Conversations with Julie - December, 1998

I came across these notes, apparently about a conversation that I had with Julie in 1998. I can't say if they were my words or hers or probably some combination. All I can say is the heading on the scrap of paper says "Julie -12/98” and that we still have such interesting conversations. The rest you will have to figure out for yourselves.

Julie-12/98

Faith, Hope and Charity
Have, Give and Do

We don't have great problems if we feel loved and we can feel loved if our parents, or another, loves us, unconditionally.

When we don't feel loved unconditionally, we can blame ourselves, be dishonest to ourselves about who we are and what we are authentically given? We can then think that to be loveable we have to be some ideal other than what we are. If the other loves that ideal, then we spend our lives trying to be what we are not, seeking to be loved for what we we are not, what has not been given to us.

Great love sees the potential in a person and brings it out. Stifling love creates an image that the other does not posses.

Faith → Gift → Giveness. Given to everyone. Do we have the same ability to see it?

Hope → Trust. Investing in what we find, believe in. What the gifts are? What limits our ability to see the gifts.

Charity → Love → Service → Fore-Giveness. What we do with the knowledge of gifts given. Honest about what we are so we can be loved for what we are, accepting of others unconditionally so we can love them for what they have been given. Fore-Giveness.

Andre, Pope Benedetto, Cologne and Baseball

Andre is in Cologne Germany today with his youth group to see Pope Benedict. I think I could see him in that picture of 800,000 or so people who were there. Andre seems to have found a nice niche as a youth minister, at least for the time being. He definetely has an extraordinary rapport with his youth group and a nice working relationship with the local church leaders.

I wonder a lot about where this Pope is going to take us. No doubt the world is unfolding as it should, but that is not always easily apparent. They keep writing that he is going to undertake a campaign against the philosophy of relativism. I don't know if the "they" define relativism the same way that I do, but I consider myslf a "very big" relativist, so I wonder a lot.

Relativism seems to make so much sense to me. I remember, the last year the Brewers won the pennant, however long ago that was, the announcer saying after the ground ball was hit that Robin Yount bobbled the ball before making the play and then added "it's not how badly you bobble the ball, but how quickly you recover". This always struck me as a reasonable philosophy of life. It is not so much what one accomplishes in life, as how one deals with the cards one is dealt. Whatever happens to us, the only thing we have some control over is how we respond to the situations we must face. I have always thought myself lucky to not have had to deal with some of the situations that I see my friends have to face. I also admire greatly those who have come through those situations in tact.

Whitewater Rafting

We are planning a whitewater rafting trip on the Youghagany River in the next month. Anyone up for it?

Yoga and Sean

Before he moved to Washington, Sean left us his card for his schoolhouse yoga classes. Haydee, Julie and I just got back from our third class. Sure makes the old back feel better.

Sean is living in Silver Spring, MD, and working at the US Department of Transportation as a Presidential Management Fellow. It is a really nice program. They pay real salaries plus a lot of student loans. After a while he may be able to rotate to different departments. The Fellowships are competitive for graduate students across the nation. It is a really good way to recruit new federal employees, even if it is only for a few years. It also provides a network for the new people coming in as well. In fact, almost every time I talk to him, the phrase "I was at a party last night when..." works its way into the conversation. It not only sounds like a good program to recruit new workers, but it sounds like fun for the employees too. Did our federal government learn something from the dot.com employers?

Battlestar Gallactica

OK, I am hooked on this show. Sean, Julie and Jared and I trade suppositions after each show. Who else is hooked on this?