My daughter from the Big Orange in upstate New York called, and the first part of this next week she will be shipping my lost family archive papers home! Then my son, from the big city East, a couple hours away, invited me to a dinner with Diana Butler Bass this next Tuesday! Now I didn't know who Ms.Bass was so naturally I googled her. She is an independent scholar specializing in religious culture, and is also an author. She's written a number of books, a couple I'm especially interested in. Her latest is 'A People's History of Christianity: the other Side of the Story.' Her best seller so far has been 'Christianity for the Rest of US.' She blogs at the Huffington Post, [I'll excuse her that one] and her writings have appeared in everything from USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, CNN, FOX, PBS and several others. She's a contributing editor for Sojourners Magazine,Christian Century and couple other publications. I am looking forward to hearing her. You may read more about her at www.dianabutlerbass.com. In reading through news headlines I came across a photo with a sign, 'My next door neighbor wants to BAN all GUNS! Their house is NOT ARMED! Out of respect for their opinion I promise NOT to use MY GUNS near their house.' The sign caught my attention as another piece of disturbing Americana; not that I'm opposed to people having guns in their home, but what I view as mocking your neighbor. In a sign of Michigan's continued slide into the federal money trough, I read this morning that the Fed. has shut down another bank in in the state. However, one article that has brightened my morning is from AP wires [Salon.com in particular] 'Cat wandered from Albuquerque to Chicago.' It seems that Charles the cat wandered 1,300 miles from his home in New Mexico to Chicago where he was picked up as a stray. Through closer inspection the Chicago Animal Care people discovered a microchip between his shoulders, and contacted his owner in Albuquerque.
Now his owner didn't have the funds to purchase a round trip ticket to Chicago and she was afraid his nine lives were about to expire. But another Albuquerque resident, hearing about the discovery, came to her rescue. This good neighbor was going to a wedding in Chicago and has said he will stop by the shelter, pick up Charles and return him to his owner. Now I ask you, 'which is the good neighbor?' ..the one who promises not to use gunpowder near his neighbor's home or the one who goes out of their way, inconveniencing themselves, to bring home a neighbor's lost property. I think I'd rather be the neighbor with the lost/found cat?!
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Re: the gun story. I agree that it's not good form to pick a fight with somebody, especially if they can let their dog poop in your yard. By the same token, the sign may have been a response to some sort of behavior on the part of the unarmed neighbor for all we know. In my own experience, people who dislike guns are more willing to stick their noses into gun owners business than vice versa.
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Advertising that you have guns is also an invitation to be robbed! I like the cat story and the dinner with Ms. Bass sounds interesting. Keep us informed.
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