Cruise on Over

Next month, my wife and I will be taking our very first cruise trip.
Through the generosity of my in-laws, they recently announced that they enjoyed their own trip so much that they wanted to share it with their children and grandchildren.
Probably more for the grandkids, but that's beside the point.
We were all pleasantly surprised when they informed us that they would treat us all to a cruise trip to Bermuda. Outside of Canada, I have never left the good ole U.S. of A.
I have flown multiple times in my life, taken bus trips, and local riverboat cruises that stayed close to port, but a trip being surrounded by nothing but open sea I find rather intriguing.
The excitement over getting a passport for the first time in my life was an experience in and of itself.  Not just that, but watching my daughter get hers.
I have always found it strange that the older some people get, the less likely they are to leave their comfort zone.
I have Benjamin Button syndrome.  My mindset is working in reverse.
When I was younger, I was pretty stubborn and not likely to leave the waters (pardon the pun) that I was familiar with, but as I grew older, my mind started opening to trying new things, the opinion of others (no matter how much theirs differed from my own) and seeing potential experiences with new eyes.
Because what this life offers is a chance to experience the newness of life.
New perspectives.  New people.  New sights.
A world outside your own seems a lot bigger.
But for some, it's less friendlier.
Nonetheless, it should never be a deterrent to what's important.
We are not alone in this world.
We are without a doubt, as I've written before, the most powerful nation on Earth.  We set the tone for the rest of the world.
What we do impacts other countries, other societies, other cultures.
And we should never fight it or not make an effort to understand, if not accept, what is outside our borders.
We often fear what we don't fully understand.
But we should never allow fear to govern our lives.
We can look back at the events of September 11th as an example.
Many people of Middle Eastern descent, most of whom had become naturalized U.S. citizens, gave up their citizenship and returned to their homeland.
Because of one word...persecution.
This country was formed by people of many races, cultures, and ethnic groups that fled their homeland for that very same reason.
And we should be ashamed of ourselves for becoming the society that struggled to build the image that America was different than any other country on Earth.
The attitude we need to take as a society can best be described by a teen drama canceled not so long ago, with this motto:
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."
Let's start winning again...with a new kind of weapon.
Not the kind you hold in your hands.
But in your heart and mind.
Can't lose.


NEXT WEEK:   Freak Show

Know Your Limits

Public service.
It's one of the most thankless careers in this country.
And that's the problem.
The fact that it is in fact a career.
Here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate can hold their seats for life if they so desire.
And collect a very attractive pension if they have enough time in.
Unfortunately, in the political world, the more time you put in, the more corrupt you become.
One of many examples have recently been made in Harrisburg, as Pennsylvania's Office of the Attorney General has been cracking down on many capitol cash-grabbers using their taxpayer-paid resources to perform  duties for their own benefit, most namely, staying in office.
Most legislators enter office with the best intentions in mind...to help people.  But after awhile, and after being presented with bankroll offers from corrupt organizations, the fine line that separates black and white begins to blur into shades of gray.
It stops being about helping others and becomes more about getting re-elected.
As they say, the ends justify the means.
Virtue stopped being its own reward.  After all, virtue doesn't pay the bills now, does it?
Perhaps not in the short term.  And maybe that's one of society's problems...we don't think about the future often enough.
Several members of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives are learning the values of virtue over the corruption of cash.  And a few Senate members as well.
Many of our elected leaders in Harrisburg have been carted off to jail, with their legacies of the good they did do now being overshadowed by their corrupt acts.
It's a shame when a legislator fights hard for their constituents, but the legacy they struggle to build, often taking years, can be gone in a matter of mere seconds.
Next month, Senator Jane Clare Orie will end her 15-year career in the legislature, first in the House and then in the Senate, as she is sentenced on criminal charges of which she was recently convicted, in a second trial after her first one last year ended in a mistrial over doctored defense documents.
An attorney by education, her felony convictions cost her her license to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Orie was convicted of using her state-paid staff to perform political work on state time, and at the request of her older sister, to perform political work on behalf of another sister who holds a spot on the bench for Pennsylvania's Supreme Court.
My mind goes back to the courtroom of Judge Gregory Olson of Indiana County.
Above his bench, in large letters, reads the following:
"No man is above the law, and no man is beneath it."
No woman, either.
Despite Orie's conviction, she has had an exemplary record with veterans and senior citizens, and had brought funding to her district to create good-paying, family-sustaining jobs.  She also co-chaired a committee dedicated to preventing child and elder abuse.
This record made her one of Pennsylvania's most powerful, and until recently, most respected lawmakers.
I hope that Ms. Orie will use her time in prison to reflect on what got her into trouble, and what she can do to repair her soiled reputation and rebuild her life.
Some good can still come out of this.
Perhaps another lawmaker not yet caught will think twice the next time he or she bends the rules.
At least we can only hope so.


