Religious Belief or Prejudice

Laws and Regulations

The idea of quantifying sin—one sin is worse than another or deserves harsher punishment than another—is a human conception and often a human prejudice. All sin separates people from God, the very reason why the Old Testament gave minutely detailed laws for every behavior and daily routine.

Women had to separate themselves from society when menstruating. Anyone touching her, her clothes, or anything she sat on would become unclean. In giving birth to a boy, she had to wait thirty-three days before presenting purification sacrifices, sixty-six days after giving birth to a girl. Men aren’t supposed to have sexual relations with their wives during these unclean periods. No tattoos allowed. Rise in the presence of the aged. Anyone still doing these things or many, many more?  

No, we needed to see that our imperfect human condition makes it impossible for us to perfectly follow rules aimed at making us sinless enough to be in the presence of God. The New Testament says the sacrifice of Jesus fulfilled the laws of atonement for sins once and for all and made forgiveness more easily attainable.

 Religious Belief or Prejudice

Jesus said that the only acceptable reason to divorce was infidelity (abuse, addiction, neglect not mentioned), and that anyone who divorced for another reason and remarried committed adultery (considered sufficiently common to be warned against in the Ten Commandments) and caused their new spouse to commit adultery.  

It becomes very clear that the dislike of providing public services to certain groups, gay people in particular, is a prejudice rather than a fear of committing a sin by not repudiating another sin. Who has problems serving people on their second, third, or fourth marriage? Who even asks? And unmarried couples who live together in sin, according to the Bible—anyone talking about sanctions on them?—maybe forbid them a rental contract together, joint bank accounts.

Sounds ridiculous and impossible, doesn’t it? I suspect that in another fifty years—let’s hope earlier—the idea of denying LGBT people services will seem just as ridiculous.

Pursuing Mid-life Dreams

Learning From Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I love Joss Whedon’s sense of humor and writing style. Now known for The Avengers movies, I first became familiar with him from the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Have to admit, I love that series. Even nearing fifteen years later, its humor and pathos hold up when I watch reruns. I think one of the main things I learned as a writer is that the most ordinary, small moments in life can have the biggest emotional impact. Yes, and that from a sci-fi, fantasy horror show.

Generally, I’m not a big fan of horror, but I am a huge fan of clever writing, alternative ways to look at the world, and strong character relationships. An important concept I came away with was that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself. You’d expect it from the young people trying to decide who they are and where their talents should lead, but the adults also had to grow, take chances, and persevere to make new dreams come true.

Buffy’s mom started over in a new town with a new job and no friends in order to help her daughter find her path. In doing so, she found her own and learned to deal with a child who would never fit into a so-called normal life.

Buffy’s mentor and father figure, Giles, had circumstances force some career changes on him. Another, proprietor of a magic shop, he pursued for himself and made it successful. He also dealt with redefining his role in Buffy’s life as her powers and maturity progressed and made her less reliant on his advice.

What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?

Well, not grow up, necessarily, but hearing life say to you, “Time for a change.” I’m coming to the writer’s life late in a field where youth may be thought of as more marketable. On the other hand, I’m of the baby boomer generation, which gives me a wide audience of people more likely to share my general likes and outlooks.

 The most important point is that I’ve found my passion and have the maturity to work through the long haul and not expect instantaneous gratification. Can’t say that I have fewer distractions. Starting motherhood later in life, I still have a child at home. I believe that in some respects kids need us even more as teenagers, but that’s another post. Writing makes me feel vitally alive and I’m grateful for any examples that assure me it’s never too late to pursue a dream.

Dishonesty in Business

Dishonesty in Business

I read an article in The Atlantic about a study done with different professionals that tested their honesty. Bankers tended to be the one group who cheated, especially after being reminded of their profession, which those conducting the study took to mean meant that this profession rewards dishonest, cheating behavior. No other group changed their behavior after being reminded of their profession.

This study was obviously not comprehensive enough. Sunday, on Sixty Minutes, one of the stories reported that people with cancer are often stuck between a rock and a hard place. Pay exorbitant drug co-pays for overpriced drugs or die. Many have gone bankrupt in the process of trying to stay alive. One medical group studied two particular drugs, one old and one new to the market. The new drug cost twice as much but was found to offer no additional benefit to the old drug.

US law does not allow the government to negotiate with drug companies, who set their own drug prices. Medicaid pays whatever is charged and the poor sick person has to pay any copayment. When the medical group studying the two medications published their findings, the company making the new drug immediately cut the cost in half.

