I had a birthday yesterday.
That’s really neither here nor there except, maybe, for the fact that, like the old joke, having another birthday beats the alternative.
I’ve reached the point, frankly, where I’m pleased that I was able/allowed/given the gift of (depending on your personal theology) completing another lap around the track but honestly feel just a little self conscious at the idea of being feted like I just broke the 100 yard dash record in the process.
Don’t get me wrong. I love attention, adoration and a shiny new Wal Mart gift card as much as the next guy.
It’s just that I’ve now ridden the big blue ball around the sun 58 times and have had, already, more than my fair share of the aforementioned attention and adoration.
And would spending a few bucks on a nice Iphone have killed you?
At this point in the life, birthdays have become benchmark as opposed to blowout, an occasion to reflect, take stock, check progress on current goals, set new ones.
In other words, all that self-improvement shit that always seems to come soaking into our brains from the party hats on New Year’s Eve.
This year my journey of reflection (and don’t be misled by the Hallmark hyperbole, I actually only gave it about ten minutes worth of thought before I went back to watching the new season 5 DVD’s of House, MD) found me thinking about two guys who might seem unrelated to each other, literally or philosophically, but who have played a pretty big part in my life, in one way or another.
Ted Kennedy.
John Lennon.
The former came to mind, obviously, because he had passed away, unleashing a 24/7 saturation of news coverage of the life and times of the “Lion of the Senate” and, by association, the Greek tragedy served with clam chowder we have come to know as the Kennedy family.
The coverage was comprehensive, for the most part, respectful and non-tabloid-ish.
And Teddy almost managed to shove Michael Jackson completely out of the spotlight for the first time in over two months.
Not even the passing of an American political icon can outshine a good old-fashioned drug induced homicide, though.
Thanks for nothing, Dr. Murray.
And where, you might ask, does John Lennon enter into my particular scheme of things here?
Fair point.
Beyond the obvious emotional and psychological connections that result from there having been Kennedys and Beatles in my present and past for pretty much all of it, John came to mind, in particular, as I happened across this little Teddy tidbit this morning.
(CNN) -- Shortly before he died from brain cancer, Sen. Ted Kennedy wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI. President Obama delivered the letter to the pontiff during his visit to the Vatican in July.
The following are excerpts from the letter as read by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at Kennedy's private burial service Saturday in Arlington National Cemetery:
"Most Holy Father, I asked President Obama to personally hand-deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Catholic faith is to me, and I am so deeply grateful to him. I hope this letter finds you in good health.
"I pray that you have all of God's blessings as you lead our Church and inspire our world during these challenging times. I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago, and although I continue treatment the disease is taking its toll on me. I am 77 years old, and preparing for the next passage of life
"I have been blessed to be part of a wonderful family. Both of my parents, particularly my mother, kept our Catholic faith at the center of our lives. That gift of faith has sustained and nurtured, and provided solace to me in the darkest hours.
"I know that I have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path. I want you to know Your Holiness that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I have worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination, and expand access to health care and education. I have opposed the death penalty, and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and been the focus of my work as a United States Senator.
"I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field, and I'll continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.
"I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic Your Holiness. And though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God's blessings on you and on our Church, and would be most thankful for your prayers for me
Two weeks later, Kennedy received a response from the Vatican. McCarrick read the response in part, as follows:
"The Holy Father has read the letter which you entrusted to President Obama, who kindly presented it to him during their recent meeting. He was saddened to know of your illness, and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness. He is particularly grateful for your promise of prayers for him, for the needs of our universal church.
"His Holiness prays that in the days ahead, you may be sustained in faith and hope, and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God, our merciful father. He invokes upon you the consolation and peace promised by the risen savior to all who share in his sufferings, and trust in his promise of eternal life.
"Commending you and the members of your family to the loving intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father cordially imparts his apostolic blessing as a pledge of wisdom, comfort, and strength in the Lord."
A long time ago, after fifty million “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s” had been sung and a dollar had been made on pretty much every one of them, John Lennon decided he could best serve humanity by using his celebrity to guide us all politically, theologically, socially, come to think of it, just about every “…ally” there was.
There was the Give Peace a Chance thing and the Free This Guy or Free That Guy thing and the John and Yoko in a bag for peace thing and John and Yoko staying in bed for peace thing.
It was a veritable cornucopia of thing things.
Getting its infamous start in 1966 when he was quoted (yes, out of context but even then media didn’t let that shit get in the way of a good story) as saying that “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus.”
If you were born after, say, 1965, do the Google on that one. It’s a fun story.
I remember something else he said, though, less notorious, but even more perceptive.
