Spectators

Ok. I just had the awesome experience of watching a sporting even with another couple. I highly recommend taking another couple with you to your favorite events. I do not care if it is NASCAR, plays, musicals, soccer or what ever. It was totally entertaining watching someone else enjoy the experience that sometimes I take for granted. Watching them cheer, stand up, high five strangers and completely immerse themselves into the game reminded me of how exciting these things can be. It is especially cool when you take people to high level events. I can remember when my day used to take us to Hill Auditorium to listen to the University of Michigan student orchestra play. No they weren't professionals (yet) but darn were they good. Plus, I can not play any instrument so how would I know if they weren't any good. I had a great time and it opened my eyes to a different cultural experience. Do it. Take someone to something different. Maybe not something that is different for you but something that is different for them. And when you do it... sit back and observe their reactions. Watch their joy. Watch them experience what you may have taken for granted. It will refresh your experience and increase your enjoyment.

Message from Ben Stein

My 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 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 we can be more worried about what other people think of us than
what God thinks of us.



Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

Camping and Roadtrips

Ok. First and foremost I must apologize for going a week without posting. I will try not to let it happen again. Now on to my latest random rant.

Camping and family road trips are a must for family communication and unity. Usually they are like exercise... Darn had to get motivated for but wow do you feel great afterward. We didn't do much camping as a family when I was growing up. We did, however, go on the most amazing road trips. I have awesome memories of feeding buffalo in Colorado, seeing a bear in Michigan, a moose in Maine and a bobcat in Florida (on a golf course of all places).
Many of the trips we took were with another family. Never the same family twice. Hmm, I wonder if that was intentional or just coincidence? I don't know, but I can tell you that we were much closer as a family and much closer to the families that we went on the trips with, after the trip concluded. Today, people tend to go on vacations to be entertained and set records for the amount of money spent. Why go into debt to take a vacation that finds you more tired when you return than when you left? Dumb but all to common. My dad was the master at coming home from work on Friday and announcing "Pack your bags, we're going on a road trip!" It was awesome. Most of our trips were pretty well planned out if my mom had anything to do with it but a few I remember were spontaneous.
I remember driving our conversion van out to Colorado. We went with another young family and stayed in a ski resort in the middle of the summer. It was very cheap and almost totally vacant. We had the pool to ourselves and were able to ride the chairlifts up the mountain for wonderful hikes. Let me tell you, it is much more enjoyable to hike when it is ALL downhill! Can you imagine taking a vacation without your cell phone, laptop, TV/DVDs, video games, MP3 players or anything else electronic? It is amazing to actually have someones undivided attention and at the same time, give them your undivided attention. For days on end! You really learn a lot about the people you are with.
Camping is an awesome art that has been perverted over the years. Sorry Coleman but you aren't helping. There is something really beautiful in roughing it. Hiking out into the middle of nowhere with your closest love ones helps everyone involved embrace honest vulnerability. When you strip away the makeup, fancy name-brand clothes and other creature comforts (read as distractions) of home you will find it it becomes wonderful fodder for openness. Try it. It is hard but oh so rewarding. Pitch a tent. Sleep wedged in between parents and siblings. Dig a fire pit. Find rocks to line it with. Scavenge for firewood. Start a fire without matches or a lighter. Look up at the stars. Breathe fresh night air. Bathe in a frigid river. When you return from a trip like that, you will have such a feeling of accomplishment.
I remember sleeping out in Pictured Rocks, Michigan in the U.P. with kids from my youth group in junior high school. I don't remember listening to the radio in the van on the way up there. Yes, the drive up felt like an eternity but it gave me several hours to talk with the other boys. How many kids today actually get to talk with their friends offline, without text messaging or the use of a cell phone? You learn to read peoples body language from looking at them! Imagine that! Try it with your kids. It is unbelievable.
I think I will write posts on each of my road trips starting when I first got my drivers license. Comment back if you think reading those stories would be interesting. Also, feel free to ask general questions and I will do my best to answer them (if I know the answer).

Location, Location & Location

I spent the first 10 years or so of my life in the country. For most people this would be a dream come true. We lived in a beautiful, white brick colonial house with 6 huge pilars in front. It was on an acre and 3/4 with an all-sports lake out back. The lake was stocked with large mouth bass. It was nearly picture perfect. Most of my "city-folk" cousins thought I had it made in the shade, and in some ways I did. My dad traded 10 acres further out in the country for the lake lot. Eventually he saved up enough to build a house and years later finnished the house by adding a 2 car garage. He was pretty frugal and smart. He and my mom worked hard to build their dream house and it was exactly that... A dream house.
10 years later that dream house became more of a burdon than a blessing. We wanted to move to Ann Arbor to be closer to church, school and friends. The market in the early 1980s was pretty bad. They had a lot of trouble selling the house.
I learned a lot from living in that house. I learned about the beauty of multi-generation families. I learned about the joys of pet ownership. I learned how to water ski, snow ski, ice skate and drive a snow mobile. I learned it takes 2 days and 2 people to mow an acre and 3/4. I also learned it is easier to mow a hill sideways rather than up and down. One of the most important things that I learned from living there is a realtor's favorite expression. Location, Location, Location. Why is that important? Well, I challenge you to think about the neighborhood you grew up in. Who were your friends and neighbors? What did you do for fun?
When I was 10 I moved to a "real" neighborhood. It wasn't a dream house at first. Eventually it was bigger and better than the lake house. Oh yea, and it took all of an hour to mow the lawn.
I believe that going to birthday parties after school is important. Playing little league sports is important. Having pride in your neighborhood, town, state and country is important and you shouldn't miss out on anyone of those four. I still remember the address and phone number out at our house on the lake. I have fond memories but I did wish that I lived in a traditional neighborhood. There is a huge difference.
There is a simple beauty in watching life as it happens around you: seeing people age, taking care of the elderly lady down the street (We called her Grandma West). We would shovel her driveway, mow her lawn, check in on her often and in return we were rewarded with hot cookies and a sense of community. Remember that? A sense of community? (I will talk more about that in future posts.) I have memories of watching families grow. Children leaving home for the service, college or to start their own families. The circle of life was always close to home with people passing on and others having babies or adopting and everyone in the neighborhood was involved. Some were pall bearers, others made meals for the families concerned and a couple of the families would share the use of their huge, flat yard to put up the big tent for someones wedding reception. I miss those days of the "old neighborhood" and darn-it-all I'm bringing it back!