Distracted Mind

[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/tina/131962448/ “Java Estate”)I’ve been taking it a little easy on the blogging front for the past few weeks: I started to realize that I was wearing myself a little thin with the whole mother, wife, full time job, freelance, blogger and art thing and something had to give. It was blogging.

Occasionally you just have to back off, realize that you’ve been doing too much and re-assess your priorities. My realization came when a friend of mine visiting during a break from his graduate studies at MIT looked at me and said “How do you _do_ it all?” I honestly couldn’t give him a straight answer, because I had never thought about it.

So here I am, catching my breath after a few hard weeks/months. My household has weathered relatives, birthdays, a lovely attack of rotavirus (something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy), and much more. It’s safe to say that things were more than a little busy.

I’ve been doing more artwork and photography lately, which has been a blessing. When I graduated from Bowling Green, I felt like I was cut off from a creative support system. I didn’t have much in the way of inspiration and I didn’t create much artwork for a long while. Four years, to be exact. Sure, I did a few pieces here and there, but it was more of a rote exercise than anything else. I began to feel like maybe my degree was a waste.

I didn’t realize then that I had a little something called clinical depression and I wouldn’t realize it for several years, when it became severe post-partum depression and my life nearly fell apart. I got some help, thanks to a fabulous husband who helped me wake up. It’s been almost a year since I started treatment, and I’m doing art again. It’s been wonderful.

Yes, I’m busy, but I’m also happy. My daughter is now in the full throes of her twos (they’re really not that terrible), which is a miracle to witness. Everything is new to her, and watching her see things for the first time refreshes my world.

The blogging thing has been great and cathartic, but being able to make art again has been even more therapeutic. It’s like being able to talk after a long bout of laryngitis, or having a blindfold taken off after days in darkness. Days are brighter, colors more vivid and even this busy life is more enjoyable.

It’s almost primary time and that means that the loonies are coming out of the woodwork. The Conservative Primary Fairy (hereafter known as CPF) left a little blue goodie in our doorway the other day, one that’s been a source of amusement for the adults in my household. If there’s one thing that will make me simultaneously laugh, curse, and bring me back from the blogging dead, it’s mindless ultra-conservative propaganda.

This precious little folded piece was masterminded by the Ward 20 Republican Organization and its _esteemed_ leader, Richard May. Its heartfelt, conversation-style is a little conspiratorial and extremely humorous. As an independent and staunch _non-republican_, I was roaring.

Just so that you can share in the joy and outrage, I’ll give y’all a few snippets of this masterpiece on paper. Any italicized emphasis in the quotes is mine.

_The Opener. The following paragraphs have been plucked from the opening statement of this leaflet because they are so. Absolutely. Precious._
“On Tuesday May 2nd the Ohio Republican primary will present voters with the opportunity to state if they want the moderate Ohio status quo this party has run for the last sixteen years or if they fully embrace the conservative revolution as the national party has done for nearly a generation.”

_The first paragraph’s grammar and punctuation are indicative of the entire leaflet. If there’s anything this organization is *actually* conservative about, it’s punctuation. They don’t like it and they won’t stand for it. Not a comma, not an apostrophe. The only reason why periods are allowed is because people need to be told when a full stop is in order, or else they won’t remember to BREATHE!_
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There’s been a lot of talk lately about the farce known as “The War on Christianity”. While the absurd idea of a war on a mainstream religion gives me an inner chuckle, it also gets me a little angry. As a Christian, I don’t feel like I’m at war with anything except misguided attempts to hijack my religion for political reasons.

These so-called “wars” on Christmas, Christianity and now even Easter are nothing more than frontal assaults on the intellect of the American public. Senator Delay, Bill O’Reilley, and the rest of the schmucks that opine about these attacks on their favored religion and holidays are no better than streetwalkers, pandering to anyone foolish enough to listen. However foolish, these “wars” are symptoms of a larger problem: mainline Christianity is being overwhelmed by a radical minority hell bent on dominating the religion and revising it to fit their narrow views.

As a Lutheran, I never thought of my flavor of Christianity as “progressive.” I grew up with the whole “Love the Lord your God and love your neighbors as yourself” spiel, believing that the best kind of evangelism was ministry through living. My family, for all their various human flaws, never taught me to push Christianity on my Jewish and Muslim friends, though later on I learned the technique from my new and interesting fundamentalist friends.

We were taught that the best ministry was by example: live a life that others want to lead. This type of evangelism is more difficult than street preaching or bible-thumping because it requires sincerity. These are not qualities inherent in today’s political talking heads and they’re not usually found lurking in the larger than life personalities of the religious right. Instead, we have paranoid leaders lurching at ghost-enemies, claiming to be under attack from all sides.

A hero was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, one who was unique in his bravery and convictions. Desmond T. Doss Sr. was 87 when he died, the only conscientious objector to receive a Medal of Honor for his service in World War II. Doss was a medic in the war; he refused to carry a gun and instead saved lives in his service to our country.

While Doss endured ridicule for his decision, he was steadfast in his conviction that he would not take a life. He rescued 75 servicemen in Okinawa, carrying each one to safety at the edge of a cliff while under fire. His actions showed that peacemakers and pacifists can serve in our military and affect lives in a way that guns and mortar fire can’t.

When you hear the term “conscientious objector,” what images come to mind? Do you think of hippies stuffing daisies into gun barrels? Do you think of protesters and folk songs? Or do you think of a young man or woman in uniform, saving lives?

Conscientious objectors have served in the military as medics, clerics, cooks and in other roles throughout our country’s history. The decision _not_ to bear arms is a brave one: they’ve given up personal protection and instead sacrifice their safety to serve our men and women in the military. They could have chosen to stay in the private sector, but they didn’t.

I’m a pacifist, but the only uniforms I’ve worn were for food service and choir uniforms. I don’t wear patchouli, I tend to abhor the _hippie nouveau_ trend (’round my house the word “hippie” is usually intoned in a Cartman impersonation). I went to college instead of enrolling in the military, a decision I don’t regret, but I respect and appreciate those that decided to go into the service. It’s not a minor life decision and it’s one that needs to be respected. Doss made that decision and went above and beyond the call of duty to rescue his brethren, making him a hero in every sense of the word. His sacrifice and his legacy will not be forgotten.

[link](http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/04/doss.funeral.ap/index.html)