Opinion: A Belief or Judgment that Rests on Grounds Insufficient to Produce Complete Certainty

After reaching my 50^th birthday a few years ago, I dare say I am (reasonably? considerably? certainly? undoubtedly?) past my mid-life point.  If I unknowingly had a mid-life crisis, I guess it was somehow sandwiched in between busyness and turmoil.  I have been around the block a few times and not because of a desire to exercise.  I’ve found, along life's bumpy path, I’m becoming much more opinionated.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  I really don’t know.  But I’ve decided to express my opinion on a few issues which are not officially Church teaching or dogmas—just a matter of personal taste.  (Please excuse me if I ramble a bit.  Most people who express opinions tend to do this and I am simply following suit.)

• Beware the Ides of March . . . and the Elections of November

I am sick of politics (and of many high-profile politicians).  Who lies?  Who tells the truth?  Who really represents and tries to assist the average person and who is self-serving?  So often it gets to be a case of choosing the lesser of two evils (can I morally do this?) because I don’t really like any candidate in far too many elections.  I feel sorry for the honest person who enters politics with a noble intention and who is determined to change the system because he or she will probably be surrounded by a cesspool of corruption.  It’s hard to stay untainted when you are immersed in so much garbage and waste.  I have said many times before and I continue to pray that I will never sell my soul to any political party.  (My soul belongs completely to Jesus, thank you very much.)  I usually vote for the person—as opposed to any party—with whom I may agree because of the positions for which he or she officially stands.  And making that decision for a particular candidate isn’t easy.  I compare it to the choice between hanging and the guillotine.  Either one brings various unpleasantries with the same end result.  Gulp!

• The “Boob-Tube” Lives

Most television is a waste of time and energy.  How can we have so many channels and still conclude that “there’s nothing to watch?”  Reality TV is far from my real life.  Talk shows are frequently shared ignorance sessions.  The News is mostly bad, depressing and frequently slanted depending on the network.  Premium cable TV has too much perversion.  Far too many shows push a particular political or social agenda, whatever may be in vogue.  Philadelphia sports teams usually stink.  I’d rather watch that test-pattern from the days when the stations would go off the air in the middle of the night.  At least then they gave us a break and not an infomercial.

• The Hills are Alive with the Sound of ?*!#@

Much of the music today has no enduring quality.  Let me first establish the fact that I really love music.  I’ve listened to it continuously since I was a small child.  I have a rather eclectic taste—from classical to pop. I have dabbled at playing the piano and have even attempted to write some songs as well as liturgical hymns.  Unfortunately, I find that so much of today’s music borders on vulgar (Warning:  explicit contents) or is just really poor quality.  Yes, there are a few very talented people and some good material being written.  I gravitate to that.  But, I think, most of what I hear in contemporary music would unfortunately surround me in Hell for all eternity in unending cacophonous torture (a la Manuel Noriega), if I don’t make it to those Pearly Gates.  The fires of Gehenna pale in comparison!

As a side note, save me from “church music” that is still stuck in the Kumbaya days, sounds like a love song or pop tune, or is something that is more suited for the Broadway stage.  Church music should raise our minds and hearts to God and should be unique (unlike other secular music) for the purpose of Divine worship.  Shouldn’t we give God something that is our ultimate—our very best?  If I can imagine the hymn being “performed” by Patti LuPone from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, if it sounds like I’m ready to propose to someone with ring in hand, or if it’s something longing to come out of the mouths of the boys of One Direction, then maybe it’s not suitable to raise my mind and heart to God.  While I’m at it, if it feels like I am waiting for a Bob Dylan wannabe to lead us in song or for “That ‘70s Show” to appear miraculously on a flat screen TV in front of the altar, please keep it out of the church!  Bring on the Gregorian Chant!  I think that they may have been on to something back then, in my humble opinion.

