This is very, very good

Pope: At the root of the educational emergency is a crisis of trust in life
Source: Asia News.it


In a letter to the people of Rome, Benedict XVI writes that every person and every generation must make fresh choices, without being able to accumulate the progress made in the past. The educational relationship is above all the encounter between two forms of freedom, and successful education means formation in the proper use of freedom.


Vatican City (AsiaNews) - There is an "educational emergency", with talk of a "generation gap" and of the young people of today as if they were different from those of the past: the pope is urging against discouragement in the face of this situation, continuing to emphasise the formation of the new generations and recalling that the difficulties "are not insurmountable", but "the other side of the coin that is the great and precious gift of our freedom, with the responsibility that rightly accompanies it". Made public today, Pope Benedict XVI's letter "on the urgent task of education" is addressed to the people of Rome, but it offers considerations that are valid everywhere. Today, the pope says, there is talk of an "educational emergency", but education "has never been easy, and today it seems to become increasingly difficult". "The spontaneous response is to blame the new generations, as if the children born today were different from those born in the past. There is also talk of a 'generation gap', which certainly exists and is significant, but it is the effect rather than the cause of the failure to transmit certitudes and values". In fact, at the root of the educational crisis "there is a crisis of trust in life".

This should not cause discouragement. The fact is that "unlike what is happening in the areas of technology and economics, where today's progress can be added to that of the past, in the area of personal formation and moral development there is no such possibility of accumulation, because man's freedom is always new, and thus each person and each generation must make new and independent decisions. Even the greatest values of the past cannot simply be inherited, but must be made our own and renewed through personal choices that are often painful. But when the foundations are shaken and essential certitudes are lacking, the need for these values is again felt in a compelling way: this is why the demand for an authentic education is on the rise today". An education would be "very poor if it limited itself to furnishing ideas and information, but left aside the great question concerning the truth, above all that truth that can act as a guide in life. Suffering, too, is a part of the truth of our lives. For this reason, by trying to shelter the youngest from any difficulty or experience of suffering, we risk, despite our good intentions, raising fragile persons lacking in generosity: the capacity for love in fact corresponds to the capacity for suffering, and for suffering together".

One thus arrives "at what may be the most delicate point of the work of education: striking the right balance between freedom and discipline. Without rules of behaviour and of life, applied day after day even in the little things, there is no character formation or preparation for the trials that will not fail to come in the future. The educational relationship is, however, above all the encounter of two forms of freedom, and successful education means formation in the proper use of freedom. Gradually, as the child grows, becomes an adolescent and then a young adult, we must accept the risk of freedom, remaining always attentive to helping him to correct his mistaken ideas and choices. What we must never do is reaffirm him in his errors, pretending not to see them, or even worse, sharing them as if they were the new frontiers of human progress". "Education can therefore never do without the authoritativeness that makes the exercise of authority credible. This is the fruit of experience and competence, but it is gained above all through consistency in one's own life, and through personal involvement, an expression of true love".

But in the end, it must be considered that "the soul of education, as of all of life, can only be a trustworthy hope", which the pope urges should be placed in God. "He alone is the hope that defies all disappointment; only his love cannot be destroyed by death; only his justice and mercy can heal injustices and repay suffering. The hope that is placed in God is never hope for myself alone, it is always hope for others as well: it does not isolate us, but brings us together in the good, prompting us to educate one another in truth and love".

Penny Pinching

Used to be really good at pinching pennies til they were flat.

Given the economic outlook, I am trying really hard to rebuild this seemingly lost talent of mine.

A couple of things worth passing on...

Angel Food Ministries... find one near you!

Plant a small veggie garden. I have been shocked by price increases on veggies.

Ditch therapeutic shopping... find joy in new uses for old things.
You probably don't really need the extra window dressing.

Once or twice a year, buy bulk grains.
Ask to be put on the list at Rehoboth Ranch

For us, the big one is to stop picking up food when on the road.
Thankfully, our oldest 2 are sick of fast food.
Taking 5 kids out to eat in a restaurant is too much of a headache most day.
New mantra: You can wait til we get home.

Smile when you pay down that credit card, home loan, or car payment.

Simple things, really... but it sure beats agonizing over where the money goes.

Ringing the bell...

Or is that a bell tolling?

According to the "prophecy," when you keep expanding the money supply, lower the interest rates, and generally prop up an economic recession - you end up with massive inflation.*

My grandmother used to say the surest way to measure inflation was by watching the price of salt.

Salt is relatively free of subsidies, price wars, technical advances and the like - you basically dig it up, clean it, and sell it.  You don't see a sale on salt - it's just what it is.  (Excluding the British)

So, I'm confugled now... I paid 54¢ for salt, up from to 34¢ a year ago - showing an increase of 54% in price.  Sure, a lot of that is oil and transport increases, but surely there's some inflation there?  Surely it's more than the 4.1% (including oil & transport!) which the CPI showed for 2007.  

