Beneath the Wraps

                I have been feeling overwhelmed with emotion since last Friday afternoon when Roland came outside to "let me know what's going on."                  I didn't think I would ever see the day when Roland would be angry with Randy or not believe him.   My youngest son has always been a storyteller.   It started out as a form of entertainment, but gradually became a method of deception, and if he gets caught in the lie, will try to mask it with "Oh, I was just joking."               It has gotten old.                 Most everyone in the family had stopped trusting anything that came out of Randy's mouth.   Oh, he's got charm, charisma, so many likable qualities really, but also the gift of gab t...

        I've been quite emotional for the last couple of weeks or so.   Watching " The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music "   and seeing the horrors of bullying by supporters of Hitler. Crying over different stories featured in 60 minutes.   It's almost like five years worth of PMS took over.  What's up with that?             In my philosophy class, I was supposed to take a quiz and post my results about taking the quiz.  I just now finished the assignment of what I learned about contextualism or relativism and explaining the similarities between those and virtue ethics.  Actually, I am only supposed to pick one value and one ethic.  I am really quite confused by moral values - which, by the way, are part of my religious upbringing and NOT philosophy.             So I start off the discussion by sayin...

            I have the hardest time teaching the old testament to children - the story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac or all the lies and deceit that took place and seem contradictory to the message I am supposed to convey.   Yesterday's lesson was on Jacob and the 12 tribes.   The last time our class met, the lesson was on Jacob and Esau.   We related the account of how Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.   Rebecca dressed Jacob in goat skin in order to trick Isaac into giving him the blessing that was supposedly given in Esau's name             It's been suggested that both parents played along as it had been revealed when Rebecca was pregnant with the two that each twin would bear nations but that the elder would serve the younger.   Perhaps Rebecca and Isaac had put on the charade for Esau's sake.   It's still dece...