Author: SDG

Two Spoons Up

You’ve heard of book reviews, movie reviews, even restaurant reviews. But have you heard of cereal reviews? Probably not. Neither had I until I saw mention of The Empty Bowl on the Food Network. Intrigued and amused, I pulled up the site. Not only do these guys review cereals, they also review cereal accoutrements. I’d venture to say that not many people wonder whether powdered milk is a tool of the devil, but I guess some do (with tongues firmly planted in cheeks, no doubt):

"Powdered Milk. Just saying the words makes some people cringe in fear. But, why is such a stigma placed on powdered milk? After all, people like dried fruit. Beef jerky seems popular. Sun dried tomatoes, anyone? But, just try to market some dried out milk and watch people turn up their noses. Maybe it’s a class thing. Still, it is widely available, so someone must be buying the stuff. I walk by large boxes of it every week at the grocery store. I usually walk quickly through the powdered milk section trying not to make eye contact with any of the people on the boxes. So, a few weeks ago, after making my usual dash, I ended up in the Ethnic food isle, only to find … more powdered milk."

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Uncle Sam Wants Your Child

… in the public-school system, that is:

"One day after jazz band practice, 14-year-old Peter Wilson’s band teacher pulled him aside.

"The instructor wanted to know whether Peter, who is home-schooled alongside his three brothers, liked being taught by his mother, and why he didn’t come to public school full-time, instead of just for music.

"The teacher seemed uncomfortable bringing it up, and the conversation was brief, Peter said. When he got home, he told his parents.

"Mark and Teckla Wilson, who are raising their four sons in Mark Wilson’s roomy childhood home in this former timber town, soon found out to their annoyance that the teacher’s questions were part of an effort by the Myrtle Point school district to persuade home-schooling families to give the public system a shot."

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to Crowhill for the link.)

A Doctor’s Modest Proposal

One M.D. has a novel solution to warnings of an impending physician shortage: Embrace the shortage and become, in her words, "a rare commodity":

"Why would anyone in their right mind want to go into medicine now? Until something is done to corral the HMO and government administrators (who are expensive and time-consuming annoyances); until the pay for family practice and general practice doctors is made equal to that of general pediatricians and general internists; until there are special courts for malpractice complaints instead of the current lawyer-stealing-from-doctor tort system; and until we aren’t having to cope daily with the tragic stories of people who cannot afford medications and of people who are being dumped off insurance when they are sick, I’m advising my bright young patients to look elsewhere for an occupation.

"I think we should be allowed to become a rare commodity. Maybe then we will be paid enough and respected enough to make the profession worth doing again" (source).

After my second spit-take at the line suggesting that doctors aren’t compensated enough in money and respect for their services, I got to thinking.

In some ways, I can see this physician’s point. Given their long years of expensive training, the malpractice coverage they must pay, and the risks entailed with running a business (especially one where they are beholden to insurance companies to cough up payments in a timely manner) the dazzling salaries doctors reportedly make do seem less-glittering. And, of course, it is specialization that pays the most. General practice and teaching doctors do not make dazzling salaries. I can also concede that respect for doctors flies out the window when it’s time to start looking around for a scapegoat for a tragedy, whether or not an individual doctor could have done anything differently.

Still.

Advising that physicians allow themselves to become a "rare commodity" will only mean that patients, those whom doctors are supposed to serve, will only receive worse care as the insurance companies ration out treatment options ever more thinly to meet the increased demand. And, as the physicians left in the field grow ever more gray, who will replace them? Will it take a decade-plus to train the new physicians once the potential doctors and early-retiree doctors decide to come back from their "strike"?

All in all, a silly proposal for a serious problem.

(Nod to Kevin, M.D., for the links.)

JPII’s Biblical Vision

Scott Hahn reflects on Pope John Paul II’s "superior command of [S]cripture" and how that influenced many Protestant Evangelicals — including Dr. Hahn, who converted to the Church in 1986:

"Though I was then a Protestant minister–Calvinist in training, evangelical in approach, and instinctively anti-Catholic–I was first drawn to Pope John Paul II in the early 1980s. I was not alone among his hesitant admirers. He captured our attention because of his effective combat in the culture wars. But he kept our attention because of something else.

"Gradually and grudgingly, many of us, Protestants and Catholics alike, came to admit that he was effective in the culture wars, not because of his bully pulpit or his media savvy or his philosophical suavity, but because of his superior command of scripture."

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(Nod to Karen Hall of Some Have Hats for the link.)

Desperately Seeking White Smoke

Protecting the next conclave’s secrecy from prying outsiders is going to prove more technologically-challenging than it was in 1978:

“Computer hackers, electronic bugs and supersensitive microphones threaten to pierce the Vatican’s thick walls next week when cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to name a papal successor.

“Spying has gotten a lot more sophisticated since John Paul was elected in 1978, but the Vatican seems confident it can protect the centuries-old tradition of secrecy that surrounds the gathering.

“‘It’s not as if it’s the first conclave we’ve handled,’ said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.”

GET THE STORY.

For My Fathers: R.I.P.

