Katha hits a homer

The Catholic church has been in the news these days, and as a non-Catholic I really have no dog in the fight, as one of my colleagues says. Still, I found Katha Pollitt's article right on, particularly this:

"Most Catholics take a flexible view of the church's teachings on sexuality. They use birth control — how else could Italy, Spain and Poland have among the lowest birthrates in the world? They divorce and remarry, use condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, undergo in vitro and other banned fertility treatments and even have abortions. Yet there were the bishops, holding the whole health care reform bill hostage to their opposition to abortion rights, advising on the crafting of language right in the halls of Congress."

Or this:

"The difference is, when other professionals who work with children are caught out, justice takes its course. People are fired. Licenses are lost. Reputations are ruined. Sometimes jail is involved. No human institution is perfect, and it would be foolish to suggest that incidents are always investigated and that abusers who don't happen to be priests are never protected by colleagues or superiors. Still, it's probably safe to say that if a principal was accused of overlooking a child molester in his classrooms or recycling him to other schools, nobody would compare his suffering to Christ's."

And this:

"The church has yet to learn that lesson. There is a positively Nixonian smarmy truculence in the response of church hierarchs to the ongoing scandal, which now involves Pope Benedict XVI."

Maybe there's another side to the story, but I can't see it.

April Fool's

I am in the dog house because of an April Fool's Day joke (literally and figuratively...since my joke was about a dog). I just meant it as a joke, but it wasn't taken that way.

So I was in Wichita for a conference the last couple of days, and their daily newspaper has, on the front page, a prayer for the day. Here was today's

God, on this crazy day of pranks we thank you for the gifts of humor and friendship. Help those who take life too seriously to lighten up and have a laugh. Amen.

Hmmm...

Political ire could turn into epicaricacy

I'm not "blogged out," so to speak. I've just been massively busy at work...12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ugh.

One epicaricacy question came up recently. As my daughter was emailing or texting or something, she asked me what the verb form of "epicaricacy" was. First of all, I was pleased that she asked about "epicaricacy" and not "Schadenfreude." But second of all, she raised a question I have been thinking about for awhile. There certainly isn't a verb form of either word, and there isn't an adjective form either. The verb form wouldn't come up that easily, but I'd think the adjective form would. For instance, right now I am feeling epicaricatic about the Republicans.

What an appropriate lead-in to what I really want to write about. Let's face it, even though my Google Alerts tell me about uses of "epicaricacy" every day, I simply can't write about that word every day. So here goes my political rant:

Conservatives, do you remember when the Supreme Court decided who our next president would be, rather than the voters? Yes, we Democrats were bummed. We thought the constitution was clear on how presidents are supposed to be elected, but apparently that's not the case, particularly now that even our Supreme Court has become political. Our reaction? To write about how we disagreed on that ridiculous decision. That's all. There were no comments like, "Don't retreat, instead - RELOAD!" or defacing our flag (isn't there a law against that?). Ah, no, we just debated the issue. Yet, the conservatives criticized us for being childish and not simply abiding by the decision. Amazingly, they criticized us for being unpatriotic. Funny, I don't see any criticism like that now by the conservatives. Nope. They all seem to be in support of this riotous, divisive and violent behavior.

To be honest, I wish the Democrats would stand up and fight back more. You deface the flag? Charge them! You make threats? Charge them! Throw the book at these violent, unpatriotic yahoos. We always knew the right extremists were like this, but they've never given us this kind of ammunition.

So how does epicaricacy relate? Maybe more than you'd think. Read Clarence page's analysis. Surely, the far right extremists (the Rush Limbaughs of the world) are a lost cause. I wish they'd just find their own country somewhere because they obviously don't understand ours. But they won't because they have it too good here...and of course they all have their health care so what do they care about the uninsured? However, as Page says, this may backfire on the conservatives. They may lose any moderates they've had and they may be worse off in November. They think they'll gain a lot, but how can reasonable people agree with the violence they are inciting...to which Sarah Palin replies, "We're not inciting violence. Don't get sucked into the lamestream media lies." Now, that's mature. "Lamestream"? She has resorted to making up words because she doesn't have a wide enough vocabulary? Oy vey.

