"I don't want to miss a thing" ... Are These People Serious?

Did anyone else see the television ad marketing Essure, a permanent birth control procedure, at the average American mother? (Tom remembered the name.)

The scenario is the family at the park with two or three children, the father, and the mother all having a great time. In a moment alone, the mother furrows her brow and wonders, "What if I'm pregnant? Can we afford it?" and some other more generic worries. As she continues to think worriedly about the changes that a child would make to their lives, it was chilling to see adorable children come up to their mother. As she lovingly caressed them or bent over to speak to them, I kept thinking, "Right, who would want another adorable child like that one right in front of you?"

Speaking purely as an advertising professional, what were these people thinking? These are some of the feeblest, most selfish excuses I've ever heard for not having children. This family was clearly not suffering financially, the father was right there, the children were all those we would consider the American ideal ... and as the ad finishes, the woman turns around and smilingly calls to the camera, "Because I don't want to miss a thing!"

Except any more children. Because it's all about her of course.

Hope those children the advertisement mom already has don't get drift of it. Because clearly their worth is in enhancing this woman's life, as is her husband.

I know several mothers who have five or six children and their pregnancies didn't stop them from going to the park, school plays, or their book club (depending on what this woman is dreading missing, of course).

Probably the worst logic I've ever seen, however, it probably will appeal to anyone who is clutching at the slightest excuse to overcome any moral objections.

That is my advertising take.

The reason I don't remember more details is that we were both stunned at the subject matter showing up in an ad on the evening news and at the fatuousness of the approach. The only thing that one can hope is that those more serious-minded folks who are mulling over the issue will see the weakness of this logic.

If our society would stop looking at children as an item on our financial reports or that would make us stop focusing on ourselves we'd be so much better off in so many ways. There's a reason that Tom and I look at our friends who chose to remain childless with pity. They will never know the riches that they are passing by for the sake of comforts that are much less precious and ultimately will fail them in the end. This is just as true for those who are choosing family size. Who knows what unique joy could be theirs but that they will never know because it would be given by the very person that they refuse to bring into the world?

UPDATE
This article by someone who works in women's health care shows that not only the advertising is weak.

Well Said

From my quote journal.

The turbulent have to be corrected, the faint-hearted cheered up, the weak supported; the Gospel's opponents need to be refuted, its insidious enemies guarded against; the unlearned need to be taught, the indolent stirred up, the argumentative checked; the proud must be put in their place, the desperate set on their feet, those engaged in quarrels reconciled; the needy have to be helped, the oppressed to be liberated, the good to be encouraged, the bad to be tolerated; all must be loved.

St. Augustine, describing his daily life

I LIke a TV Show That Isn't Afraid to Take a Stand About Faith

It was one of those where i thought I knew where it was going to go, and then it did, and then... well...

Elizabeth Anne

Me too. And it did go there ...

SPOILERS WARNING

This week's House, titled Unfaithful, was one that would have Christians and especially Catholics involved from the beginning. We've seen religious discussion on House done better I think, but this was still interesting and went a lot further than I've seen any prime time TV show do since I can remember. Certainly not by a show with edge. (I'm discounting things like Touched by an Angel.)

A disheveled young priest checks himself into the hospital for a "hallucination" after seeing a very vivid apparition of Jesus. Which we see also.

The priest, Daniel, has lost his faith. “It’s just a job now. The fairy tale ended a long time ago.” Every reason Daniel gives for this is rather worn out and any Catholic worth his (or her) salt knows the obvious answer. In fact, Kutner very knowledgeably brings up free will and is able to easily engage in dialogue on this level (interesting).

Unfaithfulness is examined on every subplot as well but the most interesting is that moment that we are urging Dr. House to realize. The light bulb goes on, as always, spurred by someone's seemingly random comment. "Even if an absolute truth exists we can’t know all of it ..." says Dr. Wilson to House. Who then realizes that the "hallucination" is not a symptom (which is as far as he's going to go in saying it might be real.

I especially liked the concept of House linking absolute truth with the "hallucination" and goes forward to diagnose the patient. While steadfastly not committing to anything but "coincidence." In case we don't get it, at another point Dr. Cuddy is marveling at the chain of coincidences that led to House saving yet another life when all he started out to do was manipulate his employees.

