The World of Grandpa Don  

I heard a very profound truism by a market analyst on MSNBC  ... "We are now realizing that you can not borrow our way to prosperity". No further comment is necessary.

 I have finished reading the C.S. Lewis book,  "God in the Dock". ( God on Trial) I may have mentioned that some of it was over my head mostly due to references to other English authors and his frequent use of quotations from classic literature, in which, I am afraid, I am woefully deficient. However, there were parts that I did understand and parts which were very enlightening for me. I was surprised to discover that the Anglican Church was considering a proposal to create a commission to confer Sainthood to disserving deceased members, something that they have criticized in the Church of Rome. Lewis was against the proposal. For myself, I think the our Catholic practice of conferring sainthood is rather presumptuous and would prefer to see us recognize people as Saints. But ... I am not in charge and have no say in the matter so it will be left to those who are in authority. The warm weather of St. Patrick's Day prompted to have an afternoon coffee in the gazebo along with the first two chapters of Lewis' "The Abolition of Man". In this series of lectures he speaks of the basic laws of behavior included as precepts of all ancient cultures and modern main line religions and that these laws are imbedded in each of us as our conscience.  He has spoken of it in other books. He contends that God has given us these laws and that they are in our very nature. Of course when man rejects God's rules and decides his conscience must be retrained to reject what God has put there he suppresses the "natural" laws and substitutes his own. We, in effect, try to become our own god. I don't know yet what Lewis will say about this in the next chapter of the book and am anxious to discover what it is. For my part, I suspect that because our God given conscience is part of our genetic structure, it can never be completely suppressed. Suppressing or defying it could lead to guilt and depression, ... certainly not happiness. This belief is reinforced by the fact that happiness is attained by fulfilling our real and legitimate needs and distorting our conscience leads to the creation of false needs and unfulfilling wants. 

 An email came from Don Hall in Canada. It is Don who has been sending the reflections and photos for the school's D.R.E.A.M.S. project. An an awesome undertaking it is! I recently told him that I could not put more of the items on this website due to space limitations and suggested that they should have a web site of their own. Well, check out   D.R.E.A.M.S.  Great web site Don and a fantastic demonstration of Christian charity as well as a great way to teach the youth what is means to be much more kind than we need to be.

It only took two days to read The Abolition of Man. Maybe I like C.S. Lewis so much because we agree in principal on many subjects. He was of course more educated by far and had a superior command of the English language as well as Latin, Greek and several others. I am edified in the fact that such a learned man and I agree so much. In the final chapter of this book he says, "I am very doubtful whether history shows us one example of a man who, having stepped outside traditional morality and attained power, has used that power benevolently." He, by "traditional morality" was referring to the basic morality of conscience which God has instilled in humanity. As I understand Him, he is telling us that as we try to substitute our own morality for that which God has given us we are destroying our own humanity. In effect we are trying to replace God with ourselves and since we were not created to be a god, we are destroying what we were supposed to be. We are abolishing humanity as God created it.

In this book, Lewis points out that we equate the progress in technology and the "new morality" to our mastery over nature and he points out that there are things in nature with which we should not tamper. Our conscience is one of them. He goes so far as to question the use of contraceptives because they remove the possibility of life from people who may otherwise have lived in the future.  I had never considered that and prefer not to make that judgment. I have started to go through the appendix of the book where Lewis lists some of the references from various religions and cultures of the past that support the theory of a common and universal code of conduct. This in itself is fascinating.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Stephan Kisel, husband of Kathy Barilla (daughter of Rita [Copeland] and John Barilla). May there be many more birthdays and may life be kind to you and yours.  

My local government sent tax money back. I received a check for $241 from the Village of Orland Park on Wednesday. In past years the tax refund had been 100% if the Village property tax but this year it was 83% of what we paid. I won't complain. They can do that because we have a very large retail base here and the sales tax revenues provide substantial support for our local government. The nice thing about that is that a lot of the money that is spent here comes from outside the village. The downside is that our roadways are crowded with the shoppers coming into town to spend their money. All the main intersections are being upgraded to five lanes of traffic, a right turn lane, two through lanes and two left turn lanes. I suppose that is progress.

My Thursday began with dropping off Mikey for his bi-weekly bath on my way to Bible study where we finished the study of the Passion and Resurrection. I am sure we will all see the liturgies of Holy Week in an expanded light this year as a result of this study. When I picked up Mikey, a dog was raising a ruckus in the back and Paula explained that it was Sampson, the Albano pup, protesting that he wanted to do home with Mikey. Poor thing would need to wait for Joe to finish his last class. After lunch I got my papers together for the scheduled meeting with the councilor, the first (required) step.in applying for my Reverse Mortgage.

Dan picked me up at 2:30 and we went to the office for our appointment. Dan was there as a representative of his brother and sister because I wanted them to be aware of what I am doing. The hour and a quarter meeting was pleasant and more of a formality than anything else. It may be useful and even necessary for someone who is ignorant of their own finances. Our councilor promised to fax the certificate of completion to the Bank immediately after we left.  Dan noticed the little note on the certificate that said "Fee Waived". Surprise! We questioned our good fortune and were told that because of a dispute over who should be responsible for paying the fee, HUD had instructed the councilors (just in the last couple days) not to charge the fee although they are obliged to provide the service. Isn't our Federal Government wonderful! Not logical, but wonderful.

Dan and I stopped at Ashford House for a pleasant light dinner and when I checked my phone found a voice mail from Carolyn at Bank of America. She had received the certificate and said we could now proceed with the phone application. A return call was made and she took a lot of information for the application. At one point she had another person join the conversation. It seems that they now have a policy that requires a witness to some of  the questions and answers in an effort to eliminate fraud. The application will be expressed to me and after I have reviewed it and added certain documentation, they will have someone come to my house and I will sign it in their presence so it can be processed.

The temperatures are in the "normal" range but 70's are expected in a few days again. We also expect rain but I hope I will be able to get out in the yard to do some cleanup. (Mikey, you know.) Jean Dean sent a recipe for Cabbage Stroganoff. It sounds wonderful. Then she sent one for baking bread.

3 cups of self-rising flour (buy the specialty flour)
1 can (12 oz.) of beer
(using different types of beer gives the bread a good flavor)
2 Tbl. sugar

Mix together in bowl, put into a greased bread pan. Bake in a
preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  This bread has a wonderful uneven crunchy crust and is just right for soups or anytime (per my taste testers!).

Wow, I'll bet that even I could bake that bread! Should I take up baking or stick to poetry? Maybe it is spring or any one of the many things that is happening around me but I feel invigorated. I am reminded of an old radio skit in which the straight man tells the comedian, "You seem very effervescent today." The reply, in a German accident ... "Did you ever see me when I effer vasant?"

Spring has sprung and the world is in renewal. So we should also be in renewal. I feel renewed and reinvigorated. I pray that you are also.