I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac*
From “Boys of Summer” by Don Henley

*for those who may not know…Deadheads were devout followers of the band The Grateful Dead and were often seen as the epitome of antiestablishment.
The Cadillac was used as the symbol used to represent achieving the highest rung of the establishment.

There is an old joke attributed to George Bernard Shaw about a young lady at a dinner; the gentleman seated next to her asks if she would sleep with someone for a million dollars. Without hesitation she replies she would. He then asks if she’d sleep with him for a twenty.
Astonished, she says “what kind of girl do you think I am?”
He replies, “We’ve established that, we’re just haggling about the price.”
***

Ask just about anyone if they were truly surprised about Gov. Blagojevich and deep down they will usually admit that no, they really weren’t. What they felt was a confirmation that politicians are a lot like the young lady above, it depends on the price.

Byram Karasu, a professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says that “for a seasoned prostitute, there is no shame or guilt associated with their being merchants of the flesh. If caught, they spend a night in jail.”

Because of headlines, we are now conditioned to accept that many of our elected officials spend a lot of time haggling price, and whether it be sex, money, power or fame, what is for sale is not just their office but their souls.

Renana Brooks, a psychologist and director of The National Institute for the Study of the American Unconscious says that Blagojevich may not have seen himself as auctioning off Obama’s senate seat so much as acting as a tough negotiator. “He would probably tell you that he wasn’t selling it.”

Psychiatrists say many people tend to believe that “if what I’m doing I think is right, it must be right” even when we would agree it was wrong if others were doing the same thing…that our reasons for doing it are pure.

I’m learning to take a few minutes each evening and reflect on the day. Were my actions and words righteous or did I sell myself for twenty bucks? It’s easy to justify your deeds to yourself; can you justify them to God? Was I like the above mentioned Deadhead sticker, proclaiming I was something but showing the world a different face?

As I make my list of things I hope to change, I realize that I’m not too far gone…I still have a sense of guilt and shame…and unlike the prostitute, I’m don’t plan on going “back to jail” not because I hope I won’t get caught but because I plan on changing my ways.
Like the Governor, did I justify my actions based on what I want to be right or what was really right?

In my personal beliefs, my soul is not for sale…it’s already been bought and paid for, my job now is to daily ensure that I’m paying it back by working toward doing the right things not because I think they are right, but because a standard has been set for me to judge my actions. I may not measure up but it won’t stop me from keeping my eyes on that goal.
Ask yourself each evening, Who are you? Like the deadhead sticker, do you try to present yourself as someone other than who you really are? Who is setting the standard that you measure yourself against?


I know there's a place you walked

Where love falls from the trees

My heart is like a broken cup

I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole

Yet still receive your kiss

How can I measure up to anyone now

After such a love as this?

Who Are You? I Really Want To Know….

Roger Daltry/Pete Townsend/The Who


“I’m not who I want to be, I’m not who I’m going to be…But thank God I’m not who I used to be”.

Peace.

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Over 40 years ago, I met George Atkins. Although I do not recall the exact date, the memory of that exact moment comes to the surface often, and that meeting, and subsequent encounters made a huge impact on my life.

George was the first black kid in my class at school, and he was assigned the seat next to mine. George gave me the experience of see racism and prejudice up close and personal.

This was not my first moment to be this associated with a black child. As a “poor white” family, I’d spent many days in the cotton field and as a result I’d had many times of playing in those same fields with several kids, both black and white. Never did my mom or dad say anything negative about the friendships I forged while we were toiling under the hot sun with a hoe or a cotton sack.

In a recent interview with the actor Will Smith, they discuss various rumors about his “involvement” with Scientology. His response was “Fear of other religions means you're questioning your own understanding, and that's just not where I am.” He discusses his Baptist upbringing and his unshakable faith. That gives him the strength to examine other religions without fear of losing his own.

That struck a chord with me. As one of our local radio hosts says about wearing pink, only a very secure man can do that without worry.

I have friends of different religions, different life styles, different skin color and extremely different social and financial ends of the spectrum. While each has a slight influence in my life, none can change my core beliefs.

As Will said, that’s just not where I am.

Today, I’m thankful for George for teaching me that I can overcome racial issues that I have nothing to fear. I’m thankful I’ve been blessed with being able to have such a diverse group of friends in part because I learned to be secure in who I am.

I don’t fear a people, a religion, or lifestyles. Oh, I’m slightly afraid of crazies with weapons but so far I don’t see that confined to any certain group.

Today, I need to get out the axe and work on that beam in my own eye before I say anything about the speck in yours. My hands are full worrying about getting my life “right” without poking my nose in you r business worrying if your living life according to my beliefs.

These past months have taught me that the less hate or prejudice you have in your heart, the more room there is for love, and that I need to spend more time learning to live in His image and less trying to mold you into mine.

Peace

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