Walking on Broken Glass

I often listen to the pastor from Moody Memorial Church on a local radio station. After I have gotten El Guapo and Bean out the door to work and school, dropped off Bear at preschool and am ready for a strong cup of coffee and some breakfast, Erwin Lutzer comes on. My favorite breakfast is eggs, and it's funny that even if I hear him at some other time of day, I suddenly will get a hankering for eggs as soon as I hear his voice. We have spent that many mornings together! He has a distinctive voice that El Guapo is not very fond of, but I have come to find such a sweet familiarity there, it is like sitting down with a beloved friend over coffee each morning and getting eloquent and humble teaching.

A few weeks ago he spoke about Paul admonishing us to walk circumspectly and to illustrate what this looks like, he gave the following word picture. When he took a trip to Africa, he noticed that most houses and buildings had high solid fences around them. To offer further security, bottles and glass had been broken and then embedded in the top of the concrete to discourage people from climbing over.

He then vividly recalled seeing a cat walking across the top of one of those walls. As it walked along the jagged shards, it picked its way carefully, mindful of each step, placing each paw in a safe spot. It was hard for the cat to always find a foothold, but Lutzer was impressed when the cat reached the end of the wall and leaped gracefully down, with nary a scrape or cut. He had traversed the broken glass unscathed!

(Imagine glass shards on top!)

Of course, the parallel is that we should walk in our own lives as carefully, contemplating each step and choosing the wisest course. I sure need to practice that more! How my life would change if I could just not open my big mouth as much, but use more restraint and reflection! I tend to be more like this:

You know, running headlong, tongue lolling out, stepping in who knows what! So even though I am a "dog person," I guess I need to be more of a "cat person," if only in this one way: to ask God for wisdom at each juncture of my day and to put into practice those things that I SAY I believe, but don't always act on. I guess this is the journey to authenticity that I'll be on for the rest of my life.

"Be very careful then how you live -- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity." -Ephesians 5:15

ZamFam Road Trip: Part 4

See, Bug did actually have fun on vacation. This is chillin' East Coast style! Can you believe those eyelashes? They cast shadows! And you heard it here first, folks. That outfit is prophetic. My boy is going to be a world class baseball player (mostly because I have forbidden him from playing football!)

Uncle Randy's world famous, gut-busting sundaes! Yeee--ummmm!

The proud American (extended) ZamFam at the Washington Monument. We went to Washington, D.C. for the day to walk around the monuments in the mall. The theme of our trip seemed to be insane humidity and crazy heat, but we had an awesome time. We walked our feet off, but even in the heat, D.C. was moving and invigorating. We are definitely going to try to get back and spend MUCH more time. There is a definite atmosphere about Washington that exudes power and drive.

If you know me for about ten minutes, you will know that I am a World War II buff. This memorial was the main reason I wanted to visit Washington. It alone was worth the visit and exceeded my expectations. I found it so incredibly moving that I left everyone at the reflection pool and walked around by myself with tears streaming down my face and a huge lump in my throat. I must have looked strange to some people (I wouldn't really pass for a WWII vet!), but I didn't care.

This is the view of the memorial from the top of the Washington Monument. It is one of the most gorgeous, well-designed public spaces I have ever seen, full of symbolism, gravitas and import -- so befitting the people and events it memorializes. It is amazing to me that this memorial is so new, that we didn't have a national monument prior to 2004. Fittingly, it was begun in September 2001 and was funded primarily through private donations. (Tom Hanks and Bob Dole spearheaded the fundraising. Thanks, Tom and Bob! -- Yeah we're on a first name basis.)

"HERE WE MARK THE PRICE OF FREEDOM" (and here is where the tears flowed even more freely). This is a reflection pond with the above inscription in the foreground and a field of blue studded with gold stars in the background. Each of the 4,000 stars represents 100 American lives sacrificed (400,000) in the war that saved the world from tyranny.

The oval is flanked by two pavilions representing the two theaters of war -- the Pacific and the Atlantic. In the center of the memorial is a large fountain which drowns out street noise and offers a fitting background for contemplation. Fifty-six large columns offer the roll call of the nation -- one for each state and territory that united in the effort. The wreaths on each pillar are of oak and wheat symbolizing the nation's industrial and agricultural strength which were essential to the success of the global effort. There are also quotes and inscriptions throughout the memorial from key battles.



