Ten Medical Missionaries Slaughtered

I really didn't want to address certain issues in this blog but with the recent events I just have to say something. On Saturday 8/7 10 medical missionaries returning from some remote Afghanistan village were gunned down...no they were murdered...and the Taliban is taking credit for this atrocity claiming that "they were American spies".
The leader of the group of missionaries comes from an area in upstate New York where most of my mother's family members resided and still reside i.e. Schnectady. As an eye doctor he gave 35 years of his life to the service of the poor in that country and he will be buried there in a Christian cemetery in Kabul.
To all who read this post, please whatever faith you belong to, pray for the 10 martyrs and their families. One young doctor was engaged to be married.

FRIENDSHIP

"A friend is someone who knows all about you and still likes you"

I have the dearest friend in my husband. I am secure in that he will always try [and sometimes it can be difficult] to understand me. He always has an interest in what I am doing and a sympathetic ear for me when I get frustrated & stressed. He is my champion who loves me in spite of all my flaws. Who is patient with my excessive desire to be neat and organized. I trust him with all that I am.

Then there is my best female friend of 45 years who lives in Brooklyn, NY [and loves it]. She says the only thing missing is...me! She knows how I think and she does understand me. We have never had an argument is 45 years and let me tell you she has told me off a few times [and she was always right]. We raised our children living in apartments next to each other. We settled the woes of the world over a cup a tea late at night when the kids & hubbies were sleeping. She at her kitchen window and me at mine. I trust that I could tell her anything and she would not be judgemental and would always tell me the truth.

I'm not sure how people regard "friendship" today? It appears to me, and I may be all wrong about this, that friendship serves a purpose today.

What I mean is ..."how will this help me"..."what's in it for me"...."what do I get out of it".....

• Please anyone who reads this let me know if I am wrong? I hope I am!

Friendship, like any relationship needs to be nurtured. Trust doesn't come in an instant but grows over a lifetime. That's not to say that some friends "move on" maybe we should call them acquaintances? How does anyone start or maintain a new and growing friendship in this noisy world. We don't talk to each other...we text message....we don't write letters we email....

Like I've said in previous posts technology is great, but are we giving up the very things that attract friends, our human qualities!

• You can't hear a laugh in a text message or see tears in an email.

This blog of mine is just about posing questions for myself and anyone who would take the time to read. I do not have definitive answers. I just want to shed some light as dim as it may be on some of the things that are different about the times we are living in and through. So now I have completed Faith, Family, Friends and from now on it will only be about comparing *then* to *now* hopefully with some wit and humor.

ON THE FAST TRACK

I get dizzy just thinking about how so many people young and old alike run through their lives, as if there will always be time for "smelling the roses".
I do not want to sound preachy, but did the world come to a screeching halt before cell phones; ipods; tv and yes computers!!
All these inventions are useful and can make life more simple, but not when we have blue tooth strapped to our ear so we can talk and drive. Do we really need to know the breaking news story while waiting at a traffic light? We are even doing it to our children. Kids actually have schedules similar to their working parents. It seems like every hour of the day needs to be scheduled for them. What happened to kids day-dreaming and playing "lets pretend"?
Why, are we as a society in such a rush?
Families are leading such stress filled lives. Parents are anxious over everything from "did Johnny make the team" to "how are we going to pay the bills".
I don't have the answer's.
Something says to me that getting off this merry-go-round calls for doing it "cold turkey". Precious moments come and go so quickly with children, if we are not there either physically or emotionally we miss out on the Blessings of their young lives.

Optimistic

"Another child is killed by a child, a parent a relative; a stray bullet!!!"
These are the evening news stories every day through out the country. With all this troubling news coming at us from the "boob" tube it's time to regroup and think about the things in our lives that really matter.
Faith, family, friends are the well springs of the truth of our lives.
I remember someone once saying that "it's not how much time you spend with your children; it's the quality of time you spend with them"....
Children will look to get your attention anyway they can, even by getting themselves into trouble!!
Children want your time and not necessarily new toys and gadgets. How sad when we have to set down one day a month to have dinner together as a family.
Priorities need to be adjusted.
Another person also once said,
"A family that prays together stays together".
What a wonderful tradition for parents to start, saying what ever prayer[s] learned as youngsters with children every night as part of bedtime ritual.
If we as a nation want to really "change" then, we must start with our children, they are the future. We need to give them "hope".
I know of only one person who has never failed me in my entire life and that is God. He never abandoned me and took care of me even when I didn't acknowledge His presence. He is Hope, He is Love, He is Truth.