More Musing, Less Amusing

While on retreat a few weekends ago, I came across the following passage the forward to Minute Meditations by J.E. Moffatt, S.J. It further buttresses my belief and my argument that people need to stop all the busyness in their lives and take the time to slow down, look at the stars, and reflect. While this was published in 1958, it seems to be written for us today.

Great men are always thoughtful men. Men who accomplish outstanding things for the cause of humanity are always men of reflection. All deeds of noble worth are first conceived in the silence of a thoughtful mind.

So, too, is it in the spiritual life. Only reflective souls achieve great holiness. The saints are always men and women of prayerfully thoughtful lives.

Someone has very truthfully said that today we need "more musing and less amusing" in our lives. Our age is one of ceaseless rushing from amusement to amusement. Men will not allow themselves time for reflection; they seem afraid to be alone with themselves and their own thoughts. It is a disastrous condition especially from the spiritual standpoint and, if we have the welfare of our own soul at heart, it should be the object of our serious effort to correct this destructive attitude of mind toward so important a matter. In other words, if it is not already a part of our daily schedule, we should adopt the practice of meditation.

Meditation, as we are speaking of it, is simply prayerful thought. We may not because of our other duties, be able to spend long periods of silent meditation, but there are so many spare moments, "between times", often idle, that could be filled with prayerful reflection with great glory to God and simply incalculable good to our soul.

There is a bookmark in my Breviary on which a pious hand has inscribed the meaningful words: "There is not a moment of our lives in which we may not merit an eternity of recompense." Yes, those precious moments, so full of well-nigh infinite possibilities, if only we could put them to profitable use!

The "Little Empty Attic"

In June, I received an anonymous comment that has been rattling around in my brain ever since. Ironic when you consider the subject matter. And recently I had read of the study that Michael Medved chronicles here regarding the increasing number of televisions in the average American household.

As headlined by the Associated Press, the report indicates “TV’s Taking Over in U.S. Homes” and conveys the disturbing news that for the first time, the average American home now contains more television sets than people. The typical household accommodates only 2.55 people, but 2.73 televisions. An astonishing 50% of all homes boast three or more TV’s, and only 19% contain just one. In 1975, by contrast 57% of households owned only one television, and only 11% contained three or more.

We ourselves own two TVs, and are a household of four...soon to be five. And at least once a week I think it's two too many. I would have initially scoffed at this study and thought it overblown except for the fact that after my neighbor informed me he has "seven...maybe eight" idiot boxes stationed throughout his household of three, I did some random surveys of acquaintances and found that to be not all that uncommon. Astounding to me, really. Astounding apparently to The Anchoress as well, as she writes eloquently, as always, on the study.

The “one TV” rule started as a means of teaching co-operation. When you only have one television, you have to either agree on what will be viewed, or the thing stays off; there is no dashing to your own bedroom to serve yourself. Also, things come up when you’re watching television, and when they do you have a better chance of discussing them immediately, than you do by filing it away for when you’re all together.

In this way, television never held much sway over our kids lives, and we count ourselves very fortunate for that. Our kids are very individualistic, knowledgable about but unenamored with the popular culture, and capable of insightful and penetrating critical thinking that often stuns their teachers. I believe all of that is largely due to their lack of fealty to a box telling them what they should be doing or thinking or wearing.

I've considered our modern media today many times while driving to and from work. I have to drive by the university and the business district downtown and am always amazed at the number of people with earbuds, plugged into whatever it is they are listening to, seemingly oblivious to the world around them. True, they might be listening to a podcast, business notes or a missed lecture, but I have my doubt of the majority.

What I suspect, as do others smarter than me, is that people today simply do not wish to think. They can't be bothered with it. We are lazy. We want to be entertained. The time and effort involved with even the most basic of mental tasks is simply too taxing for most. I do not say this out of arrogance, but out of observation and interraction with others. Look around you...the evidence is everywhere. How else do you explain short attention spans, the apathetic electorate, the explosion of video games, DVD sales, box office numbers, and the fact that anyone today still watches network programming? Dancing With The Stars, anyone? Please.

Again, The Anchoress was on to something when she quoted Thomas Merton:

The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about everything The devil does rob us of clarity by casting us about in shadows. But he fools us into thinking that the shadows are light. Our illumination is only illusory.

My apologies to those offended by my bringing theology into this subject, but I believe it takes center stage. For Merton and The Anchoress are on target with their analysis. By distracting us from the sacred with the profane; from beauty with the obscene, satan is able to literally keep our eyes veiled behind the scales. We become numb. We become soft. We become oblivious to the important events of the day...all in the interest of clammering to see TomKats baby Suri Cruise, or to plug in to our iPods.