I worry about our country right now. I worry about the welfare of our president and our congressmen. Yet, I was assured recently when I saw the results of a poll. Unlike the conservative messages we're hearing, a good 50% of the public approve the health care bill that was passed. In the end, we have to depend on the character of the American people, and I have faith in my fellow Americans. Not all of them, but the majority of them. Step up, people, and speak out...no matter whom you voted for. This is just wrong. Let them know it. Call the radio stations. Write your newspapers.

A Touch of Irish

This poem was sent to me, wishing me a Happy St. Patrick's Day. Indeed, in Chicago they color the Chicago River green in honor of all the Irish who live in Chicago.

May you always have work for your hands to do,
May your pockets hold always a coin or two,
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane,
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain,
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade you every step along the way. May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue. And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.

May the sun shine all day long, everything go right and nothing wrong. May those you love bring love back to you, and may all the wishes you wish come true.

May the friendships you make be those which endure and all of your Grey clouds be small ones for sure. And trusting in Him to Whom we all pray, may a song fill your heart every step of the way.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, May the luck of the Irish be there with you.

A poem that says it all

Part of my work is developing an evidence-based, standardized model to transition new nurses to practice. I recently came across this poem, written by a nurse, that provides support for my work:

The Dance

~ Linda Harrington, RNC

I am a new grad.

Fear and anxiety are my constant companions.

I am often on the brink of tears: my feelings of inadequacy are

overwhelming at times.

I am positive that I learned nothing in nursing school.

I am filled with doubt.

The nurses around me are moving to music I cannot hear.

Gracefully and efficiently they complete their tasks

I watch this ballet of competency fearing I will never learn to dance.

For now, I will mimic the steps as best I can.

Time passes…

A metamorphosis occurs.

Experience dispels the uncertainty I once felt.

I realize it was not expected that I feel comfortable.

A novice never does.

Mentors emerge; acting as choreographers, they demonstrate the

Intricacies of the dance.

They insist on perfection and practice.

They move aside when they are sure I’ve learned the steps.

Toyota and epicaricacy

When we bought our Honda Accord, we also had looked at Camrys. Indeed, I liked them better. At the time, the Consumer Reports ratings were better, and I fell in love with the test drive. The car was so smooth and quiet that I felt like I was in a Mercedes. However, we chose the Accord, mostly for price. We spent our money on our kids' educations, and not on cars.

How a few years has changed things. I just saw the Congressional meeting yesterday with Mr. Toyoda. I felt a little sorry for him. He was grilled 9 ways from Sunday (a phrase that nobody knows the origin of), and he remained polite and modest. When a supportive Congressman (I've read that many Congressmen have had political contributions from Toyota) asked Toyoda if he thought Congress was treating him differently from how they would treat American auto makers, he said, "No"...twice. The guy asked him again, in a different way.

Anywho...how does this all relate to epicaricacy? My trusty Google Alerts found this article. Of course, it was a Prius Web site talking about the recent Honda recall, but whatever. Loved this comment from one of their posters: "With the American short attention span, people will soon forget about the Toyota recalls." Sorry or not for Toyoda, I know I'll never buy a Toyota now or in the future.

Snarky

The beauty of a Blog is you can make a mistake and not have snarky responses. Lately I've been feeling a bit "followed after" on my favorite forum. Yes, I suppose it was quite rude of me to mention epicaricacy in the same breath as with the plane plunging into the IRS building. But those with even the tiniest sense of humor might see how it could relate to epicaricacy. Of course it was a heinous/atrocious/vicious/hateful/evil/horrendous action that caused death and much sorrow. Of course. Not denying that.

Ah, but here it's so free. Heck, I can even say "Oy vey" and not feel guilty. I think I'd like just a free flowing Blog, too, as having a subject can make this one difficult.

One thing, though, I've wondered lately about both epicaricacy and Schadenfreude is that an adjective really is needed. They seem to be words you use to describe how people feel.