“Jesus was cool…it was the disciples who fucked everything up.”
I was reminded of that as I read the story about Teddy writing the Pope.
Cause I couldn’t help but think that John Lennon would have gotten the same impression I did.
The dying patriarch of arguably the most famous Roman Catholic family in American history writes a personal letter to the Pope asking for the pontiff’s personal prayers as said most famous Roman Catholic prepares to die and has said letter hand delivered to said pontiff by the current President of the United States.
And receives, in reply, what basically amounts to a form letter.
What, they spent the whole Vatican budget on robes and those pointy hats and they got nothing left over for a sturdy Bic pen?
The Pope is too busy scheduling his next impression of Madonna doing her impression of Evita waving on the balcony to sit down for five minutes and personally write Teddy a “got yer letter, got ya covered, dude” Hallmark card?
I mean, come on there your Popeness, whatever mortal and/or moral failings Teddy and his posse possessed (and Lord only knows there was a plethora), the Kennedy family, if nothing else on this earth, broke the ceiling that had up until 1960 barred a Catholic from ever having the chance to pick out new drapes for the Oval Office.
It might border on blasphemy (heaven forbid) but in the category of WWJD, I think even the Savior might have found a couple of minutes to personally punch Teddy’s prayer card.
This year, on my birthday, as I reflected on my own life, I realized that while growing up I probably, somewhere along the way, liked to think that I shared some of the positive and life affirming qualities that the Kennedy family represented for a lot of us.
But it turns out that, in the end, I have a lot more in common with the once upon a time Beatle.
A love of, and talent for, music.
An unending desire to perform, in one way or another, for people.
A sense of humor that slices, dices or nurtures, depending on the mood or momentary medication.
And an affectionate, but distinct, disdain for organized religion.
I’m not Catholic, so I haven’t read the manual and I don’t know the secret handshake.
But, I don’t think you need to do as the Romans do to see the irony here.
The Pope, apparently, doesn’t deal directly with those who are heavy laden and in need of refreshment.
He has people who do that for him.
Funny thing is, though, I thought it was Jesus who had people to do that for Him.
Like the Pope.
That’s really neither here nor there except, maybe, for the fact that, like the old joke, having another birthday beats the alternative.
I’ve reached the point, frankly, where I’m pleased that I was able/allowed/given the gift of (depending on your personal theology) completing another lap around the track but honestly feel just a little self conscious at the idea of being feted like I just broke the 100 yard dash record in the process.
Don’t get me wrong. I love attention, adoration and a shiny new Wal Mart gift card as much as the next guy.
It’s just that I’ve now ridden the big blue ball around the sun 58 times and have had, already, more than my fair share of the aforementioned attention and adoration.
And would spending a few bucks on a nice Iphone have killed you?
At this point in the life, birthdays have become benchmark as opposed to blowout, an occasion to reflect, take stock, check progress on current goals, set new ones.
In other words, all that self-improvement shit that always seems to come soaking into our brains from the party hats on New Year’s Eve.
This year my journey of reflection (and don’t be misled by the Hallmark hyperbole, I actually only gave it about ten minutes worth of thought before I went back to watching the new season 5 DVD’s of House, MD) found me thinking about two guys who might seem unrelated to each other, literally or philosophically, but who have played a pretty big part in my life, in one way or another.
Ted Kennedy.
John Lennon.
The former came to mind, obviously, because he had passed away, unleashing a 24/7 saturation of news coverage of the life and times of the “Lion of the Senate” and, by association, the Greek tragedy served with clam chowder we have come to know as the Kennedy family.
The coverage was comprehensive, for the most part, respectful and non-tabloid-ish.
And Teddy almost managed to shove Michael Jackson completely out of the spotlight for the first time in over two months.
Not even the passing of an American political icon can outshine a good old-fashioned drug induced homicide, though.
Thanks for nothing, Dr. Murray.
And where, you might ask, does John Lennon enter into my particular scheme of things here?
Fair point.
Beyond the obvious emotional and psychological connections that result from there having been Kennedys and Beatles in my present and past for pretty much all of it, John came to mind, in particular, as I happened across this little Teddy tidbit this morning.
(CNN) -- Shortly before he died from brain cancer, Sen. Ted Kennedy wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI. President Obama delivered the letter to the pontiff during his visit to the Vatican in July.
The following are excerpts from the letter as read by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at Kennedy's private burial service Saturday in Arlington National Cemetery:
"Most Holy Father, I asked President Obama to personally hand-deliver this letter to you. As a man of deep faith himself, he understands how important my Catholic faith is to me, and I am so deeply grateful to him. I hope this letter finds you in good health.
