Smoking

First let me begin with I have never smoked. I never thought it was a good idea and found it to be disgusting actually. I didn't like the smell and seeing the filters at the end covered in this brown stuff was gross. Both of my parents smoked since they were teens. My Dad especially had yellowish brown fingers where he had held his cigarettes for years. So to make a long story short - didn't like so didn't do.

Now over the years I have been a small advocate for non-smoking. I won't allow smoking in my car or my house - I have to breathe there so I should be in control. However, in public places I have always considered both sides. It has always been my thought that each individual no matter what the cause has a right to make up there own mind. I will share my side and I must admit debate and bring up reasons why they should be swayed to my side, but I don't force my opinions on other people. Since I don't smoke I would sit in non-smoking sections, I would often avoid places that were mostly smokers. If I was driving in a smokers car then I would ask to have my window down.

Now having said all that I must admit that a non-smoking world is quite attractive. I would enjoy not walking into smoke filled areas or smelling it on the clothes of smokers. Not to mention the equality of not having people take smoke breaks all the time while I am still working. BUT, I have to say some of these new laws and rules seem very over the top.

The building that I work in sends out memos regarding where smokers can and can not smoke. They regulate it because the smokers were standing in front of the building and when you walked in there was smoke everywhere. I thought that was fine, appearances and all. Plus to be honest it benefited me. I understand the no smoking in the parking garage because of all the fumes. But yesterday they sent out a memo stating that smokers were not allowed to smoke on or around the benches in the front of the building, that there was a designated area for them off to the side of the front of the building. They want them clustered in front and upside of the building but off to the side. Wouldn't it make more sense to get them further from the building where the smoke could go up and not hover. Why can't the smokers have a place to sit down and talk - why do non smokers have extra privileges. It seems so dictatorshippy (I know it's not a real word). Smokers have a lot of sanctions against them and seem to be just letting them take over. I hear loud and clear all of the non smokers complain - but rarely hear a smoker complain. Ok, I know it is an unhealthy habit, I know it is bad for them, I know the risks to other people. BUT, I also know that this is America and everyone should have equality. I mean a McDonald's double cheeseburger isn't healthy either but I don't see anyone grouping those people and putting them in a corner. Personal Responsibility people - not to mention that just because some people complain about something doesn't mean that you have to stop thinking and take away other peoples rights. I see this whole thing getting out of hand. Once you restrict one section, then who is next? Cheeseburger eaters, nose pickers, people who snore, people who chew gum, people who listen to music at work, people who wear crosses. At some point this is going to go to far. We need to stop being so sensitive and stop thinking that we are the beginning and end. There are other people in this world who are just as important as we are and should have the same rights and same consideration as we think we should have as individuals.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be rules that benefit the opposition. Yes the smokers shouldn't be right in front of the building, but forcing them to stand the whole time seems wrong. Don't let them get comfortable and they may stop. NOT! Have you ever met a smoker, they are killing themselves slowly with poison, taking a bench away is not going to stop them. They are a very resilient group. Yes designate smoking areas, but let's not punish someone for a bad habit.

Fingerprints

Before I started my first year in college, I worked at a daycare center. I had to get fingerprinted so that I could work with children. When I began to student teach I had to be fingerprinted again. My fingerprints became part of my record that any law enforcement agency could access. When I first became a parent there were always booths or flyer's about getting your child fingerprinted to have them on record in case something happened. Often I see on those reality crime shows, how sometimes it's a fingerprint (whether full or partial) that points to the culprit.

The interesting thing to me about fingerprints is that no-one has the same pattern, not even identical twins. It amazes me how swirly, different and utterly unique fingerprints are. Like many people I only think about fingerprints when it comes to crimes or leaving them on the wall or some other surface that needs to be cleaned. But, the other day I heard this song on the radio about God's fingerprints and it made me think a little different.

