Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 8, 2014

B4

OPINION 

 Mountain Views-News Saturday, November 8, 2014 


Mountain 
Views

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Susan Henderson

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Dean Lee 

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Joan Schmidt

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CONTRIBUTORS

CoCo Lasalle

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Dr. Tina Paul

Rich Johnson

Merri Jill Finstrom

Lori Koop

Rev. James Snyder

Tina Paul

Mary Carney

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Greg Welborn

Renee Quenell

Ben Show

Sean Kayden

Marc Garlett

THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE 
SAID FOR BOREDOM

RICH Johnson


EMAIL

Dr. James L. Snyder

This past week I discovered for the first time the true value of 
boredom. After this, I never gave it too much thought. When I wore 
a younger man’s suit, I had so much activity I did not have time to be 
bored. But now, that seems to be behind me, far behind me.

 Two of our grandchildren were at the house for a sleepover, which on the surface seems like 
a very pleasant evening. Of course, they only had half a day of school so they were at the house 
right after lunch. So, from lunchtime all the way through till breakfast the next morning they 
were energizing our house.

 I had forgotten how much energy a person has when they do not have to carry around a 
lot of age. I suppose I was that energetic when I was their age, but whose memory can go back 
that far?

 It all started out very nice with a lot of activities in the afternoon leading up to suppertime. 
By this time, I was wearing my age on my sleeves and I was not wearing a long sleeved shirt. 
They were inside, then they were outside, then they came back inside to tell me what they were 
going to do outside and then they went back outside.

I do not have many virtues, I grant you, but one virtue I do have is that I know my age. And 
with my age comes a great deal of limitations when it comes to energetic activities.

 I can sit in my chair for hours reading a book or writing an article. But when it comes to 
going outside and chasing children who are chasing a ball who then begin to chase you and 
then you fall down and they jump on top of you, that is a different story.

 Right around 3 o’clock, I looked at the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and ask a simple 
question, “How soon is supper?”

 “Silly Grandpa,” she said with a hearty laugh, “we just had lunch.”

 I sighed a lack of energy sigh knowing that we had several hours yet to play. 
Being as careful as I could, I snuck inside and collapsed in my chair only to be found out 
by the two little grandchildren energizing our domicile. They came screaming into my room, 
jumped on me and began our infamous tickle game. I am not quite sure, but I think this 
lasted at least 10 hours.

 A thought creaked in my head. Even at my age, I can entertain a thought or two on 
occasion. So, without any consultation whatsoever with my wife, I made an announcement.

 “Who wants candy?”

 That simple announcement got their attention and drove them like a magnet into the 
kitchen straight to the candy jar jumping up and down in anticipation.

 “One rule with the candy,” I explained, “you have to eat it outside.”

 I had a willing and compliant audience and filled both hands with as much candy as they 
could handle. Screaming with delight, they rushed for the outside where they could set at the 
picnic table and indulge in the candy.

 I headed back to my chair where I could indulge in some non-activity. 
Supper finally came and with a lot of noisy chatter and laughter we ate our supper. 
I left the table and went to my chair to relax a little bit and watch a little bit of news on the 
TV. I was almost dozing when I heard some chatter next to me.

 “Grandpa,” I heard the dual sing, “we’re bored.”

 “Why don’t the two of you sit down and read a book together?”

 “No, we want to have fun!”

 And so fun we had as I abandoned my boredom extravaganza.

 Finally, it was bath time, closely followed by bedtime. It took almost an hour to talk the two 
into bed and convince them to go to sleep.

 After a day of using so much energy, I was in the mood to welcome a large dose of boredom. 
In the quietness of the evening, both my wife and I sat in our chairs listening to the sounds 
of silence.

 In thinking about the activities of the day, I came to one conclusion. As draining as 
grandchildren are, they are more than welcome in my home. I know I only have a small 
repertoire of energy, but I am glad to spend it on them.

 As my wife and I sat in the silence, she broke the silence and said, “Aren’t grandchildren the 
best?”

 I thought for a moment and came to full agreement with her. My wife is usually right on 
everything and on this thing, she was absolutely right. I enjoyed the sounds of silence because 
I had enjoyed the excitement and turmoil of grandchildren in the house.

