What Do You Want From Life?

Posted on April 17, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

everything you wantThat’s what the San Francisco based band “The Tubes” asked us in 1975.  In their song “What Do You Want From Life?”, The Tubes lead singer Fee Waybill proclaimed that “If you’re an American citizen, you are entitled to a heated, kidney-shaped pool…a foolproof plan and an airtight alibi…a year’s supply of antibiotics…a Maverick, a Mustang, a Montego…a Las Vegas wedding and a Mexican divorce.”  This was his criticism of the materialism of modern society.  If I’m being honest, I have to confess to having a long list of “wants” – selfish things that would only benefit me.  All things considered though, even in the lean times, I can say I’ve never been truly in need of the essentials.  To come across a person who IS in need of those essentials is always a pin prick to the conscience.

We used to take trips to the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh when our boys were younger.  After one of those visits, we literally spent the last of our money exiting the parking garage.  As we got in line with traffic to merge onto the highway to head home, we saw a man at the top of the on-ramp walking from car to car asking for something.  I automatically assumed he was panhandling.  Since we didn’t even have any change in our ashtray, I prepared to politely dismiss his request and drive on.

The man came up to my open window.  He looked parched and his voice was hoarse as he asked “Do you have any water sir?”  I was confused for a moment.  Did he just ask for water?  Our sons shocked me back to reality when they shouted “Hey Dad – we can give him our water!”  I blinked and said “Yes. I can give you water” (I always carry a gallon of water in the van in case of engine overheating or emergencies).  The boys reached into the back and retrieved the gallon jug which was still cold from sitting in an underground garage.  They passed the jug to me and I handed the gallon of cold water out the window and to this man.  We all watched as he stared in disbelief at the jug.  He reached in the window and hugged me after which he began to leap in the air while holding the jug over his head shouting “Thank you, thank you Jesus, praise God!” over and over again.  He was smiling and holding out the jug to show all the passing cars as we drove away.

I guess God doesn’t ask us to give what we don’t have, but only to give what He has provided for us to use as a blessing for others.  I never considered that the gallon of water in the back of our van could be such a blessing.  It cost less than a dollar and had nothing to do with all the things I wanted from life.  Maybe I wanted the wrong things, or maybe I wanted those things for the wrong reasons.  The dark skinned man from another country who stood in my path on a highway onramp in Pittsburgh taught me something about assumptions and motives and showed our sons how God’s providence plays out and how true thankfulness and joy should be expressed.  Maybe it’s not about what I want from life, but really about what life wants from me.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Have Some Cake

Posted on April 9, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Jesus-all-the-yellingI love great cake gags, cake fights and cake catastrophes in the movies!  One of my favorite cake scenes in a movie is when a very young Debbie Reynolds pops out of a cake to the surprise of Gene Kelly in “Singing in the Rain”.  Another favorite is the exploding cake scene from the Three Stooges 57th short subject film “An Ache in Every Stake” – The Stooges, acting the part of bakers, are trying to bake a birthday cake.  When their cake collapses, they use the oven’s gas line to re-inflate it creating a huge gas bag.  The cake literally explodes in everyone’s faces when the candles are blown out!

The timing of my last article dealing with a plastic baby Jesus in a cake was amazing to me, what with all the talk lately about this controversy surrounding Indiana’s attempts at enacting their state’s version of a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) law, an Indiana cake bakery, a pizza shop and members of the LGBTQ community.  I remember President Bill Clinton signed the RFRA into law in 1993, and then the US Supreme Court held RFRA was unconstitutional as applied to the states because it was not a proper exercise of Congress’s enforcement power in accordance with the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.  Many states have since passed RFRA laws of their own.  I glanced over the Federal RFRA and Indiana’s version a couple of times and didn’t see anything in them about sexual orientation, gender identification, cake or pizza.  I DID find language limiting the state’s (and Fed’s) ability to interfere with a person’s exercise of their religious beliefs unless there was “a compelling reason” to interfere.  I’m thinking a madrasah teaching Jihad on US soil would constitute “a compelling reason”, but that’s for another article.  We’re worried about cake right now.

