Larry Peterson's Blog, page 28

Joey, my Guardian Angel, Keeps Me Laughing

 I am one of those people who tries his best to stay informed about what is going around me. I admit, what I pick up is more or less in outline form and not "in depth" as there is just too much stuff. I have been reading  and listening to the reports about Bengahazi, the IRS, the DOJ targeting the AP, the trials of the Butcher of Philadelphia, Kermit Gosnell, and the modern day Lizzy Borden aka Jody Arias. But every once in a while you have to jam on the brakes, screech to a halt, stand up, look around, breathe in deeply and realize you are driving yourself to the edges of lunacy by staying 'over-informed'. Sometimes you get lucky, as I did, and something forces you to instinctively jam on those brakes. For me, my rescuer is Joey, my Guardian Angel. I know that once again he was there for me.



Anyway, I know  it was Joey who saved me from myself. I had saved an insert from Saturday's newspaper and placed it on my desk. The title that intrigued me was "Don't Let The Ick Make You Sick". I

thought I would read it later in the day and, as I do so many times, I put it down, placed some other papers over it and forgot it. You know, out of sight out of mind. So Wednesday morning, at 5:30 a.m. I sit at my computer, turn it on, and  a bunch of papers somehow falls  from the snack table to my left which I use as a small desk on my left. I reach down to pick the mess of papers up and the one on top is the one from Saturday, the one with the ICK story. I swear, I did not touch those papers. They just fell off that little table and I know it was Joey who did it in his quest to save me from myself.



I picked it up and began to read this incredible article about the germs that are lurking 'everywhere' waiting to get us. That is when the insane laughter started to build. It started with a "heh-heh". They actually had a count of the number of bacteria on each item per square inch. Did you know that your dish sponge has 775,460,560  bacteria per square inch, that there are 228,854 bacteria on your kitchen faucet handle and 17, 000 bacteria on your TV remote. Just like that the laughter exploded  because all I could do was visualize the poor slob who had to count all of those bacteria down to the very last one. Can you imagine doing that all day long. What if you were up to 546,657,324 and the phone rang and you lost count. Holy crap--you would have to start all over. If it was a government job you would get lots of overtime so that would be okay. A research lab in the private sector may not let you work more than 30 hours a week so that would be tough. All I know is I owe Joey big time. Yes siree, Joey knows that no matter what is going on, somehow, someway laughing keeps things in perspective. It snaps you back to reality. Thanks for the slap in the head Joey. Love you.   P.S.  I apologized to the wife for waking and scaring her at dawn.

The Hijacking of Childhood Innocence

I have always believed that one of the most beautiful things we have in our lives is that magnificent intangible we call "childhood innocence". I even have a picture of a brother and sister, holding hands and walking to kindergarten together. It is on my masthead. The caption reads, "INNOCENCE". And God knows, inside these little people beats the purest hearts of all. The Catholic Church even teaches that a child does not even attain the age of reason until the age of seven. It is a beautiful thing.



The other day two seven year old classmates pointed pencils at each other at the Driver Elementary School in Virginia. They made funky little shooting sounds with their mouths as boys will do when they use their developing imaginations. Horror of Horrors--they were immediately suspended for two days for violating the Suffolk Public School's weapons policy. They were lucky--it could have been ten days. Bethane Bradshaw, a school division spokeswoman, said, "We consider it intimidating and threatening. It does not have a place in the classroom."



I do not get it. How did it ever come about where so many school administrators and teachers have taken it upon themselves to "know what is best" for our kids. When did they start telling us what to feed our kids, how much they should weigh and what they should THINK. Who the hell do they think they are? And what is it that they all gleefully hide behind that gives them validation for their actions---ZERO TOLERANCE. Yesiree, good old ZERO TOLERANCE, the greatest oxymoron ever created.



Amazingly, it is embraced by those wanting to promote their own agenda and it follows that many of them have gone into the field of education. Why? Because that field is the most fertile ground to plant their little packets of "agenda seeds". God help us. We are allowing them to use our children as the fertilizer. The thing of it is, whatever sprouts from those seeds will not be the beautiful flower they had imagined. It will probably be a neurotic adult who has blossomed from a frightened, insecure child and who is afraid of making any common sense decisions.



