Category: Commentary

We humans have a long history of wrongly torturing people simply because their beliefs do not correspond with ours. Religious wars are nothing new. They have been responsible for death and destruction in the name of some god or moral belief since before Jesus walked on the earth. For some reason we humans often think that forcing our beliefs on others is our gateway to heaven. Instead of accepting that there are many ways of being spiritual we insist that only one way should be allowed and so we push our ideas into the political world and create havoc. 

It does not take too much research to find the many ways that humans have used religion to punish or hurt each other. The back and forth battles between Catholics and proponents of the Church of England led to bloodbaths for those on the losing side. Galileo, a devout Catholic, was held prisoner by clerics who believed that he was a heretic for claiming the earth revolves around the sun. Early religious settlers in the American colonies did horrific things to the Native Americans in efforts to convert them to what they believed was the one true religion. 

The list of crimes against humanity committed by religious zealots goes on and on but sometimes the crimes appear to be more benign, a way of saving a lost soul. Much of the trouble in the world today comes from seemingly well meaning people who want to create their version of a truly moral world.

For years gays and lesbians were treated like criminals and punished when they were caught being themselves. The prejudices against them are still present today in many corners of the world. It is not just Christians who believe their behavior to be sinful but many other sects as well. While I would never want to prevent anyone from maintaining their strongly held beliefs, I would ask them to allow others to keep theirs without retribution. It hurts nobody when we live and let live. In fact our religious goals should focus on love and understanding rather than disdain and judgement. Love truly is love.

We began our government of the United States with an agreement to separate church and state matters because our founders were acutely aware of the problems that occur when people mix the two. Our ways of doing so have been imperfect but over time we moved closer and closer to peaceful coexistence. Suddenly we find ourselves once again debating issues that should have been settled on personal levels, not in the public square. 

Our LGBTQ community has been living quietly among us with very few exceptions. They have contributed to our betterment but some only see them as a evil that must be eliminated. Most of us now have friends and family members from the LBGTQ community who are not only allowed to live and express themselves in their own ways, but who are some of the best people that we know. Why would anyone deny them the same comfort and happiness that the rest of us enjoy? What have they taken away from us by marrying and finding the joy that comes from being able to live the way that feels best to them. Why have some been determined to make them afraid again? Why is religion being used as a cudgel rather than a peaceful way of living?

There are certain ideas that seem to be common sense like not hurting each other, not stealing from each other, not lying to each other. Ten of those ideas have been codified in a set of commandments but it was Jesus himself who reminded us that the main rule that we must follow is to love one another. He put no restrictions on who or how we should love. People are the ones who have made the kind of decisions that set us against good people in our midst who do not think exactly like we do. 

Retribution is not a stairway to heaven but kindness is. We do not fully understand the complexities of human minds and feelings. Why should we assume that only certain ways are good and that those that do not conform to our wishes are not just bad, but must be eliminated? Surely we have learned that self-righteousness is not healthy for anyone. 

We are a highly advanced civilization and yet we too often find ourselves engaged in battles over our opinions. Instead we would do well to work on issues that truly matter like feeding and housing the world’s people, working for true peace on earth, learning how to work together. It is absurd that the courts in our nation are being asked to determine how individuals should express their sexuality and their love when allowing them to be themselves hurts nobody. 

Busybodies have always been around. They are the same as the women spreading gossip in the time of Jesus. He made a point of calling them out. They are hypocritical like the Pharisees who put a gentle man to death because his message of love was making waves in their autocratic world. Isn’t it time that we just love like we were asked to do? 

I would never have the audacity to claim that I have a special understanding of the spiritual aspects of our humanity. I grapple with understanding what is expected of us in terms of religion as much as I struggle to understand the way things work in the world of science. Mine is an ongoing journey of exploration into the meaning of life that I have been studying for most of my life. 

