What would you say if you had to explain Christmas to someone who knew nothing about it? You might begin with the shepherds in the fields by night, or Santa at the North Pole, or even tell how it all was blended with a pagan winter festival. You might tell of the rituals of Christmas, rejoicing, feasting, singing, the smell of baking and balsam trees, the stillness of the world on Christmas Eve except for carols and midnight church services. You would probably have something to say about the importance of family, how everything centers on the children, and on your memories of being a child during Christmastime.
Would you mention all the shopping?
In 1822, an American named Clement Clarke Moore wrote a poem about a visit from St. Nick. It was Moore (and a few other New Yorkers) who invented St. Nick's physical appearance and personality, came up with the idea that Santa travels on Christmas Eve in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, comes down the chimney, stuffs toys in the kids' stockings, and then goes back to the North Pole.
The giving of gifts became a major feature of Christmas during the 19th century. Christians denounced gift-giving as a Roman practice and denounced Santa as the Anti-Christ because he pushed Jesus to the background. They thought that Santa did not reflect Christian ethics. Instead of being a champion of Christian mercy and unconditional love, Santa symbolized justice – giving only to good children, showing no mercy toward bad ones. Instead of admonishing the wealthy and demanding that they give to the poor; the children of the rich received more extravagant and numerous gifts. Even though the myth was that he gave gifts to all, the poor got little to nothing.
By the end of the 19th century, thanks to our country’s success with capitalism, there was enough wealth in America to make gifts possible for almost everyone with a great productive apparatus to advertise them and make them available cheaply. The whole country gleefully took to giving gifts on an unprecedented scale. Christians relented and joined in the Christmas commercialism with everyone else.
By the last half of the 20th century, Christmas had become so commercial and extravagant, gift-giving so common, that there became a disconnect between the message of love and good will toward all in the Christmas hymns and the immodesty of the shopping season. Nowadays, most of us spend the holiday season racing around and battling each other at sales tables to make sure loved ones are loaded up with gifts. In doing so, the meaning of the season has been lost – although some will attend a Christmas service and then put Christ on the back burner as they party and shop.
How does this frenzied, stressful commercial machinery of weeks of Christmas shopping connect with peace on earth? What does all that retailing and wrapping paper have to do with Christ’s birth? We seem to have turned the promise of salvation into the hope of beating everyone else to the sales tables as retailers and government uses the Christmas season to prop up the American economy. That is why they call the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, Black Friday. It is when stores and some local governments get out of the red.
But not this year.
With the rise in unemployment at an all time high in decades, the recession has taken its toll. The shoppers have spent far less this year, leaving governments in the red and some stores closing their doors forever.
It is at times like this that people begin to realize that the pursuit of material gain is often at the expense of far better traits like charity, spirituality, compassion, family values and concern for your neighbors and those worse off than yourself. Do the children really need a “big” Christmas? Do you really need to buy all those expensive gifts for everyone on an ever expanding list? Do all those fancy, expensive gifts really hold the feelings we are looking for and say what we want to say? If we genuinely love one another – truly hold one another in our hearts – wouldn’t saying it and showing it often be far better? Gifts are much more wonderful when they are modest, from the heart, and spontaneous.
Christmas is about Christ and his message of peaceful cohabitation among all men. That was the essence of the message spread during that first Christmas Eve: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” [Luke 2:10] This message of good will was meant to be year round and not just exist only during this season.
If the recession helps us to get beyond the commercialism, then it holds a silver lining. Hopefully, we might once again find the real meaning of Christmas allowing it to once again become a church-centered holiday of modest spirit, humble aspirations, loving, and being loved.
Then, perhaps as a society, we can recapture some of the true meaning of this special time and carry it throughout the year.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Warren is not an issue
The “Warren controversy” doesn't have anything to do with pro-choice or gay rights. This is about a president-elect exercising his prerogative to choose whomever he wants to deliver the blessing at his inauguration. It's about pulling America together which means no one will get their way all the time. It’s about compromise. It's about -- as President-elect Obama noted this week -- Americans learning to agree to disagree without becoming disagreeable. It’s about most Americans being in the middle, neither far left nor far right
The gay-rights people speak about respect, demand respect, insist that they are not given respect. Someone should remind them that it works both ways. If they want respect, they have to give it. They can start by respecting the wishes of the president-elect to plan his inauguration as he sees fit.
These anti-Warren protestors are insisting that the selection of the pastor must mean that Obama isn't interested in advancing gay rights or preserving abortion rights. They say that he just used those groups to get elected and has now thrown them under the bus. That shows a lack of reasoning ability on their part. They are gleaning more than what’s there from the simple act of asking a famous evangelical preacher to deliver the invocation. Obama has said that he wants to pull everyone together – to work together on common ground. This includes the evangelicals. Why not let Obama get sworn in and have a chance to govern before issuing judgment on being abandoned?
Even as Obama takes fire from liberals on the left, Warren is being bombarded with criticism from conservative supporters on the right who can't believe he is even associating with Obama, let alone appearing at his inauguration. Have they not heard Obama say that he wants to pull America together? This means compromising on some issues, or setting them on the back burner so that issues held in common can be solved.
What do these two sides expect anyway? Those familiar with the evangelical movement in America should already know that Warren is a moderate on some issues. And, if gay rights activists are surprised that Obama would share the spotlight with an opponent of gay marriage, they need to do more research. Obama has stated many times that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman, as do most Americans, a view that also happens to be shared by Vice President-elect Joe Biden. Obama never promised to allow “gay marriage.” Obama did promise that he would try to the best of his ability to bring all Americans together – to be inclusive.
