GOOD FRIDAY!

What's so good about a day on which your hero, the one you follow is crucified? Well, anytime in your life when someone helps to lighten your day, or lift a burden from you, don't you thank them? What a burden was lifted from followers of Christ on that day .... it was one of the greatest, grandest, goodest[I know its not an official word!] days in the history of mankind. Now those who want no part of the rescue can't see it as such, such as the Iowa town that attempted to rename Good Friday as 'Spring Holiday!' www.abcnews.go.com/US/iowa-town-renames-good-friday/story?id=10233061. Now I wonder if any of our politically correct namers ever considered that fact that other countries don't water down their holidays to accomodate us, or include our faith holidays in their agendas as we're expected to in ours; and please don't give me this 'we're suppose to be better than them, or more understanding bull. The Davenport Civil Rights Commission decided to change the name to something more ecumenical ... now just in case you're wondering, the word 'ecumenical' is mostly applied to all faiths [denominations] coming together, but in this instance that's not the case. Even Labor was upset, not for any spiritual reason but because they might lose a holiday! Their reason was to reflect their diversity, how about leaving it Good Friday to represent the 'unity' God was desiring to bring about?! Oh well, Good Friday prevailed in the end, just as it has since that original day.

Last night I bought, and read, a book by Anne Tyler. She's a rather popular author, with 18 novels, one was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and probably has a huge base of readers, so if you're one of them don't be offended by my critic. After the first chapter I was ready to lay the book aside, it seemed to be rather tedious, but there was something that wouldn't let me put it down. Maybe it was that the main character Liam was my same age, maybe it was that Liam was beginning to admit that some of his physical facilities were lagging [didn't like that], maybe it was that
he had a dogged determination, in this last stage of his life to make it really count[I'm there!]; whatever it was I kept reading. Around the middle of the book, after two what he called 'failed marriages,' he falls in love with a lady 20yrs younger than himself. Later though he finds out she is in an unhappy marriage. Now according to this lady's thoughts, which perfectly mirror our culture's thoughts, and Liam's fathers, an affair that brings happiness is perfectly okay. And wouldn't it be a wonderful way to salvage the rest of his life in happiness, which up to this point had been a failure to his real interests? Strangely it is through a relationship that develops between his grandson that Liam begins to find the compass for the rest of his life, one that is not so much about his immediate happiness as it is 're-bonding' both with his family and between members of his family. This novel is not much in the way of excitement and entertainment, for it delves deeper into the consequences of the things we do on a daily basis. And perhaps not so much just how the consequences affect me as they do those who love/associate with me. Maybe that's what attracts fans to Anne? Maybe its because I associated so much with the stage of life, and maybe I need to worry about being able to 'lighten' someone else's load, bear someone else's burden? Undoubtedly I need to study my compass more often.
TYLER, ANNE. Noah's Compass. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, New York
www.aaknopf.com ISBN: 9780307272409 2009