If you do not accept a monk's rationale, then let me offer up something from the literary world by two of the finest:

"I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not ot have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson -- A Study In Scarlet
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

And finally, from Stephen King:

TV came relatively late to the King household, and I'm glad. I am, when you stop to think of it, a member of a fairly select group: the final handful of American novelists who learned to read and write before they learned to eat a daily helping of video bullshit. This might not be important. On the other hand, if you're just starting out as a writer, you could do worse than strip your television's electric plug-wire, wrap a spike around it, and then stick it back into the wall. See what blows, and how far.

Just an idea.

Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

So what will I and the Mrs. do about the intrusion of media in our children's lives? Exactly what we are already doing. Monitoring TV time, keeping it limited. Providing a reading list to the oldest, and reading nightly to the youngest. No headphones, iPods, or CD-playing clock radios in the bedroom...for now. Eventually the oldest will have one of course. But at the age of ten, what does he need it for now? He owns no CDs...and is perfectly content in his "ignorance" of pop culture. Theirs are fresh, young and clean "little empty attics". They are slowly filling it with the essentials. It would be a shame, and an incredibly negligent disservice to them, if I were to open the door and let pass through all the crap that today's pop culture uses to take up valuable floor space in our attics.

Geography Meme

Don't know much about geography...and I'm tagging Sparki with it next.

1. A Place You've Visited and Your Favorite Thing there
Fort Robinson, Nebraska. The gorgeous wide-open expanses and forestry, as well as a location awash in history.

2. A Country You'd Like to Visit and Why
Wales. My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Lewis sailed from Wales to Massachusetts in 1687. I'd love to visit the homeland of my ancestors.

3. A Place From History You'd Like to Visit and Why
Being a historian, this is an agonizingly difficult question. The Inn. The Upper Room. Calvary. Jerusalem. Stratford-on-Avon. The Vienna of Mozart and Beethoven. Rome. Prague as my great-grandfather knew that city as a boy before emigrating to the United States in the mid-1800s. Fenway Park just after Game 4 of the 2004 World Series. Why? If I have to explain any of them, I'll be typing for hours.

4. A Place You Know a Lot About
Eastern Nebraska (big whoop, right?)

5. A Place You'd Like to Learn More About
The inner depths of my own heart. No? Ummm.....see #3.

6. A Fictional Place You'd Like to Visit
Middle Earth. Narnia's a close second but the former, rather than the latter, would be astonishing to say the least.

Einstein and The Church

Does anyone honestly think that today, in 2006, the universities or the newspapers are going to among the defenders of our way of life if Islamofacism continues its march? If you do, you obviously haven't been paying attention. It's happened before after all, and in light of the rage and fury over a few 700 year old lines in a lengthy lecture given in Germany by Pope Benedict XVI...well...you decide.

In The Church's Confession under Hitler, author Arthur Cochrane presents the not sufficiently well-known statement of exiled Albert Einstein, the great physicist, cited by Wilhelm Niemoller in Kampi und Zeugnis der bekennenden Kirche - Struggle and Testimony of the Confessing Church, p.526.

''Being a lover of freedom, when the (Nazi) revolution came, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced.

Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...

Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration for it because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.''

Elvis and the Tinfoil Hat Brigade

By now you've heard many of them:

• Flight 77 landed in Ohio, and the passengers were gassed; bodies disposed of by our government.
• Explosives were detonated and caused the WTC to have the controlled collapse. Again, done by our government.
• The phone calls from the planes to the doomed passengers loved ones were carefully-crafted technologically-simulated calls.
• An A-3 is what hit the Pentagon
• and on and on and on and on and on

And these are the "theories" that make sense. Gads.

 

In answer to some of this, please read a well-reasoned and thorough smackdown of one of the conspiracy movements tinfoil-hat-wearing-moonbat leaders. And to those of you who insist on forwarding the "conspiracy" emails to me with the message "kinda makes ya think, donit?"....stop filling my inbox with this crap. Please.

• Muslim terrorists bent on killing us all attacked on 9/11
• The Japanese attacked us on 12/7/41
• And Elvis is still dead

Accept it. Oh yeah, and contrary to what Spike Lee says, Donald Rumsfeld and Karl Rove were not in a rowboat just outside the New Orleans levee a year ago planting explosives during the hurricane they manufactured with their top-secret "HurricaneWeatherControllerSuperSecretGizmoMachineThingy". You people really need to get out more.

