Issues 22 Years Ago

Everything that goes around comes around. Or so the saying goes. 

Having just returned to Uruguay from the USA, I must snicker at how health advice that was a sure thing just a few months ago, has already been redone. For instance, I read that stress, anxiety, worries, and trauma are not related to heart attacks. Such tension does not make the heart weary and non-functional. At least a recent study “proves” this. A major medical journal backs it up. Studies depend on the mood of the day. Do research in one direction, and after making a few declarations about those finds, turn around and look for the opposite effect.  I believe stress still has a great influence on cholesterol levels, and isn’t it the cholesterol handling of fat that blocks up the arteries and causes those heart failures? 

It’s interesting, for instance, how the political polls trying to figure out who is the winner of the US Presidential Election long before the voters have cast their ballots, can vary as much seven or eight points in their tallies. So, when you see one poll’s analysis, we shouldn’t trust that’s the be all and end all. Because just down the street there is another one which might sound better to you. And you can choose to quote that percentage as you march into the voting booth and cast your vote with those that know. Be on the side of the winner, not the loser. I wonder how many people do that, vote on what the polls say rather than who they feel in their heart is the right man or woman for the job. (Ironically, these issues when George W Bush Jr. was elected president, haven’t changed.)

These things as well have been declared as defunct ideas - vegetables and fruits do not help prevent colon cancer. This came over the international news on television. Eggs are now okay again and don’t do damage to cholesterol levels. It’s red meat filled with fat that’s supposed to be the worst. Therefore, back in vogue is the high protein diet, and it is helping lots of people drop unwanted pounds rapidly. The carbohydrate stuff which has been touted as healthier and more enduring is no longer so popular because it’s too slow and one can cheat with ease. 

I couldn’t get over the resurrection of the seventies and the hippy look. Tie-dye fabrics are draped tightly around bodies and are now used to cover sofas in modern interior design.  White patent go-go boots, which never lost their popularity with country western singers, are now seen on women of fashion. So those who thrived in the hippy era and hung onto their wardrobe only have to recycle what has been stored in the attic for these last thirty years. Styles return in that old familiar cycle. 

The Episcopal church is also having some difficult moments dealing with changing values and ideas. The homosexual issue arrived, and some churches, such as Calvary in Memphis, who have embraced the idea of inviting homosexuals into their pews, are losing many of the distinguished old timers to other pastures. It takes a very committed and faithful priest to be able to challenge the establishment of the church and his own lay advisors as well to do what he feels is right in the eyes of the Lord.  The Episcopal church in America is enduring tough challenges to the real meaning of a church and of what Jesus meant in his words about love. How far does one go in “loving”? Are we limited by prejudices that have hung on too long, and now finally can be broken down? The Anglican Church still didn’t ordained women to the priesthood. 

But there are good things being done in the states especially when it comes to helping the poor and needy, and supporting medical causes.  I watched (I walked-jogged, really) a Race for the Cure which drew over 15,000 women who ran and walked three miles to raise money for breast cancer research. It began at a shopping center in Germantown. These are regularly held all over the country. Women try to help women who have suffered breast cancer. Their colors are pink and white. Breast cancer survivors wear shocking pink t-shirts and others wear white shirts. It was fascinating to see how many women in pink shirts were out there competing and enjoying the beautiful hot day. Prizes were given to just about everyone because they were worthy of such recognition. There were plenty of male volunteers and they were delegated to blue t-shirts. What a grand effort. It would be nice if this kind of awareness could begin here in Uruguay, to encourage more women to have the annual mammograms and to self-check themselves for lumps in the breast. It has become a way of life in America. 

Kids are fascinated today by Harry Potter books, in which the Scottish authoress offers what children should know about good and evil, magic and mayhem. She acknowledges that for children evil is attractive. The bully in the play yard, who might frighten a youngster to death, is still as awe-inspiring as a hero because he has so much power. If you can be his friend or in his group, then you are safe. I think it’s the same reason we cheer for the bad guys in the movies, to see if they can outsmart those on the right side of the law. We like smooth moves and skills that deceive. J.K. Rowling tries to shake away that attention to the bad guy. She is against gratuitous violence, as in video games. As the Play Station 2 becomes the most sought-after toy in history (no store has any for sale because their waiting lists are so long and must be accommodated first with the few items they receive), parents cringe a bit as they know their children will be blowing up little humanoids on the screen, without knowing what the ramifications of killing and death are. 

Changes take place. Issues must be dealt with and attacked at different angles. The church is required to make decisions that sometimes are not attractive to the fundamentalist members of their bodies. There is little flexibility in so many quarters, as people are put into Christian straight-jackets and are forced to think in a straight line that has nothing to do with the heart or love. It’s not soul-building. Change is always hard to take. Once we get comfortable, then change must take place. 

God doesn’t want us to sit back and ride to the end on a smooth horse. We must be willing to risk so much that we fall off and get back on whether the steed is leaping or not or we are wounded or not.  Children too must be guided as to how to handle life’s battles, and they must be loved.  That is the one constant. Love. And the other is that God never changes. He is always there for us as He always was and always will be. He is solid. This helps us deal with the development of civilization and all its good and evil possibilities. We have the blessed assurance that God loves us, and we are His.

 ~ Rev

---------------------------------

audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
www.audreytaylorgonzalez.com