(Note: some of this is pieced together and some is from my, admittedly faulty, memory but it captures the gist well enough.)

Daniel: It was a coincidence?

House: Coincidences do happen.

Daniel: It was a coincidence that brought me to you.

House: You promised you wouldn’t go there.

Daniel: Einstein said "Coincidences are God’s way of remaining anonymous.’

House: A woman in Florida said, "Look, Jesus is on my cheese sandwich."

Daniel: I'm just thinking about how my life completely turned around in a single day.

House: Everything that happened can be rationally explained.

Daniel: I know. But that's a lot of coincidences.

Which I will add, for the record, I don't believe in. Coincidences, that is.

One of the most moving scenes was when the boy who accused Daniel of inappropriate contact learns that the priest might be dying. His coming forward for forgiveness of his lie was moving. It also was an interesting and brave move from the writers who provided that as the counterpoint to practically everyone's immediate acceptance of the priest as a pedophile as soon as they heard of the past accusations.

It was an episode I enjoyed. Although perhaps not the best writing they've ever done, it was definitely counter-cultural in admitting the possibility that faith and apparitions are true and that not every priest accused of "inappropriate behavior" is guilty.

Dear President Obama ... We Want to Dance!

... Like millions of other Americans of both parties, I watched your inauguration and its accompanying festivities with great interest. I must admit, however, that I was more than a little disappointed by your performance, as well as Michelle’s, during the round of inaugural balls you attended. What you displayed for us at those events was, admittedly, movement of some kind, but in my estimation, it hardly qualifies as dance. From a couple such as you and Michelle, celebrated as you are as the typifying of youth, class, and sophistication, I would have expected something as graceful and elegant as the foxtrot or waltz, as romantic as the bolero, as sensual as the Argentine tango, or perhaps as lively and invigorating as the cha-cha, quickstep, or jive. But surely we all deserved something better than the 20 seconds or so of lifeless, perfunctory sashaying that we saw repeated several times that night. ...

... you – and by extension, your wife – have a responsibility to set a good example for all of us, including with respect to the cultivation and development of good dance-floor skills. This brings up my second point, which is that in order to avoid a general breakdown in the social order and to revive our collective sense of self-confidence during this time of major crisis, I recommend that the recently-enacted economic stimulus package – which, quite frankly, sucks – be revamped, and that its new and improved version emphasize and promote the benefits of ballroom and Latin dancing, which all Americans would be encouraged to learn and pursue as a lifetime activity.

I believe that instead of the current $787-billion monstrosity, a more modest package of, say, $40 to $50 billion should be enacted immediately, and the funds thus appropriated divvied out to dance studios all over the country. ... The current economic upheavals we all face amount to a crisis of confidence as much as anything else, and I know from my own experience that ballroom dancing can do wonders for one’s sense of self-assurance. Imagine the effect of an entire nation indulging regularly in this difficult, challenging, but joyous activity! ...

A bit of my friend Garry's letter to President Obama, which is funny (as we know) because it's true! Go read it all.

Nature Red in Tooth and Claw

Hannah sent me the link to this nature video of lions hunting buffalo saying,

This is amazing. You have to watch it. Also, it's a lot better without sound because it's just dumb people saying, "Oh, the lions are crouching," and stuff like that. We watched it in our wildlife seminar yesterday.

It is amazing. I must say those baby buffalo are much hardier than one would give them credit for. The only thing missing is the Western "show down" music at the end.

Could I Resist This?

Of course not!

Via Jane who has the same sense of humor that I do.

More About Henry Poole is Here

First of all, let me say that it makes me very nervous when someone reads one of my reviews and then runs out to buy the movie based on that alone! Luckily it stood up under scrutiny! (Whew!)

Kate and Mark W. both make excellent points in the comments boxes. Mark's points are here where I point to Scott Nehring's excellent review. Kate's are at my original review here. Also follow my link there to Kate's good meditation upon a key point of the movie ... note, it contains a HUGE spoiler so don't read it if you want to catch the movie "fresh." Wait until afterward.

Movie poll of Catholics launched ahead of Oscars®

From Mark at Soul Food Cinema comes the following poll. I like it, I like it a lot ...

With just days to go until the 81st Annual Academy Awards, three UK-based Catholic media partners have launched a poll to find the Catholic community’s all-time top-100 favourite films.