5 Years Ago...

I've never posted from YouTube.com before. But if ever anything was worth posting, this was:

Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven

Two thousand one, nine eleven
Three thousand plus arrive in heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait
A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying, "Lets sit, lets chat"

They settle down in seats of clouds
A man named Martin shouts out proud
"I have a dream!" and once he did
The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray
Others in khaki, and green then say
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"
The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear"
The only thing we have to fear.
The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
Trust us sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves
You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"
The Newcomers had heard this voice before
A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannis port shores

A silence fell within the mist
Somehow the Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports
Worked our gardens, sang our songs
Went to church and clipped coupons
We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought
Unlike you, great we're not"

The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "Don't talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see
You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death, destruction, smoke and dust
And people working just 'cause they must

Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in hell, but not alone
"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin, as he watched the scene
"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised
The colors high into ashen haze
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '45

The man on sticks studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow -- but I don't see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons and so many lives
Are suffering now because of this wrong
But look very closely. You're not really gone.

All of those people, even those who've never met you
All of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one."

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and from there he led
Three thousand plus heroes, Newcomers to heaven
On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven

Author Unknown

"I'll see you when you get there."

I do not intend to add to the barrage of memorials and tributes that have been and will be circulated as we approach 9/11/06. There is one column, however, by Peggy Noonan that I wish to pass along. The subject she touches upon, the messages left on voicemail and answering machines that morning by those in harm's way, is something that's been on my mind of late. I watched a TLC special on Flight 175 last week. This was the second plane to hit the WTC. Brian Sweeney, whom Peggy quotes later in her article, left a voicemail for his wife that she played for this documentary. He's brief, to the point, and ends with words that will stick with me always: "I'll see you when you get there."

I'll see you when you get there. In moments of abject terror, violence, and faced with knowledge that they were about to die, so many of the 2,996 called loved ones with grace, calm, and a fortitude one cannot help but admire and be proud of. And in his message to his wife, this man Brian Sweeney also expressed an optimism that we all hope we have when our time comes. Peggy notes this optimism:

Capt. Walter Hynes of the New York Fire Department's Ladder 13 dialed home that morning as his rig left the firehouse at 85th Street and Lexington Avenue. He was on his way downtown, he said in his message, and things were bad. "I don't know if we'll make it out. I want to tell you that I love you and I love the kids."

Firemen don't become firemen because they're pessimists. Imagine being a guy who feels in his gut he's going to his death, and he calls on the way to say goodbye and make things clear. His widow later told the Associated Press she'd played his message hundreds of times and made copies for their kids. "He was thinking about us in those final moments."

Elizabeth Rivas saw it that way too. When her husband left for the World Trade Center that morning, she went to a laundromat, where she heard the news. She couldn't reach him by cell and rushed home. He'd called at 9:02 and reached her daughter. The child reported, "He say, mommy, he say he love you no matter what happens, he loves you." He never called again. Mrs. Rivas later said, "He tried to call me. He called me."

There was the amazing acceptance. I spoke this week with a medical doctor who told me she'd seen many people die, and many "with grace and acceptance." The people on the planes didn't have time to accept, to reflect, to think through; and yet so many showed the kind of grace you see in a hospice.

Peter Hanson, a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175 called his father. "I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building," he said. "Don't worry, Dad--if it happens, it will be very fast." On the same flight, Brian Sweeney called his wife, got the answering machine, and told her they'd been hijacked. "Hopefully I'll talk to you again, but if not, have a good life. I know I'll see you again some day."

[snip]

These were people saying, essentially, In spite of my imminent death, my thoughts are on you, and on love. I asked a psychiatrist the other day for his thoughts, and he said the people on the planes and in the towers were "accepting the inevitable" and taking care of "unfinished business." "At death's door people pass on a responsibility--'Tell Billy I never stopped loving him and forgave him long ago.' 'Take care of Mom.' 'Pray for me, Father. Pray for me, I haven't been very good.' " They address what needs doing.

I'll see you when you get there. There are many lessons to be learned from 9/11. For me it's been to express to those I love, family and friends, just how very much they mean to me. Not in big flowery speeches or expressions, but in simple terms...direct and to the point. I never want to pass from this life with those people wondering just how I felt about them or what they meant to me. I want them to know that I love them...that they are blessings in my life. And that should go before them into the next life, I will see them when they get there.

Robert Linnane: I'll meet you on the run

The words are stark in their clarity and brevity:

Last Name: Linnane Company: FDNY Assignment: Ladder 20 City, State: Manhattan NY Last location: World Trade Center Status Presumed Lost From Manhattan NY Country USA Company FDNY Date of Birth/Age Unknown / 33 Last Known Location World Trade Center Survived by: Background FDNY Firefighter - Ladder 20. Of West Hempstead. Heroically in the line of duty on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center disaster.

Bob was 33 years old and a firefighter for the FDNY for almost two years, loving every minute of it. Bob started out in Engine 219/Ladder 105 in Brooklyn and was serving most recently in Ladder 20 in Manhattan, where he is missing with his comrades. Devoted son of the late Bridget and John. Beloved brother of John and Vincent. Caring brother in law of Janice. Adoring uncle of Samantha. Also survived by cousins in North America and Great Britain as well as an army of friends both personally and with the FDNY. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Firefighters Widows and Childrens Fund. A Memorial Mass will be held Saturday October 6, 2001 at 12:00 noon at St. Thomas the Apostle R.C. Church West Hempstead, NY.