Having Warren speak at the inauguration makes sense for Obama. The idea is to signal that Obama will be a president for all Americans, whether or not they voted for him on November 4. This is not new. Obama and Warren have often used each other to demonstrate that they are willing to listen - even when it makes their friends angry.
We have had enough of divisive politics. It has torn America apart into groups hating other groups. Us against them. This needs to stop. Just because Obama and Warren disagree on certain issues should not disqualify the pastor from blessing the inauguration.
Get over it. Obama choosing Warren is not an issue.
The gay-rights people speak about respect, demand respect, insist that they are not given respect. Someone should remind them that it works both ways. If they want respect, they have to give it. They can start by respecting the wishes of the president-elect to plan his inauguration as he sees fit.
These anti-Warren protestors are insisting that the selection of the pastor must mean that Obama isn't interested in advancing gay rights or preserving abortion rights. They say that he just used those groups to get elected and has now thrown them under the bus. That shows a lack of reasoning ability on their part. They are gleaning more than what’s there from the simple act of asking a famous evangelical preacher to deliver the invocation. Obama has said that he wants to pull everyone together – to work together on common ground. This includes the evangelicals. Why not let Obama get sworn in and have a chance to govern before issuing judgment on being abandoned?
Even as Obama takes fire from liberals on the left, Warren is being bombarded with criticism from conservative supporters on the right who can't believe he is even associating with Obama, let alone appearing at his inauguration. Have they not heard Obama say that he wants to pull America together? This means compromising on some issues, or setting them on the back burner so that issues held in common can be solved.
What do these two sides expect anyway? Those familiar with the evangelical movement in America should already know that Warren is a moderate on some issues. And, if gay rights activists are surprised that Obama would share the spotlight with an opponent of gay marriage, they need to do more research. Obama has stated many times that he believes marriage is between a man and a woman, as do most Americans, a view that also happens to be shared by Vice President-elect Joe Biden. Obama never promised to allow “gay marriage.” Obama did promise that he would try to the best of his ability to bring all Americans together – to be inclusive.
Having Warren speak at the inauguration makes sense for Obama. The idea is to signal that Obama will be a president for all Americans, whether or not they voted for him on November 4. This is not new. Obama and Warren have often used each other to demonstrate that they are willing to listen - even when it makes their friends angry.
We have had enough of divisive politics. It has torn America apart into groups hating other groups. Us against them. This needs to stop. Just because Obama and Warren disagree on certain issues should not disqualify the pastor from blessing the inauguration.
Get over it. Obama choosing Warren is not an issue.
Monday, December 15, 2008
A devious lame duck
We have "only one President at a time," President-elect Barack Obama continues to say in press conferences. Normally, that would be a safe assumption – but with the financial crisis growing worse by the day, it has become obvious that one President is no longer enough (at least not the President we currently have). So, Obama has become a more public presence. He has quickly named his economic and national security cabinet members to try to help the psyche of the markets. He has promised an enormous stimulus package that would somehow create 2 million new jobs, and has begun to push the new Congress into having the bill ready soon after being sworn in this January.
That we have slightly more than one President for the moment is mostly a consequence of the collapsing economy. This final humiliation for George W. Bush seems particularly appropriate. At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks with an approval rating that hit a very low 19% just a few weeks ago (although it has risen a little since then). This is a presidency that has wobbled between two poles – arrogance and paralytic incompetence.
Paralytic incompetence has held sway these past few months as the economy has crumbled. In rating the performance of Bush's economic team, we have more than enough evidence to say, definitively, that at a moment when there was a vast need for national reassurance, the President has not been a leader. He's a lame duck with one of the lowest approval ratings of any president ever. He doesn't have the clout to influence Congress, even in the conduct of foreign policy, because people know he is only going to be there another few weeks. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.
In the end, though, it will not be paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make the economy work. He never understood the necessity to maintain a strong middle class – required for both prosperity and democracy - because he has never been a part of it. He never considered the complexities of Iraq’s cultures when he invaded. He never understood that religious faith when unaccompanied by rigorous questioning is a recipe for nearsighted foolishness.
But he is not just lazing around the Whitehouse waiting for January 20. There are proclamations and regulations in the works that harmful to the public good and are bypassing Congress’ and the public’s approval:
Recently, the Washington Post reported that the Bush Administration is preparing to formalize a deal which would allow Plum Creek Timber Company to convert hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland in Montana into residential subdivisions. The deal was made behind closed doors between the Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment and Plum Creek Timber. Neither local officials in the region nor the public were granted an opportunity to have a say in the matter. Forty years of Forest Service history has been reversed in the last three months without even standard environmental assessments.
Similarly, the New York Times recently reported that Bush Administration appointees are preparing to propose a number of regulatory changes to securities rules, changes which critics say would dilute measures put in place after the Enron scandal in order to forestall accounting gimmicks and corrupt practices.
The harm to our country perpetuated by these two deals, and many others like them, pale in comparison to the damage to national security caused by the nuclear deals the Bush administration is promoting. The fact that some of these deals have been in the making for a long time does not make them more benign. For decades, those committed to preventing a nuclear conflagration have called on nations that have nuclear arms to gradually scale them back until they are all removed and urged all other nations not to acquire these weapons. The treaty against these horrible arms had been quite effective with several nations that started down the nuclear road reversing course and folding their nuclear plans. Others decided not to even set out in this way. But now, as a favor to various American corporations, the Bush Administration is promoting the sale of nuclear technology to Russian corporations, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. This is despite the fact that Russia is helping Iran to build its nuclear facilities. These acts by an administration on its way out the door could pave the way for more countries to acquire nuclear military power.