We are totally covered in God's fingerprints. Inside and out. He has touched each of us whether we realize it or not. I was thinking that the heart would have the most fingerprints. Like when we touch silly putty or paint. Only these prints wouldn't slowly fade away - they would be there forever. People who can not believe or see God have those fingerprints and don't know it, don't feel it - it is such a shame. Over the past few days I have stopped to visualize several times about seeing fingerprints on my heart - when I look they are there like on the silly putty, but when I don't look they seem to disappear. But I know they are still there, even though I can not see them. I feel them.

It's a personal touch that I know my Lord has graced me with. Everything about me personally, mentally and physically my God has touched. Not a rough touch, not grabbed, but lovingly caressed. And since we are such an in-sight, visual, I have to see it to believe it people - I think this inner picture is missed most of the time. We just go about daily existing and not reaching or searching for our Father. We are such a limited people that we sometimes can not grasp something that is so easy to understand. We are NOT alone, we are NOT forsaken, we are NOT an accident. We are children of a living, loving God. "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful , I know that full well." Psalms 139:14.

Thank you Lord, for touching me personally. For loving me so much that you touch me every day. Thank you for the awareness and insight to see that I am so truly blessed to be a child of God.

Worn

I was looking out the window in the living room this morning and I took a good look at my couch. Even though it is only 4 years old, it is well worn. From cats to children to just watching tv. It has scars from the cats stretching their claws, it has stains from who knows what and it is worn just from the small amount of time it has existed in our home.

This morning I really identify with this couch. Even though I am not old, I feel old. I have scars where people and life have come through, I have stains on me from things that I have done and things that have happened in my life and to me. And I just feel worn. Not worn out - just well used. I'm not sure that I can explain it any better than that. Over the last few days I have mentioned that I wish that I had a better vocabulary, a better way to speak what I feel. Like a writer who brings you into the story and you see and feel what the main character is going through. I don't express myself very well.

This deep down feeling just exists whether I share it or explain it. I don't know where it came from, I just know that it is here. This worn, used, old feeling. Like some antique item that has lived so long and has some history and it shows in every nook and cranny of the item. That's me today. An antique that needs to sit in the corner and not be used because it is fragile and old and something may happen to it. With that I guess comes the need to be well taken care of and loved so that it does not fall apart or crack. Cause well that would be bad.

Baseball

People who know me well know that I love baseball. I grew up with my Mom watching the Mets on tv at every opportunity she had. When we moved to Florida I bought her cable for one mother's day so that she could get the New York channel that would air the Mets games. I grew up listening to the history and the values of the game.

When Florida got the Marlins I was ecstatic. I still loved the Mets but I could have my own team. I've been through the whole ups and downs with the Marlins - from the World Series to the selling off of the team, to the "we need our own stadium" mantra that management keeps trying to sell. It saddens me that there are so few die hard fans in Florida. Those are fans that stay whether it rains, is hotter than a furnace, whether they are winning or losing. Loyalty. Honor. Determination. Being there until the end. What baseball means or meant in the past.

Unfortunately, so few things are the same in the current baseball legacy. It seems that manners are gone and so is responsibility and honor. I grew up on stories about Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and Reggie Jackson to name a few of the greats. Not that these men were perfect they had their issues - drinking, women, anger. But today's players seem small compared to the larger than life players of the past.

Mostly I am speaking regarding the Barry Bonds issue of breaking Hank Aaron's home run record. Barry broke it yesterday - he has hit 756 home runs in his career. A career that has been riddled with doubt, skepticism and rumor. Has he done drugs? Has he used steroids? Compared to the great man Hank Aaron who hit 755 home runs on his own, dealing with prejudice not only from the fans but from other players. A man that as far as I know a scandal has never been attached to his name. I have heard him speak and I have heard testimony about him and he seems like a genuine, honorable man that did amazing things. Now compare him to Barry Bonds. It saddens me that the record had to be broken by someone who has such a reputation. It saddens me that he is compared and considered in the rank of Hank Aaron. I do not deny that he has broken the record and is a very good baseball player. But baseball is not just about the individual it is about the spirit and the tradition.

If this is what the tradition and the spirit is going to be like in baseball - then I pray for our country and our youth who follow and mimic what they think are heroes. God help us.