The Convoluted Justifications Of The Truly Brave

[Before I posted this list of my favorite status updates of others and other interesting reads and hears from the first half of April 2017, I got to Facebook and noticed that I had posted a similar list on this same day, the 241st anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, last year. It was a little longer than this (it had forty-two posts -- look up "I Love The Language Fingerprints Too." if you like) as opposed to this session's twenty-nine, which says I'm either more discerning or I hear and see a lot less than I did ONE year ago!


At least that's my convoluted justification on the 242nd anniversary, David]


1. Working up courage is harder than you think.

(Battie, Little Lunch, "The Grandparents Day")




2. My Imagination is still working. A giant piece of crumpled paper turned into a small Dragon hiding under the overpass. I think he is lost.





3. It's not only alarming that anti-pipeline protesters continue to expect hardworking Americans to fund their antics, but also highly ironic that they are asking for resources that rely on the very infrastructure that they are protesting.

(Standing Rock Fact Checker, 040317, 1151 hrs)


4. The Second Woman Who Voted by Amitapour

(a novel I saw the front and back slipcover of in a dream just before I woke up, 040417, 0653 hrs; I assume Amitapour is the author's last name as I saw it begin the sentence of a review)


5. I love telling my kids that they don't get snow days, because they are homeschooled. Lol





6. My Dad always said anyone who didn't drink their coffee black, would chase cars and bay at the moon.


7. People who open the window are more likely to say it's raining, study finds. Welcome to reality.


8. Charles Lindbergh, another Republican opponent from the heartland, violently criticized the bill -- among other reasons, for authorizing the Fed ro operate overseas in support of foreign trade. Lindbergh's nativism was striking, since his constituents in Minnesota depended on exports and the congressman himself was an immigrant. But xenophobia had been a hallmark of monetary populists since the early days of the republic. It did not die easily. A generation later, when the United States was facing a mortal threat from Nazi Germany, Lindbergh's aviator son would urge America to stay out of "foreign" wars.


(Roger Lowenstein, America's Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create The Federal Reserve, p. 230)



9. Our Training Will Help You Develop Into A Competent, Ethical, Culturally Sensitive And Licensable Marriage And Family Therapist.

(Northcentral University, 040517, seen 1330 hrs)

10. Every real Christian, however practical, is in some degree a mystic, his mysticism lying in the upper side of his life. He prays, meditates on spiritual things and communes with God and the invisible world. Also, every Christian, however he may be dedicated to the holy art of prayer and worship, must of necessity descend to work and eat and sleep and get on somehow with the hard world around him. And if he follows on to know the Lord he must serve in every useful way outlined... for him in the Scriptures of truth. To be a Christian it is necessary that he serve his generation as well as his God.

The big problem is to keep the two elements of the Christian life in proper balance.
Today the Christian emphasis falls heavily on the “active” life….the favorite brand of Christianity is that sparked by the man in a hurry, hard hitting, aggressive and ready with the neat quip. We are neglecting the top side of our souls. The light in the tower burns dimly while we hurry about the grounds below, making a great racket, and giving the impression of wonderful devotion to the task.
Lord, help me to keep the proper balance. Help me especially to cultivate the top side of my soul. Amen
Mark 6:31
[Christian pastor A.W.] Tozer

11. Jesus turns trials into triumphs, tests into testimonies, and victims into victors.





12. [Oh, this is in response to a student presentation "Why Black Lives Don't Matter".]

That's an easy question to answer.

Because any life that can only be measured by the nature of its existence, rather than it's goals, accomplishments, or ideals is worthless. How you are born says nothing about who you are or what you mean to the rest of humanity.


13. Exam question: treatment options for lung cancer.
Exam answer (after correct answers were given): "Selling meth & becoming a drug kingpin. NOT recommended."
Best. Answer. Ever. #professorlife



14. Throw back Thursday. . No photo but when my son [the Poster's Son's Name] was a little boy, I would ask him what he wanted for dinner, he would say PLASTA, instead of PASTA.. meaning Spaghetti. . I thought it was cute..