 I thought of Solomon in the Old Testament. If anybody was an expert on being a grandfather, 
it was him. After all, he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines and who 
knows how many grandchildren danced around his throne. Solomon said, “Children’s 
children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers” (Proverbs 17:6).

 Boredom is something that most people do not really appreciate. It always has a negative 
connotation, but in the right perspective, boredom can be a reward for lots of activity.

 Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 
34483. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or 
e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net or website www.jamessnyderministries.com.

Sharon, a very dear friend of mine who shall remain nameless, 
asked me to address an issue of importance to her. Now you must 
understand: As a strange visitor from this planet I would change 
the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in my bare hands, or 
cleverly disguise myself as a mild-mannered reporter for a great 
metropolitan newspaper for my friend Sharon. Thankfully she 
simply asked me to address the issue of email and more importantly 
email etiquette. 

A little background: Which came first? Email or the internet? Answer: Email! 

Email or more appropriately, electronic mail showed up first on the Advanced Research 
Projects Agency Network, affectionately referred to as the ARPANET before the 
INTERNET. I guess that answers all of your preliminary questions about email.

Of course now email has had to move over for the new concept of texting. Texting is done 
via smart, and not-so-smart phones. But texting etiquette is for another day.

The friendly folks at ETNI.org, aka the English Teachers Network of Israel have been kind 
enough to post the Ten Commandments of Email. Seems somehow more appropriate 
coming out of Israel (though I don’t know if these Ten Commandments were inscribed 
out on stone tables by the finger of God). Anyway, here they are:

Thou shalt include a clear and specific subject line. 

Thou shalt edit any quoted text down to the minimum thou needest. 

Thou shalt read thine own message thrice before thou sendest it. 

Thou shalt ponder how thy recipient might react to thy message. 

Thou shalt check thy spelling and thy grammar. 

Thou shalt not curse, flame, spam or USE ALL CAPS. 

Thou shalt not forward any chain letter. 

Thou shalt not use e-mail for any illegal or unethical purpose. 

Thou shalt not rely on the privacy of e-mail, especially from work. 

When in doubt, save thy message overnight and reread it in the light of the dawn. 

And, here’s the “Golden Rule” of e-mail: 

That which thou findest hateful to receive, sendest thou not unto others. 

Finally, the ETNI folks have offered up another Ten Suggestions:

Delete That E-Mail [if it means nothing to you] 

Break Free from Attachments [that might convey viruses] 

Count to Ten, Then Send [think twice before flaming] 

There’s Nothing Like the Real Thing [emotional -- or hazardous --things in person] 

A Stitch in Time [update address book; don’t delete old contacts] 

Break the Chain [of endless e-mail forwarding] 

Rumor, Gossip, and Hearsay [bad!] 

Do Unto Others [a kindler, gentler Net] 

Personal Bandwidth [best impact in person; least through e-mail] 

No One Is Perfect [back off about grammar] 

Copyright 1997 – ETNI

In closing, if someone has sent you a legitimate email, acknowledge receiving it even if you 
do not have the time to respond.

Be well.


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 LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN 

HOWARD Hays As I See It

GREG Welborn

 
“Sorry I’ve been away so long. I won’t let you down again.”

- Superman (Christopher Reeve) in “SUPERMAN II” (1980)

 

 Sorry for my absence over the past several weeks. I told my surgeon 
at USC/Keck Medical Center, “Over thirty years ago, my wife, Mitsuko, 
took my heart. Now you’ve taken my gall bladder, spleen and half my 
pancreas.”

 I’m fortunate this occurred subsequent to insurance plans’ coming 
into compliance with the Affordable Care Act. Thanks to “Obamacare”, 
I didn’t have to worry about running up against some annual or lifetime 
“cap” on benefits. Decisions on what was needed were made by my 
doctors; not by some insurance company as would’ve been the case 
prior to enactment of the ACA.

 The pancreatic tumor had to be removed immediately. Had I been compelled to wait the 
30 to 90 days for insurance company authorization, as would be the case under the system 
Republicans seem so eager to return to, I might not have made it through to write this column.