In another midnight regulation, on November 4, while the nation’s attention was turned toward the presidential election, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it will sell oil and gas leases on areas in eastern Utah‘s Nine Mile Canyon region. The December 19 sale threatens large swaths of several magnificent public landscapes, including Upper Desolation Canyon, where the Green River meanders through hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness in the northern Book Cliffs. Desolation Canyon was named and apparently first described by John Wesley Powell during his historic expedition in 1869 down the Green and Colorado rivers to the Grand Canyon. The BLM had, under previous administrations, declared these pristine lands to be wilderness caliber landscapes and off limits to new oil and gas leasing.
Utah already has a surplus of lands that have been leased for oil and gas development, as well as a surplus of applications for permission to drill. At the end of the fiscal year, there were approximately 4.6 million acres of BLM- managed lands in Utah under lease.
This giveaway to the oil companies borders on criminal malfeasance. At a time when oil companies already hold millions of acres of public lands under lease -- but not being developed -- there is simply no reason for the Bureau of Land Management to rush ahead with this sale. Handing over the magnificent Desolation Canyon and the surrounding wild lands is the icing on the gift cake given to the oil and gas industry over the last eight years.
The administration has taken another disturbing step in recent weeks. The IRS restored tax breaks for banks that take big losses on bad loans inherited through acquisitions. Now we learn that JP Morgan Chase and other banks are planning to use their bailout funds for mergers and acquisitions, transactions that will be greatly enhanced by the restored tax write off.
In coming weeks, it is expected that the Environmental Protection Agency will issue a final rule that would weaken a program created by the Clean Air Act, so that utilities no longer have to install modern pollution controls when they upgrade their plants to produce more power. The EPA is also expected to issue a final rule that would make it easier for coal-fired power plants to locate near national parks in defiance of longstanding Congressional mandates to protect air quality in areas of special natural or recreational value. Along this same vein, the Department of Interior is awaiting EPA’s approval on a proposal that would make it easier for mining companies to dump toxic mine wastes in valleys and streams.
For industry they're rushing through some rules
To ease restraints on using toxic goop
And dumping tops of mountains into streams.
In every hole, they seek a larger loop.
The ornithologists can tell us that
Such actions have a simple explanation:
A lame duck, though incapable of flight,
Is fully capable of defecation.
Poem By Calvin Trillin From The Nation magazine, December 2, 2008
But all is not lost. As usual, Bush hasn’t read the fine print. In fact, he doesn’t read much at all. There is a clause in the Congressional Review Act that states that “any regulation finalized within 60 legislative days of congressional adjournment is considered to have been legally finalized on the 15th legislative day of the new Congress, likely sometime in February. Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate.” That means that executive orders signed within the last six months can be eliminated with a quick party-line vote if Congress will do it. This even applies to regulations that have already been enacted.
So do not worry about any future sneaky lame duck moves. The only thing left for Bush to do that cannot be undone is figure out who will get quick pardons the night he leaves office. I have read that he plans to do a blanket pardon for everyone who has served the administration so that there is no possibility for anyone being prosecuted for the crimes they have committed.
Soon we can say sayonara to a devious lame duck who has led the most destructive, secretive, and immoral presidential administration in the history of our nation.
That we have slightly more than one President for the moment is mostly a consequence of the collapsing economy. This final humiliation for George W. Bush seems particularly appropriate. At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks with an approval rating that hit a very low 19% just a few weeks ago (although it has risen a little since then). This is a presidency that has wobbled between two poles – arrogance and paralytic incompetence.
Paralytic incompetence has held sway these past few months as the economy has crumbled. In rating the performance of Bush's economic team, we have more than enough evidence to say, definitively, that at a moment when there was a vast need for national reassurance, the President has not been a leader. He's a lame duck with one of the lowest approval ratings of any president ever. He doesn't have the clout to influence Congress, even in the conduct of foreign policy, because people know he is only going to be there another few weeks. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.
In the end, though, it will not be paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make the economy work. He never understood the necessity to maintain a strong middle class – required for both prosperity and democracy - because he has never been a part of it. He never considered the complexities of Iraq’s cultures when he invaded. He never understood that religious faith when unaccompanied by rigorous questioning is a recipe for nearsighted foolishness.
But he is not just lazing around the Whitehouse waiting for January 20. There are proclamations and regulations in the works that harmful to the public good and are bypassing Congress’ and the public’s approval:
Recently, the Washington Post reported that the Bush Administration is preparing to formalize a deal which would allow Plum Creek Timber Company to convert hundreds of thousands of acres of forestland in Montana into residential subdivisions. The deal was made behind closed doors between the Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment and Plum Creek Timber. Neither local officials in the region nor the public were granted an opportunity to have a say in the matter. Forty years of Forest Service history has been reversed in the last three months without even standard environmental assessments.
Similarly, the New York Times recently reported that Bush Administration appointees are preparing to propose a number of regulatory changes to securities rules, changes which critics say would dilute measures put in place after the Enron scandal in order to forestall accounting gimmicks and corrupt practices.