“A compelling reason”; now that’s an interesting idiom.   Can one be compelled without a reason?  Can one have a reason for their actions without being compelled?  Compel is a transitive verb – an action word.  Merriam-Webster defines “compel” as; to drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly – or – to cause to do, or occur, by overwhelming pressure.  What would cause a gay couple to pass on bakeries or cafes they frequent and instead chose to compel a known Christian owned bakery to make them a wedding cake, knowing that baker probably cannot, in good faith, endorse gay marriage?  On the flip side, does baking a cake for a gay couple constitute an endorsement of their behaviors and beliefs or does it simply showcase a baker’s talent?  Does a cake really define one’s religious conviction?  Consistency in behavior and motivation says a lot about a person.  It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who wrote “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”.

Personally – I can’t find a place in the Bible where Jesus says not to hang out with gay people or to not make them cakes.  The Apostle Paul probably made tents for gay people.  I’ll bet if Jesus had been a baker by trade instead of a carpenter’s son, he would have been willing to bake a cake and serve it at a party if that’s what it took to share God’s message.  I’ll bet he would have even changed their water into award winning wine and, because of his perfect love, served each and every one at that party saying as he went “We need to talk – have some cake.”

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Jesus and My Dog

Posted on April 2, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

WP_20150201_005The King’s Cake is a pre-Lenten treat and a traditional part of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans.  In the cake we bought, a small plastic baby Jesus was placed inside after it was frosted.  Traditions maintain that whoever finds Jesus in their piece of cake will receive a special blessing during Easter time.  We each had our fill of the cake and about half of it remained, but no one found the plastic baby Jesus.  We forgot to put the cake away and left it sitting on the table when we went to bed.  The next morning, we found the empty box from the cake lying on the dining room floor.  Our dog Darcy had apparently reached up on the table in the middle of the night and helped herself to the remaining half.

The implications of her eating half of a King’s Cake (other than the obvious need for her to be let outside) didn’t really hit us at first.  Not until we were cleaning up the mess did we see the sticker on the box lid “CHOKING HAZARD: CAUTION! NON-EDIBLE BABY INSIDE THIS CAKE”.  This gave us cause to pause.  I worked my way around the room, asking each family member the question “did you find the baby Jesus in your cake last night?”  The answer was “no” all around.  The only other uninterrogated family member to have any cake was…..THE DOG!  I frantically searched the vacuum canister, the trash bag and all around under the dining table.  No success.  Oh my gosh – MY DOG ATE BABY JESUS!

We’ve had veterinary crises at our home before, what, with our long history of assorted pets – most of them being rescue critters; each with their own behavioral or health issues.  There was Julio, the hardware store cat, who became diabetic and needed insulin shots at the end of his life.  He would only allow me – the one he didn’t like, and the one who didn’t like cats – to give him his shots.  Taz was the cat who decided she didn’t like anyone as soon as the new baby joined the family – I took Taz to live at a cousin’s farm.  We had a dog who was a rock fetching hot dog thief.  Another dog was a golf course bandit who ran out on the fairways and stole golf balls, and we had one sad mutt who constantly tried to eat hornets.  Darcy had separated and consumed all of the Fun Size Almond Joys from a bag of Halloween candy once, but she had never eaten anything like this before!  We guessed the plastic figure wouldn’t hurt her.  We began to laugh at the irony of the incident.  Apparently the baby WAS edible.  Now that Darcy had Jesus inside of her, did that mean she was saved?