On the floor of each pavilion is a large medallion of the WWII Victory Medal that all who served received. Suspended from the ceiling are four bronze victory eagles holding laurel wreaths. So spectacular! I had a headache when I left because I was swallowing so hard trying not to just burst out weeping. I'm sorry my picture descriptions sound so "guidebook-ish." I just cannot convey how meaningful it was for me to visit this memorial. Never before have so few sacrificed so much for so many. (And just imagine my poor nephews who were with on this trip. They would offer the following advice: never go on a vacation to Washington, D.C. with your aunt if she is a history teacher! If you think this is bad . . . )

We also went to the Vietnam War Memorial. The famous Wall is beautiful as it is not a wall just jutting out of the ground, but is a graceful arc that starts thin, culminates at over six fee tall and than narrows back down to a few inches. It is built into the side a small rise and has the name of each soldier who was killed, captured or missing in the war. If the name has a diamond after it, that soldier is confirmed dead. If there is a cross after the name, that soldier is MIA or captured. There are over 1000 names on the wall designated as MIA/POW. I found this mind boggling, as did Bean, who poignantly asked, "Why did people invent war?" Good question.



The Korean War Memorial was also incredible. "The Forgotten War" is memorialized by a fitting inscription: "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met." As a former history teacher, I knew the dates of the Korean War (1950-1953), but until I saw the memorials all together, I didn't realize the ramifications of the fact that the Korean War was just a short five years after the end of World War Two. It was also one of the first major tests of the newly formed United Nations (not a real stellar legacy if you ask me -- considering the present situation with North Korea) and the first time US troops went into battle as UN forces. In three years of conflict the US lost over 36,000 soldiers in addition to 92,000 wounded, 8200 MIA and 7100 POW.

Statistics like these and those from WWII and Vietnam really put the Iraq War in perspective for me. Any casualty is one too many, but on this day of remembering patriots, we really should think about all that our troops have accomplished in Afghanistan and Iraq and with some of the lowest troop casualties of any war the US has ever fought.

I have a few more pictures from D.C., but I will post them in one final "Road Trip." Our trip to the nation's capital was amazing and with family living so close to it, we plan on many returns. I'll leave you with one final picture for today:

America. Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.

Waxing ever patriotic,

BC

Never Forget

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001? Do you remember what you were thinking and feeling? Do you remember what you were afraid of, afraid for? Do you remember who you wanted to be with, who you wanted to call, who you wanted to embrace? Do you remember the bravery, the heroism, the patriotism?

Pause for a moment of reflection. Fly your flag. Give a loved one an extra hug. Call your mom. Kiss your kids. Praise God for simple blessings. Thank a hero. Never forget.

Bear's First Day of Preschool

ZamFam Road Trip: Part 3

After getting to Baltimore around 3:00 a.m., we went that Sunday afternoon to an Orioles game at Camden Yards, or as the locals say, "Dah Yahds." I'm not sure if it's always as hot and humid as it was the week we were there, but all week was in the nineties and it was close to 100 degrees at the ballpark. We had a great time anyway, even though the Orioles lost to the Detroit Tigers. Most pleasant was how easy it was to get to the park and how clean and gorgeous it was. Other highlights were the air conditioned gift shop and the free hotdogs after last call in the seventh inning!

Here's Bean keeping cool at Dah Yahds.

Here's Bear trying to keep cool.

Again here's Bug having a rockin' time. He loved every outing, as you can tell!

Bear kept asking, "Why are they called the Oreos?"

Here's our godson passed out on his daddy's shoulder. A good time was had by all!

Don't Drink The Kool-Aid

At the risk of sounding like a wet-blanket, a curmudgeon, or you can insert your own insult here, I am interrupting the report on our ZamFam Road Trip to opine on the Olympics, specifically China hosting them.