The harm to our country perpetuated by these two deals, and many others like them, pale in comparison to the damage to national security caused by the nuclear deals the Bush administration is promoting. The fact that some of these deals have been in the making for a long time does not make them more benign. For decades, those committed to preventing a nuclear conflagration have called on nations that have nuclear arms to gradually scale them back until they are all removed and urged all other nations not to acquire these weapons. The treaty against these horrible arms had been quite effective with several nations that started down the nuclear road reversing course and folding their nuclear plans. Others decided not to even set out in this way. But now, as a favor to various American corporations, the Bush Administration is promoting the sale of nuclear technology to Russian corporations, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. This is despite the fact that Russia is helping Iran to build its nuclear facilities. These acts by an administration on its way out the door could pave the way for more countries to acquire nuclear military power.
In another midnight regulation, on November 4, while the nation’s attention was turned toward the presidential election, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it will sell oil and gas leases on areas in eastern Utah‘s Nine Mile Canyon region. The December 19 sale threatens large swaths of several magnificent public landscapes, including Upper Desolation Canyon, where the Green River meanders through hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness in the northern Book Cliffs. Desolation Canyon was named and apparently first described by John Wesley Powell during his historic expedition in 1869 down the Green and Colorado rivers to the Grand Canyon. The BLM had, under previous administrations, declared these pristine lands to be wilderness caliber landscapes and off limits to new oil and gas leasing.
Utah already has a surplus of lands that have been leased for oil and gas development, as well as a surplus of applications for permission to drill. At the end of the fiscal year, there were approximately 4.6 million acres of BLM- managed lands in Utah under lease.
This giveaway to the oil companies borders on criminal malfeasance. At a time when oil companies already hold millions of acres of public lands under lease -- but not being developed -- there is simply no reason for the Bureau of Land Management to rush ahead with this sale. Handing over the magnificent Desolation Canyon and the surrounding wild lands is the icing on the gift cake given to the oil and gas industry over the last eight years.
The administration has taken another disturbing step in recent weeks. The IRS restored tax breaks for banks that take big losses on bad loans inherited through acquisitions. Now we learn that JP Morgan Chase and other banks are planning to use their bailout funds for mergers and acquisitions, transactions that will be greatly enhanced by the restored tax write off.
In coming weeks, it is expected that the Environmental Protection Agency will issue a final rule that would weaken a program created by the Clean Air Act, so that utilities no longer have to install modern pollution controls when they upgrade their plants to produce more power. The EPA is also expected to issue a final rule that would make it easier for coal-fired power plants to locate near national parks in defiance of longstanding Congressional mandates to protect air quality in areas of special natural or recreational value. Along this same vein, the Department of Interior is awaiting EPA’s approval on a proposal that would make it easier for mining companies to dump toxic mine wastes in valleys and streams.
For industry they're rushing through some rules
To ease restraints on using toxic goop
And dumping tops of mountains into streams.
In every hole, they seek a larger loop.
The ornithologists can tell us that
Such actions have a simple explanation:
A lame duck, though incapable of flight,
Is fully capable of defecation.
Poem By Calvin Trillin From The Nation magazine, December 2, 2008
But all is not lost. As usual, Bush hasn’t read the fine print. In fact, he doesn’t read much at all. There is a clause in the Congressional Review Act that states that “any regulation finalized within 60 legislative days of congressional adjournment is considered to have been legally finalized on the 15th legislative day of the new Congress, likely sometime in February. Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate.” That means that executive orders signed within the last six months can be eliminated with a quick party-line vote if Congress will do it. This even applies to regulations that have already been enacted.
So do not worry about any future sneaky lame duck moves. The only thing left for Bush to do that cannot be undone is figure out who will get quick pardons the night he leaves office. I have read that he plans to do a blanket pardon for everyone who has served the administration so that there is no possibility for anyone being prosecuted for the crimes they have committed.
Soon we can say sayonara to a devious lame duck who has led the most destructive, secretive, and immoral presidential administration in the history of our nation.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day
There is a children’s book called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Maurice Sendak. In the story, as Alexander's day progresses, he faces a barrage of difficulties worthy of a country song: waking with gum in his hair, sitting in the middle seat of the car and getting smushed, a lunch sack with no dessert, a cavity at the dentist's office, sneakers with no stripe, witnessing kissing on television, and being forced to sleep in the much hated train pajamas. He resolves several times to move to Australia.
Lately, I have been calling the days that are full of pain from fibromyalgia “Alexander Days.” I am having an Alexander Day when the pain is so bad that I cannot do much more than curl up on the sofa and watch old movies. If I say to my husband that I am having an Alexander Day or that I want to move to Australia, nothing else need be said – he understands that I have had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
What is fibromyalgia?
Chances are you have heard of fibromyalgia, if only through advertising on television for a drug (with significant dangerous side effects) recently approved to treat it. This painful and debilitating form of arthritis has been receiving more attention in the press lately. Although it is a common condition, with over 10 million sufferers, the disease continues to remain shrouded in mystery and confusion. Part of the reason is that due to the symptoms overlapping with other health problems, it can take years before the average fibromyalgia patient receives an accurate diagnosis. Another part of the reason is that, until recently, many doctors didn’t believe fibromyalgia existed anywhere but in the patient’s imagination. Often, patients were all too often misdiagnosed as having sub-clinical hypothyroidism, lupus, multiple sclerosis, or, worse, being a hypochondriac. About a decade ago, the American College of Rheumatology recognized the disease and issued a set formula of tests for diagnosis.