It seems to me that Spokesperson Bradshaw and other puffed up elitists like her are popping up all over the American educational system. These are the ones that need to be suspended indefinitely, not innocent seven-year olds. They have no right to be allowed to traumatize little children by telling them that they are being "bad" because they are innocently using their imaginations. The main weapon they are using to frighten our young is POWER. They will say that they are simply following guidelines that are in the student handbook or it is school-board policy or it is the principal's decision. They will say it is their job. What they will not do is take responsibility or stand up for the little victims being attacked. They are also gutless. In the hands of people like Ms. Bradshaw that weapon of power is far more damaging than two #2 pencils being pointed at each other by two second graders.

It Makes Sense to Me: "I Could Not Imagine Being 18 and---" see for your...

It Makes Sense to Me: "I Could Not Imagine Being 18 and---" see for your...:   "I recommend this to my friends and anyone else that loves historical fiction", Sandra Stiles Review Redux: 5.0 out of 5 st...

"I Could Not Imagine Being 18 and---" see for yourself

  "I recommend this to my friends and anyone else that loves historical fiction", Sandra Stiles



Review Redux:




5.0 out of 5 stars Priest and Peaches, from February 3, 2012



By 

Sandra K. Stiles (Sarasota, Florida) - See all my reviews

(REAL NAME)   





This review is from: The Priest and the Peaches (Kindle Edition)
I could not imagine being an eighteen year old with my life ahead of me and suddenly my life is changed drastically. Teddy must find a way to take care of his siblings after their father dies. He does the best he can. The neighbor downstairs is causing problems for Teddy. He needs help so he turns to Father Tim Sullivan. Help comes in many forms including guidance in matters of everyday life. There are moral lessons to be learned seasoned with a touch of Christianity. There were pats where I just cracked up, like the boys jumping on the bed and pretending to be super-heroes. I think the reason I loved this so much was because I could relate to it so much. I remember jumping on our bed with the wire springs and having it collapse on us. I also remember my mom trudging up the steps to reprimand us. I remember tying scarves around my neck and pretending to be mighty mouse as I jumped off our back steps. When my mother was injured in a car accident and spent a month in the hospital in traction, my father put me in charge of my younger sisters aged 11 and 7. I was only 13 years old. I had to cook breakfast and get us ready for school, take care of my normal chores on our farm, help with homework, then fix dinner and take care of the dishes. It was tough. I could relate also because my experiences took place around the same time period.



I felt Teddy's burdens as he tried to hold it all together. I felt his stress and heartache. This was one of those books that had you laughing one minute and then had your heart being squished. This is a young adult book, but I am telling you that adults will enjoy this book just as much. I definitely recommend it to my friends and anyone else that loves historical fiction.

The Priest and The Peaches--"a touching tale of family, survival, faith and hope"

Review Redux: "The Priest and The Peaches"








 Delightful tale filled with faith, love and humor, originally posted March 21, 2012



By 

Kimba88





This review is from: The Priest and the Peaches (Kindle Edition)
The Priest and the Peaches by Larry Peterson captures the life of the newly orphaned Peach kids as they struggle in the aftermath of their father's death and plan his funeral. This touching tale of faith and hope offers a glimpse into the lives of this working class Catholic family set in 1960's Bronx, NY. Steeped in faith and laced with humor Peterson's tale delivers a powerful message "to love thy neighbor."



This was an emotional and heartbreaking tale. This dysfunctional family has seen a lot of heart-ache. They lost their mother to leukemia; their grandma stepped in to help and recently passed away. Mr. Peach suffers from grief at the lost of his wife and turns to the bottle. The church and Father Sullivan step into help, but sadly the liquor takes its toll, leaving eighteen year old Teddy and seventeen year old Joanie to care for their three younger siblings. Teddy really steps up and tries to take care of them. Each of the kids is suffering and shows it differently. The youngest, Joey, thinks he is having conversations with his Dad. Add a nosy neighbor named Beatrice, an Aunt named Vera and a couple of drunks, you get quite the tale.