I was baptized as a Catholic at All Saints Catholic Church when I was an infant. Ironically the priest who performed the sacrament would one day become a person whose thoughts on religion would greatly influence me. it would be many years before I met him again and during that time I completed twelve years of Catholic schooling which included daily religion classes where I learned the fundamental beliefs of the Catholic faith. I was a rather devout child who attended mass on most mornings and read every book about saints that was in the library. I suppose I got my ardor for religion from my mother who read the Bible daily and sacrificed financially to send me to Catholic school even after my father died and her income was significantly reduced. 

I decided not to attend a Catholic university even though many were offering me full scholarships. I felt quite limited in my knowledge of the world outside of my church. I understood that if I were to be able to survive in a very diverse world it would be important for me to get to know and understand those whose upbringing had been very different from mine. To this day I believe that it was a wise move on my part because in the years to follow when I would encounter coworkers and students who were from many different cultures. My success as an educator came because I was open to accepting them just as they were, not as I thought they should be. 

It is not surprising that I ended up marrying a young man who had also attended Catholic schools. We married in a Catholic ceremony presided over by the same priest who had baptized me many years before. He was a friend and counselor to my mother-in-law who worked for him. Through her and through him my religious education would continue. 

Whenever my husband and I visited his parents on a Sunday afternoon a kind of routine evolved. We would have a nice Sunday dinner and then the men would wonder off to watch whatever sport was being featured on the television. While they were enjoying man time my mother-in-law and I would partake of a pot of hot tea and some of the most remarkable conversations I have ever experienced. 

She had been born an Episcopalian but when she married my father-in-law, who was a Catholic, she wanted to learn more about his faith. She found a priest who instructed her in the basic ideas of the Catholic religion and before long she had decided to convert to that faith but her education did not end there. She was a life- long learner who read tracts from St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, popes, philosophers and ministers of other Christian faiths. Learning about Catholicism and Christianity was her passion and she truly enjoyed explaining to me what she had learned. 

One of the things that worried her was the rise of a kind of Christianity that seemed to pervert the message of Jesus. She pointed out that in the course of history there had been many religious wars predicated on false ideas that hardly resembled the message of Jesus. She mentioned a preacher who had been popular when she was a young girl whose homilies were hateful screeds that demeaned whole groups of people. Even as a little girl she realized that Jesus had spent all of his time including everyone, even those who were spurned by the society of his time. 

I am still very Catholic. I was once the Director of Religious Education at a Catholic Church. I mostly recently was a Eucharistic Minister until Covid hit and I had to attend church remotely. My long search for the answers of what is right and what is wrong have led me to believe that all too often there are people picking and choosing and interpreting verses in the Bible that fit their personal beliefs. They ignore passages that say that women should keep their heads covered and not wear pants like men but seem to stretch their interpretation of the words that they find to hint that members of the LGBTQ community are somehow decadent sinners. The truth is that nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus take the time to warn us about gays or lesbians or trans people. In fact, he shows us again and again that he was willing to break the religious rules of the time to demonstrate that all people were worthy of his love.

Let’s look closely at what Jesus did. He rescued and healed people on the Sabbath. He befriended Mary Magdalene who was a societal outcast. He invited a tax collector to have dinner with him even as doing so made tongues wag. He baptized a Eunuch who had been ostracized. He made a Samaritan the hero of one of his stories even though such people were thought to be avoided at the time. He cared for people with leprosy. He told us that there was a new commandment which simply put asked us to love our neighbors as we would love ourselves. He did not put limits on who we should love. Nobody was left out of his command. He died on a cross as a common criminal in his time, which was a purposeful way to show us that our prejudices should not dictate who gets our love. 

Why is it so hard for humans to understand how we have been directed to behave toward one another? Why are we so judgmental of one another. Why are we demonizing innocent people? Why can’t we see that hate should have no place inside a church? Our new Catholic Pope is reminding us daily of our responsibility to care for our fellow humans. Why are so many not listening? These are questions that I wish I might ask that wonderful priest who baptized me and my loving and spiritually brilliant mother-in-law, but I think I already know what they would say.

