Not Sure This is Really by Ben Stein...but a good message nonetheless.

Written by Ben Stein

If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to sway juries and make people think clearly.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

"Herewith a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife. Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if

I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me
in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like e this Happen?" (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards .. honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

Quarter-Life Crisis

I received this essay in an email from a sorority sister a year ago and after reading it stuffed it into my now overflowing wooden memory box. My memory box serves the perfect purpose. Yesterday I was in a tizzy cleaning the house frantically before Friday night festivities when I stopped to dust off the top of the box and thought "oh I need to sort through this sometime." Seriously, my entire life is in this box...Baptism certificate to marriage liscense and pictures, notes, letters, movie tickets, cards from all the years in between. Anyway, I found this printed out email called "Quarter-Life Crisis" and found the message profoundly true for me and most of my close friends. Check it out and afterwards, I highly recommend printing it out and stuffing it somewhere you know you will find it again later in time and hopefully be as moved as I am now.

"They call it the 'Quarter -Life Crisis'...
It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like...
You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now...
You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you ever met; the people you have lost touch with some of the most important ones...
You also start to realize that it is truly amazing when two strangers become the best of friends, but it is truly devastating when the best of friends become two strangers.
What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean, or insecure, but that they are as confused as you...
You look at your job and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing. Or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.
Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't.
One minute you are insecure and the next, secure.
You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life.
You feel alone and scared and confused...
Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward...
You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved so much could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person...
One night stands and random hookups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot doesn't seem as fun...
You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision...
You worry about loans, money, the future, and making a life for yourself and maybe for someone else...and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender.
What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it in some way or another.
We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure the whole thing out...
Life is not measured by the amount of breaths we take but by the amount of moments that take our breath away."
-Author Unknown

One more little quote I'll never forget and want to share...I heard it during one of the last nights my sorority sisters and I spent together in the sorority house our senior year...It goes

"I always knew I'd look back on the times I've cried and laugh. But, I never knew I'd look back on the years I've laughed and cry."

So now...I am going to do something to "mark" my quarter life crisis...any guesses? You'll have to tune in next time to find out!

Quick Update

A quick update since it has been so long since I made time to post.
This weekend is busy. Luke and Jackie are getting married tomorrow. Nick and I are honored to be included in all of the events prior to as well as the actual ceremony and reception.
Work is going extremely well this year. I am one of the few that can say I love my job.
Nick and I are busy during the week as usual but somehow we find ways to hang out together even if it is just talking for 10 minutes before we fall asleep. Ali is still an angel.
We are looking forward to Fall arriving...been getting a few cool (mid 60's) mornings this week which means it is time to start budgeting trips to Starbucks for hot mocha machiattas (SP?) There are 2 Starbuck locations on either route to either school I work at depending on the day of the week and it is so tempting to leave 10 minutes early to make a quick stop...however, not only can my checkbook not afford the excessive luxury, neither can my diet (the ugly 4 letter word).
I really need to be going but I want to leave you with one of my favorite (sappy romantic that I am) quotes from The Way I See It #144 - Marble Mocha from Tuesday morning:

"I used to feel so alone in the ciy. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside. Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stumped by this for many years. And then I realized, you just say "Hi." They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word." - Augusten Burroughs author of Running with Scissors

Today

Today is Sunday = the last day of a long weekend. I was ill and out of work for Thursday and Friday and in the bed most of Saturday and Sunday. Sunday now and feeling MUCH better. Ready for Fall weather. Nick has been working really hard the past couple of weeks so I am very thankful we had a lot of time with eacher other this weekend. Finally had the chance to get through most of Season Six of Sex and the City - so good. Ali is precious as always but having a bathrooming in the house problem...again. I thought she had grown out of this but lately not so much. It's not an issue of bad parenting; we take her out very regularly. I don't know what it is.
Thursday night was tough for me. After attending the first week of Fall classes (2) and learning that my grad. course would require 15 intern hours at the site of a school selected by the program director (pretty impossible when you already work full time and don't have that kindof time to take off) and then realizing that the pre-calculous class was going to take a LOT of effort from me I got home cried a little and after talking to Nick we realized that now is not the right time for me to be in school. I don't know if that means next semester, next year, ten years from now will be. Right now I just don't know. So, boo. But like I said, I have had a pretty good weekend and look forward to just having to work this week and ...yea, work...and read, and exercise, and paint...and do all the things I say I WOULD do if I had "more time."