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Reload this page Issues of Controversy

This is a list of society's most serious, heavy, sad, and disgusting problems. My interest here is in the process how we deal with them.

Chinese Proverb: War not determine who right, war determine who left.

... when you have read something by me you actually experience the thing. You can't do this without putting in the bad and the ugly as well as what is beautiful. Because it is all beautiful you can't believe in it. Things aren't that way. —Ernest Hemingway, 1925

 

Topics this page:

  • List of Issues
  • Justice
  • Politically Correct
  • Lifestyle Choices
  • Styles of Coping
  • Phases of Coping
  • Faith
  • Letting Go
  • It is the Soldiers
  • Your comments???

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    Police siren wail sound
    “I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore” from the movie Network

    Set screen Alphabetical List of Issues

      It is risky to address any of these topics. It is usually not appropriate (considered vulgar) to joke about these topics to avoid offending many people who have strong emotional opinions about these subjects.

      'The Scream' by Edvard Munch. Get it for your wall Unknown artist Scream, 1999 by Bonny Hut from 'Scream' movie poster from snowboard commercial


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    “Can't we just get along?” —Rodney King, on the mass riots following a court decision on his Los Angeles police beating case.

    “God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” —CJ Lewis

    “It's better to be controversial for the right reasons, than to be popular for the wrong reasons.” —Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel

    Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”

    “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead (1901-1978), American Anthropologist

    “When the people fear the government you have tyranny. When the government fears the people you have freedom.”

    A website external to this site Issues and Causes Webring


    Set screen Justice



      The Hebrew calligraphy on the left is from Scripture Amos 5:21-24 (NIV), in which G-d said:
        ”I hate all your show and pretense - the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. 22 I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. 23 Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. 24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.

      According to Henry Craik, author of "Easy introduction to the Hebrew Language" (London: Sealey and Burnside, 1831) the Hebrew term for 'wicked' comes from a root that expresses the notion of restlessness.
      A 'sinner' is one who misses the mark. To 'delight' in anything is literally to bend down towards it.
      The 'law' is that which indicates the mind of God.
      'Righteousness' is that which is perfectly straight.
      'Truth' is that which is firm.
      To 'trust' is to take shelter under, or to lean upon, or to cast oneself on.
      To 'judge' is radically [as to its root meaning] to smooth or make equal."

      Scripture “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” —1st John 3:18

      Scripture “The LORD will settle international disputes. All the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. All wars will stop, and military training will come to an end. Come, people of Israel, let us walk in the light of the LORD!” —Isaiah 2:3-5

      “Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.” —found by Philip Greenspun

      Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment. —Mahatma Gandhi

      Health reporter Susan Seliger writes:

        Bad stress is triggered ... by the feeling that one's decisions are useless, that life is overwhelming and beyond personal control.

        Positive stress comes from rising to challenges, feeling confidence and a sense of control over one's destiny.


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    Set screen Politically Correct Dictionary

      Aircraft Crash = Controlled flight into terrain; failure to maintain clearance from the ground.
      Corsage = Botanical companion.
      Honey = Stolen non-human-animal sweetener.
      Robot = Mechanical-american.
      Pet rock = Mineral companion.
      Puppet = Hand-held American.

      Maiden name = Birth family name.
      Man-made = Artificial; synthetic.
      Manpower = Human resources.
      Man-months = Person months.
      Manned = Crewed.
      Retreat = Exfiltration.

      Unfinished = In the early stages of finalization.
      Dishonest = Ethically disoriented; morally different.
      Lie = Counterfactual proposition.
      Dishonest = Morally different; ethically disoriented.
      Lazy = Motivationally dispossessed.
      Misbehavior = Negative attention getting.
      Flunk out = Have one's progress toward alternative life pursuits expedited.

