Nebraska

Heads-up. This is more political than vacation, just so you know...

Roughly 450 miles out there, and very uneventful. No bad experiences with snow or state troopers. No mechanical breakdowns or hiccups. Blissful uninterrupted music from the satellite radio. All in all a good seven and a half hours.

I saw three rigs jack-knifed (one of 'em a FedEx trailer... sorry for the late arrival of Li'l Johnny's gift, eh?), a couple cars buried up to their windows in plowed snow, and an impressive positioning of a Ford Explorer in the median, on its side and facing North on this east/west highway. Alas, the camera was in the trunk and anyway I didn't care to waste digital space with those things (yet here it is in stated form anyway).

The kids were... themselves, I guess. One of 'em decided to dig around in my wallet. Another was a temper looking for a tantrum, and found it repeatedly. ... I really love these kids, but damned if I witnessed more than maybe two instances when they were polite, or remotely resembled kids with any idea what the word "behaved" meant. Both of those moments were during church services (I was impressed, really). Even the few photos I took of them belie their incessant harassment of eachother. :sigh: I just don't get it. Or maybe it's because I was an only child that I don't understand it (they're children of a step-sister that I was seldom around). Gawd, I hope that's not it.

As to church; I'm agnostic, but to be part of the family I have no problem joining them to show respect. It's nice to meet some of their neighbors, too. I squirm every time I go though. The reason varies, but is almost always one of three primary reasons.
1) The charlatan. This creature hides in the rank and file of the followers of the faith. All smiles and courtesy, most devout in appearance. Then when you see them at the mall, they're the ones shoving through everyone else like someone entitled, dripping with arrogance and likely parked in the handicapped parking. Sadly, I've witnessed this to be the person in the pulpit as well.
2) The politics. Become a member and soon see factions in the aisles sizing you up as "with us or again' us" in true Good Ol' Boy fashion. Be a part of one, and you'll find that the mechanic in the other faction "forgetting" to tighten the oil drain plug on your car next month. Stupid in the extreme, but present nonetheless.
3) The Message. Maybe I'm just an idealist, but I've always taken the sermon as being education on the Bible, not a thinly veiled soap-box on who to vote for in November. Yet the latter is what I usually see happen.

Joked the pastor during evening mass as he tried putting down more than his pedistal could hold, "I need two pulpits." Gaining a couple chuckles from folks, he continued on. The squirming feeling came when he made an allegory comparing Jesus' decision to spread God's word to man with President Bush's decision to "spread democracy to the middle east". The jist of it was that just as the US is trying to bring democracy to a land that's not too inclined to accept this Western idea of freedom, so too did Jesus experience resistance in his works. The thing is, I have a hard time reconciling that:
a) Jesus was really given a decision to make regarding his task on Earth, and
b) putting him in the company of an idiot like Bush. (yes, I'm a registered elephant and I still believe the guy has naught but the intelligence of sauerkraut).
I'm of the opinion that separation of Church and State (or the illusion thereof) needs to be expanded to separation of clergy and politics.

Okay, so I am a cynical bastard. I'm sure that's the third door on the left in Hell that I'll be taking up residence in when I'm finally done with this coil of mortality & all. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong, though.

Have a great & safe New Year's Eve, everyone.

The Who, Squeeze Box (Live)