Friday, 31 July, 2015 – From the Coronary Care Unit at Naas General

Who would have thought just a few days ago that I would be writing those words. I had not been feeling great since I was sick a few weeks ago, but who knew! 

I have lost a bunch of weight, I walk forever, I watch what I eat, I don’t drink or smoke. I could this be? 

I came to hospital on Tuesday after a visit to Dr Ahern. My heart was out of rhythm and racing. I was admitted through A&E and the search began. The first couple of days everything looked okay. Blood counts are good, cholesterol is good, etc. 

So let’s find out what the problem is. 

So off to Tallaght for my angiogram. The wait wasn’t too bad, but the news wasn’t great.I have three partially blocked arteries, one of them 90%. So here I am, at a healthy 60 years old, having triple bypass surgery. I have quite a wait, and it looks like it might all be in the hospital. 

I can only guess there must be lessons to learn here. There must be something I need. 

It will be an interesting road. 

On the Confederate flag debate

I have been watching the flag debate from afar, but the Confederate flag debate is an issue that I think I need to finally comment on. 

Though not born in the South, I am an Alabama boy. I lived there from the time I was 5 in 1960 until I got married in 1978. I then lived Chattanooga until 1984 when we moved back to Alabama and stayed there till we moved to Ireland in 1995. I am a Southerner and yes, I am proud to be from the South. 

I went to primary and secondary school in Alabama. I went to college and seminary in Tennessee. 

My secondary school had a huge Rebel flag on the wall of the gym. We were called the Rebels. We waved the flag and sang Dixie at sporting events. I never gave the racial implications a second thought. 

As the years have gone by I have become totally ambivalent about the flag. I, as a rule, think folks can get far too worked up over a symbol on a piece of fabric. 

I have been amazed at the speed with which the Rebel flag has become the target of a backlash  of the Charleston shootings. It seems like the strangest of targets. The banning and removal of this symbol will be accomplished and everyone will feel much better about themselves. 

But what is really going to be accomplished? Will racial hatred be abolished. Some white guilt might be assuaged, but will the next black church be any safer from a lunatic racist attack? 

Of course not - the removal of a symbol is not going to do anything of real value, And, outside of public and government facilites the Rebel flag will be more popular than ever. Cancelling 'The Dukes of Hazard' will be agreat victory over racism. Everyone will feel better, but nothing of substance will be accomplished and racism will be as popular as ever. 

So take down the flag, repaint the General Lee, cancel the shows. 

But some day we are going to have to face the real issue here.

A recommendation

Stop Worrying About Politics

A lot of Christians seem confused today about the relationships between and our responsibilities to our heavenly kingdom and our earthly nations. This excellent little book is concise, well written, and thought provoking.

Heterophobia?

Something has crossd my mind over the last few days. I have been a little surprised at the absolute contempt and near hatred expressed by some gay activists and not so acttivists against those who disagree, even respectafully disagree, with them. 

I 'lost' a very dear friend last week simply because I expressed a few that America has much greater sins that gay marriage. I watched a video where a gay avtivist crowd resonded to street preachers with pure anger. I am sure that the preachers were there to antogonise, but the response was way over the top. This week in the White House several gay activists were photographied 'giving the finger' to a portrait of President Reagan with 'f*** Reagan' captions. 

It does not seem to be enough to be tolerant. It looks like those who do not agree with gay marriage and the gay agenda should not only tolerate, but must embrace the concept with open arms. I saw this years ago with a gay character on a televison programme told her mother 'I don't want you to just accept what I do and love me, I want you to love what I am.'

So while some see every straight person who disagress as being 'homophobic' are we not seeing a rise of 'heterophobia?'