The shirt says it all " That's What I am Talking About!"   This is only one of the many fish that I catch.  I don't eat fresh water fish, so no fish were harmed during the making of this blog!  If that had been a croaker or a spot, than I would have to cut the part when I through it back in the water....(HA!)

The weather is changing, I've planted my garden, my flowers and I've sprayed the weeds.  I went out a week ago and brought me a new "Ugly Stick" and an " Abu Garcia"  Reel as my present for surviving the long hard winter.  This is what I caught, along with a cold because it was actually too cold to have my legs out like that!  Actually, I had walking pneumonia!  But the fishing was great and it was a great way to start the Spring.

If you want a friend to eat for a day, give him a fish.  If you want that friend to live long and stay healthy...TEACH HIM TO FISH!





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The Passover "Keep doing this in remembrance of me"

One of my outside the classroom experiences included me attending the Memorial/and or the Passover as referred to by Jehovah's Witnesses. On Monday April 14, 2014 I attended this ceremony as I have many years before.  Though I am not a baptized Jehovah's Witness, I find myself really respecting and appreciating this particular observance on Nisan 14th.  Of all the faiths that I have had the pleasure of learning more about, this one is to me the closest in it's interpretation of the Bible,  and they don't pick and choose which Holiday to celebrate and which ones to choose as an ordinary day.    It is clear that the Bible quotes Jesus saying "keep doing this in remembrance of me" referring to acknowledging the reason for his life, which was his death."  Every year when I go to this festivity, I am humbled because I think that Jehovah God must  be an Awesome God that he loved us  so much that he gave his only begotten Perfect son to free us of the curse (sin and death) that Adam and Eve brought against all of their offspring because they believed that they didn't need Jehovah to rule them.  Adam and Eve believed that they were able to challenge Jehovah's sovereignty.  Some say that this is a parable, I say this is God's truth. 

"Keep doing this in remembrance of me. " There is no scripture that says "keep celebrating my birth in remembrance of me".  Yet Christmas has become the biggest commercialized Holiday to date. Some  private offices may close, but Federal Offices remain open for Easter.  Some jobs allow a person their personal birthday off, but WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?)  I am sure you all remember the bracelet.  Would Jesus make it a point to celebrate his birthday/ his vanity?  I don't think so.   

Before Christ actually passed around the sacraments around which represented his blood (wine) and his body (bread), he made sure that anyone that did not have his best interest in mind (referring to Judas the traitor) left the building.  This is another part of the Memorial Service that  I truly appreciate because it shows that Jesus didn't tend for EVERYONE to partake of the bread and wine, but a select few who's loyalty to Jesus Christ was unquestionable.  The witnesses actually observe the Passover by passing the wine and the bread for observance only for the general population.  The Brother gives the talk than explain who is to participate in actually partaking of the sacraments.  He always takes you to the scripture in Revelations that specifically says 144,000 will be in Heaven with Christ.  Then he excitedly let everyone in attendance know that even if you are not of the 144,000, you have a hope to live on Earth forever.

As usual, I left there ceremony feeling renewed.  I will be completely honest, I haven't been Baptized under any faith as they all have their own interpretation of the Bible, and they all have flaws in my opinion on  how their organizations were founded.  With The Mormons, you have to believe Joseph Smith's message as a prophet.   With the Muslims, you have to believe that Muhammad was God's prophet.  With the Witnesses, you have to believe in Charles Russell. All of the above named religion was touched in some way by Calvinism and Lutheranism. I just try to believe in GOD, and live a good life, give more than I take, and love with all my heart.  When I mess up, I pray to GOD for forgiveness.

Spankings

I chose to give a speech on Spankings last Wednesday.  I chose this particular subject because it required me choose a position and support it.  It was very hard for me to prepare for this speech because I am "old school" and I was raised in a family that was accustomed to spankings, beatings, corporal punishment, butt whippings, or whatever title you choose to assign to this ancient "ART".  In my home, the hand, switch or belt were used.  For the longest time, when I looked back at this practice, I thought it to be acceptable as none of my sibblings were ever in trouble with the law, and we were raised to be respectable and to be of good character.

As I prepared for my speech, I found myself almost deciding to take a different position.  As I spanked the stuffing out of my teddy bear with the switch, and than with the belt, I imagined it to be me as a child.  I remember days that I would cry because my spirit had been broken, but I didn't realize that this was the issue at that time. I knew that I used to think " how can they say they love me but beat me this way". 

Instead in my speech I choose to acknowledge that the law in Virginia emphasizes that a parent is not supposed to spank you with unbridled passion to a point that it is considered abusive. I also talked about the fact that the law also scrutinizes cases more harshly, if the parent leaves the targeted area of the rear end.  The law also takes into consideration the amount of spankings, length of spankings and the "Weapon" of choice".

Parents should also consider spanking a child in a private area.  Spanking a child  in a public area, such as a Mall or School is very embarrassing and could be more harmful than helpful.  Also a parent shouldn't spank a child in front of their sibblings.   Discipline is a one on one affair, that should be handled with discretion and with LOVE. 

So, is it possible to Love your child and choose to use corporal punishment.  Yes.  As parents learn to stop using spankings as a way to relieve their pent up aggression after a long days work, and began to plan the discipline in a loving way to get a useful result, than discipline is issued with love. A parent should choose the amount of swattings, the length of the discipline and only use coporal punishment for really severe "maladies" which could have caused harm to the child's safety or health.    In other words, corporal punishment is the "Medicine" that is prescribed use for really egregious infractions.  The same way that a doctor use morphine for extreme pain, corporal punishment should be used for severe infractions.

That is my position for the time being.