Hello, I'm a mac.

“…Love your neighbour as yourself.”
-Mark 12:31

To love our neighbour well, we must love ourselves well. Most of us love ourselves too much in some ways and too little in other ways.

We love ourselves too much when we ignore the suffering of the stranger because doing something for the stranger is inconvenient. We love ourselves too little when we make ourselves strangers from other people and from God.

We love ourselves too much when we are quick to serve ourselves before we serve others. We love ourselves too little when we don’t spent time with God, receiving His free gift of love and allowing Him to serve us.

We love ourselves too much when we associate with and befriend people based only on their value to us, whether that value be social, economic, emotional, or otherwise. We love ourselves too little when we live in patterns of self-rejection and feelings of worthlessness.

We love ourselves too much when we build our self-worth and identity on our own popularity or success. We love ourselves too little when we fail to thank God for the success and popularity he has given us, and fail to ask for more with the confidence of knowing that He knows what we need.

Sometimes we need to learn to love ourselves before we can love others. Sometimes we need to learn to love others before we can love ourselves. An effort in both directions, followed by reflection and prayer, is probably the most simple way to discern where to concentrate.

I feel good about Fall and Winter this year.

This is a story I wrote in 2004.

Aetaeus, Gueshal, Margot, and the Bear

Aetaeus the Orderly, Gueshal the Honourable, and Margot the Compassionate were traveling together one day. When it came time to eat, Margot, concerned for the health of the others, suggested they find some local vegetation to eat. But Gueshal scoffed at Margot. “You would have us eat leaves!” he cried. “No, I shall go hunt, for leaves put up no fight when they are plucked, but I may find a large, wild animal to fight. Then I will have earned my food.”

Margot thought, “This man is a fool. He should know that nothing is earned, but all is given. We too, may only give.” But he did not resist Gueshal, and went instead to search out herbs.

While Gueshal was looking for a beast to hunt, he saw a great bear eating fish in the water of a stream. Gueshal drew his sword and began to approach the bear to attack it, but Aetaeus came up from behind and halted him, for he had been watching Gueshal from a distance to see what he would try to kill.

“Why have you halted me?” asked Gueshal, “I am about to slay this noble beast, that I may earn food for us to eat.” But Aetaeus said, “Would you die for nothing? It would take an entire group of men to slay such a great beast! Instead, we should eat the fish of the stream, as the bear eats. If a simple beast like the bear can find fish, surely we can too!”

But Gueshal would not listen to the advice of Aetaeus, and continued to stalk closer to the bear with his sword drawn. Once again, Aetaeus stopped him, and said, “I see that you are carrying a sword. But the bear is not carrying a sword. Would it be just for you to attack the beast from behind with such a weapon as the bear does not possess? Come now, set aside your unjust plan and come upstream with me, where we will find fish to eat.”

Geushal scoffed and replied, “You are a fool who talks like he has two mouths! For you say first that the beast is too strong for me, and now that I am too strong for the beast! I will not give up on this fight as you suggest, but will throw down my sword and warn the bear before I attack so that our battle is honourable.”

So Gueshal threw down his sword and yelled out at the bear. When he saw that the bear had noticed him, he ran forward and threw himself at the bear and wrestled with the bear until nightfall.

When nightfall came, Gueshal had not killed the bear and the bear had not killed Gueshal, but they were both tired. “I am tired,” said Gueshal to the bear, “and I can see that you are tired too. We should stop fighting and rest until deaybreak.” The bear replied, “You are right. Why do we not eat some fish to refresh ourselves?” So they stopped wrestling and began to look together for fish in the stream.

While the bear was searching the stream for fish, he walked along the shore, and there was Gueshal’s sword. But neither the bear nor Gueshal could find any fish, because Aetaeus had crafted a net from branches and had caught all of the fish upstream.

When the bear saw what Aetaeus had done, he thought to himself, “I have been fighting the wrong enemy! My foe was behind me with a sword but did not kill me with it, preferring to fight me fairly. But this other wretch has changed my river so that now I may not catch fish from it as I always have. This other wretch is my real foe.”

So the bear chased Aetaeus. And when Aetaeus saw the anger of the bear, he ran to a tree. Aetaeus climbed the tree and attacked the bear with a bow and many arrows.

As the bear lay dying, Geushall arrived. Aetaeus exclaimed, “Do you now see? The bear is almost dead. We can eat both the bear and the fish.” But Gueshal had seen the eyes of the bear in battle, and did not want to mourn for his death. So Gueshal carried the bear to Margot, who removed the arrows and tended to the wounds of the bear using the herbs he had found while the others were hunting and fishing. But Gueshal did not eat until the bear was well enough to eat.

Then Gueshal said, “I have made a friend for all time of the bear because I was honourable and did not attack its back or attack it with a sword when it had no sword. Honour is truly the greatest virtue.

But Aeteaus replied, “I have been able to catch fish while the bear was away from its stream because I built a net, and because I injured the bear in the most efficient way possible. Truly efficiency is the greatest virtue.

Margot said nothing, and cared for the wounded bear.

This blog often deals with issues of image and images in popular culture. To that end, please visit:

http://pundo3000.com/werbunggegenrealitaet3000.htm

It's great how pathetic and whimpy the "real" food looks...like it is a depressed starlette caught "without makeup" or something....

Downtown Langley Needs Passenger Rail

Light Rail from Scott Road to 264th for only 200 Million? A steal!

Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle

Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle

Why is this site so compelling? What is it that is so compelling about hearing that Barack Obama is doing warm, fuzzy things like buying me a puppy, leaving when he hears I won't be showing up, or helping me move a sofa? And why is it so compelling in giant blue capitalized bolded underlined letters? Why do I somehow like Barack Obama MORE after visiting this site, even though he hasn't done any of these things for me?

I once heard that a guy who was selling a book about marketing after a presentation he was making to a lady's group had all the ladies stand up and chant, "THIS BOOK WILL MAKE ME RICH AND THIN! RICH AND THIN! RICH AND THIN!" They all chanted it, and laughed, and it was all a big joke. But after the talk, he sold more books at that event than ever before. The book, of course, had nothing to do with being thin, or, directly, with being rich. But it worked, because these women had a positive association with it, even if that association has nothing to do with the product.

Enough marketing talk. Here's the real reason I think Americans should vote for Obama:

A New Face for American Diplomacy

Dan, thanks for the link.