While I found parts of the tale to be rough, like the dialogue, (which might be expected from Bronxites) the overall message and tale was delightful. I enjoyed the lively cast of characters and their antics. Peterson captures their thoughts and emotions giving them depth. This was a quick and easy read that I finished in just a few hours. Peterson provides a touching tale of family, survival, faith, and hope. LYN.

In The Declaration, What Came First? God and the Natural Law or the Pursuit of Happiness?

There has been much fan fare over the words in the Declaration of Independence, Pursuit of Happiness. It seems that many folks use these three words as justification for their own agendas. The rationale seems to have taken hold that if a person wants something that makes them happy they have a right (as defined in the Declaration of Independence) to secure that happiness.



Let me clarify something; The words, Pursuit of Happiness, are the last three words of the first sentence in the SECOND paragraph of the Declaration. The first paragraph and following sentence read as follows:



"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them to another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.



We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." 



Here's the thing. It seems that all we hear about are the last three words, Pursuit of Happiness. Thomas Jefferson was a very smart man. He placed the preceding words of, "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God",  in the very first paragraph for a reason.  He, and all the signers, (who became traitors to the British crown subject to the death penalty upon signing) were giving all who read this document the order in which our value system as Americans would be defined. There is a GOD and the Natural Law is His. Therefore, Pursuit of Happiness followed those precepts. God and His Natural Law came first and everything else followed. There was no question about it. That is the way it was for these brave patriots.



It seems that 237 years later in 2013 the Pursuit of Happiness has become the rallying cry for a relatavistic society in which everyone who wants their own way screams "I am entitled to my Pursuit of Happiness."  The words used in the Declaration -- God, Creator and Natural Law -- are not mine. They come from a man much smarter than I could ever hope to be. How come those words are never mentioned when demanding the Pursuit of Happiness?  They are not mentioned because it is an impossibility for the Pursuit of Happiness to  trump the the Natural Law as given by God the Creator.



The Pursuit of Happiness also involves a common thread that is deeply woven into it. This thread is made up of words hated by many in the year 2013, words such as morality, decency, virtue, honor, chastity, respect and yes, Godliness. These are real words with deep meanings and they do exist. There are many who hate these words today. They hate them because they interfere with their personal wants and desires. But there are  many more who hold them in high esteem. These Americans deserve the Pursuit of Happiness also.

Pinning on the Marriage Label Changes Nothing

Charles Cooper, the attorney defending Proposition 8 supporters, was prodded in the court  as to what makes marriage between a man and a woman unique? Cooper responded that a man and a woman could procreate. Why the court room "chuckle, chuckle".  If I am not mistaken, the whole concept goes back to Adam and Eve. So what is so funny?



Why would a Supreme Court Justice, namely  Elena Kagan,  say, "I can assure you, if both the man and woman are over the age of 55, there are not a lot of children coming out of that marriage." That comment received an appropriate amount of laughter in the packed courtroom. I ask again, "what is so funny?"



It seems to me that gay couples are able to receive every right that married couples do. They can own real estate together, share medical insurance together, can be on the same lease together, be each other's medical proxy, and be buried together. What is the problem? Is it the word, MARRIAGE? 



We are living in the Age of Relatavism. That means Absolute Truth has been kicked to the curb. There are 24 hours in a day. The earth revolves around the sun in 365 days. We have day and we have night. Our very existence is predicated on the perfection around us. Can you imagine if one day took 24 hours and another day 13 or maybe 16 hours? How would you plan. What time would you go to work? Would 2p.m be 6 p.m  depending on the day which would never be the same length? Absolute truth also says that a man and a woman are needed to continue the human race. Without  the joint cooperation between a man and a woman the human race would cease to exist and it would happen very quickly. If I am not mistaken men and women have been joining together publicly in what is called Marriage for thousands of years.



What is the paranoia about being  able to use the word Marriage? There are civil unions and nine states allow "marriage" between same-sex couples. Even Chief Justice John Roberts said, "Same sex couples have every other right, it's just about the label."