It's always difficult to explain fibromyalgia without getting overly complicated, but I will try. To help you understand how fibromyalgia feels, think back to the worst case of the flu you ever had. Remember that tired and ‘down to the bone’ achiness? Now multiply it times ten. Besides the awful widespread body pain, there are other symptoms that can very from person to person like extreme fatigue, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, cystitis, insomnia, numbness in the extremities, skin rashes, migraine headaches, hypoglycemia, and pronounced weight gain. Although fibromyalgia is not life-threatening, the disorder can be extremely debilitating. The associated chronic fatigue and cognitive problems often referred to as a “brain fog” or “fibro fog” keeps the sufferer homebound more often than not.
Most fibromyalgia sufferers have had one or more experiences that were life threatening such has a horrific vehicular accident, inner city violence, war, or, as in nearly half of cases, are survivors of emotional or physical child abuse and neglect. Traumatic experiences change the chemical structure of the brain, sometimes permanently. Brain scans of fibromyalgia patients have, in fact, shown abnormalities within the hippocampus, the part of the brain which controls emotion and pain. Early childhood abuse permanently changes the hippocampus. While the child’s biological system may expect inputs such as comfort and security, the reality of extreme stress and rejection causes an internal conflict that requires the nervous system to adapt its operating structure. This in turn causes the brain to release chemicals, such as substance P, that induce pain and, hence, the later onset of fibromyalgia and its ensuing depression. Research has detected up to three times the normal level of substance P, a neurotransmitter, in the cerebrospinal fluid of fibromyalgia patients. Substance P is associated with increased pain perception. So, a small pinch to a normal person is very painful to someone with fibromyalgia. The experience of abuse during early childhood literally changes the organizing framework for the growing child’s brain, and therefore causes a never ending negative influence on emotional and physical well-being throughout life.
Fibromyalgia sufferers have low levels of serotonin, another neurotransmitter, produced by the brain, causing difficulty in getting enough sleep – the time when muscles rest and recharge. Changes in serotonin levels can alter mood: increases have a calming effect, relieving depression, insomnia, and irritability; while decreases are associated with wakefulness and greater sensitivity to pain. There is also a link between low serotonin and depression; therefore many fibromyalgia sufferers struggle with depression. Serotonin also does double duty in the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. It helps regulate the expansion and contraction of blood vessels, affecting blood pressure, and the function of platelets, the blood cells that cause blood to coagulate and close a wound. It also causes smooth muscles to contract, such as the abdominal muscles that aid digestion by pushing food through the GI tract. Bone growth is controlled in the gut through serotonin, according to a new discovery from researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, with the resulting low serotonin levels playing into osteoporosis.
SSRI antidepressants (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), such as Cymbalta or Zoloft, do increase serotonin levels, but they also greatly increase the risk of suicide. For this reason, they are not generally used for fibromyalgia because several studies have found the rate of suicide was already nine times greater for those suffering from fibromyalgia than in the general population.
One of the most frustrating things about fibromyalgia pain is that the medications used to treat other types of pain often have little effect on it. In a study comparing people with fibromyalgia to people without it, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System found that those with the condition had reduced binding ability of a type of receptor in the brain that is the target of opioid-type pain medications. The reduced availability of the receptor was associated with greater pain among people with fibromyalgia, according to the study published in the Journal of Neuroscience. This study, and others like it, brings hope that one day a cure, or at least a way to control the pain, will be found.
Understanding a person with fibromyalgia:
The other day, during a casual conversation, a friend told me how she explains my fibromyalgia to someone else:
“You know, when you work yourself really hard, so that you feel totally exhausted, and you ache from top to bottom so badly that you cannot even get up? Well that's how Melinda feels. Only it doesn’t go away.”
In reading articles written by others with "invisible" conditions about their desire to be understood, I found the answer as to why it means so much to be understood. (Invisible conditions are those that are unnoticeable when looking at the person.) If we were understood, they explained, we would not have such a difficult time being excused from certain activities. Friends and family would understand why we were saying "no," and not push us. They would accommodate us, or give us a break when we need it. In addition, being understood is important because it can restore self esteem when we are not able to finish (or even start) the projects we take on. Being understood means we are not thought of as "lazy," a "hypochondriac," or a "whiner." It means we do not have to explain in detail to produce an accurate picture or evoke an appropriate response. Constantly having to explain gets very tiresome. But most of all, to be understood is to be validated.
On the other hand, there are those with “invisible” illnesses who prefer secrecy. They would rather appear to be like everyone else. They have weighed the cost of added physical discomfort against the biases they imagine people may have against them, their abilities, their attractiveness, and even their value as a person, and decided to "bite the bullet." For them, understanding appears threatening, unless reserved for their most intimate circle.
Receiving understanding can be a two-edged sword. Some people, once they hear our explanation as to why we cannot participate in an activity, stop sending invitations. Therefore, we fibromyalgia sufferers prefer to offer limited explanations to a few trusted persons rather than tell everyone. After all, we don’t want pity, but instead prefer to be invited to take part in the activities of life (even if we mostly have to say no, or leave early). The spirit is often willing, it is just that the body isn’t. On the few days when we do feel better or have the gumption to push, we want to join in!
In the meantime, I cope by using warm showers, muscle rub cream, vitamin D and magnesium (seems to help some), and being grateful that I no longer have to work out in the world. Sometimes, after receiving an email about my having an Alexander Day, my husband will come home with supper in one hand, a bouquet of flowers in the other, and the offer of a very gentle hug. Right now, that is the best medicine for my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.
Lately, I have been calling the days that are full of pain from fibromyalgia “Alexander Days.” I am having an Alexander Day when the pain is so bad that I cannot do much more than curl up on the sofa and watch old movies. If I say to my husband that I am having an Alexander Day or that I want to move to Australia, nothing else need be said – he understands that I have had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
What is fibromyalgia?