      Crazy = Emotionally different.
      Junkie = Person with a pharmacological preference.
      Illness = Health alteration.
      Dead = Terminally Inconvenienced; nonviable; no longer a factor.
      Deaf = Aurally challenged; aurally inconvenienced.
      Death = Failure to fulfill one's wellness potential.
      Suicide = Autoeuthanasia; voluntary death.
      Corpse = Nonliving person
      Murder = Arbitrary deprivation of life.
      Prison cell = Custody suite.

      Housework = Domestic arts.
      Lumberjack = Tree butcher.
      Panhandler = Unaffiliated applicant for private-sector funding.
      Fisherman = Fisher.
      Bum = Non-goal oriented member of society.
      Dirty old man = Sexually focused chronologically gifted male individual.

      Sloppy = Nontraditionally ordered; specially organized.
      Stupid = Cerebrally challenged.
      Boring = Charm-free; differently interesting.
      Old = Chronologically gifted; experientially enhanced; longer living; mature; senior; seasoned.
      Vague/Spacey = Differently focused.

      Tax payments = Contributions.
      Explosion = Energetic disassembly.
      Heroine = Hera; she-ro.
       
    'Blue Dove' by Pablo Picasso. Get this framed on your wall!
    Get this framed for your wall!

    Scripture
    Proverbs 12:25
    An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.

    Scripture
    Philippians 4:8
    Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable
    —if anything is excellent or praiseworthy
    think about such things.

    Scripture
    Proverbs 15:4 (NIV)
    “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit."

    Scripture
    Ephesians 4:29-30
    “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

    Scripture
    Proverbs 17:27-28 (NIV)
    “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

    Scripture
    Proverbs 25:11
    “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”

    Scripture
    Colossians 4:5-6
    “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned as it were with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.”


    “The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder” —a "slip of the tongue" by former Chicago mayor Daley during the infamous 1968 convention police riots.

    A website external to this site gop.com - the Republican Party
    A website external to this site dems2004.com - the Democratic Party
    A website external to this site American Independent Party
    A website external to this site Green Party
    A website external to this site Libertarian Party
    A website external to this site Peace and Freedom Party

    A website external to this site Agape Press provides news from a Christian viewpoint


    Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. —Mao Tse-Tung


    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. —Voltaire


    Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when it is the only one we have. —Alain Chartier

     
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    Set screen Lifestyle Choices

    How often do you fight about decisions about basic stuff:
    1. Diet: food, drinks, drugs
    2. Appearance: wardrobe, jewelery, hair
    3. Shopping

    4. Entertainment: movies and TV shows to watch
    5. church attendance
    6. mutual friends

    7. Use of abilities in job, career, vocation, hobbies, vacations
    8. Use of contraception
    9. child-rearing practices

    10. Transportation: car, etc.
    11. Home location, furnishings


    Ever notice how the things we want are also the source of common distress?

    1. Food addictions
    2. Competition for spouse/friend
    3. Overspending, financial troubles

    4. Addiction to pornography
    5. Differences or degree of interest
    6. Infidelity

    7. Loss of a job or dissatisfaction with career
    8. Unexpected pregnancies, miscarriages
    9. Living away from family or too close to family

    10. Unable to get there on time
    11. Home being burglarized



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    Scripture Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. —Matthew 6:19-20.

    Set screen Coping Styles

    Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book, published 1971

    One man stopping tanks in Tiananmen Square, China

     


    To be, or not to be: that is the question:
    Whether 't is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?”
    Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1 (Magnet poetry Java applet)


    “Two beer or not two beer” —Shakesbeer


    Two people are talking religion. One says to the other, "Sometimes I'd like to ask God why he allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it."
    "What's stopping you?" asks the second.
    The first replies, "I'm afraid God might ask me the same question."