I write this purely tongue-in-cheek with no irreverence intended.  I mean – I know my dog didn’t get saved by eating a plastic baby Jesus.  Besides, she didn’t need to be saved; my dog is incapable of sin – at least not the accountable kind of sin we’re capable of.  Wouldn’t it be nice is forgiveness and salvation was that easy though?  We could just consume a Jesus shaped morsel and….voila!  Well, it kind of is that easy.  In the Bible, Romans 10:9 says “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” – it’s a piece of cake.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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From Bitter to Sweet

Posted on March 30, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

SauceWhile making pasta sauce the other night, I tried to multi-task and do some on-line research.  I lost track of time and my sauce cooked for way too long.   The water evaporated taking the sweetness along with it leaving a thick and bitter sauce.  I closed my women’s history tabs and started a Google search looking for a way to undo my mistake.  One site suggested I sauté a sweet onion and shredded carrots in olive oil and brown sugar and then add that mix to the sauce.  The high pH, or “sweetness”, of the sautéed additives was supposed to neutralize some of the acidity of the tomatoes thereby sweetening the mix.  It worked – the sauce was deliciously sweet!

Now that dinner was saved, I went back to my reading.  I read about prominent women of the last couple of centuries and their long lists of accomplishments and contributions to culture and society.  Common attitude traits transformed women who could have become victims of history into victorious history changers.  Although many lived during harrowing times, these historic women gained notoriety by embracing a vision more positive than the reality that surrounded them.  This vision came through obedience to their belief in Providence and deliverance.  They avoided bitterness and hopelessness by, if you will allow me to use my sauce example, “sweetening” their outlooks with fearlessness, faith and thankfulness for whatever good they could find.

My thoughts moved beyond culinary chemistry as I began to consider human nature.  I’ve heard bitterness is really a form of unforgiveness and unforgiveness is a kind of acid that eats away at everyone it touches.  Put another way, bitterness is a kind of emotional poison that a person drinks to prevent themselves and others from being healed from a wound or a loss of some kind.  It is also a roadblock to deliverance.  Do you know anyone who is holding onto bitterness and, by doing so, is missing out on the deliverance that leads to a victorious and abundant life?

I can think of no better examples contrasting bitterness and sweetness than Naomi and Ruth from the Bible’s Old Testament book of Ruth.  All the ingredients were in place for a very bitter life full of defeat.  The story reminds me of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”.  Naomi’s family is forced to leave their homeland because of famine.  Having lost everything they own, they go searching for food and work in a foreign land.  In that land, Naomi’s husband and sons die leaving her to become a destitute widow.    She decides to return to Bethlehem and one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, goes with her.  Once back in her own country, Naomi cannot overcome the bitterness she feels as a result of all she has lost and actually asks to be called “Mara” which means “bitter”.  However Ruth, realizing life must go on, looks for opportunity to “sweeten” their circumstances.  She looks for good and is thankful when she finds it. Ruth overcomes fear and adopts a faith that is foreign to her.  She learns of a provision that allows for gleaning from farmers’ fields.  Although humiliating, Ruth obediently takes her place as a gleaner and God begins to bring blessings into her and Naomi’s lives.  What could have been a bitter end for Naomi and Ruth was transformed into deliverance all because of Naomi’s choice to obediently follow God’s will and turn from bitter to sweet.  What’s the pH of your life – is it acidic or sweet?

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Groundhog Stew

Posted on March 20, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

groundhogWell – I almost made it through winter without getting sick, but the germs finally got me.  Maybe I let my guard down.  I may have become overly optimistic when our state rodent, Punxsutawney Phil, predicted winter would end on March 16th.  Then again, leaving a relatively temperate Pennsylvania for a few days over President’s Day Weekend only to return home to a scene from Dr. Zhivago probably didn’t do great things for my sinuses.  I ended up at the doctor’s office first thing President’s Day morning.  Sitting home sick for the rest of that day, I found myself actually succumbing to the “warm side”.  I spent the frigid afternoon surfing the internet looking at pictures of Airstream Trailers parked on Arizona real estate.

I could have endured the record cold better if I stopped listening to the wind chill component of the weather forecasts.  Why don’t they include the wind chill when giving the forecast during the summer?  Working outside in August, if I were to hear “A high of 90 degrees today, but a 20 mile per hour westerly wind will give us a comfortable wind chill of 75 degrees” that would certainly make me feel better.  I tromped through the rest of that cold week, my only consolations for the arctic weather being the seed and swimsuit catalogues I delivered.  I faithfully took my prescription and dressed in enough clothing for four people.  I looked like Ralphie’s little brother from the “Christmas Story” movie.   I began to wonder why we let groundhogs predict our weather.