 Hundreds of thousands of American families will no longer be denied coverage because 
of some family member’s pre-existing condition; will no longer face financial ruin should a 
child get sick; for thousands of American kids, graduation and entering the job market need 
no longer coincide with being kicked off their family’s insurance plan. For this, we can thank 
President Obama.

 On the campaign trail, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) vowed to take out “Obamacare” “root 
and branch”, but had no problem with Kentucky’s own state exchange, with over 500,000 
enrollees, more than half of whom were previously uninsured. McConnell supporters 
interviewed were adamant that a priority of a Republican Congress should be ridding the 
country of the ACA, but were equally adamant in defending their own state exchange 
established under the ACA. Go figure.

 Over the past few weeks of recuperating, I haven’t followed events as closely as I usually 
do, but did manage to pick up bits and pieces. The big news was all about Ebola: A 
traveler from Liberia who’d come to Dallas to be with family fell victim to the disease and 
died. Two nurses who’d treated him contracted the virus themselves and were treated, 
cleared and released.

 President Obama’s response had been to send 3,000 troops to West Africa to help fight the 
disease at its source, and mobilize the Dept. of Health and Human Services and Center for 
Disease Control to take necessary steps to protect us here at home.

 The Republicans’ response was to insist on full-blown nation-wide panic. Also, to take 
those government health officials with presumably better things to do and have them instead 
appear before the cameras in nationally-televised hearings. Republican panel members 
couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show as much respect for the science of disease control as 
they’d shown for the science of climate change.

 On the international front, Republicans express their frustration with President Obama 
pursuing ISIS with an approach he himself warned will be long and difficult, rather than 
accepting their presumably quick and easy solution of sending tens of thousands of American 
troops to another ground war in the Middle East.

 Last summer, Republicans warned the influx of unaccompanied minors from Central 
America would bring drug cartels and myriad diseases across our southern border. In 
advance of the elections, they again tried to ramp it up to full-blown nation-wide panic by 
warning future would-be immigrants will no doubt be accompanied by ISIS and Ebola.

 I caught the discussion on the Bill Maher show when he sought to blame beheadings, 
massacres and the stoning of heretics on the Islamic faith. I also heard the announcement 
of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, 
and to Malala Yousafzai, the seventeen-year-old Pakistani who two years ago survived an 
assassination attempt by the Taliban for her work promoting education – particularly girls’ 
education.

 Malala spoke of non-violence: “If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be 
no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that 
much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through 
education.” As for tradition, “I don’t cover my face because I want to show my identity.” 
Malala says she speaks “not for myself but for those without voice . . . those who have fought 
for their rights . . . their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right 
to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.”

 Amidst all the condemnations of “Islamic” barbarity, I thought of Malala – a devout Muslim.

 And, of course, we had our elections. For the most part, Democrats who sought to distance 
themselves from the president, running from Main Street towards Wall Street, lost. Those 
who didn’t, won – often resoundingly.

 With a third of the Senate decided on every two years, this time it was primarily open seats 
and vulnerable Democrats in red states; two years from now it will be Republicans defending 
their seats in blue states. Nation-wide, it appears a majority of those under 45 voted for the 
Democrat, while those over 45 went Republican. It’s all a matter of turn-out, and younger 
voters tend to show up mostly when there’s a presidency at stake on the ballot – as there will 
be in 2016.

 Republicans promised that control of both houses would help end gridlock. The real battles, 
though, may not be between Congress and the president, but within the new majority party 
itself.

 President Obama reminds that “As president I have a unique responsibility to try to make 
this town work.” Republicans have two years to show how they view their own responsibility.

 In the meantime, I’ll be following my doctor’s orders and going for my follow-up scans. I 
won’t want to miss any of what’s to come.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

What the Republicans accomplished in the 2014 midterm elections is truly of 
historic proportions. When one looks at the gains in the Senate, in the House, 
in governorships and in state legislatures, it is not only a wave election, but 
it is as clear and resounding a repudiation of a set of policies as we have ever 
witnessed. Now, the question becomes where do we go from here?