Chances are you have heard of fibromyalgia, if only through advertising on television for a drug (with significant dangerous side effects) recently approved to treat it. This painful and debilitating form of arthritis has been receiving more attention in the press lately. Although it is a common condition, with over 10 million sufferers, the disease continues to remain shrouded in mystery and confusion. Part of the reason is that due to the symptoms overlapping with other health problems, it can take years before the average fibromyalgia patient receives an accurate diagnosis. Another part of the reason is that, until recently, many doctors didn’t believe fibromyalgia existed anywhere but in the patient’s imagination. Often, patients were all too often misdiagnosed as having sub-clinical hypothyroidism, lupus, multiple sclerosis, or, worse, being a hypochondriac. About a decade ago, the American College of Rheumatology recognized the disease and issued a set formula of tests for diagnosis.
It's always difficult to explain fibromyalgia without getting overly complicated, but I will try. To help you understand how fibromyalgia feels, think back to the worst case of the flu you ever had. Remember that tired and ‘down to the bone’ achiness? Now multiply it times ten. Besides the awful widespread body pain, there are other symptoms that can very from person to person like extreme fatigue, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, cystitis, insomnia, numbness in the extremities, skin rashes, migraine headaches, hypoglycemia, and pronounced weight gain. Although fibromyalgia is not life-threatening, the disorder can be extremely debilitating. The associated chronic fatigue and cognitive problems often referred to as a “brain fog” or “fibro fog” keeps the sufferer homebound more often than not.
Most fibromyalgia sufferers have had one or more experiences that were life threatening such has a horrific vehicular accident, inner city violence, war, or, as in nearly half of cases, are survivors of emotional or physical child abuse and neglect. Traumatic experiences change the chemical structure of the brain, sometimes permanently. Brain scans of fibromyalgia patients have, in fact, shown abnormalities within the hippocampus, the part of the brain which controls emotion and pain. Early childhood abuse permanently changes the hippocampus. While the child’s biological system may expect inputs such as comfort and security, the reality of extreme stress and rejection causes an internal conflict that requires the nervous system to adapt its operating structure. This in turn causes the brain to release chemicals, such as substance P, that induce pain and, hence, the later onset of fibromyalgia and its ensuing depression. Research has detected up to three times the normal level of substance P, a neurotransmitter, in the cerebrospinal fluid of fibromyalgia patients. Substance P is associated with increased pain perception. So, a small pinch to a normal person is very painful to someone with fibromyalgia. The experience of abuse during early childhood literally changes the organizing framework for the growing child’s brain, and therefore causes a never ending negative influence on emotional and physical well-being throughout life.
Fibromyalgia sufferers have low levels of serotonin, another neurotransmitter, produced by the brain, causing difficulty in getting enough sleep – the time when muscles rest and recharge. Changes in serotonin levels can alter mood: increases have a calming effect, relieving depression, insomnia, and irritability; while decreases are associated with wakefulness and greater sensitivity to pain. There is also a link between low serotonin and depression; therefore many fibromyalgia sufferers struggle with depression. Serotonin also does double duty in the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. It helps regulate the expansion and contraction of blood vessels, affecting blood pressure, and the function of platelets, the blood cells that cause blood to coagulate and close a wound. It also causes smooth muscles to contract, such as the abdominal muscles that aid digestion by pushing food through the GI tract. Bone growth is controlled in the gut through serotonin, according to a new discovery from researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, with the resulting low serotonin levels playing into osteoporosis.
SSRI antidepressants (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), such as Cymbalta or Zoloft, do increase serotonin levels, but they also greatly increase the risk of suicide. For this reason, they are not generally used for fibromyalgia because several studies have found the rate of suicide was already nine times greater for those suffering from fibromyalgia than in the general population.
One of the most frustrating things about fibromyalgia pain is that the medications used to treat other types of pain often have little effect on it. In a study comparing people with fibromyalgia to people without it, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System found that those with the condition had reduced binding ability of a type of receptor in the brain that is the target of opioid-type pain medications. The reduced availability of the receptor was associated with greater pain among people with fibromyalgia, according to the study published in the Journal of Neuroscience. This study, and others like it, brings hope that one day a cure, or at least a way to control the pain, will be found.
Understanding a person with fibromyalgia:
The other day, during a casual conversation, a friend told me how she explains my fibromyalgia to someone else:
“You know, when you work yourself really hard, so that you feel totally exhausted, and you ache from top to bottom so badly that you cannot even get up? Well that's how Melinda feels. Only it doesn’t go away.”
In reading articles written by others with "invisible" conditions about their desire to be understood, I found the answer as to why it means so much to be understood. (Invisible conditions are those that are unnoticeable when looking at the person.) If we were understood, they explained, we would not have such a difficult time being excused from certain activities. Friends and family would understand why we were saying "no," and not push us. They would accommodate us, or give us a break when we need it. In addition, being understood is important because it can restore self esteem when we are not able to finish (or even start) the projects we take on. Being understood means we are not thought of as "lazy," a "hypochondriac," or a "whiner." It means we do not have to explain in detail to produce an accurate picture or evoke an appropriate response. Constantly having to explain gets very tiresome. But most of all, to be understood is to be validated.
On the other hand, there are those with “invisible” illnesses who prefer secrecy. They would rather appear to be like everyone else. They have weighed the cost of added physical discomfort against the biases they imagine people may have against them, their abilities, their attractiveness, and even their value as a person, and decided to "bite the bullet." For them, understanding appears threatening, unless reserved for their most intimate circle.