15. I find it rather sad if anyone actually automatically assumes the absolute worst from these phrases. I say "I don't know what you mean" semi-frequently.... when I don't actually know what someone means and I'm looking for clarification. What else are you supposed to say? I also say "I never said that" about things I never said. This infographic assumes that everyone is a liar who uses double speak? Sad. The people who MEAN those negative things are the issue, not the phrases.

16. If your custom made sex bot is not giving you consent, you should just give up and become a monk...



17. [Poster's] Discussion with my 14 year old about the upcoming 8th grade party...
Me: Don't you want some sort of reward for surviving middle school?
[Poster's Son]: How is it a reward to go back to middle school, after hours, to go to a lame party that I don't even want to be at?






18. APRIL 8


My thoughts flash back to my college days,
     quoth a professor named Schorr:
"I don't mind if you sleep in my class,
     but I do mind if you snore."
After goddaughter's here overnight
     church breakfast made my fam roar --
Not that I didn't like it, oh no!
     just I don't like them pick for;
Get moving for the day that we did,
     on cupcakes, champagne, and me some lore.


(David Alvin, "Lenten Poetry", 2120 hrs)


19. The great things in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving..












20. His shipmates were close by. Too close for him to obey orders. He wouldn't mind a court-martial. Not if Holland and Vincent were around to give evidence against him. If that was his destiny, why, then, he was doomed no matter what he chose to do. So why worry?
Such are the convoluted justifications of the truly brave.


(Alan Dean Foster, The Black Hole, p. 182)


21. The child grows into a man who keeps silent all day long.
He remembers everything but says nothing.


(Liu Xia, "Black Sail", Empty Chairs)


22. Every next level of your life will demand a better version of you.





23. In the process, Americans came to discover a painful paradox of progress. Their prodigious achievements had been largely the product of a social and political system which gave a maximum of equality, mobility, and opportunity to all men. Yet in a huge, complex and maturing industrial order it was increasingly difficult to preserve these virtues. By the end of the century, the public was beginning to reshape its historic views of the "American" significance of such terms as freedom, individualism, progress, morality.


(Bernard A. Weisberger, The Age of Steel and Steam, "The Impact of Industrial Growth", p. 29)










24. We are so blessed!!! Thankful for this life -- the day -- and all my people!!





25. You will always attract what you believe you are worth.





26. The beauty of the Cross is that it clarifies that God will not tolerate sin, yet showcases His deep desire to forgive.








27. I have the flu. Yay......NOT!!

28. People that think Optimus was the better leader in the G1 cartoon make no sense.
Optimus had millennia to defeat the Decepticons and never did it. He could never properly push them back or gain any solid ground in the war
...
Optimus allowed the Decepticons to take over Cybertron. And it if wasn't for Hot Rod, the Autobots would've been completely slaughtered by the Decepticons in the original movie because Optimus couldn't be bothered with looking out a window before communicating sensitive information.

During his tenure as Supreme Autobot Commander, Rodimus Prime did the following:
Drove the Decepticons off Cybertron completely.
Destabilized the Decepticons as a lasting threat, forcing them to be a hit and run army.
Opened up intergalactic trade.
Helped establish an intergalactic alliance/peace conference.
Led the Autobots to an age where war was rare, and casualties were few.
In fact, the only real issue Rodimus suffered from was high expectations from the other Autobots.
Why? Because much like Optimus' fan base, they all talked about how "great" Optimus was, but could never actually point to anything significant he did as a Leader.
As a leader, Optimus Prime is a failure. And if it weren't for Hot Rod/Rodimus, the Autobots would've been wiped out.
To the point that when Optimus came back and became the leader again, he screwed it all up and allowed the Decepticons to gain more ground.
Again.

29. I miss the days when covers could be garish and have word balloons and huxtery slogans and didn't all have to look like movie posters.