"I pray that you have all of God's blessings as you lead our Church and inspire our world during these challenging times. I am writing with deep humility to ask that you pray for me as my own health declines. I was diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago, and although I continue treatment the disease is taking its toll on me. I am 77 years old, and preparing for the next passage of life
"I have been blessed to be part of a wonderful family. Both of my parents, particularly my mother, kept our Catholic faith at the center of our lives. That gift of faith has sustained and nurtured, and provided solace to me in the darkest hours.
"I know that I have been an imperfect human being, but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path. I want you to know Your Holiness that in my nearly 50 years of elective office, I have done my best to champion the rights of the poor and open doors of economic opportunity. I have worked to welcome the immigrant, to fight discrimination, and expand access to health care and education. I have opposed the death penalty, and fought to end war. Those are the issues that have motivated me and been the focus of my work as a United States Senator.
"I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I am committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field, and I'll continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.
"I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic Your Holiness. And though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God's blessings on you and on our Church, and would be most thankful for your prayers for me
Two weeks later, Kennedy received a response from the Vatican. McCarrick read the response in part, as follows:
"The Holy Father has read the letter which you entrusted to President Obama, who kindly presented it to him during their recent meeting. He was saddened to know of your illness, and asked me to assure you of his concern and his spiritual closeness. He is particularly grateful for your promise of prayers for him, for the needs of our universal church.
"His Holiness prays that in the days ahead, you may be sustained in faith and hope, and granted the precious grace of joyful surrender to the will of God, our merciful father. He invokes upon you the consolation and peace promised by the risen savior to all who share in his sufferings, and trust in his promise of eternal life.
"Commending you and the members of your family to the loving intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father cordially imparts his apostolic blessing as a pledge of wisdom, comfort, and strength in the Lord."
A long time ago, after fifty million “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s” had been sung and a dollar had been made on pretty much every one of them, John Lennon decided he could best serve humanity by using his celebrity to guide us all politically, theologically, socially, come to think of it, just about every “…ally” there was.
There was the Give Peace a Chance thing and the Free This Guy or Free That Guy thing and the John and Yoko in a bag for peace thing and John and Yoko staying in bed for peace thing.
It was a veritable cornucopia of thing things.
Getting its infamous start in 1966 when he was quoted (yes, out of context but even then media didn’t let that shit get in the way of a good story) as saying that “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus.”
If you were born after, say, 1965, do the Google on that one. It’s a fun story.
I remember something else he said, though, less notorious, but even more perceptive.
“Jesus was cool…it was the disciples who fucked everything up.”
I was reminded of that as I read the story about Teddy writing the Pope.
Cause I couldn’t help but think that John Lennon would have gotten the same impression I did.
The dying patriarch of arguably the most famous Roman Catholic family in American history writes a personal letter to the Pope asking for the pontiff’s personal prayers as said most famous Roman Catholic prepares to die and has said letter hand delivered to said pontiff by the current President of the United States.
And receives, in reply, what basically amounts to a form letter.
What, they spent the whole Vatican budget on robes and those pointy hats and they got nothing left over for a sturdy Bic pen?
The Pope is too busy scheduling his next impression of Madonna doing her impression of Evita waving on the balcony to sit down for five minutes and personally write Teddy a “got yer letter, got ya covered, dude” Hallmark card?
I mean, come on there your Popeness, whatever mortal and/or moral failings Teddy and his posse possessed (and Lord only knows there was a plethora), the Kennedy family, if nothing else on this earth, broke the ceiling that had up until 1960 barred a Catholic from ever having the chance to pick out new drapes for the Oval Office.
It might border on blasphemy (heaven forbid) but in the category of WWJD, I think even the Savior might have found a couple of minutes to personally punch Teddy’s prayer card.
This year, on my birthday, as I reflected on my own life, I realized that while growing up I probably, somewhere along the way, liked to think that I shared some of the positive and life affirming qualities that the Kennedy family represented for a lot of us.
But it turns out that, in the end, I have a lot more in common with the once upon a time Beatle.
A love of, and talent for, music.
An unending desire to perform, in one way or another, for people.
A sense of humor that slices, dices or nurtures, depending on the mood or momentary medication.
And an affectionate, but distinct, disdain for organized religion.
I’m not Catholic, so I haven’t read the manual and I don’t know the secret handshake.
But, I don’t think you need to do as the Romans do to see the irony here.
The Pope, apparently, doesn’t deal directly with those who are heavy laden and in need of refreshment.
He has people who do that for him.
Funny thing is, though, I thought it was Jesus who had people to do that for Him.
Like the Pope.
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