POLITICAL TEST

Do you wonder 'WHO am I, WHAT am I, WHERE do I stand politically'?

Here's a test to take to amuse yourself, and learn where you fit in, these days.

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

LIFE ON THE BEACH

A very good friend sent me this video. Gee, I thought -- it was one of those chilly "spring" days we've been having, so I was thinking about the thermostat, contemplating turning on the heat.

Watching the video I couldn't help thinking this isn't something I can use for a post -- not now, not with what's going on in the world.

And so this video has been sitting in e-mail, gradually disappearing in the way one's email becomes old mail to archive.

Well, the very reasons why I was not going to post this video, is why I've posted it.

Yes, the news is confusing and worrisome, mixed with "nasty," but the beauty that has been created on this beach delights me. The ocean and the motion of what's depicted here makes me glad to be alive today.

NEW OPTIMISTS

Ellis Cose, a black writer, who writes about "Blacks" and race, titled his recent article for Newsweek, "Meet The New Optimists."

The photo of eight young blacks receiving diplomas, grinning happily, said it all.

Cose has a down-to-earth voice, and proved his point with numbers from polls that show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that blacks -- older guys as well as the younger generation -- feel as if doors are opening for them. They feel there's a better chance, nowadays, for them to get the good jobs, and crack the glass ceiling.

I don't need the numbers or polls. If I were a black, no matter how old, with a black president, and all the other blacks around him in the administration, all the blacks working in high ranking jobs in the business world -- I'd be thinking, hey, it's happened!

It's happening more and more.

We "Whites" sort of expected this to happen. Blacks not only feel good about one of them being the president, they also saw immediately in the attitude of their friends and neighbors, a new something -- respect, and a "yes sir, yes ma'am" expression of admiration for their living through the years of inequality, and surviving, and emerging with "black is beautiful, black is In, black is powerful."

There's a wow feeling in the air. A black can have a dream, an ambition to make it -- "it" being money, fame, and real power -- being a boss, being the top guy, the leader.

Times have changed.

Will things change back? The President had to prove with a birth certificate that he was American born and constitutionally qualified to hold the office of President. And the story of his white mother and black father keeps popping up like a nightmarish black-Jack-in the box.

Has life changed for my black housekeeper who has worked for me for 30 years?

No.

She inherited her parent's attitudes and limitations -- she's been "maiding" all her life -- mopping, dusting, lifting, lugging, bending, washing, scrubbing, and polishing -- tidying things for whites six days a week. Her seven adult kids, working mostly as menials, more than likely won't be more than what they already are. As for their kids, well ...

I wonder if were a black child, or grownup, male or female, would I have hope in my pocket, or on something that I tucked away? I can't imagine being me without hope. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with racial heritage. It seems like a magical ingredient a very young child breathes in, and like a seed, hope takes root in his soul

Gee, maybe IF I were black, maybe as I child, I'd have breathed it in, but learned not to hope, put away hope.

Anyhow, speaking just for me, myself, right now, if I had a chance to be born again and I could choose ...?

Well, black is .. dark. I'd choose white. I don't feel very optimistic about jobs and the glass ceiling. But white is a lot easier to see. No doubt about it -- it's much, much easier to be white.

WHAT IF THERE'S NO HELL?

That question, for me is ... What if there's no heaven?

A preacher named Rob Bell has blossomed suddenly in the news. He's the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan. Bell is packing in 7000 people every Sunday, ever since he wrote a bestseller -- "Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived."

Bell, age 40, is selling his books, DVDs, giving sermons, writing another book, publishing articles, and building a huge following. His personal story -- about his family, his energy and fire, his theology and how he's evolved as pastor is a story to tell. But not right now.

The idea that there's no hell is washed away by my wondering WHAT IF THERE'S NO HEAVEN?

I don't think God is dead. I don't think of religion in terms of what's right or wrong. I just feel far, far away from the succor, familial comfort, talk of church, religion, belief in life after death, salvation, or judgement.

Okay, I'm a self-evolved person. I didn't go to any church and I wasn't brought up with any religious beliefs. I just learned, as I've traveled through the years -- do unto others ... My commandments are listen, pay attention, and help others always, always, if it's possible.

The idea of life after death is not an idea I accept. And having researched, and looked for what to say about Christianity -- well -- I'm quoting what I read: "The standard Christian view of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, that's summed in the Gospel of John, which promises ' eternal life to whosoever believeth in him' -- I don't buy it.

I can't buy it, though it might make my aging, my awareness that I'm approaching the end of my life easier to accept.

Even if you (who are reading this) have a better way of summarizing Christianity -- I shake my head "no." My own logical, practical thoughts, my own experiences with life and death, my parents and brother who have died, and are gone -- tell me, require me, to gather around me, my memories, and say "I will be gone," cremated, gone.

I keep my parents and other important people in my life alive by thinking of them, referring to them in my mind, using what I saw and learned from them. They have life after death because I keep them alive.

Will anyone keep me alive? Sure -- my son and husband, and friends whom I've touched. I have touched people with the attention I've paid to them. Does it comfort me? I don't require comfort. I only ask of myself to live and affirm, whenever possible, and pay attention to people.