The weekly newspaper The Catholic Herald, on-line movie review magazine Soul Food Cinema and Catholic media retailer St Anthony Communications, have joined forces to discover those films that Catholics value most highly; both in terms of their technical and artistic merits as well as their moral and spiritual merits.

Speaking about the upcoming awards ceremony, Soul Food Cinema Editor Mark Banks comments “Once again we have a morally-diverse group of films nominated for this year’s Oscars®. On the one hand there is The Visitor, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL-E and Happy-Go-Lucky: all of which have been nominated for one or more of the most-prestigious Oscar® categories (Best Leading Actor, Best leading Actress, Best Directing, Best Picture and Best Screenplay), and all of which also feature on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Top-10 films list of 2008. And on the other hand there is Milk, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and Tropic of Thunder: all of which have also been nominated for one or more of the most-prestigious Oscars® categories, and all of which have either been deemed by the USCCB to contain ‘problematic content many adults would find troubling’ or simply as ‘morally offensive’”.

The three UK-based Catholic media partners that have organised the Top-100 poll hope it will help Catholics to identify and embrace those films, both past and present, which are in accordance with Catholic-Christian principles.

The poll can be accessed on-line here.

Voting closes on Friday March 6th.

More Praise for Henry Poole is Here

Scott at Good News Film Reviews also likes Henry Poole is Here. As Scott notes, he and I often disagree, though not for the reasons he says. His stubbornness in admitting my correct evaluations is something that he prefers to ignore, so we'll say no more about that!

At any rate, when we fully agree about a movie being good, then you know it is worth seeing. I especially like Scott's insight based on his own brush with death. Be sure to read his review (my review is here) and let's all say a prayer for his continued good health while we're at it ...

Pittsburgh Pilgrimage ... a little more info

I'm still getting this together, but so far, here's what we've got

DATES

Beginning with dinner Wednesday, June 3, and leaving after Mass on Sunday, June 7.

HIGHLIGHT
Mike Aquilina and Chris Bailey Talk

Mike Aquilina and Chris Bailey (more about them can be found here) will give a talk for us on popular devotion that ranges from the Psalms to the Grail and refers to many of the sights and artworks we'll be seeing in Pittsburgh. Woohoo! Exciting, right?

Mike says,

"We can do it together, which is always more better for comedic effect, since alone we tend to be very earnest and homiletic."

See? He's already being funny!

I also will give a talk after our arrival dinner which will be less interesting to those who know me well (of which I have at least one travel commitment) than those who don't. However, I will try to have a little something for everyone in there.

HOTEL

We need to book 10 rooms in order to make this work (costs coming later but it's looking good to me). We'll be staying at the Wyndham Pittsburgh University Place. Right in the heart of Oakland and convenient to so many things we'll want to do!

WEEKEND EXTRA

The Three Rivers Art Festival is that weekend and will be easy to get to from where we're staying.

WHERE WE'LL SEE THE SIGHTS

I am filling in the blanks right now ... a tough job because there is so much I want to see and do. Here's the rough schedule. More to come, obviously!

• Wednesday: Dinner and the view from Mount Washington by night.
• Thursday: Downtown and North Side.
• Friday: Oakland.
• Saturday: The Strip in the morning, something else (I'm still thinking) in the afternoon.
• Sunday: Mass, perhaps at an interesting ethnic church.

What is there to do in those places? Here is a sampling to get your imaginations going.

HOW WE'LL GET AROUND

This map which shows just how much fun you can have using rapid transport in Pittsburgh is courtesy of Father Pitt. If you visit him you can download this as a pdf to print out and study.

Immaculate Heart of Mary
Polish Hill

I want to see both Polish Hill and Immaculate Heart of Mary!

AND the Holy Stairs!

Oh, decisions, decisions ...

FDA Prepares Nation For Switch To Digital Food Format

WASHINGTON—Urging the estimated 60 million Americans who have not yet made the transition to the more advanced form of sustenance to do so as soon as possible, acting FDA commissioner Frank Torti announced Wednesday that the nationwide conversion to Digital Food (DF) will take place on Apr.17, 2009. "The only thing consumers who currently rely on analog foods will need is a digital converter box, which you can purchase at any grocery store," Torti said at a press conference, adding that every American household is eligible for a $40 coupon to digitize its current pantry. "DF offers higher texture quality and better taste, as well as multiple spice choices and interactive capabilities. I must stress, however, that after the deadline you will no longer be able to eat your current food." On the heels of the announcement, President Obama has begun pressuring the Senate to pass legislation that would require all food to be completely wireless by 2015.