I just spent an hour or so attempting to master a method for factoring quadratic functions that made me more and more livid as I attempted to understand the purpose behind the exercise. I’ve been teaching Algebra I and Algebra II for years and I have developed ways for helping my students to understand both the purpose for doing so and how and why certain methods work. The one that was baffling the student whom I tutor is the so called tic tac toe method. 

I don’t have any problem finding a sure fire way for students to do mathematics in an easier manner but it really has to make more sense that just repeating a set of rules to reach the answer. Sadly the tic tac toe way of doing things was more confusing than helpful based on the materials that the teacher gave to the student. It had little to do with understanding the art of factoring compared to other methods. 

The real difficulty came about because the original teacher of the Algebra II class left the school after only working there for a week. She was young and perhaps not aware of the challenges of teaching math can be so she just left.

It took until November for a full time teacher to be hired while a series of substitutes kept the class going. Sadly most of them had little or no experience teaching higher level mathematics so they were not particularly gifted in explaining how and why things work. The result is a large number of very confused students who have so much catch up work to do in a short amount of time.

There is always more than one way to perform different calculations and processes so there is nothing innately wrong with using a method that is less complicated than guessing and checking but it has to be presented in a manner that makes sense. While surfing the Internet to learn how to use tic tac toe I found other ways of factoring that were explained so well that I picked up on the whys and wherefores of them in less than five minutes. Little was present for tic tac toe until I finally found a slide presentation that at least clarified the methodology even if it never bothered to explain why it works. Soon I was tic tac toeing my way to factor heaven but I knew that many other ways of doing so are available and most of them make way more sense. 

One of the problems with mathematics in general is that one will always hit a wall if he or she has only memorized an algorithm. Sooner or later the difficulty level will rise to a point where even the slightest change will send the person into a panic of confusion. I decry so-called shortcuts that don’t take to time to demonstrate the logic and beauty of mathematics. 

One of the things that I love most about how most modern day math teachers provide knowledge is that they use words, examples, visuals and physical manipulatives that literally show in concrete manners what the different concepts are. They bring in real life examples of how math is used and why it matters the know that the slope of a line represents a constant rate of change, not just a slanted line on a paper. 

Some students figure out such things on their own but all too many people report in adulthood that they always hated math and felt confused and frustrated most of the time. I often wonder how many folks who might have proven to be excellent in mathematics gave up on themselves early in the game because a teacher or teachers were unable to show them the wonderful connections between mathematical ideas.

I’m picking up the pieces with the student that I am presently tutoring. He has also taken the initiative to meet with an experienced teacher dury study hall time at school. He is a very bright young man who is frustrated right now and anxious to master what he has missed. I have taught him before and know that he usually catches on to new information very quickly. The fact that he is showing papers with half of the problems blank tells me that he is in a very bad place mentally and it may take a great deal of effort on his part. the new teacher, and me to help him fell one hundred percent confident again. 

I don’t think that there would be as many problems finding good teachers for every school if we valued educators as a society. Sadly many Americans have totally unreal beliefs about the lives of teachers. They imagine teachers lolling around swimming pools once the clock strikes three and having no more work to do until maybe nine the next morning. They speak of all the holidays that teachers have and the long summer vacations. The truth is that the average teacher brings home work every single night and works long after most people have gone to bed. 

School hours are not just compacted into an eight hour day and those summers are much shorter than most people imagine. Many teachers are lucky to have six weeks of vacation time once all of the demands for new learning and preparations for the coming school year are met. Sadly their salaries are based on a ridiculous belief that they don’t really work as long and as hard as others and so they are still grossly underpaid for the skills that they have to offer. Add to that the audacity of advice from so called experts whose only connection with schools has been going to them as a children. It is not to difficult to understand why so many teachers are leaving he profession. 