So I go to look at the RAW CPI data.  When I was a kid, you got to see the price of milk the CPI based their adjustments.  But since 1998, the CPI is index based.  Meaningless numbers have replaced reality, with this "index" based on an average price increase, from an average cost collected in the years 1982-1984.

Confused yet?  Ah, but wait!  Now we also have "seasonally adjusted" this index so that it gets flatter - so an obvious trend can be "seasonally" adjusted for, oh say, any reason at all!

My advice - stick to the salt.

Oh, and save, save, save.

* inflation: a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money

Happy Birthday to Me

Yes, yes, yes... another year older, a wee bit wiser, and looking forward to another year of progress out of disease. If my Nana can rebound from cancer and never get a touch of it again in over 30 years... If my mother can get off SERIOUS heart meds, to the astonishment of her doctor... then I, being of the same tenacious "I WILL be WELL" blood have at least an outside chance of overcoming this mess.

My sister and brother in law called this morning. BiL sang me happy birthday. Wow!! So sweet. My sis sure knows how to pick 'em.

Gifts were just AWESOME! 6 blueberry bushes; seed of marigold, pansy, snapdragon, moss rose, and a pretty blue flower.

My dear friend Jeanne and her sweet children dropped by with balloons and home made birthday cards.

Mom took us out to Kobe Steakhouse.Mmmmmmmmm. She also gifted me another Lowes gift card, and a promise to come help me paint the house interior. Yay!!!

Didn't get to see my Nana, because lil' Deb fell ill on the way out of the restaurant. Durn! Hopefully Nana and I will have a girls' day out soon. I'd really, really like that.

Another movie beyond reason...

One hour and twenty minutes of Docu-Drama about one of the most important "inventions" of the 20th century. No, not cellular communications, jet engines, microelectronics, or other such USELESS fodder.
No, THIS Oscar caliber production team has out-done them all!

Helvetica is not the story of Switzerland, though it hails from there. If gorgeous curves and striking contrasts are your thing... then you'll love Helvetica almost as much as zombo.com.

Helvetica, HELvetica, HELVETICA... the story of a font!

Watch it on Netflix.... NOW!

Clarifying the Familiar

I was reading over the Latin prayers and their English translations last week.

I noticed something... odd. Something that had not occurred to me previously.

tu, te, tui, --- similar to du, dich, dein in German

which is... hold yer breath... the familiar way to address a person.

Hmm, I wondered.

For my impression *was* that Thee, Thou, Thine were FORMAL addresses from antiquity.

Not so, sayeth the oracle called wikipedia, in an article posted by Project Gutenberg.

+You was originally a formal form used when addressing strangers or to show deference, with the singular being thou when talking to friends or family. (This usage echoed German usage of "Sie" for polite conversation, and "du" for informal, friendly conversation.) You gradually came to be generalized to the singular in all circumstances.

+Ye was the plural form used to address groups. The original nominative form was ye, whilst you was the objective (accusative and dative) form, but with time ye came to represent any plural form. Today the absence of a plural ye has led to slang expressions such as you guys or youse (both are considered colloquial).

+Early Modern English works use these archaic meanings. For example the King James Bible uses ye when referring to groups, you to display politeness or deference, and thou to represent a close personal relationship (such as with God).

Great to know I will never stop learning.

For Happycrow...

Saw this on digg earlier... couldn't resist! What every nomad kitten needs in the wild neighborhood.... armor!



Original site here.

Hillary and Obama... an article

from New York Magazine

Phrases worth pondering this week:

Relevance, Relationships, and Responsiveness.
historically aligned
cognitive dissonance
malleable minds


Quote for the week

We need to be aware of this dynamic, because increasingly, our society and culture is becoming more and more psychopathic. It is expressed in the way that people now feel that they a right to be angry and abusive. It is expressed in our culture when people refuse to take responsibility for their actions, or stop caring about how their actions may affect those around them. It is expressed when the powerful think that the ends justify the means, or that something is alright so long as you can get away with it. It is expressed in our national desire for freedom without responsibility, for total individualism or autonomy, despite the way such autonomy may hurt others.

The need for shepherds, expressed by the prophets, is a metaphor in many ways for the fact that we need limits, and we need to learn obedience. We need boundaries and we need accountability. We cannot redefine truth to suit our own human experiences. We have to be subject to higher truths and shape and mold our lives according to forces outside of ourselves, rather than trying to change the world to suit our tastes and our desires.

-Fr. Timothy Heines, excerpt from Homily, July 23, 2006

While Papa's Away the Puppies Will Play

Had an opportunity today, so I took it!

Please welcome the newest members of our family,

Polka Dot, Fluffy, and Paws