I look forward to the Olympics every two years, mark the opening and closing ceremonies on my calendar, and lose tons of hours of sleep in between. (I am so looking forward to a Winter Olympics in our hemisphere if only for it being closer to our time zone!) But it was with mixed feelings that I thought about China hosting the games this year. Actually to be totally honest, my feelings weren't/aren't that mixed. Actually, I feel pretty strongly about this great "coming-out party" for China, and I have to say, "DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID!"

To be sure, the opening and closing ceremonies this year were phenomenal, incredible, jaw-dropping spectacles of which I enjoyed every minute. Fantastic, bravo, well-done! The venues are architectural wonders, marvelous to behold. The Bird's Nest is spectacular, and the Water Cube defies description and invites cliche.

When you have over a billion people at your disposal (literally--as in they tap your shoulder and you goose-step, er skedaddle, as fast as your slippers can take you) and a government machine with over $40 billion dollars to throw in Beijing's direction, this is what you get. I feel bad for London having to follow in Beijing's footsteps and yet, I will revel in whatever a free and democratized society has to offer the world because it is much more than an uber-controlled display of power, ahem, Olympic stage show.

While the Games went off without a hitch and NBC gushed about all things Chinese and Barack Obama said he could understand why businesses would see this Olympics and the sanitized Beijing and want to move there, don't be fooled. Pick your poison. Whether you are liberal or conservative, you can find a bone to pick with China in the human rights category: China has no freedom of speech, the press, religion or movement; China admits to executing about 10,000 people per year (the figure is almost certainly higher and is the 7th highest per capita in the world after the likes of Saudi Arabia and Sierra Leone); the one-child policy causes gender imbalance, forced abortions and sterilizations and untold heartache--think of the parents who lost children in the recent earthquake--they were all one-child families; the annexation of Tibet; the saber-rattling toward Taiwan, a free and democratic Asian nation which cannot compete in the Olympics as "Taiwan" but rather as "Chinese Taipei;" the organ harvesting and "extrajudicial" execution (read MURDER) of religious prisoners that has recently been confirmed by both Sky Television and Christian Science Monitor. And that's me just getting warmed up, but I'll stop for now.

Sadly as I watched the closing ceremonies last night with the spectacular five-story human tower, I couldn't help but think about the biblical Tower of Babel and man's arrogance in the face of God. This was China, a godless society, shaking its fist in God's face and saying, "See what we can do without You. We are powerful. We are sovereign. We are mighty." A fearsome sight to behold, indeed. But what can you expect from a country that venerates a man responsible for the deaths of 40 million countrymen, who was willing for up to half of China to die for the cause of Cultural Revolution and technological advance? Of course I speak of beloved Chairman Mao, the man whose visage graces every street corner in China. Holding the Olympics in Beijing is akin to holding them in Germany if Germany were still the Third Reich and Hitler a beloved grandfather figure.

Yes, I know that the Olympics were held in Munich in 1936, with Hitler as Fuhrer, but please go back to your (un-revisionist) history books. As they say, "Hitler made the trains run on time." This man, inventor of the Volkswagen ("car for the people"), lifted up a depressed and repressed German people after the punitive effects of the Treaty of Versailles virtually guaranteed a future conflict with an awakened Germany. I am not defending Hitler by any means! We have 20/20 hindsight; prior to the 1938 Kristallnacht attack on Jewish businesses, the world was woefully blind to the true nature of Hitler (although he spelled it out rather clearly in Mein Kampf!). Time Magazine was so dense, they declared Hitler "Man of the Year" in 1939. Just a short nine months later, he would invade Poland and start World War Two. Bravo, Time!

All this to say, can you imagine if Hitler had won (the horror!), we're now 60 or so years later and holding the Olympics in Germany with pictures of good ol' Adolph smiling benevolently from every corner? The venues would be spectacular to be sure. Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich (he was Hitler's architect) shows the grand plans that Hitler envisioned in a revived Roman Empire. Gorgeous buildings, gridded streets, broad avenues, parks, gardens, monuments, zoos, beautiful homogeneous people everywhere. . . .