March 16th came to pass, and I was sick again.  This couldn’t be happening; not on the day the rodent said winter would end!  I had seeds to plant and bicycles to get out of the shed; porch furniture to clean and BBQ grills to prepare.  I couldn’t be sick!  But the rodent was right – warmth, beautiful warmth had returned.  Hail to the groundhog; all was forgiven.  I would never doubt again. Phil had rescued me from this horrid winter. On that one 65 degree day of spring, I was actually able to spend some healing time sitting in my Adirondack chair in the sun.  Birds were singing, baseball was being played in Florida and Arizona and all was well except me; spring had sprung!

I must have been too sick to see the insidious plot unfolding.  Winter was not completely gone!  Just like when I used to drive the icebreaker through the harbors, clearing away winter’s glass; more ice remained under the piers waiting for us to move on so it could retake lost ground.  Winter must’ve been lurking – hiding in the moss on the dark, north sides of trees and under covered boats.  The cold returned and my celebration of all things spring came to a screeching halt. Curse you winter (except for your mosquito killing capabilities).

I always try to look for a silver lining, even when that lining is mercury.  While it remains cold outside, I’m wearing my blanket lined denim shirt-jack over a turtleneck and I feel comfortably warm.  I’ve been eating lots of hot soup and consuming large quantities of therapeutic Netflix shows like Ken Burns’ “Baseball” and old episodes of National Geo Channels’ Rocket City Rednecks (which my daughter loves BTW).  While waiting for my bronchial tubes to return to normal, I even caught some gardening and cooking shows.  I’m going to have to see if they archived any shows about making groundhog stew.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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What Wise Communities Do

Posted on March 19, 2015 by curtsavagemedia
Bridgng the Gap with watermark

I took this photo of my 18 month old daughter playing with a new friend at a 2008 summer reading event at the New Castle, PA Public Library.

I had no solid ideas for an article this week.  Wednesday evening, I planned on setting up sound equipment in a meeting room and then sitting outside in the cafe sipping coffee and working on this column.  However, curiosity got the best of me and I ended up sitting in on the meeting.  By evening’s end, I knew I needed to share what was discussed.  Thursday’s news of more race related trouble in Ferguson, Missouri sealed my decision to write this as quickly as possible.

The theme for the public meeting was ‘Bridging the Gap”.  The meeting’s purpose was to build relationships and provide a platform for dialogue and understanding between members of the community and law enforcement officials, local government officials, social service agencies and local ministries.  Last night was the second time the moderated and panel-led group had gathered.  The evening’s panel was comprised of three pastors – Dr. Rich Noble, Pastor of Washington Union Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, New Castle, PA (panel moderator), the Apostle David Young, Pastor of Prevailing Word World Outreach Center in New Castle and Chuck Jewel, Lead Pastor / Worship Leader at New Creation Free Methodist Church, New Castle – Sidney McKnight, President of the New Castle Branch of the NAACP, Marisue Zorens, Director of the Sankey Youth Ministry of the City Rescue Mission, Robert Salem, New Castle Chief of Police and Joshua Lamancusa, Lawrence County District Attorney.  About two dozen other members of the community attended the meeting, but unfortunately, not many of them were the youth who really needed to hear the conversation.

Some statements from the panel included; “Issues related to race are the main problems in America today” “We must acknowledge there is an issue.  Change must begin within our own community”, “Racism and prejudice are learned”, “Racism looks much different today than it did 30 years ago.  It’s much quieter and more subversive now”, “Things don’t happen in a vacuum – there’s always a background story that contributes to the ‘situation”, “Just because my skin color is white doesn’t mean I don’t know what it’s like to experience prejudice”, “Young men copy the looks and behaviors of bad role models they see in various forms of media.  They become guilty by association with everything negative about those characters and they are feared by others who assume if the individual has the look, they will also act out the behaviors”, “These problems are caused by breakdowns in the family and in the community.”