• The Too-Smart-for-Its-Own-Good Phone

How did we ever exist without a mobile phone?  When I was young, text referred to a book and a tweet came from a bird’s mouth.  There was no such thing as driving while on the mobile phone (we drove on the highway) or while texting.  Phones didn’t go off regularly in churches and other formerly sacrosanct localities.  The fact is we are addicted to our phones and we use them constantly, for everything.  Person to person communication now involves a mobile device which has an app capable of bringing all things to all people.  Just think of it, and there’s probably an app to do it!  Thinking?  Yes, there’s an app for that!

• Bringing It In for a Landing 

I have too many additional concerns and unanswered questions plaguing me right now.  Let me try to make a quick summary of the varied trepidations in my brain, rather than formulate an opinion about each of them.  I've babbled enough already.

I pray that we be delivered from the apathy, indifference, negativism, relativism, secularism, selfishness, rationalizing, perversion, etc., etc., currently permeating much of society.  At the same time, I ask for wisdom and understanding concerning a few troublesome matters in today’s world:  Why is life so cheap that we dispose of it so easily?  How long can we exist as a society with the traditional family unit disintegrating so quickly that it’s becoming unrecognizable?  Why do we infrequently talk to God (pray and worship) and then blame Him for everything disastrous that comes down the pike?  Why do we disregard moral teachings founded on solid biblical principles—principles that have guided peoples for centuries—and make them appear so irrelevant for our “enlightened” society?  How long will God be patient with us as we seem to close our eyes and ears, hearts and minds to Him?

As I said in the beginning, these are some of my opinions (and the various thoughts and worries that accompany them).  I don’t claim to be a sage or scholar.  I am simply reflecting on what I see, continually seeking the Truth and, perhaps, rambling a bit.  Feels a bit therapeutic.

    

I humbly defer, however, to the Almighty for the final say in all matters.

(Rev.) Edward Namiotka

“Oh, You’re Going to Keep It!?”

My sister and her two sons

When I was sixteen years old my mother and father announced to my three brothers and me that we were going to have an addition to our family.  My mom was now pregnant at 43 years old.  My parents hadn’t had any additional children for about a decade.  Everyone was truly surprised—really a bit stunned—by this latest news!

My mother went to an ob-gyn for an initial visit.  When she returned I could see that she was visibly shaken.  My mother and father were debating whether or not they should continue using the doctor that she had just seen.  My mom’s former doctor—the one who had delivered some of my siblings—had retired some years ago and she had to choose someone else for the care and delivery of her next baby.

I later learned the reason for their immediate concern.  It was the doctor’s troubling statement during my mom’s office visit:  “Oh, you’re going to keep it!?”  I guess that he thought that she had come to him to abort the child.  This was the furthest thing from my parents’ intentions—no matter how old my mother was.

This “it”, my sister Cathy—the only sister that I have—now has two children of her own.  She and my mom are extremely close.  The two little grandchildren, the youngest of the ten, are just so adorable (objectively speaking, of course!) and truly keep my mom going day after day.

I often think of what life would be like without my sister and, consequently, without her two children.  What if another tragic decision had been made so that “it” would be all that she was known as, or referred to, by those trying to deny that she ever existed in the first place?

I once wrote a poem trying to express my feelings over this loss of potential—a human life, a human person never given the opportunity to live.  I have thought about “it” over and over again since the horrific trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell hit the Philadelphia news.

I have already put this poem to a basic tune and hope to have it as a completed song someday.

I Cried

I cried—no one heard me

Yet I cried—

For I was inside

Of my mother’s womb.

I longed to be held in her arms,

To be fondled and caressed,

To take milk from my mother’s breast

And to laugh.

Such beauty and warmth of life

I could enjoy,

Play with my first toy

And begin to love.

I could leave my print on the world:

Wisdom to span the ages,

As the knowledge of sages

Of years past.

Still, more than this all, I long for life

--That gift God-given—

And the chance to live in

His created world.

I cried—and no one heard me

For I was inside of my mother’s womb.

Little did I know it would be my tomb.

I cried.

© 1982 Edward F. Namiotka