    “Pray not to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them.”
    —Rabindranath Tagore


    “The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.” —Umberto Eco


    "A little kindness from person to person is better than a vast love for all humankind." —Richard Dehmel


    "Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance, and love have no end. And the Lord of life holds all who die, and all who mourn." —George W. Bush at the National Cathedral after Sept. 11 (speech written by Michael Gerson)

    Chinese Characters for Peace:

    Japaese Kanji Characters for Peace:

    Hebrew for peace:

    Islam "Salam":


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    Set screen Phases of Coping

      Does it help to remember that there are phases to the cycle of life? Gail Sheehy made a fortune in her books centered around "Passages".

      The Biblical Counseling Foundation doesn't buy into the observations of Elizabeth Kubler Ross, who identified stages in her famous book Death and Dying:

      1. Denial
      2. Anger
      3. Bargaining
      4. Depression
      5. Acceptance
      6. Forgiveness

      Is it possible to go straight to forgiveness?

      “Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.” —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

      “Preoccupation with our own interests - our own narrow desires, ambitions, and goals - undermines our ability to be compassionate. Conversely, the more we concern ourselves with providing for others' well-being, the more meaningful our lives become and the happier we ourselves will be.” —The Dalai Lama

      “When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.” —a monk, 1100

      “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” —Mahatma Gandhi

      “Life is a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those who feel.” —Walpol

      We must transform the jangling discord of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. —Martin Luther King

     

    Anger

    "Don't make me angry; you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" — Bill Bixby as Bruce Banner in THE INCREDIBLE HULK TV show


    “How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” —Marcus Aurelius

    Scripture
    James 1:19
    “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”

    Scripture
    Ephesians 4:25-27
    “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry...”

    Scripture
    Ephesians 4:31-32 KJV
    Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice: And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christs's sake hath forgiven you.

    Scripture
    Proverbs 15:1
    “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”


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    Set screen Faith vs. Forgiveness



    Scripture “It was good for me to have been afflicted so that I might learn thy [your] statutes [decrees].”
    — King David, Psalm 119:71 KJV, [NIV]

    Scripture Psalm 32:10
    “He who trusts in the Lord, Mercy shall surround him.”

    Scripture Matthew 12:20 describes Jesus' fulfillment of Isa. 42:1-4

    “He will not crush those who are weak, or quench the smallest hope, until he brings full justice with his final victory.”

    Scripture 2 Timothy 1:7 [NLT]
    “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

    From the Christian Quote of the Day
    To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life -- to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son -- how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it means to refuse God's mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says.
    —C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), "On Forgiveness"


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    Next: Letting Go

    Set screen Letting Go

      Letting go does not mean to stop caring;
      It means I can't do it for someone else.

      Letting go is not to cut myself off,
      It's the realization I can't control another.

      Letting go is not to enable;
      But to allow learning from natural consequences.

      Letting go is to admit powerlessness;
      Which means the outcome is not in my hands.

      Letting go is not to try to change or blame another;
      It's to make the most of myself.

      Letting go is not to care for; but to care about.

      Letting go is not to fix; but to be supportive.

      Letting go is not to judge;
      but to allow another to be a human being.

      Letting go is not to be in the middle arranging the outcome; but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

      Letting go is not to be protective;
      It's to permit another to face reality.

      Letting go is not to deny; but to accept.

      Letting go is not to nag, scold, or argue; But to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

      Letting go is not to adjust everything to my own desires; But to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

      Letting go is not to regret the past; But to grow and live for today.

      Letting go is to fear less and live more.

      —Author unknown

     


    “If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.” —Georgia Peach


    Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go. —Unknown



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    Set screen It is the Soldier

      by Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, United States Marine Corps

      It is the Soldier, not the reporter
      Who has given us freedom of the press.

      It is the Soldier, not the poet,
      Who has given us freedom of speech.

      It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer,
      Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

      It is the Soldier, not the lawyer,
      Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

      It is the Soldier, who salutes the flag,
      who serves beneath the flag,
      And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
      Who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

     

      Sweet are the many uses of adversity. — Duke Senior in As You Like It by Wm Shakespeare


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