Those in attendance broke into several groups and discussed these various issues.  Solutions offered were: Teach individuals how to act when encountering police officers; Establish a Citizen’s Police Academy where community members spend time with police to learn about laws and do ride alongs; Continuation of the Police Youth Program; Updating police policies and procedures; Neighborhood cleanups like Project Oasis; Intervention programs like Jail-to-Jobs and Drug Court; and, of course, more “Bridging the Gap” meetings.

Pastor Young stated “When people don’t care, they don’t want to look for solutions.  There must be Involvement, dialogue, strategy, and mobilization.”  Marisue Zorens said “We need to get out of the status quo, because the status quo is often apathy and hopelessness.”  Folks in Ferguson must feel pretty hopeless right now; but not us in the community of New Castle, PA.  We’re being proactive and doing exactly want Young and Zorens said because that’s what wise communities do.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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He Lived Long and Prospered

Posted on March 8, 2015 by curtsavagemedia
nimoy-viral-billboard-irpt-exlarge-169

Photo by Designer and CNN iReporter Jen Rafanan- Atlanta Digital Billboard by Outfront Media (formerly CBS Billboards)

In 1931, a son – destined to be a future American icon – was born to Jewish immigrant parents in Boston, Massachusetts.  On February 27, 2015, the person who became that icon departed from us.  His global legacy may well live on forever.  Leonard Nimoy’s death took from us more than the embodiment of a logical and helpful space alien.  We also lost a true humanitarian.  In addition to being a social activist and friend to the oppressed, Nimoy was also an accomplished film director, poet, singer-songwriter and photographer.

Star Trek came to life in September 1966 right at the height of the Vietnam War.  The timing couldn’t have been better for those seeking a distraction from the horrors of that war.  Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry used the opportunity writing for Star Trek gave him to explore conflicts within the human condition and to try out solutions through various scenarios set in the distant future.  Finding successful solutions to life threatening situations gave hope to those who were seeing life and death lived out on television news broadcasts every day.  Many of the solutions could be attributed to the calm and logical thinking of Mr. Spock played by Leonard Nimoy.  The show had low ratings and was cancelled after just three seasons, but lived on through syndication, several additional continuation series and feature films.  Nimoy had a part in all of them and, as a result, has part ownership in the shaping of not just a generation, but an entire global culture enthralled with space related science and science fiction.

Tributes to Star Trek, and specifically Mr. Spock, have been on-going since the 1970’s in the forms of all kinds of merchandise ranging from toys to clothing and accessories recreating his costume.  Star Trek fans have organized into clubs and attend conventions by the millions all over the world.  The Chicago Tribune reported in 1987 that “Since that dark day in 1969 when NBC brought the programming hammer down on Star Trek, there probably hasn’t been a 24-hour period when the original program, one of the original episodes, wasn’t being aired somewhere.”  Since February 27th, people all over the world have been honoring the memory of Leonard Nimoy as “Mr. Spock”.  In Canada, Star Trek fans have been “Spocking” their five dollar bills by taking marking pens and turning the picture of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier into a likeness of Spock.

Leonard Nimoy’s legacy will live longer than most of his current fans, and that in itself is a monumental accomplishment.  Like Marlon Brando, the method actor he decided to study and model himself after, everything Nimoy participated in took on a life of its own and thus became bigger than himself.  He taught us to consider things in ways we would have never dreamed of and took us to places we would have never dreamed of going.  He had a way of taking the gritty things of this earth and turning them into something out of this world.  Leonard Nimoy was quoted as saying “The miracle is this: the more we share the more we have.” He practiced what he preached. Leonard Nimoy indeed lived long and prospered and shared all of his life with all of us.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Hell Freezes Over

Posted on March 4, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Hell Freezes OverI cannot count the number of times I heard the words “When Hell freezes over” during my teenage years.  The words were usually uttered in response to one of my seemingly reasonable requests.  “Mom, I know I banged up your car a little bit last time I borrowed it, but could I have it again tonight to take some friends to the mall?” or “Dad, I was wondering if I could get off restriction a few days early so I could go a beach party with my friends?”.  I could believe with a high measure of certainty I would not get to do either of those things.