I have not been blogging for the past few days, and may not resume for a few days more for reasons that will become apparent momentarily, but I did want to join the rest of St. Blog’s Parish in commenting — if briefly — on the passing of John Paul II.  Co-blogger, Tim Jones, recently posted asking commenters Where Were You? [when you heard of the Pope’s passing].  My answer:

I had just called a friend to inform her that my father had died about a half-hour previously after a long illness.  She exclaimed, "He and the Pope together?"  That’s when I found out that John Paul had died.  Later, I would learn that my dad had preceded the Pope by about twenty minutes.

In the months before my father’s death, from an illness which we had known for some time would be terminal, I found myself thinking it would be lovely that — when the time came — he might pass into eternity on a Carmelite feast day.  I have an interest in Carmelite spirituality, a love for St. Therese of Lisieux, and my mother passed away this past December on the feast of St. John of the Cross.  It did not look likely, though, since I could think of no upcoming Carmelite feasts and it appeared that my father would die soon.

Unsurprisingly, I underestimated God.  With the passing of John Paul II, God created a Carmelite feast for the day of my dad’s birth into eternity.  John Paul II was a third-order Carmelite who wrote a doctoral thesis on the spirituality of St. John of the Cross.  It is a great grace and comfort that both of my fathers, natural and spiritual, entered the next life together.

Dad, Holy Father: Requiescat In Pace.

Note:  For more on the incredible circumstances surrounding the date of John Paul’s death, please see this piece by Mark Shea.

A Spectator Of Reality (TV, That Is)

You know you’re a couch potato when you watch reality on TV.

Reality shows, that is.

This season I’ve been watching "Survivor: Palau," "The Amazing Race 7," and "The Apprentice [3]."  I tend to be an on- and off-viewer of these shows, and usually hop on the bandwagon after the first season — and the initial fad — has passed by.  I didn’t start watching "Survivor" or "The Apprentice" until Season 2.  I only started regularly watching "The Amazing Race" this season, and that was because of the entrance of "Survivor"-sweethearts Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano into the Race.

One of the interesting aspects of the reality shows is the moral issues that arise during the course of the season.  For example, if you watched "The Amazing Race" this week, you may have noticed that when one of the leading teams flipped its jeep, another leading team stopped but others (notably Rob ‘n Ambuh) sped on.  Later, Rob and Amber were especially held up for scorn by the team that stopped (Lynn and Alex) because R & A leapfrogged into second while Lynn and Alex ended up in fourth.

So, were Lynn and Alex right?  Was it a moral obligation to stop?

If practical assistance could be given such as medical care or the sacraments, sure.  Human life is much more important than any game — or the possibility of a million dollars.  Of course, if you can call for help, you should; and if you have actually witnessed the accident occur, you should report that to the authorities.  But if all one could do would be to murmur sympathetically and gawk at the accident, there is no obligation to stop, anymore than there would be if you saw the same accident by the side of the road on your way to work.    Indeed, when you would be a hindrance by staying, moving along — and thus keeping the accident site clear of spectators (as distinguished from witnesses) — would be the right thing to do.

Child Of My Right Hand

Ever since I was a child I’ve been fascinated with dates.  Just ask my family.  I’m the go-to person for the birthdates of relations near and distant.  Since becoming a Catholic, this natural interest has developed into a love of the liturgical year.  Whenever something significant happens, I look up the date to see if there might be a hidden eternal significance.  I like to tell myself that because God sanctified created time by his Incarnation, so he can use created time to teach.

So, naturally, as we mourn today for Terri Schiavo, I wondered about the significance of the date of her death (March 31).  No particular saint’s day leaped to mind, but comments in the blogosphere reminded me that many in the Church are currently observing the novena of Divine Mercy in preparation for the Feast of Divine Mercy this Sunday.  Inspired, I looked up the novena to find out which souls are being prayed for today in the novena:

"The souls who especially venerate and glorify Jesus’ mercy."

Later, I had a bit more time to poke around to see if March 31 had any special significance.  Ordinarily, the date falls during Lent, so I was unsure I could find a particular commemoration for a saint.  But, with a bit of digging, I found that the day has been set aside (at least in some areas) in honor of St. Benjamin — yes, the same Benjamin born to Jacob and Rachel.  Rachel originally named him Benoni, meaning "son of my sorrow," but after her death Jacob changed the name to Benjamin, which can mean "son of my right hand."

Benjamin’s mother Rachel is often invoked by pro-lifers because of this passage from Jeremiah:

"Thus says the LORD: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not’" (Jer. 31:15).

Today is a day of mourning because Terri Schiavo is no longer with us.  But just as Benjamin passed from being a "son of my sorrow" to a "son of my right hand," so we have Christian hope that Terri, who suffered much, is now a child at God’s right hand.  As for us, even in sorrow, we too should cling to hope:

"My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.  But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’" (Lam. 3:20-24).

Nunblog

St. Blog’s Parish has many fine priestly blogs, and I am now happy to give equal time to a nun’s blog — appropriately titled Nunblog.  Sr. Anne is a Daughter of St. Paul from Chicago.  Appropriately enough, Sr. Anne’s order’s charism is evangelization through the various forms of media.  I’ve only had time to scan through her site, but it looks interesting and has some lovely photos of a recent trip to Rome.

(Nod to Karen Hall of Some Have Hats, a Catholic writer who also has a fine blog you should check out.)