Why is that so important? Look, I am a catholic and I do not condemn anyone for what they do or what they believe. The Catholic Church does not condemn homosexuals. It does say "NO" to sexual relationships outside the state of marriage. That also applies to unmarried heterosexual couples. That will not change.It seems to be that same-sex couples want to be the SAME as men and women couples. It is an impossibility. It has nothing to do with hatred or malevolence or anything like that.  Being among those (including myself) who would be accused of that is not funny, it is sad.  The bottom line is this, pinning on the Marriage label changes nothing. Marriage is for men and women, end of story.

Honoring the "Shadow Saint" His Name is Joseph

I call Joseph of Nazareth, the "Shadow Saint" because, even though  his life is so quiet and unknown,  he was responsible for being foster-father to the God-man and husband to the God-man's mom, Mary. He had to shelter them, protect them, feed them, provide for them. He married Mary while the cloud of "adultery" ( a sin punishable by death) hung over her head. He managed to take her to Bethlehem for the census when she was almost full term. Then he had to hide his wife and Son and run from the maniacal Herod who wanted the child dead and had his soldiers out looking for them.





Back in Nazareth he raised his Boy as any loving and caring father would. He aided the Boy when he took his first steps, held Him on his knee when he fell and scraped it and it was bleeding, he showed Him how to eat, taught Him how to pray, read the scriptures to Him and tucked Him into bed at night. No one ever in the history of the world has ever been entrusted with such incredible responsibility. No one in the history of the world could tell Jesus, the God-man, when to go to bed or when to wash His hands for supper or "not to interrupt" if mom or dad was speaking. Yet, we know so little about this just and holy man. What we do know is he saved the Son of God who in turn lived long enough to save us all. 




 There are no writings left behind by Joseph. There are no words that were spoken by him that were ever recorded. We have no idea as to what he might have even looked like. None of that matters because we do know he was there when God needed him to be there.Today, the day Pope Francis is installed, is also St. Joseph's feast day. The Holy father picking this day is no coincidence I am sure. Joseph is considered the Protector of the Universal Church. He is also the Patron saint of fathers and families. Next to his wife, The Blessed Virgin Mary, he is the greatest of all other saints. Just remember that Jesus, the God-man called him 'dad'. No one, anywhere, ever, was afforded that particular honor.




HAPPY FEAST DAY  ST.JOSEPH        Thanks for being there for Him and for all of us

Pope Francis I---God's Kind of "Big Shot"

Last week I wrote a piece commenting on why "I Love being Catholic". This past week has validated those feelings. "Hello, Pope Francis. Nice to meet you."  Unbelievable.



I loved it when the cardinals went into conclave. The doors were locked and sealed behind them. No communication devices of any kind were permitted. They shut themselves off from the world and I thought that the 5000 journalists, reporters, broadcast folks and whoever else wanted information must have been going crazy. Speculation was rampant and no one knew anything. What I noticed and became fixated on (as I am sure many others might have too) was the bird sitting on the smokestack. It was alone and it stayed for the longest time.  How many statues have you seen of Francis of Assisi with a bird on his finger?  Was that God communicating to all of us what was about to happen? After all, God doesn't need a cell phone or an iPod. "Hello, Pope Francis".



How about the inexplicable angel cloud that appeared in the crystal clear skies of south Florida around the same time the new Holy Father was introduced? It was broadcast over numerous stations and many thousands were witness to it. Was God introducing us to His new representative here on earth? I think He was. "Hello, Pope Francis".



I believe that it is easy to be Catholic as long as you stick to the fundamentals. You follow the "Golden Rule" and love your neighbor. That is Numero Uno, Numerus Unus, Number One in any language. "Hello, Pope Francis". Did you really refuse to live in the palatial edifice that was available to the Cardinal of Buenos Aires and choose instead to live in your own small apartment?  Did you really turn down a chauffeured limo and take the bus to work like the plain folks? Oh no, you did your own cooking too? Did you not realize that you were the highest cleric in the land of the Pampas and Gauchos? What, are you kidding me? You also  frequented the slums surrounding the city. You kissed the feet of Aids' victims and blessed unwed mothers? What kind of "Big Shot" cleric are you? You are God's kind of "Big Shot", that's what kind.



