Mom

     This past year has been very busy for me and consequently, I have not posted for a very long time. A year ago, my mother began to fail in her health. She lived nearby so I was able to help out. Things progressed from bad to worse until, in July of 2014, Mom passed out of this life into the next. Since Mom's passing, I have been trying to get her estate closed. My wife and sisters have been helpful, and I appreciate the lifted load. With my many hours of work for the past several months, progress has been slow, but now that the snow has flown and the cold bitten us here in Alberta, I now have more time to catch up on all the non eat/sleep/work things.
     My mother was a complex person who loved life and its adventures.

Age 19

Age 81

She fought cancer several times and won. She had both knees replaced and had bone strength problems. Six years ago, she fell in my garden and broke her neck - while no one was around. After praying for help from God, whom she knew well, she pulled herself up on my apple tree and walked out to her car. Sitting in the front seat of the car and supporting her broken neck with one hand, she flagged down a friend and he drove her to the hospital. She wore a halo for three months. The broken neck caused her to miss our family reunion that year, but once the ordeal was over, she re-certified her license and drove her car again. Ultimately, old age took her.
     In her life, she raised six children and after loosing my father to death, spent many happy years with a fine man (who even asked me for my mother's hand in marriage). Mom loved three main things: Serving others, doing family history / genealogical research and writing her life's history. When she was young, she won a singing contest (like American Idol) and got to make her own record as a prize. She enjoyed singing all of her life and inspired me to work at creating pleasant sounds too. Mom also loved to garden and when we lived on the lighthouse, she worked very hard to get our crops to grow and not drown from all our rainfall. (180 inches a year is a bit much for most plants) When I was a boy and would ride my bike in a less than 150 foot loop around our tiny island, I would snatch a sprig or two of parsley as it stuck out the open front of the greenhouse on my way by. Even now, I like to eat parsley Au-natural - and my wife still gives me the look as I munch down on my restaurant garnish to complete my meal. "What?" I always say. "Parsley is good."
     It's been about three and a half months since Mom died and I miss her. I still miss my Dad too, but I live with the knowledge that Mom's spirit body lives on and that she has now joined my father in their next adventures together. One day, hopefully not that soon, it will be my turn to pass though the veil of death and join the billions of spirits who have gone before me, but for now, I yet live and can yet hope to make a positive difference to this world that I love.

How Does A Pornography Addiction Begin?

For many, life in our modern world is tough - for reasons that perhaps none of our distant ancestors never anticipated. I'm speaking of the rampant problem in our world with pornography. Collins English Dictionary defines pornography as
1. "writings, pictures, films, etc, designed to stimulate sexual excitement"
2 "the production of such material"
 My well used 1980 edition of Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary says that pornography is:
1. "the depiction of erotic behaviour (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement
2. "material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement.
(It's interesting - and a little disturbing to note that a more modern definition, by the Oxford Dictionary, claims pornography to be only "printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.")

This week, my Aunt forwarded a post to me that addressed the question, "How Does A Pornography Addiction Begin?" The author, Rick Thomas, discusses this issue in his article, "5 Sure-Fire Ways to Motivate Your Child to Use Pornography".

Here are the high points of his article: (Link to the entire article) (The following excerpts - from here to the end of this post, are all quotes by Rick Thomas.)

"Before I get into five sure-fire ways to motivate your child to use pornography, let me establish two important points. The first is no parent wants their child to become involved in pornography. We all can agree on this.

The problem for many of us is we do not understand the insidious allurement of pornography and how our behavior, though unintentional, can help shape a child to crave something which can lead him into a lifetime of slavery.


Pornography is first and foremost about the theater of the mind, where the young male can enter into his virtual world and be king for a day or in this case, king for a few minutes as he satiates his mind with the risk-free intrigue of the cyber conquest. Porn is a secret world all of the time. Porn resides in the heart. It is lust, which feeds itself while in the darkness of a person’s mind.

This makes what we do as parents all the more important because the mind of the child is not altogether discernible. The seeds of lust can be planted in the mind of a child many years before he is old enough to act out on what has been growing inside his heart.
It can take years for all these sinful events to transpire. In most cases the allurement and enticement of the porn addict began in the theater of his mind while he was a child. This has been a consistent pattern I have seen in counseling. You will see in my five sure-fire ways to motivate your child to use pornography how any child can be in porn training without the child or the parents knowing how he was wrongly shaped.

1. Non-Romantic Marriage

 Porn Training: Only certain kinds of women are porn-worthy.
The Christian home should be a sexual home. God said sex was good and His first couple were not ashamed about their unique sexualities. It was only when sin entered their world that people became giggly about sex and sexuality. One of the biggest unintended consequences of the non-romantic marriage is how it communicates certain people are not porn-worthy.

Before your mouth completely hits the floor, let me explain.
A major characteristic of the porn-trained mind is how some people are worthy to be lusted after and others are not worthy. There is no question about what kind of woman is porn-worthy. There is not a woman in America who does not know this, which is why many of them obsess over how they look, how much they weigh, what they wear, and the horror of growing old.