I’ll be going in a few minutes to pick of the pieces of destruction that have rattled the student that I sometimes tutor. I will do my best to help him understand that most of this was not a reflection on his intellect. Our society is neglecting and insulting our schools these days and it really is a shame. In the meantime if you find yourself needing help understanding how to factor with a tic tac toe grid just call me. I have figured it out even as I am not so sure that it is as helpful as it was meant to be.

Traveling is relaxing, educational, absolutely fantastic but returning home can turn into a multi week readjustment period. Our recent journey home was very much a rude awakening to reality beginning with the fact that we first flied from London to Frankfurt, Germany where we had to spend the night. Luckily there was a hotel attached to the airport. Not so luckily our home for the night was a very long walk in an almost empty airport where everything was closed at a time when we had not had anything to eat for at least nine hours. What might have been convenient and not so bad under other circumstances became a long walk followed by a growling stomach. 

Of course this is undoubtedly a first world problem so I don’t want to complain too much. Perhaps the biggest difficulty was that my knees do not work so well without pauses from walking here and there, but in this particular situation there was no place to sit along the way so I had to push through until we finally made it to the inn. 

The hotel itself was incredibly nice but the key card that we received was just another annoyance that blocked our ability to fall into bed in response to the way we were feeling. Soon enough a very kind soul who worked in the place had us inside where we saw that the room was exceptionally nice and the huge bed beckoned. Still, we both knew that we needed some sustenance so I headed out like a gatherer of old in search of any kind of food that might be available. 

I finally found a little store inside the hotel that had some sandwiches, chips and drinks that were far more tempting than they might otherwise have been. I felt as though I had made a great discovery in finding something to fill our tummies. Suddenly I believed that everything was going to go well at last. While the food was nothing to brag about it did its job and we were soon sound asleep.

Early the next morning we retraced our steps back to the airport. With rest it felt like a much easier trek than it had the night before. With no problems at all we were soon sitting at the gate where our final leg of the journey would begin. We munched on some coffee and baked goods feeling more than ready to get the trip going. 

Once again we had Premium Economy seats and they were as comfortable they had been on the way over to London. The food was excellent and everything went without a wrinkle. After many hours we were landing back in Houston, unaware that we would be greeted by hot weather. We had become so accustomed to cool days that it felt out of sync to be in a place that still had temperatures in the nineties but everything else about being home again was oh so pleasant. 

I began washing clothes almost immediately because I would be teaching my homeschooled students the following morning and I was out of everything that I would need to be presentable. I also knew that my father-in-law would be returning as well. What it did not know is that he would bring two weeks worth of his own laundry because he had not understood how to get it done in the place where he had enjoyed respite care. 

Somehow we had our usual craving of Tex-Mex that seems to be the first thing we want to eat when returning from out of the state. After a quick meal we visited the grocery store to stock up with essentials like milk and bread, fruit and vegetables. Then we realized that we were exhausted as jet lag took over our bodies. 

I must have spent the next five days washing and folding clothes. I’m surprised that my ten year old washing machine kept working with precision. Somehow I found the energy to keep working until we were no longer in a state of chaos which was fortunate because we were scheduled to attend a high school reunion event for my husband. 

A point came when I felt as though I was moving on autopilot. I had no idea where I found the energy but I made it through the first week before I crashed. It was only then that I took care of myself and found the time to recall how wonderful our trip had been and how fortunate we were to be able to travel. Now that a few weeks have passed I have no doubt that given the opportunity I would do it all over again.

All good trips eventually come to an end and so it was with ours, but first we decided to have a glorious day in London doing little things here and there that made us happy. 

Our first stop was at the site of the last time that the Beatles performed together. We hired a car to take us to 3 Saville Road which had once been the site of the Apple records offices. It was there that the Beatles climbed to the roof and began what would become an epic but short-lived concert for anyone who happened to be on the street that day. It was January 30, 1969 and the Fab Four had drifted apart but on that day they played and sang as brilliantly as ever only to be stopped by police before their unique performance was complete. Years later a documentary would show them writing music, rehearsing and finally performing. 

