Miss Sister 2008 Hopefuls



August 25th, 2008, a Monday

How 'bout that internet.  Seems you can get whatever you need or get rid of whatever you want on the internet.  I never see anything really bad on-line.  I wouldn't even know where to look.  But thank goodness the FBI does.  They arrested a couple who was trying to sell the woman's five year old using an ad that read:  "Nice piece 5 years old belongs to my gf and she wants to sell it".  The price was an apartment, a used car and child care for the 10 month old sister they were planning to sell later.  The mom thought the sexual encounter would be a positive experience for her daughter and that her boyfriend would receive sexual gratification from watching.  So, in other words, it was a good deal for everyone involved.  Don't worry, they were arrested before anything terrible happened to the kids (besides being born to that woman).  And they were just your local bartender and waitress at a Texas Cheesecake Factory.  Swell.  "What can I get you this evening?  A margarita, caesar salad, and for dessert, a 5 year old?"  I hope somebody gets those little girls a teddy bear.  They're going to need one.

But, you know, there's always the church to watch over and protect our little ones.  Well, now that the priests have pretty much been exposed, it seems safer.  But the latest is that an Italian priest has decided that nuns deserve more visibility within the church and he wants to fight the stereotype that nuns are old and dour.  So he has organized the Miss Sister 2008 beauty pageant, conducted on-line through his blog.  He will be posting their bios and photographs and they have the option to be photographed with or without their veil.  Then you can vote on-line for the nun of your choice after evaluating her assets, so to speak.  The well-meaning (?) priest believes that nuns are excluded and marginalized and that external beauty is a gift from God that we must not hide.  Now, the Association of Catholic Teachers isn't buying it.  No, sir.  they think this belittles the role of nuns.  Besides, what does this do to the scores of nuns who probably are ugly and dour.  I mean, historically it has practically been a requirement.  And now this.  I'm just glad the Italian priest is fighting against the marginalization of nuns.  Good job, father. 

Every day every person has to make choices.  Are we going to be good people making good choices, or good people making bad choices, or bad people making good choices or bad people making bad choices.  Think of the internet as the biggest practice field in the world.  Turn on the computer, fire up your high speed, and start choosing.  It's all there.  What sites you visit, what you look at, what you google and even how you respond says a lot about you.  Just remember, and we all know this from watching tv, the FBI and other agencies can find out everything about your on-line life if need be.  And it will paint a picture of you.  How you will be remembered.  What choices you made.  In fact, with the right software, anyone (husbands, wives, parents, boyfriends) can see pretty much everything you are up to.  And you thought you were alone when you were surfing.

I know this can all be pretty depressing.  But I am a big fan of confronting the bad things, not avoiding them because they are too hard to know.  The more you know, the more you understand.  Every little tiny good thing done or even just thought of by a person matters.  Throw some good energy into the universe and you will have done enough for a single day. 

And speaking of today, it's a pretty big birthday for the Dutchman.  We are going to make a fuss over him, a big fuss, in spite of his usual preference to let it go by as just another day.  This morning I woke him up asking how he felt at his new age.  He said, predictably, that he felt pretty much the same as yesterday.  A good man is hard to find.  That is worth celebrating.

GR