Inspired insanity from The Onion. (Warning: explicit content may be found on the site.)

Review: Amazing Grace for Survivors

Amazing Grace for Survivors

I absolutely loved this book. It is a series of personal stories from people in all situations and from all walks of life who have faced great pain and hardship. Their struggles have one thing in common. Each experienced Christ's grace on their journey and flourished despite the hardships.

There are so many different stories it is hard to give a good overview ... but I'll list a few of those that I found unforgettable:

• The man who scoffed at Rome's homeless only to find himself in that very state within 24 hours.
• The family who visited their niece at work only to find themselves determined to adopt an orphan who seems to old to be "adoptable."
• Immaculee Ilibagiza's story of facing the man who killed her family and forgiving him.
• The woman who was raped and decided to have the baby that resulted from that act of violence

As I said these are just a few. I could list every story, frankly. Each had something unique to offer. Also, not every story was of a dramatic problem. Sometimes they were of everyday, smaller issues that are struggles at the time but that each of us have suffered through. Such is Mark Shea's story of being an outsider in high school, that age when it is so vitally important to fit in. I liked that the editors included all sorts of problems like that. Everyone hasn't suffered through the sorts of terrible times that are chronicled in many of the stories here. However, we all can relate to those more mundane, if you will, of the struggles contained therein.

Highly recommended. (And bring a hankie. You'll need it.)

This review was written as part of The Catholic Company product reviewer program. Visit The Catholic Company to order or find more information about Amazing Grace for Survivors.

Other Catholic Company reviews may be found here.

It's All Downhill From Here

A little midweek humor, courtesy of Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine.

An Articulate and Logical Speech ...

... from a 12 year old. One that I would be proud to know.



Found via The Raving Theist.

Lent: The Mega Post

Oh no, not from me. Y'all know I am not one of those who wants to get ready before Lent before it gets here (which will be Ash Wesdnesday, Feb. 25, by the way).

However, Marcel at Mary's Aggies is on the ball and has tons of excellent info beginning with a Lent FAQ. Check it out.

Thank You for Your Prayers

The Beyond Cana retreat was sensational. 14 couples went away glowing like lit candles, with renewed love and their plans for improved marriages. As well, our retreat team ... well, it is hard to imagine how close we are. Anyone who has participated in giving retreats knows this, of course. However, having a team that continues forward and gives several retreats together grows in a way that can be hard to describe. Watching our friends' marriages grow and blossom is a real gift. And it keeps Tom and me grounded as well. The whole thing is a gift.

Many thanks to all who supported us in prayer. That support is essential and we appreciate it so much!

Gone Retreatin' ...

Tom and I are now officially out of here for this weekend's Beyond Cana marriage enrichment retreat which begins this morning. All email will be answered next week, likewise for any memes or announcements. I'll try to pop in every so often to the comments boxes.

Please keep the attending couples and those of us presenting the retreat in your prayers. May the Holy Spirit flow over all of us this weekend.

Later, y'all!

A Little Something from Etta James for Valentine's Day

One that I have known and loved for some time ... not the one song everyone always plays from Etta James. (Not that I don't love "At Last" ... I do.)



Note: the video is not available but the audio is! Enjoy!

Recommended Valentine's Song: I'll come running (to tie your shoe)

Not new, but new to me and the sentiment of practical chivalry ... is one that speaks to me.

I'll find a place somewhere in the corner
I'm gonna waste the rest of my days
Just watching patiently from the window
Just waiting seasons change, some day
Oh, oh, my dreams will pull you through that garden gate.

I want to be the wandering sailor
We're silhouettes by the light of the moon
I sit playing solitaire by the window
Just waiting seasons change, ah, ah
You'll see, one day, these dreams will pull you through my door
And I'll come running to tie your shoe
And I'll come running to tie your shoe.

Brian Eno

Heard on NPRs All Songs Considered's Lesser Known Love Songs episode (which also has some break-up songs).

Mmmmm ... Crunchy Cornmeal Waffles ...

... at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen. Get 'em while they're hot!