The best words are those used by those who knew and loved Bob Linnane, and those are the words I wish to place here for all to read. They capture his essense and his humanity more effectively...I think you'll agree.

There's a reason Bob Linnane's sister-in-law used to call him "Bob Gump" after the character in the movie "Forrest Gump."

"He just used to surface in the oddest places," said Janice Linnane of East Northport. "He would call from the beaches on Nice, just to say hi. He took off to Russia once and came back with a picture of him and Michael Jackson ... Half the time, we didn't even know where he was."

She could guess what he was doing, however - "Probably sightseeing, meeting women and drinking beer."

And another:

I worked with Bob at Delta. He was at the ticket counter and I was in the office in back. Even when he transfered down to the maintenance area at midnights, I would go visit him, just to hear about his goal to be a firefighter and just sit around and laugh at his stories. A great friend and funny guy I will always miss. -Melissa Pierre (Glendale, NY )

Bob worked for Delta for eight years before joining the FDNY.

Another:

The last time I saw Bob was 1997. I was trudging through the snow to get to a party at a bar--Bob pulled over to save me from freezing, and we made our way there together.Bob was always smiling, making you laugh, and full of funny stories and opinions...although I had not seen him in years, I'll never forget that he was a beautiful person. - Tina Spizuoco & John Isaacson (Hawley, PA)

And another:

I met you once in La Guardian airport. You helped me by the professional way you have. I didn´t get flight for same day so I have to stay over a night in NY. Next day you called after me to ask how am I at Atlanta airport. It was planned to make calls during my holiday but I didn´t get your phone number correct. But after my holiday I found your address from Internet and I wrote to you a letter. Since then we wrote email quite often. You were planned to come Finland one day and you remind me about that week before WTC. But we did not have time enough. I will always remember you. Why can not we met ever again, my dear Delta Agent. Your place is in my heart always. - Saara Karvo (Oulu, Finland)

At the family house, the answering machine still has Linnane's voice on it. "Some of his friends call there," Vinny Linnane said. "Of course, they don't leave a message. They just call to hear his voice."

Robert Linnane is a man I wish I'd known in this life, and one I will look for in the next. Judging from what people wrote above, and in the profile below, it shouldn't be hard to locate him.

From a profile in the NY Times, December 5, 2001:

Robert Linnane was a horrible dresser. With the ridiculous bright red shorts that he jogged in while training to join the Fire Department and the mismatched get-ups that he called evening wear, he was a walking affront to the eyes.

"We would have to make him go inside and change," said Al Belfiore, a friend.

This shortcoming was tolerated by Firefighter Linnane's friends all over the world because of his cheerful, easygoing and tolerant personality.

An enthusiastic traveler, he had worked for Delta Air Lines for nearly a decade before becoming a firefighter. He took every opportunity to fly off and meet new people, and he often had a pass to bring one of his New York friends along.

"It was a life that people liked hearing stories about," said his brother Vincent.

It was a life that ended at 33 as a New York firefighter — he had passed the daunting physical tests and joined the department after his 30th birthday. His body was identified by the Grateful Dead tattoo on his ankle. His favorite song, a Dead standard titled "Sugaree," says:

I'll meet you at the Jubilee
If that Jubilee don't come
Maybe I'll meet you on the run.

The 2,996 Project

I first heard of The 2996 Project from Michelle Malkin in late August and decided I wanted to participate in my own small way in honoring one who fell that awful day. As fate would have it I was assigned the following man:

Robert Thomas Linnane, age 33.
Place killed: World Trade Center. Resident of West Hempstead, N.Y. (USA).

Aged 33. I was 33 on September 11, 2001.

All of the 2,996 names did end up being sponsored...some of them twice. My inbox has begun to be filled with links to other tributes paid by other bloggers. A complete list of the participants is here. I wanted to get mine up a week early as I will be leaving tomorrow to attend a weekend retreat for some much needed "down" time with God. Plus next week is a full one for me, and I did not want to get "busy" and distracted and neglect to honor Mr. Linnane. It is the least I can do for him and his memory.

His tribute follows this entry.

We lost over 343 firefighter heroes on September 11, 2001.

We thank them, remember them, and honor them for their
courage, strength, and commitment.

These outstanding heroes pledged to and serve us; and they did so with great courage and honor on 911.

These firefighter angels are now in Heaven.

We love them.

We miss them.

And we will never forget them or their sacrifice.

They are all heroes of the highest order.

Kevin Caruso
America 911.com