NEXT WEEK:  Cruisin'

The Family Stone

No, I'm not talking about the 60's soul group.
But rather, the cornerstone of every family.
Mom.
Sure, Dad was the one who more often than not, worked outside the home to provide a living for the family.
The money he earned is what Mom used to provide the food on the table, pay the bills to make sure the phone and lights stayed on, and bought the clothes on your backs.
But everyone remembers Mom.
And Dad is OK with that.
Well, he's learned to be, anyway.  But don't worry, he's fine.
Because Mom provided everything I just mentioned...plus more.
She was the first person you went to for comfort.  Whether you scraped your knee in the driveway, or even more complex matters when you arrived with a suitcase, saying your spouse told you over dinner that he or she wanted a divorce.
Dad can't compete with that.
We're the problem solvers.  We don't have the patience to simply listen, and not offer any input unless specifically asked.  We're just not wired that way.
And when Mom is gone forever, we feel a huge hole in ourselves with a stinging pain that just won't go away.
We still rely on Mom.  Even though we may grit our teeth and complain about her later on in life.
She calls and interrupts you at work for something that could have waited until later that evening.
Or she plies your kid with treats when you come over, about an hour after they picked at lunch and ate almost nothing.
She may pick at how you raise your child, why you don't call or come over more often, your relationship with your siblings, how you can leave the house practically naked, why you chose the not-so-lucrative career path you did, why you can't seem to manage your finances to save your life, and even why you chose the person you married.
But you still need her.  Whether you'll admit it or not.
Even those with stormy childhoods, sometimes at the hands of an abusive mother, still feel that ache of what's lacking.  And longing for it.
This person carried you in her body for nine months.  Possibly nursed you afterwards.  Spent the majority of time with you in your youngest years.
And tolerated your teenage rebellion with the patience of a saint.  Whether you sneaked her debit card out of her purse to pay for those concert tickets she wouldn't buy for you, wrecked the brand-new family car less than a week after getting your driver's license, 'borrowed' her best dress to wear to school that day and permanently stained it, or complained about her to your friend on the phone, and within earshot.
Mom was, and still is, a three-letter word for unconditional love.
On this Mother's Day, I ask that you take the time to celebrate your mother.  Give her a call or stop over.  Let her know you care.  And if you too are a mother, celebrate your motherhood.
If you're married to a mother, celebrate your wife and what she's accomplished as a mother.
If your mother has passed on, take some time to reflect.  Think about how she made you the person you are today...whether it's good or bad.  Don't be afraid to cry if it makes you feel better.
You're never too old to love your mother.
Or want her near.
You can reach for that box of tissues now.
It's OK.
Really.


NEXT WEEK:  Legislative Term Limits

Is the Right Wrong?

NOTE:  The views and opinions expressed in the following are strictly that of the author.


The so-called Religious Right.  Those that belong to it are pretty much a quick study.
They drive the minivans.  They shop at warehouse clubs.  Mom stays at home and tends to at least four kids.  Most of them are Protestant and look down on those of more Orthodox faiths. They're the ones in church with their pretentious hands raised high during hymns.  They also speak out against separation of church and state, abortion, same-sex marriage, and condemn those less fortunate as being at fault for their own troubles.
In God We Trust...it's on our money!  Thou shalt not kill!  The book of Leviticus says it's a sin to lay down with another of the same sex!  Sloth is one of the Seven Deadly Sins! 
What's wrong with that, you say?
According to Dr. Anthony Campolo, EVERYTHING.
I had the pleasure of meeting this man recently at a fundraising dinner for a charity that also happens to own a nursing home and several other retirement communities.
"Jesus is neither a Democrat nor a Republican," Dr. Campolo told me in an interview before the dinner. "You have created God in your own political image.  Is what I'm standing for politically in harmony with the Jesus I read about in the Scriptures?"
Creating God in your own political image.
I thought a lot about that.
And if you self-identify as a Christian, so should you.
Come to think of it, that would be idolatry, wouldn't it?
And we know the lessons that the Baal-worshippers learned the hard way.
Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.  Noah was a fall-down drunk.  There are others, I'm only recounting those at the top of my small brain at this moment.
The point is, God loves sinners.  Why?
Because they're proof that even with free will, anyone can be saved from their demons.  A broken person can be made whole.  It may take a miracle to happen, but it can be done.
America is a country that the world equates with freedom.  However, it's also equated with other things...greed.
Many conservatives, Bible in hand, always spew the state of Social Security and how much it costs our country.  Yet no mention is made of cutting defense spending or other pork-barrel projects that cost this country dearly.
My Jesus didn't vote.  Nor did He fight to cut social programs.  To the contrary, He fed 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves. 
My Jesus didn't cut Medicare.  He healed the blind and lame.  And He didn't ask who your insurance carrier was afterwards or ask for a deductible or co-pay.
He owned no sprawling suburban home, with summer residences elsewhere, personal luxury car, bulging bank accounts or assistants for his every need.  He owned nothing but the clothes on His back and the sandals on His feet.
He also said "Judge not, lest you be judged".



NEXT WEEK:  Mother's Day