A popular drug long on the market to treat one of the most common blood cancers can add ten years to a patient’s life but has to be taken every day. There are no research costs to recoup at this point or especially expensive production costs, yet the drug’s cost has tripled in the past decade.

Who is Benefitting?

President Obama asked Congress to change the laws regarding the ability to negotiate drug costs—no other country has these laws and consequently their drug costs are fifty to eighty percent lower. No one watching Congress expects that they will act on the President’s request. This includes Democrats and Republicans. Why not? Why would they want to protect excessive costs? Who else is benefitting from the money being raked in? Does anyone believe much of it is going into research for cures? A cure would kill the cash flow. Drugs are more lucrative.

Other Practices

Who hasn’t gone into a store to find they are out of the advertised sale item—the first few hours of the sale—or found a more expensive item sitting in the place where the sale item should be? Car sales—any horror stories? I’d love to hear others’ experiences. I’m afraid dishonesty is rampant in business and it is always prudent for buyers to beware.

Endings, Beginnings, and Nerves

Endings

Everyone knows the end of Jesus’ story. I’ve decided to stop The Point of the Gospel. I haven’t done the work to bring the blog to a wider audience, so I doubt it will be a disappointment to anyone. I'll continue to write about subjects that interest me, and this summer while I slog through the long process of querying agents, I hope to start the networking with other writers and groups that may spur more traffic to the blog.

Escalating Nerves

I sent out the first batch of queries for my manuscript four weeks ago. Haven’t heard anything yet, which is making me really nervous. A number of people in my writers’ group never received a part of my novel I e-mailed to them, pasted into the e-mail that I was to read at our next meeting.  I worry now that agents I queried may not have received my material either.

Agents won’t accept attachments, so you have to paste the number of pages they want of your manuscript into the query e-mail. I have no way to know if they received it, and the majority ask you not to contact them again if you don’t hear from them, since they haven’t the time to respond to every query sent.

What to Do?

I’m left in a quandary. Most agents say it takes six weeks or more for a response, so I wait. In the meantime, I’ll send more stuff to my group and see who gets what. Maybe certain e-mail servers have problems? They shouldn’t but I don’t know the workings of this stuff well enough. I’ll probably call our local tech shop and ask their advice, too.

After the first batch of queries, normally I’d expect to hear from at least a few of them, perhaps put into practice any advice, though that’s rare, and send the second batch. One of the agencies I queried did say that if no response was received, you could send a reminder and ask if they received it. That seems the best place to start. We’ll see.

Menopause, the Slow Route

Getting to Menopause

All right, this is getting ridiculous. I’m fifty-eight. I should be done with this nonsense. I skipped periods for the last six months, including premenstrual symptoms, then started again, including irritability—I wanted to tear heads off—tears whelming up at any foolish sentiment on TV, and lower back pain. Did you know that your joints soften a bit when you’re pre-period? Any problems with them worsen for a week or so. Heart palpitations—hadn’t been bothered by them during the six-month reprieve—back in full force. I went around holding my breath, the only thing I’ve found that stops them. (Had the heart tests to be sure—nothing wrong.)

Perimenopause

Perimenopause, the interval before actual menopause when hormones start to shift, can last—and last—and last. I think it’s been nearly fifteen years for me. I’ve lost track. An ob-gyn offered me the option of a quarterly injection that supposedly eases you through the transition, but I have a prejudice against messing with natural processes unless of course your health is on the line. We get so many unneeded hormones and other pollutants from our food, air, and water, I’m hesitant to add more, and I don’t trust the industry or the EPA to thoroughly test medications before allowing people to consume them.

I read in an environmental magazine that the EPA doesn’t do its own testing on products or processes, such as gas fracking. They rely on studies done by the companies putting out the product. What? Crazy and ridiculously naïve if true—I take even the environmentalists with a grain of salt. Most groups have an agenda, and no, that’s not paranoia, it’s reality.

Social Ramifications

Menstruation does affect my social life. The first day or two of my period, I don’t dare leave the house. Simply standing up often causes a dam break and I’d better be close to a bathroom. I sleep with an old towel under me. And emotionally, I’m not fit to be around, I’m sorry to say. I should wear a sign—Approach at Your Own Risk. I can maintain a sense of humor after my period, not so much the days before and during.

Consolation

At fifty-eight, it has to stop sooner than later. I’m counting the days. Is it weird? I even look forward to the hot flashes—they’re easier to handle than PMS.