 Were Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or George Bush seated in the White House, 
the answer would be that we will move toward a more truly bi-partisan phase 
of governance. But with Barak Obama in the White House, such an outcome is not just questionable; 
it is most improbable.

 We logically reach that conclusion simply by observing President Obama’s actions over the last 6 
years. Obama has consistently put leftist policy demands ahead of the Democratic Party’s interests 
in maintaining some appeal to the middle of the political spectrum. The “liberal” side of the party 
has been subsumed by the “leftist” side. This tilt explains much of President Obama’s isolation – 
both from many in his own party and from an increasing number of Americans. And, it has cost 
the Democratic Party more seats in a midterm election than any president since Eisenhower. 

 Sadly, many of the President’s inner circle, who encouraged Obama as he drove the party and the 
country into the ditch, are now encouraging him to redouble efforts to transform America into the 
leftist utopia they envision they share with him. These are the voices that advocate continued use of 
executive action to accomplish what cannot be accomplished through a legislative process, or even 
through judicial overreach. These are the voices that advocate the quick stroke of a pen to deal with 
immigration the way they want, not as an overwhelming number of Americans want. 

 The President’s speech after the election offered obligatory promises of a bipartisan approach while 
in the same breath denying that the vote was about his leftist policies or that there would be any pivot 
toward the new Congress. He told the nation that the losses were either due to a weird timing of 
which states had senatorial elections this year or that the losses didn’t really matter because only 
1/3rd of the electorate voted. The implication is that had the other 2/3rd of the electorate voted, they 
would have somehow voted for him. This is delusional not only in its denial of the statistical validity 
of a voting block this large but also in what it says about his own supporters. Suppose many of the 
2/3rds who didn’t vote were Obama supporters. What does that say about how his own supporters 
view his policies? Even they are so upset that they didn’t support him.

 So from his history, his temperament and his pronouncements, we must rationally conclude 
President Obama will never be the unifying force he has often promised, nor will he initiate 
any significant overture to repair the damage his policies have wrought. This is now up to the 
Republicans.

 So, what will they do? Where do we go from here? The answer lies in an understanding of what 
America really is and why so many Americans feel we are on the wrong track. Americans remain 
an aspirational people. We want to believe that our kids and grandkids can work hard to have a 
better life than we do, and we’re upset that this mobility is now jeopardized. Americans remain 
a moral people, and we’re sickened to see our traditional Judeo-Christian moral values mocked 
and undermined. Americans are a responsible people who understand the necessity of strong, and 
good, leadership in the world, and we worry that the vacuum Obama has allowed on the world 
stage will further embolden the likes of ISIS, Putin and the Chinese communists and ultimately 
jeopardize our own security. This was the basis of the repudiation of Obama’s policies, and it is the 
basis of the Republican response just articulated by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell.

 Republicans will be committed to addressing the most pressing challenges which face the country, 
including:

 Excessive taxation which is driving jobs overseas,

 Healthcare costs which continue to rise under a deeply flawed mega-law,

 A growing, not contracting, global terrorist threat,

 An educational system which condemns too many kids to the margins,

 A regulatory bureaucracy which focused its efforts on perpetuating its own power, 

 The demeaning of the participation of our churches and synagogues in the public square, and

 The burdensome national debt grown well beyond what any generation should bequeath to the 
next.

 Republicans will tackle these issues on behalf of the American people; they will reach across the 
aisle, but they will not hesitate to propose real solutions to these real problems and thus allow a 
president to show where his loyalties lie – to the people or to his own ego.

 This is where we will go from here. Whether we actually see progress in any of these areas will 
not depend on Republicans. They now control the House and the Senate, but they do not control 
the presidency and thus do not have the power to do what they want. We can have every confidence 
that there will be a full and compelling legislative agenda focused on correcting what has been so 
badly damaged over the last 6 years. But whether anything is actually accomplished over the next 2 
years will be determined by President Obama. It will depend on what he decides he wants to be his 
legacy: as someone who will now turn and work for the American people, or as someone who will 
continue to focus on his own vanity.

 

 About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is a freelance writer and has spoken to several civic and 
religious organizations on cultural and moral issues. He lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 
3 children and is active in the community. He can be reached at gregwelborn2@gma/5l.com.

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