I used to listen to a lot of Eagles music.  I was so bummed when the band broke up in May of 1982.  They were what could be considered a “super-group”; many stand alone, big-named talents that came into, and drifted out of, the band.  This probably caused them to get too big for their collective britches.    They were given some attractive offers to try to get them to reunite, but the members responded with “When Hell freezes over”.  Apparently the dollar figure in the offer went high enough to get the mercury to go low enough.  In 1994, the Eagles reunited to tape an MTV special concert and went on tour for about two years culminating with the release of their “Hell Freezes Over” album, a live recording capturing the MTV appearance that was ‘never supposed to happen”.

Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I spent a lot of time driving all over Western Arizona.  Some of it looked like it could be Hell and much of it felt like it most of the time.  On one particular stretch of road heading from Blythe, California to Prescott, Arizona, some creative folks self-named a couple of little hamlets “Hell” and “Nowhere”.  Right in-between the two, there was a little gas station/ grocery store combo with a sign out front that read “You’re halfway between Hell and Nowhere”.  Although the area could get a little bit chilly and see some snow from time to time, I don’t think their Hell ever came close to freezing over.  However, In January 2014, the BBC had some fun reporting that the town of Hell, Michigan had frozen over.  The city was just about completely shut down, the power had failed and even the snow plows weren’t operating.

Some of my theological friends maintain that Hell is buried deep beneath the surface of the earth where the fires never go out (but not necessarily directly beneath Michigan – for all my Buckeye friends).  My friends who are experts in the field of physics, although skeptical as to the existence of a literal Hell, concur that – if Hell did exist – the exothermic regions deep within the earth, those lava and magma factories, would be a logical location.  If this is true, the weather patterns of the last few weeks would indeed suggest things “downstairs” may have gone endothermic.  Hell may have in fact “frozen over”.  Just think of all the things that will finally happen; things that were never a remote possibility before the landscape became a giant ice rink!  That sweepstakes guy will finally find your house, men and women will understand each other and I will finally be able to buy that Cleveland Browns Super Bowl Champions jersey!

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Mr. Savage Goes to Washington

Posted on February 13, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Lincoln Memorial with watermarkHow many people does it take to screw in light bulb? 100.  One of them holds onto the bulb and the other 99 spin the house.  It’s not supposed to work that way.  There are written instructions on how to install a light bulb, but who reads those?  It won’t be long before LED bulbless fixtures will cause some of the younger among us to say “what’s a light bulb?” and “what instructions?”.  Here in Washington, DC, 545 politicians try to “spin” the country around popular opinion while “old pieces of paper” – or the “instructions” – try to hold it in place.  We are close to the point where the majority of people living in America will say “what instructions”?

Is it a matter of out of sight – out of mind?  I know most people have never read a bible and simply let a “representative” priest or minister tell them what’s inside the book – if they even care.  The same holds true for the Constitution and Bill of Rights; most Americans have never even seen it, let alone read it so who needs it?  It’s so “history”.  As I sit in my hotel room in Washington, D.C., I’m thinking about the sheer amount of living history in this city and I am simply in awe.  While driving along the George Washington Memorial Parkway as I came into town, I saw many of the famous structures, monuments and land features.  Some of these have been present for a quarter of a millennia and played important roles in the formation of this country.  Even the street names reflect the rich heritage of the District; names like Jefferson Street, Adams Street, Webster Street and George Mason Drive.