The people's Republic of China was established in 1949. Mao died in 1976 -- thirty two years ago. Needless to say, as much as I like Bob Costas, I wanted to gag every time I saw him sitting in front of the background that had Mao smiling down over his shoulder. And kudos to President Bush. Hey, I'm disappointed in him too. (Some of you hate him, I know.) At least he had the, um, guts, to speak out about Chinese human rights. And China told him to mind his own business. Well, we should be minding our business, by not sending it China's way. We are arming our enemy. Yes, enemy is a strong word, but I am old enough to remember when Communists were considered a threat, not cozy bedfellows, and people who loved freedom would not dream of sugar-coating the truth to swallow a lie. To borrow a description from Jesus, China is a "white-washed tomb" clean on the outside with a dirty secret inside.

Look, I enjoyed the spectacle of the ceremonies, marvelled at the architecture of the venues and revelled in the competition of the Games. There were just too many "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" moments for me. Please don't accuse me of being xenophobic. I'm just saying, let's not be fooled by the eye candy we were meant to see. There was a special protest area set up by the Chinese government for people wanting to speak out at the Olympic Games (far away from venues or international camera crews). Seventy seven groups filed applications, none were granted. That says it all.

So, now back to regularly scheduled programming until I go off on something else. I actually have a political piece I have been developing for several months. When it hits my blog, it will probably hack off so many people, my readership will be cut in half. So here's to the two people who read me. I'll really miss one of you in the next couple of weeks!

Road Trip: Part 2

As you can tell by the smiles (Bean and cousin), we did get tickets for the Maid of the Mist boat tour. The crowds were crazy which was a little nerve-wracking with small kids. People were shoving, jostling for position, even little old ladies were elbowing past. And they say Americans are rude . . . The heat was brutal, but just as we arrived at the gangway and donned our nifty rain slickers, it began to rain. We didn't care! We were going to get soaked anyway! It was a welcome relief from the heat. (The only drawback was the gross smelly shoes, ahem El Guapo, when we got back to the car and had to ride nine hours with the damp kid, moist clothes, soaked shoe smell.)

Apparently, the ZamFam guys are too macho to wear glorified garbage bags, but we all had a blast! And we got soaked! It felt awesome to get so close to the Falls and to just be on the water in a boat. For someone who prefers sailboats to power boats and a few people to a large crowd, I was surprised at how much this moved me. I guess it just goes to show what a water dog I am and also that in the face of awe-inspiring creation, one cannot help but have your own moment even if you are in a crowd.

After our brief interlude in the Great White North, we headed for Rainbow Bridge and the USA. The border is in the middle of the bridge and US border patrol is at the opposite side. This is all well and good except that we had to wait an hour on the bridge to get through. I am very afraid of heights and rather nervous crossing bridges. Matters were not helped with El Guapo saying every few minutes, "Whoa, did you feel THAT? Can you feel the bridge moving? That felt worse than the one before." Other helpful observations included "I wonder what the weight limit on this bridge is? I mean, there are two lanes of traffic all at a standstill plus the other two lanes in the opposite direction. I'm just saying . . . ." I just made like Magellan and kept my nose buried in the maps.

The view from the bridge was incredible. And see that tall, green tower jutting out from the left side of the picture? That's where totally insane people on the American side go out to get a better view of the Falls. I'd have to be sedated and in a straight jacket before you got me out on that thing!

This picture is probably illegal. MY SIL TOOK IT! So please, Homeland Security, please do not haul me away.

Back in the good 'ol US of A. Except that you enter the armpit of America -- Buffalo, New York. No offense to Buffalo, but good grief! I remember visiting Niagara Falls as a kid and being so ashamed at the New York side because the roads were all pot-holed, the buildings run down, the city half-dead. After seeing the manicured grounds, show-stopping flowers, gorgeous stonework and beautiful parks in Canada, it was appalling to see the American side. I thought that after twenty plus years, maybe something would have changed. I'm disappointed to report that it is still as bad as I remembered. This is tragic because people come from all over the world to see Niagara Falls and their first impression (hopefully not their only one!) of America will be of a gritty city that has lost its pride. Buffalo, you may be named after a mangy beast, but do you have to look like one?

I hate to end on a sour note. We had an awesome time at Niagara, and El Guapo and I would love to go back, maybe in the off-season. The Falls as ice is too amazing to contemplate. There is also a light show every night, as well as the occasional fireworks show. That would be something to see.