A Bit Better Today

I am feeling a bit better Today.  I managed to sleep until 11:30 am which is practically unheard of in my current life (unfortunately it was all too common 5 years ago while I was undergoing chemo.)  Fortunately, also my jury duty for today was canceled.  I think I must have really needed the sleep.  The down side is that it is now 4:45 pm and already mostly dark outside.  I had thought of doing things today and this evening but I'm still in my jammies.  I really do need to get dressed though.  I need to buy some food some time, though I may wait until tomorrow now.

You will not believe how long a brick of cheese or package of thin sliced ham lasts me!  I can take a Quiche Lorraine and cut it into 8 pieces and have breakfast for 8 days!  A brick of cheese lasts about the same amount of time.  A dozen eggs lasts 12 days if I have one egg a day.  One egg is a meal.  I break a head of cauliflower into florettes and a florette broken into pieces is a meal.  I am almost out of everything just now.  I haven't had a Quiche in quite a while.  I ate all my protein bars for breakfast and am now having an egg for breakfast.  The cheese is almost totally gone.  I usually have olives on hand, but they are finished.  I finished the cauliflower two days ago.  What am I eating?  I had a cup of  Bean soup for lunch and a quarter cup of oatmeal for breakfast.  I am rapidly running out of stocked food!

More seriously, I have been greatly troubled by the death of Mike Penner/Christine Daniels.  I never knew the person, but I have known people who have committed suicide.  A little over 5 years ago I sat with a friend in the emergency room over the whole memorial day weekend after she attempted suicide.  Thank God she was not successful and had called for help.  Sadley Mike Penner did not do the same.  What drives people to such extremes?  The fact is that when anyone is anything but the "norm" they can and often do experience extreme social condemnation and sometimes persecution.  We like to think that we live in a free society, a free country, but who is that freedom for?  Ask people of color, people different religions,  cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identies how free we actually are.  I am a Lesbian woman of peculiar origins (some would say) and I live in New England.  Things are quite tolerant and free here, but I know that isn't necessarily so everywhere in the US and certainly not everywhere in the world.  They want to put people like me to death in places like Uganda! What is especially alarming to me is that much of this intolerance is done in the name of christianity!

Let me be quite clear.  Jesus, also known as Christ or Messiah, never advocated hate in any form.  He never advocated discrimination or hurting any one in any way.  Any kind of hate, discrimination, violence or intolerance is decidedly not Christian and actually goes against the religious precepts of most organized religions. I guess that Mike Penner was the victim of sociatal violence and hate which he turned inward.  I believe this because I have seen this.  I have seen it in my own life and in the lives and stories of others.  I am not sure that there is anything I personally could have done for Mike Penner, I never met him.  His story does pull at my heart and I pray for all like him whose lives are in torment and turmoil.

You have a wonderful evening in the Peace of God.
Love,
Shel