I’m equally struck when I see the grave markers in the many graveyards around DC and stand near the various monuments.  Great men came here with great vision for a new kind of nation; one that would be a land of freedom for all people; one that would be ruled by the people; one where the leader would live in the “Peoples’ House” – what we now call the “White House”.  It’s fitting that today, as I write this article, it is President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday; the man who said “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

I’m not as idealistic as James Stewart’s “Jefferson Smith” character from the iconic 1939 movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, but I AM just as exhausted by the experience of trying to figure out D.C.  I get the feeling it would be nigh on impossible to make much of a real difference here.  Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin, called Washington D.C. “68 square miles surrounded by reality”.  If you look at the restrictions placed upon you only while in D.C., that description seems apt.  Even the motto on license plates of vehicles registered in the District – “Taxation Without Representation” – bemoans the disparity between the ideals written into our Constitution by our founding fathers and the current treatment of our citizenry by the Untouchable Self-aggrandizing Unaccountable Regulatory Powers (U.S.U.R.P.) formerly known as a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.  Will you allow our Constitutional Republic to be turned into a “government at the people, to the people, on the people”?  If we do, then we deserve what we get.

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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Steaming Hot Passion

Posted on February 8, 2015 by curtsavagemedia

Waterfire With WatermarkWhat gets your heart pumping?   What keeps you up at night?   What do you dream about when you should be thinking about other things?   Did I get your attention?   It IS Valentine’s week after all!   Now let’s undergo a bit of mental reorientation.   The passion I’m writing about is not of the lingerie store variety.   Nor am I writing about the women’s football team from Pittsburgh.   We get our word “passion” from the Latin verb “patere” which means “to suffer”.   This understanding causes me to immediately reflect on the Passion of Christ.

However, there’s another type of passion I’m thinking of.   In the movie Serendipity (2001), Jeremy Piven’s Character, ‘Dean Kansky’, said “You know the Greeks didn’t write obituaries.   They only asked one question after a man died: “Did he have passion?”.   The passion spoken of here refers to intense emotions, compelling enthusiasm or a powerful desire for anyone or anything.

Rod Stewart’s song “Passion” from his 1980 studio album “Foolish Behaviour” addresses peoples’ feelings on this subject: “Alone in your bed at night…It’s half past midnight…As you turn out your sidelight…Something ain’t right…There’s no passion.   I need passion.  You need passion.   Everybody I know needs some passion.”   Stewart’s song goes on to say “Hear it on the radio…Read it in the paper…Hear it in the churches…See it in the school yards…Passion.”

Stewart sings “Some people are scared of passion.”   Indeed, living with passion can be awkward, embarrassing and even socially debilitating if taken to extremes.   I’ve known a few artists who are so passionate about their crafts, they sequester themselves in their studios and minimize their interactions with society.   Those who don’t understand such passion ridicule these individuals and call them “eccentric”.   On the plus side, these same artists have created some widely celebrated and masterful artistic works.   To that end, it was the Greek philosopher Epictetus who said “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid”.

I must admit an admiration for those whose passionate pursuits of the performing arts place them in the limelight.   They apply their focused energies  to practice and discipline and become skilled practitioners of their crafts.   I’m afraid my intense passion for the things closest to my heart often earns me an “outspoken” tag, brings me to tears and lands me firmly in the “thought foolish and stupid” camp.   I’m okay with that though.   That passion is the fire heating the boilers of my soul; a different kind of heart-burn.   Without it, some of the seemingly hopeless and cold realities of life would surely freeze me to death.   Passion causes me to burn with a desire to make a difference; to find solutions.

Rod Stewart’s song contains the line “A lotta people ain’t got, passion.”   I hope that’s not you.   There has to be something that starts your heart racing.   There’s something that you do, and while you’re doing it you become so absorbed by it that you forget to stop and grab a bite to eat.  It’s that thing you think about while lying sleepless in your bed at night; that is if you can stop pursuing it long enough to try to sleep.   Maybe it’s a lifelong goal still waiting to be realized. Could it be that cause that chokes you up when you think about it; maybe a ministry in need of your support or maybe even your leadership? What burning desire deep in your soul brings your passion to a steaming, hot boil?

© 2015 Curt Savage Media

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