, in his Federalist Papers No. 10 explained that factions, alliances, were the natural state of man, that the like minded would form in groups.  But he warned of the inherent danger when these Factions turned political to the detriment of the public interest. 

The adherents of the Religious Right focus on the “me” society rather than the “we” society.  Therein lies a major conflict with the Bible: Matthew 25:45 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”  

The Religious Right is an exclusive group choosing the phrases in the Bible exclusively to further their prejudices.

Another difference between the members of the Religious Right and mainstream Christian Churches is the former are political, and Republican.  The so-called christians who subscribe to the various groups do so willingly knowing the positions that the hate groups stand by, albeit refuse to identify them as hate groups.  Moreover, these groups claim to be christian but they take passages out of context from the Bible and twist the meaning to further their agenda: money.

Here is an example of an un-christian religious ceremony introduced and promoted by Randy Wilson.  At public display, the father ceremoniously marries his daughter to hold her to swear before God her virginity which the father swears before God to hold until she marries his choice.  Totally sick and creepy!  This religious ceremony is against the Bible and a sacrilege:  

Matthew 5:34-37  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:  Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

James 5:12  But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath:  but let you yea be yea; and you nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

There are many issues with so-called Religious Right Christian views.  The Jews are going to hell as one Religious Right person told me years ago.  These mis-directed sycophants are carrying on the same instilling of hate towards the Jews carried on generation after generation since the Diaspora of ancient time to the Holocaust of the 20th Century.

In his acceptance of the Ecumenical Council of 1960-1965, Vatican II, Pope John Paul II asserted that as a descendent to the throne of St. Peter, the true message of Jesus was all inclusive, that all people of the world were saved.  I believe all main-stream Christian Churches believe the true message of Jesus was love for all religious communities since all mainstream religions believe and practice the same love. 

But let’s not forget the Evangelical Religious Right homeschooling who believe that it is the parents right to instill in their children the need to save this country from the Jews, Catholics, the LGBT, the Liberals, and anyone who does not believe in the views of Mike Pence.  Let’s take back the Country for Christ.

Here’s what Mike Pence stands for:  He’s very pro-gun; he’s very anti-abortion. As Governor of Indiana, he signed a law mandating funerals for fetuses; he’s hostile to LGBT rights; he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP); he wants to cut taxes for the rich.

The LGBT community is the target of Focus On The Family and has made anti-LGBT activism a cornerstone of it’s “pro-family” cause.  The millionaire James Dobson is not an ordained minister of the pulpit, but a graduate Psychologists who discovered the propensity to make money selling religion to the vulnerable.

It is one thing for a person to hold his opinions to him self but for a person to act out his prejudices by pursuing organizations that cause harm to others is wrong. 

Former President Jimmy Carter, who in 2000 officially severed ties with the Southern Baptist Convention after the SBC declared its opposition to female pastors and reiterated its calls “for wives to be submissive to their husbands.”   He condemned the mistreatment of women by religious leaders, writing: “the words of God do not justify cruelty to women.”

In an opinion piece published “Losing my Religion for Equality.”  President Carter said that a “twisted interpretation of the word of God” taught by male religious leaders has been used to justify the oppression of women:  “The truth is that male religious leaders have had — and still have — an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.”

There are phrases in the Bible that exalt women and here is just a sample of many:  Romans 16:1New International Version (NIV) Personal Greetings 16 “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae”; Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”; Romans 2:11 “For God shows no partiality”; Ephesians 5:21 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”.

How can this faction be morally right when its leaders, like Franklin Graham, James Dobson, Pat Robertson do not condemn President Trump in his relationship to racism and white supremacy, but praise him and campaigned for him?  

I refuse to live in their world.  A world where men are superior, where women are subordinate, controlled, and relegated to motherhood.  

What’s right is St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  

The Bible is replete with God’s message of Joy and Salvation for all religious communities of the world. Inherent in a gift is there is no payment in return.

Trump canceling 500 tons of emergency food aid, enough to feed 1.5 million malnourished children, and having it incinerated instead is a great antithesis to Matthew 25 - feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, invite in the stranger clothes the needed, tend to the sick, do for the least of these. 

Being Bullied

 

 

I’ve never been able to accept be bullied.  Even to this day.  I remember grade school 2nd grade when an errant student probably a grade or two ahead of me, would taunt me outside the entrance, even jump on me and ride me like a horse.  I would try to avoid him, but he always continued.  

One day he tried to ride me and my temper over took me and I went into a rage, knocking him down, jumping and pounding him until a couple of student pulled me off him.  He got up and ran.

I remember a day in the Army in Turkey playing pool in the game room.  I was about to shoot when a drunkard grabbed my target ball, and said “what the fuck you gonna do about it?”  I put my cue stick on my shoulder, and he looked at me and said, “wacha gonna do, hit me with you cue stick? Go on, I dare you.”  I put my cue stick on the table and left.  I didn’t want to dirty my nice Pendleton Shirt. 

I changed shirts, and went to the Service Club Fountain, but turned around because I thought he was in there.  So I went to the NCO Club.  I sat at a table with 3 buddies I worked with.  Ordered my beer.  Chatted.  

Then the asshole came to my table and started to taunt me, seeing out the corner of my eye his waving his fist in jest.  Then he sat down next to me and said some thing, but when he poked his finger into my chest. I parried his fist, and gave him a striking blow to the center of his face.  He jumped up, I jumped up swinging a right hand blow to his jaw, his falling down on the floor, and my saying ‘you get up and I’ll kill you’.  He put his head back down on the floor.  My buddy at the table grabbed my arms to restrain me. The Sergeant of Arms came over to my table and shouted for me to leave.