Receiving understanding can be a two-edged sword. Some people, once they hear our explanation as to why we cannot participate in an activity, stop sending invitations. Therefore, we fibromyalgia sufferers prefer to offer limited explanations to a few trusted persons rather than tell everyone. After all, we don’t want pity, but instead prefer to be invited to take part in the activities of life (even if we mostly have to say no, or leave early). The spirit is often willing, it is just that the body isn’t. On the few days when we do feel better or have the gumption to push, we want to join in!
In the meantime, I cope by using warm showers, muscle rub cream, vitamin D and magnesium (seems to help some), and being grateful that I no longer have to work out in the world. Sometimes, after receiving an email about my having an Alexander Day, my husband will come home with supper in one hand, a bouquet of flowers in the other, and the offer of a very gentle hug. Right now, that is the best medicine for my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The gift of God’s Grace
Many people have been told about “the path” to God, usually by their pastor, and do not recognize any other interpretation. They have been told to do things in a certain way, to think things in a certain way, and not question why. If they do question, the answer is because the Bible says to do it that way. They are never told that everyone “interprets” the Bible in some form – that there is no such thing as a “literal” interpretation. These people often do not know how to follow the Spirit, but only follow what they interpret to be or have been told is the letter of the law as written in the Bible.
Even within the same path or denomination, people interpret the Bible’s religious teachings differently. Every faith system is reflective of the culture and the level of knowledge available to those who shaped it. Many Christians follow different paths to the same God because their life experiences have been different. God made us all uniquely different. But all people of faith have the same goal of reunion with God.
Who is right? How can one Christian denomination be more correct than another? How can one Christian hear God’s message differently from another? Does God condemn you because you have chosen the “wrong” path to Him? Or is it religion, and not God, that is so exclusive? God and religion are not the same. Religion is the human attempt to place the mystery of God into meaningful words and rational concepts. Therefore, by definition, religion is a human creation, all creedal statements are human creations, and at any time when a person articulates a system of beliefs that person will always be bound by the prejudices and limitations of the world that produced him or her. The creeds do not capture the truth of God. At their very best they can only point beyond themselves to an experience of God.
Jesus was Spiritual. The religious leaders of His day put forth the letter of their own faith, but often condemned other teachings, spiritual teachings, including the teachings of Jesus. The Spiritual person understands this fact. The religious person is often so blinded by what they have been taught by their religious leaders that they cannot see God’s Truth. They are truly unable to acknowledge the many paths to God. The religious person may have read or heard that all things are in God but does not truly understand it; whereas, the Spiritual person has actually experienced God, felt enveloped by His presence, felt His touch, and has a deeper understanding. The truly Spiritual person can see that only God is Truth, and that religion is Man’s attempt at finding God’s Truth. Spiritual persons can see God’s Light in all believers and realize that it is not their place to condemn different interpretations. The religious only see their own narrow interpretations and therefore condemn others.
"People often take the truths of a tradition on faith, accepting the testimony of others, but find that the inner kernel of the religion, its luminous essence, remains elusive." - Karen Armstrong, author of The History of God.
Many devoutly religious people seek to discredit other paths to God, thinking that their way is the only way. This kind of thinking has caused many wars and countless deaths throughout history. People have been persecuted because of religion. The Christians persecuted the Pagans and the Muslims. Christians persecuted Jews. The Jews and Muslims persecuted the Christians. The Chinese government persecuted the Buddhists in Tibet and Christians living in China. Christians persecuted other Christian denominations.
God’s Grace is greater than man can fathom and is universally available to all. All humans have the ability to receive God’s gift of Grace. All humans have God’s voice in their hearts. Some hear Him clearly. Many, although they may try, do not hear Him at all. This does not mean that I have a complete understanding of God; no one can. The more one learns, the more there is to learn. No one has all the answers – no one. Therefore, even if I think you are wrong, I do not condemn you for what you believe – just as God does not condemn you for the path you choose to Him. That is not how God works. God is not exclusive.
I was raised in the Methodist denomination which follows Arminian principles. We Arminians are the ones who argue against the notion that God so strongly imposes His will on people that people cannot decide whether or not to follow Him. Methodists think God so values all people that He vested us with the power to choose Him. Or not. It’s called Free Will. Contrary to Calvinists, who believe in predestination, we believe that God wants all people to be saved:
(2 Pet. 3:9*) The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
(1 Tim. 2:4) (God) desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Currently, I am a member of a moderate-leaning Southern Baptist church which has a few fundamentalists, many moderates, and a few progressive Christians. I am one of the progressive members, a Spiritual person, who understands God’s truth through Jesus, whom I believe to be the Word of God, metaphorically.* Jesus so fully understood the meaning of God that he broke the barrier between God and mankind, teaching us to recognize that we are all a part of God.
Although I find God through my Christian faith, through Jesus, my deepest understanding of God resides in the depths of my heart. I have always heard and listened to the small, quiet voice deep within me – God’s voice. I not only see God working in my life, most of the time I can feel His presence. He is always with me.
God’s Grace is a gift that no human can take from another human. No one has the right to point a finger and say “you are not saved” if that person does not interpret Christ’s teachings in the same way. Just because someone does not believe the same, does not interpret the Bible in the same way, does not interpret Jesus’ teachings the same, does not see the world the same, does not mean that person is not following a path directly to God. Every person’s life experiences are very different; so they do not hear exactly what you hear, do not see exactly what you see, do not feel things exactly the way you feel things, and do not think exactly the way you think. God made each person’s brain and soul unique which, in turn, creates as many paths to God as there are souls.
