Easter seemed like such an innocent thing back when I wore a younger man's clothes. Maybe it was easier for me to be happy because I was part of an actual family. I had to try to overcome the overwhelming stigma of "living with my patents." I think our nation has greatly lessened this stigma over the last three or so decades.
My family included a dog for many years. Today the expense of owning a pet has caused many people to give up on it. Veterinary expenses have shot up. Well a great many categories of expenses have shot up.
Think of visiting the dentist for one thing. I have seen some advice on how to deal with that: "take extraordinarily good care of your teeth." I get fluoride rinse at Willie's, mix a small amount with hot water and swish it in my mouth, once or twice a day. The approach seems to work. I haven't been to the dentist in at least three years and I have no pain.
But we seek dental care for a reason. We like to have pets for a reason. If Americans continually feel pressure to "give up things," then what might we conclude about our actual quality of life? Inflation shoots up partly if not mainly because of the actions of the Federal Reserve. "The Fed" answers to no elected leaders. And the push for lower interest rates is coming to be seen as primarily a means for big stock market investors to get more filthy rich. The great U.S. middle class that was created after WWII is eroding away.
So how should we feel at this Easter time of 2024? As a kid my family got together with my uncle and aunt from Glenwood. Uncle Howard was dad's brother. Howard and Dad were among five sons of Martin and Carrie Williams of Glenwood. I am proud to be under that umbrella even if I have so little to show for my own life. I have been unemployed since 2006. At present my age is elevated enough that I could legitimately not be expected to work.
I suppose I could have found some way to "volunteer" at something. Problem is, I'm convinced I have the equivalent of PTSD due to the wear and tear on my psyche from having been with the Morris newspaper. At the end of that, maybe I really truly could have been judged a failure. I won't make an issue of that. But I do not believe I warranted being treated as a scorned person. I was not some drug pusher, was not responsible for any terrible crimes.
I was asked to do a great deal. Virtually every aspect of my responsibilities was undergoing rapid change or obsolescence toward the end. It started playing mind games with me.
The atmosphere at work had been so laid back and relaxed in a previous time. I suppose the advances in tech were the main cause of the sea change. People long ago began predicting the outright demise of the print media. And of course the downturn turned out to be not so sudden. But it surely has been steady.
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| What would He say about Donald Trump? |
Shall I go to church on Easter Sunday? My long-time church of First Lutheran in Morris has been undergoing such terrible death spasms. It has gotten to the point where we are resorting to have a Methodist minister come and present the service periodically. This individual is the regular pastor at Federated Church. So I assume he's Methodist.
Well fine, I'm not throwing stones at the Methodist denomination. Nor at the pastor I cite.
But First Lutheran is an ELCA church. It's just a matter of proper procedure, proper procedure to have an ELCA-approved pastor on Sunday if we are going to have a service at all. And maybe that is what it has come to - maybe we should get it over with and just dissolve.
I brought a check into the church office in December. I had to either do this or get my annual letter which would show zero contribution. I don't give to the offering plates. In fact, I see the passing around of the plates to be almost annoying. Just because someone ignores the plate - "waves off" the person with the plate - does not mean that person does not give. One of George Carlin's greatest lines was: "Is it OK to make change in the offering plate when it goes by?"
I find it more efficient and satisfying to submit a periodic check, although my enthusiasm has dimmed considerably because of the condition of First Lutheran. I now regret having submitted the December check.
So I am doing the obvious: stopping in at Faith Lutheran "on the other side of the tracks." Well, west Morris has its charms. I once suggested in my writing that west Morris have something like Prairie Pioneer Days, headquartered at Wells Park. Wells Park is probably an underrated place.
Well, today there is no Prairie Pioneer Days on the east side of the tracks either. The PPD that we knew for many years as such a robust thing has died. Unbelievable. And First Lutheran Church has the proverbial one foot in the grave. Maybe more than one foot. Why has it come to this?
The west side Faith Lutheran is ELCA.
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| First Lutheran Church, Morris |
The decline of First Lutheran had one clear catalyst at the start: the gay rights push. In fact, this push has served to sever the whole Methodist denomination. What a mess. At least the ELCA resolved the matter and then moved on. But at a possible terrible cost.
If we have a Methodist minister presenting a service at First, I'd like to know on what side of the Methodist divide he falls: pro-gay or anti-gay. I have absolutely no problem with equal rights for gays - there's no excuse for keeping them "in the closest" - but I think they need to back off from so much "activism."
If my own pastor were gay, fine, totally fine, but then that person should just strive to be a totally capable minister. Stick to the priorities of the Christian faith. But be careful about quoting Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, because Jesus could sound a little "liberal." You fools, of course Jesus could sound a little liberal. And he would want nothing to do with Donald Trump and his "Trump Bibles," a total grift.
But here in Stevens County, on the windswept rural prairie, we have clearly drunk the Trump and GOP Kool-Aid of the year 2024. Maybe it isn't just the ELCA that is dying, maybe it's America itself. "Let's go Brandon."
To be cherished
One thing you cannot take away from me: my memories of Easters past when I had a family and we shared Easter with my uncle and aunt Howard and Vi of Glenwood. Bless their memory, along with the memory of our precious dogs: Misty, Heidi and Sandy.
Too expensive to have a dog now. Pretty soon it might be too expense to eat. Oh but we're getting advice now: to start having breakfast cereal as our evening meal. It was in the news recently. Pretty soon the very richest class might be lecturing the rest of us on how we need to accept living in a dormitory building with a stranger roommate and shared bathroom. Just make do.
The top one percent needs interest rates low. That accelerates inflation. How do you feel about food costs now? The top one percent will insist we vote for Trump. Trump as dictator would try to seize control of "the Fed."
When the people realize how they're being subjugated for the benefit of the very richest, they could well rise up. A common way of putting this is: "rise up with pitchforks." We should pray that this scenario does not happen. Let's all get along, rich and poor alike. But the rich have to chill out.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - b willy73@yahoo.com
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