My husband and I had followed the documentary in a state of awe. It was a very honest and personal look into the lives and interactions of the four Beatles who had sat at the pinnacle of success before deciding to break apart as a group. With both George Harrison and John Lennon gone it took on even more meaning because there could never be another moment when they would perform their magic together. 

Standing in the street below and imagining the sounds of Get Back emanating from the roof was magical. I had dressed for tea time in a blue frock that somehow seemed to be a throwback to that time and my youth when I was only twenty one years old. I was almost as giddy as a school girl. 

After reminiscing about how much we had enjoyed the Fab Four we sauntered down Saville Row and peered into the tailor shops famous for producing bespoke clothing. The pattterns and completed suits and shirts in the windows reminded me of my mother’s sewing that was so incredibly meticulous. She tried to teach me how to create dresses as beautiful as hers guiding me in the process of beginning with fine fabrics and then carefully measuring and cutting patterns. She insisted that my seams be precise and would not settle for a crooked line or threads that did not lie flat. I became good friends with a tool that allowed me to rip open my work and then begin again and again until it was exactly right. Sadly I did not have the joy for such tedious work that she had but I learned how to fully appreciate the artistry of well made clothing. Seeing the tailors on Saville Row doing their work was quite exciting for me. 

Next we headed toward Jermyn Street where we hoped to find some dress shirts for our grandsons who are now engaged in jobs that often require finer dress that the casual styles that they tend to prefer. We found a wonderful shop that also featured a fall sale. The shirts were definitely a cut above most of the offerings in department stores, if not bespoke. We were excited with our purchases and looked forward to presenting them to our young men. 

Armed with our purchases we sauntered down a busy street filled with Saturday shoppers. Along the way we noticed an old church with a lovely courtyard. Feeling enticed by the cool shade we sat down under an enormous tree and noticed signs indicating that the church had been there for hundreds of years so we decided to go inside. There we stumbled onto a jazz concert that was surprisingly lovely. 

We listened for a time but we had reservations for afternoon tea at Fortnum and Masons, a department store that has been in London since the seventeen hundreds. It specializes in food, tea, coffee and tableware so upon entering we were mesmerized by the incredible variety of edibles tempting us to throw dietary caution to the wind. The store was a delightfully whimsical purveyor of treats like chocolate frogs and ladybugs stored in little matchboxes. There were biscuits in musical tens that played classical music. I was almost overwhelmed by the wonder of it all. It reminded me of my childhood when department stores boasted sections filled with candies, roasting nuts and popcorn.

We would eventually purchase gifts for neighbors, my students and one of my grandsons but first it was time to head for the tea room on the top floor. The splendor only became better up there where linen covered tables were festooned with flowers and happy patrons munched tea cakes and sipped tea. All the while a beautiful young woman in formal attire played on a glossy ebony grand piano. I found myself wondering if this it what heaven is like. 

We took our seats and fell into a state of total relaxation as we sampled sandwiches, scones, jams and a variety of tea. For once we did not have to hurry or scurry. The tempo was slow and relaxing. No king or queen might have received better treatment than the waiter was showering on us. Our wish was his command but we made few demands because everything was already perfection. 

I was filled with the sweetness of the feast and wished that I might stay there forever but it was time to relinquish our seats so that those waiting might enjoy their slice of comfort. We stopped at the Christmas shop and there were so many wonderful things that I was unable to decided on any one item to purchase. Then we found the afternoon tea blend that I had so enjoyed only minutes before which I knew that I had to bring home.

It was growing late and we still had to pack for the journey the next day which would send us on our way home. We found the nearest tube station, rode toward Embankment and carried our packages and our happiness to the hotel. On the way we saw that there had been yet another protest in Trafalgar Square. We smiled at the thought of freedoms being exercised right under our noses and knew that it was a sign of just how incredible our trip had been.