Many Christians whose understanding of God is incomplete, narrow, and limiting, may think that someone is condemned (to Hell) for their beliefs or for not being a member of a particular denomination. But I believe that even if someone’s understanding of God is “wrong” they are not condemned. I believe all people who follow the Great Commandment, the universal law of love, as taught by Jesus, will join with God in the hereafter, if they choose to do so. God does not condemn us for misunderstanding – for getting it “wrong.”
This is the gift of God’s Grace.
* metaphorically means conceived as representing another; a symbol
Even within the same path or denomination, people interpret the Bible’s religious teachings differently. Every faith system is reflective of the culture and the level of knowledge available to those who shaped it. Many Christians follow different paths to the same God because their life experiences have been different. God made us all uniquely different. But all people of faith have the same goal of reunion with God.
Who is right? How can one Christian denomination be more correct than another? How can one Christian hear God’s message differently from another? Does God condemn you because you have chosen the “wrong” path to Him? Or is it religion, and not God, that is so exclusive? God and religion are not the same. Religion is the human attempt to place the mystery of God into meaningful words and rational concepts. Therefore, by definition, religion is a human creation, all creedal statements are human creations, and at any time when a person articulates a system of beliefs that person will always be bound by the prejudices and limitations of the world that produced him or her. The creeds do not capture the truth of God. At their very best they can only point beyond themselves to an experience of God.
Jesus was Spiritual. The religious leaders of His day put forth the letter of their own faith, but often condemned other teachings, spiritual teachings, including the teachings of Jesus. The Spiritual person understands this fact. The religious person is often so blinded by what they have been taught by their religious leaders that they cannot see God’s Truth. They are truly unable to acknowledge the many paths to God. The religious person may have read or heard that all things are in God but does not truly understand it; whereas, the Spiritual person has actually experienced God, felt enveloped by His presence, felt His touch, and has a deeper understanding. The truly Spiritual person can see that only God is Truth, and that religion is Man’s attempt at finding God’s Truth. Spiritual persons can see God’s Light in all believers and realize that it is not their place to condemn different interpretations. The religious only see their own narrow interpretations and therefore condemn others.
"People often take the truths of a tradition on faith, accepting the testimony of others, but find that the inner kernel of the religion, its luminous essence, remains elusive." - Karen Armstrong, author of The History of God.
Many devoutly religious people seek to discredit other paths to God, thinking that their way is the only way. This kind of thinking has caused many wars and countless deaths throughout history. People have been persecuted because of religion. The Christians persecuted the Pagans and the Muslims. Christians persecuted Jews. The Jews and Muslims persecuted the Christians. The Chinese government persecuted the Buddhists in Tibet and Christians living in China. Christians persecuted other Christian denominations.
God’s Grace is greater than man can fathom and is universally available to all. All humans have the ability to receive God’s gift of Grace. All humans have God’s voice in their hearts. Some hear Him clearly. Many, although they may try, do not hear Him at all. This does not mean that I have a complete understanding of God; no one can. The more one learns, the more there is to learn. No one has all the answers – no one. Therefore, even if I think you are wrong, I do not condemn you for what you believe – just as God does not condemn you for the path you choose to Him. That is not how God works. God is not exclusive.
I was raised in the Methodist denomination which follows Arminian principles. We Arminians are the ones who argue against the notion that God so strongly imposes His will on people that people cannot decide whether or not to follow Him. Methodists think God so values all people that He vested us with the power to choose Him. Or not. It’s called Free Will. Contrary to Calvinists, who believe in predestination, we believe that God wants all people to be saved:
(2 Pet. 3:9*) The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
(1 Tim. 2:4) (God) desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Currently, I am a member of a moderate-leaning Southern Baptist church which has a few fundamentalists, many moderates, and a few progressive Christians. I am one of the progressive members, a Spiritual person, who understands God’s truth through Jesus, whom I believe to be the Word of God, metaphorically.* Jesus so fully understood the meaning of God that he broke the barrier between God and mankind, teaching us to recognize that we are all a part of God.
Although I find God through my Christian faith, through Jesus, my deepest understanding of God resides in the depths of my heart. I have always heard and listened to the small, quiet voice deep within me – God’s voice. I not only see God working in my life, most of the time I can feel His presence. He is always with me.
God’s Grace is a gift that no human can take from another human. No one has the right to point a finger and say “you are not saved” if that person does not interpret Christ’s teachings in the same way. Just because someone does not believe the same, does not interpret the Bible in the same way, does not interpret Jesus’ teachings the same, does not see the world the same, does not mean that person is not following a path directly to God. Every person’s life experiences are very different; so they do not hear exactly what you hear, do not see exactly what you see, do not feel things exactly the way you feel things, and do not think exactly the way you think. God made each person’s brain and soul unique which, in turn, creates as many paths to God as there are souls.
Many Christians whose understanding of God is incomplete, narrow, and limiting, may think that someone is condemned (to Hell) for their beliefs or for not being a member of a particular denomination. But I believe that even if someone’s understanding of God is “wrong” they are not condemned. I believe all people who follow the Great Commandment, the universal law of love, as taught by Jesus, will join with God in the hereafter, if they choose to do so. God does not condemn us for misunderstanding – for getting it “wrong.”
This is the gift of God’s Grace.
* metaphorically means conceived as representing another; a symbol
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