Though they would not say it the way I have stated it—as being porn-worthy—many of them want to be worthy of their husband’s attention. They want to be desired. While this is not all bad, it can be deadly, especially in a marriage where she is not desired. A husband who will not romantically pursue his wife is sending a message to his children about how she is not worthy of being pursued. She does not fit the criteria. She is not attractive enough to be pursued.

2. Instant gratification

Porn Training: Cyber women are downloadable and extinguishable.
The spoiled child who is given everything he wants is a perfect candidate for porn training.

When children run the home by easily persuading their parents to give them the desires of their heart, then there is nothing to stop the child from getting into porn if the opportunity arises. And the opportunity will arise.

• The spoiled child gets what he wants when he wants it with no regard for right or wrong.
• The porn addict gets what he wants when he wants it with no regard for right or wrong.

Instant gratification in a child breeds instant gratification in adults. 

3. Non-Communicative Couples

Porn Training: Married couples communicate less and less, a requirement for porn enjoyment.
One of the common complaints I hear from couples in marriage counseling is the couple’s lack of communication. They hardly talk to each other. If they do talk, it’s usually about family events, mutual transactions, and marital business.

This is a perfect setup for the porn trainee because viewing porn has nothing to do with verbal communication. Porn is about visually enjoying women in order to feed the mind. Who needs to talk? The heart of porn use is privatized self-centeredness.

 The children of non-communicative parents are trained in the de-valuing of words, but it’s more than this. It’s the devaluing of the opposite sex. A man who does not talk to his wife is sending a loud message—she is not worthy of his words.

Husbands, your children need to see the value you give your wife by giving her some of your best words throughout your day. I’m not talking about words which satisfy the family schedule or the financial budget. I’m talking about words which build up, cherish, nourish, and adore your wife. Show the value you place on the woman you married. Let her be exalted in the minds of your children.

4. No Consequences for Actions

Porn Training: Teaches a false confidence through a risk-free relationship.
Along with the spoiled child mentioned above, there is a parallel parental action to giving the kid whatever he desires. This is the parent who teaches little to no consequences for his actions. A child who does not have to pay for what he has done wrong will learn how to get away with anything.
This, too, is a major characteristic of a porn addiction. It gives the addict a false confidence in a risk-free virtual environment.

Children must have a comprehensive view of love, which means they must be appropriately disciplined when they do wrong. The spoiled child who suffers little consequences in life will have a low regard for rules and authority.

Porn has no rules and low risk. It doesn’t take much to enter the porn world. It’s not like robbing a bank, which makes porn’s allurement all the more appealing. A child who knows he can get away with things is easy prey for the tentacles of pornography.

5. Critical Community in the Home

Porn Training: Criticism and anger are the most common ways we devalue others.
Is your home a critical community? If you were to assess your home, would you determine there is more encouragement, praise, affirmation, and love or is there more frustration, impatience, criticalness, and self-centeredness?

The porn world is a refuge where people go to escape the realities of their lives. It’s a risk-free haven where the addict can be in control, while satisfying his weary mind. There is no place which will affect his mind more than what goes on in his home. Even the church cannot accomplish what the home can accomplish, good or bad.

If the home is not a refuge of encouragement, your child will be tempted to find refuge in other places. Porn is one of the easiest places for him to get lost in the moment. It gives him a satisfying power which he does not experience in his real world. He can go into his momentary addiction and seize the moment with no fear whatsoever of being condemned, judged, criticized, or disappointed.

Conclusion: 
Porn training does not happen by volition. It happens by default if the parents are not attuned to the kind of home they have created. Kids are responders and they will respond to what the parent is providing them. The question now becomes, what are we exporting to our children? We’re all exporting something.

"Saving Mr. Banks" - Movie Review

Finally, a movie that can stand proud among the movie classics of any era! "Saving Mr. Banks" doesn't rely on sex scenes, violence, course and foul language or scantily clad actors or actresses to capture and hold interest - you know, the typical staples of most movies made today. No indeed - and it's about time! "Saving Mr. Banks" is a different kind of modern day movie. Why? Because it relies on a great story, great directing, great photography, great background settings and superb acting. (I've never seen better acting.)

I found "Saving Mr. Banks" to be a tender portrayal of a woman who's difficult young life ultimately impacted my own life as well as the lives of everyone I know. When P.L. Travers wrote the book, “Mary Poppins”, she changed her world - and as time passed, her book changed our world. Kudos to Walt Disney for his tireless work in taking “Mary Poppins" to the big screen in 1964. And my generous thanks to Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke and the rest of the fabulous cast and crew of the 1964 movie that lead us to the rest of the story in 2014 - "Saving Mr. Banks".

I know 5 stars is considered the best a movie can be rated, but this movie leaves other 5-star movies behind. "Saving Mr. Banks"deserves more than 5 stars and I hope you all get the chance to see it.