Today, most Holy Father Francis, you are the "Biggest Big Shot" cleric in the whole world. So what have you done so far. You rejected  the papal Mercedes and took a Volkswagen to the conclave hotel to claim your own bags and pay your bill with your own money. You are certainly a strange "Big Shot" Holy Father.  All you had to do was ask someone to fetch your bags and pay the bill.  In fact, you might want to check but it is possible the  Vatican has a running tab for Popes all around the Eternal City.  But you do not care about that, do you? After your introduction as our new Pope you decided to take the bus along with the other Cardinals back to the Vatican for dinner.



So, "Hello, Pope Francis I".  "Hello" to a follower of the man from Assisi who was a  lover of the poor and downtrodden and animals.  What a way to start a Papacy. You have humbled us all and made us proud. We must all thank the Lord for sending the world His kind of "Big Shot".

I Love Being Catholic and It Is Easy To Do

 I was born a Catholic, raised a Catholic and I am still a Catholic. Even with a secular college education I remained a Catholic. I am considered fairly intelligent although some of my opinions have had some of the intelligentsia consider me an idiot. I do not care. I LOVE being Catholic. That's right, I do love being Catholic and permit me to let you in on a little secret, IT IS EASY TO DO! Just keep it simple.  How? You reach inside yourself, admit that you are not nearly as smart as you think you are and DO NOT "outhink" the fundamentals.



What are the fundamentals? The "Golden Rule" encapsulates it all. Love God. How? By Loving your neighbor. How do you do that? You treat him/her the way you would like to be treated. You do not pass judgment on them and you "forgive them their trespasses". That's it. That is being Catholic. Where does the strength and courage come from to help us live this way? From the Risen Christ Who is there every single day of the week for us in the Holy Sacrifice of The Mass.



I am a writer. I am not famous or anything like that. I  have no idea who might even read this. But I write every day so I am a writer. In my office at home I am surrounded by  a bunch of books about a whole bunch of stuff. My task bar on my desktop has the dictionary, Wikipedia , Google translate and other links at my fingertips for immediate reference. I have all the news information a click of the mouse away. I know about the church scandals, the pedophilia  and the defrocked clerics that shamed the church so badly. It changes NOTHING as far as the fundamentals are concerned. Those people decided not to follow the Golden Rule and used their positions to disgrace themselves, hurt the innocent and scandalize the Church that trusted them. No matter what, that church has never deterred from her fundamentals. It was some of the people entrusted with her care who did that.



Tomorrow the College of Cardinals will conclave. They will go into the Sistine Chapel, the doors will be locked behind them and they will not exit until a new Pope is elected. There will be no communication with the outside world. There are over five thousand journalists on hand to cover the proceedings and the speculation about topics such as birth-control, women's ordination, "reproductive rights", gay marriage and other subjects will get top billing. None of the thousands are reporting about the love and forgiveness the church teaches or the charity it extends and has extended to millions over the decades. None of them has a clue as to what is going on inside the conclave. Yet they will speculate and offer rumors. It is what it is.



My Pollyana side imagines that some of these folks might report about some of the simple catholics who have lived and died their faith following the Golden Rule. Catholics like St. Maximilian Kolbe, a priest who gave his life at Auschwitz so a man who had children could live. He was starved to death. They could mention Blessed Frederick Ozanam, the 21 year old student from Paris who founded the St. Vincent De Paul Society in 1833 and how this society is today a worldwide charity serving countless millions each year and also was the first charity in the United States. One more is Venerable Solanus Casey, a simple priest who spent most of his life as a doorman at the monastery where he lived. They called him "Barney" and his kind words to people coming and going made him renowned. It was all because he stuck to the fundamentals.



Yessiree, I LOVE being Catholic. All you have to do is keep it simple and L-Y-N (love your neighbor)