Last night the babies and I went to visit a good friend from college, Colleen, and her little darlin', Bridget. Colleen and I met on my London study abroad trip and became fast friends. If we could have looked into a set of binoculars to see what we are like today, I think we would have died laughing! We lost touch after college, but a mutual friend brought us together when we were both pregnant with our first babies and living in Des Moines. Bridget was born 3 weeks after Iain, so we were neck and neck, or belly and belly through our pregnancies. So we had a great night hanging out with the kids and Bridget and Iain are old enough to play nice with each other. Bridget was a trooper, since the Joseph kids invaded her quiet reverie of home life as an only child. She was excited to see Fiona, "Baby! Baby!" but quite puzzled when Fiona hit one of her full blown shrieking moments. Iain was a fun diversion but being the 100% boy that he is, was not civilized enough to sit still at the dinner table with us, and spent most of the night screaming like a wild Ubangi.
Colleen and I licked our wounds from the election and we mostly sat around shaking our heads. She outed me in college to some of our class friends and colleagues that "Erin is a Republican too!" The classmate we were talking to was shocked to disbelief, and literally walked away from us saying, "I don't know if I can handle this, I am so upset that you are a Republican!! I never would have thought that!" (It was so confusing to her because we always agreed with each others viewpoints...well actually, she always agreed with mine and the "way I put things" during discussions. Well, DUH! That's because they were normal assessments of life, and not the totally liberal way that "everyone is dealt a bad hand" so the rest of us are required to feel sorry for them.) It felt very comforting to be sitting with a friend and fellow mother and to be able to say what we wanted without having judgement passed on us because we voted for the unpopular guy.
So my brain started cooking last night, and throughout the election there were many things that bothered me but something that I haven't shared on my blog is lodged in my brain today. What is with the Obama propaganda signs? You know those signs that were around town, in some people's yards, and mostly on the Internet. Not the typical yard sign that has just OBAMA on across it or HOPE. I am talking about the propaganda style portrait that is reminiscent of a Mao Zedong or Stalin. It bothers me! It bothers me so much, I have been trying to do some quick research on this this morning, amidst feeding my babies and getting ready for my trip to the East this morning. I found this blog and since I can't say it better than Peggy Shapiro did back in April of this year, you can see all of the technical stuff there that I am trying to get across. I especially agree with her statement in regard to the artist who designed the Obama campaign signs: "Fairy's art also reflects a common theme of the Obama campaign: America is a nation that oppresses. It is the America in which Obama's wife Michelle can take no pride and that Obama's spiritual advisor damns. It is the vision of America and its place in the world by one who is unfamiliar with history and who has the luxury of American freedom to express his disdain for the country."
I have confessed to some that I do watch the Oprah show on occasion. I do not like her, but I do like to see the people and pieces that she presents, because I feel like I can stay up to date on my pop culture as well as health and sex advice. I was completely disgusted by her post election show, because she made this election marathon about race. She was crying and ecstatic because a black man had become President of the United States. Why are minorities the only ones that can be celebratory when someone that they like get something, and I have to feel guilty if anyone white does anything good? I have a kalidescope of heritage, but just because my skin is white and my eyes are blue somehow I am lumped in the same category as the slave owners. I don't get it! There are other parts of the world where white Christians are killed and persecuted, but God has not chosen that I live there. Colleen gave me a quote from Mancow in the morning the day after the election, and it was something about November 5th as hopefully the last day for affirmative action. There shouldn't be anymore complaining about how oppressed the black man and minorities have been, because if a black guy can become president hopefully he has give his "HOPE" to the deadbeat father's that sit around and don't take responsibility for their lives and instead pump drugs through their veins. Interestingly enough Obama was raised by his white grandparents...hmmm. Let's hope that it isn't a requirement for the success of the black community to have any type of white influence so that they can all own their blackness.My lesson from Veggie Tales is that I am living in a wave of Jonah emotion. I shouldn't be poised waiting for God's judgment on the Obama lovers and Democrats, but I am really having a battle right now. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything teach my little man (and myself) that Jonah's story is about mercy and compassion. These little cartoons have really challenged me to get into the Word because sometimes I think, That is a stretch from the Scripture, but they have done everything so perfectly! So the sour grape pirate with his very thick Long Island or New Yorker accent says that we have to have compassion and then mercy. You can't have mercy without compassion. I can sit around and talk about how awful things have been and how bad they could get, but God could very well surprise all of us and not have any kind of retribution. HE IS IN CONTROL! Through all of my spewing I know that He is in control, He is driving the boat, but just like a Father he sometimes steers the boat a little close to the rocks and instead of laughing at the rocks, I am a little scared and saying "Uh, do you see those ROCKS OVER THERE? Can we move back into some deeper water?"
The Ninevites repented, that is why God spared them. They stopped their fish slapping, and God gave them a second chance. The gospel song with all of the "black" asparagus angels that witness to Jonah sing this great song and the chorus is "Our God is a God of second chances." Jonah wanted God to wipe them off of the planet and really punish them, and I really have to stop wanting everyone to "get theirs." I am also partial to the Newsboys song "Jonah." So even though my blogs start out as doom and gloom and negative, I think I might be an eternal optimist at heart?
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