His buddies said that they were going to get even with me.  Somewhere, somehow.

I walked back to my barracks looking at my bloody fist and remembering my dad saying “don’t take shit off no one”.

Sunday there were about a half dozen or so other soldiers who stopped by my room and congratulated me.  They too were intimidated.

Monday morning at the mess hall, having breakfast, the bully came to my table and said “I want to talk to you outside”.  I stood up, waited, then he said, “go on, I’ not gonna hit you from behind”. 

So we stood outside and I said “if you want to continue this fight, come on, but you’ll not win”.  He said he didn’t know what hit him, because Sunday morning his face was sore, but was drunk at the NCO Club.  I told him what happened, but when he poked me, that was what started.  He said that he was drunk and didn’t remember, but if what I said was true, he said that he owed my an apology.  He shook my hand and from then on, if we approached each other, even across the street, he would wave.

Maybe the bully’s self esteem level is elevated when confronted with a stupidity of the fist confrontation, and was able to take control with an apology to the superior who won. 

I hold esteemed belts in Aikido & Karate, Aikido worked with one incident.  We were invited to daughter and son-in-law’s  cottage.  Early Sunday morning I heard a dog barking.  Looked out the front door and there was a women jogger with a little dog snipping at her heals with the dog’s owner laughing, as he stood on his front lawn in pajama bottoms only.  

I went out side to observe and then his little Whippet attacked me, barking at my heal.  I took off my belt and gave it a swipe, the dog whelped and ran home.  

“You motherfucker” the pajama man yelled while charging me. I used the attackers running force against him, ducked and  used his momentum to flip him way into the air (looked like a deer in the headlights) his landing on his back, I got him in a wrestling scissor hold, taking his own hands and punching him with his own fists in his own face. The fight was over - stood my ground!  

Daughter and son-in-law went for a boat ride when I called the Sheriff not wanting to be involved, and asked that I not press charges.  

But that was nothing compared to the doozy lately.   

She moved in with her live-in-boyfriend next door.  We put up with his broken muffler for 5 months.  When I posted a note on our window that his broken muffler at 6:45 AM was annoying.

From then on, he took their huge garbage bins out for pick up at 6:45 AM and waited until the next day, at 6:45 AM to retrieve them, rattling them so disturbingly loud.

We contacted City Attorney/Prosecutor and he allowed them to take out their bins only on pick-up day but had to bring them back same day.

I took her misdirected Amazon deliveries thrice to her door, his answer the door one time, baby in arms, took the package and thanked me.  

But when our misdirect Amazon delivery went to her house, they kept the delivery.  When confronted, he said that he returned it.  Amazon said there was no record of a return for that ticket number.  It was impossible for him to return our delivery because it happened within one day when we confronted her.  And, Amazon only takes returns at Kohls Dept. Store, and if perchance he gave the misdirected delivery to the Amazon driver, the driver would have put in on our porch.  

One Tuesday morning at 6:45 AM, garbage pick up, he rattled his garbage cans and it pissed me off.  So I hung a sign out on our front porch “Next Door Kept Our Amazon Delivery” (not accusing them of stealing our package, but according to the law they stopped the delivery, took charge of the delivery when they could have just thrown the package on our front porch.)

He went ballistic.  “Mother Fucker”, “God Damn” when he came home from lunch.  I left the sign up for 2 days.  The Asshole was pissed.  The City Attorney in a telephone conversation told me to take the sign down.

They put their security camera on their garage above our 6 foot privacy fence.  I spent the day putting up a leafy blind that I bought from Amazon for $80.00 on the fence to block the camera from viewing our yard.  After he got home from work, he immediately went and put the camera above my blind.

Then the lady moved the camera  and placed her security camera at their bathroom window, facing our bedroom window.  It’s been a battle ever since with one false police report against us for our bright light in our window for our flowers interfering with her camera, and our  911 call for her live-in boy friend threatening bodily harm against me for my posting a memo on my memo board 10 feet from our window seen only from her camera.

We filed a Neighborhood Complaint Form with the City Prosecutor .  They even used a picture from my memory board as evidence for his 3 hour tirade. 

The City Prosecutor showed us their "photo shop" picture of my memory board, blown up so large that my memo looked like it was posted in our window.  I showed the Prosecutor a picture of our room with the memo board, 10 inches x 15 inches, about 10 feet from our window positioned 2 feet above my desk next to our computer, and could only be seen from their camera.  He looked at it with exclamation “a’ha”.  Also showed him a spread sheet with over 200 line items of dogs barking, and other harassment.

We left our one hour meeting explaining to the prosecutor that all we wanted was this harassment to stop and he smiled and said “I think so”.  Then the 2 yahoos were called into the prosecutors meeting room.  

When we got home, we noticed that the lady packed her bags and left for over a week.  

I wish that I was a ‘fly on the wall’ to hear what the Prosecutor told this two yahoos, because since then things are quiet.  They were clearly in violation of voyeurism/invasion of privacy, and neighbor harassment, which holds not only a money fine, but imprisonment.  We think that he read them the ‘riot act’.

My point is to never let the bully win.  Never give in because the bully enjoys power.

I don’t know if I was Atticus Finch or easy prey.