SHOT THROUGH THE HEART DAY HODGEPODGE!

    Valentine's Day (AKA Shot Through the Heart by Cupid's Arrow Day) is this Friday, hence the title of this Hodgepodge blog entry! Joyce from "From this Side of the Pond" never disappoints with the latest series of questions. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, have a seat and enjoy this week's edition of the Hodgepodge. Better yet, fire up the old computer and join in on the fun!
  

1.What makes love last?
    It seems to me that this question suggests that love is finite, that you get so much and then it's gone or that we have just so much love to give and then we're out. I do not believe that love wears out. I believe that we choose to stop loving…for whatever reason.
    My beloved SWMBO and I have been in love for 42 years. We continue to choose to love each other no matter what. So, to my way of thinking, what makes love last is our decision that it will last!

   
2. The Beatles made their US debut fifty years ago this week. Are you a fan? If so, what's your favorite Beatles tune?
   I am definitely a fan! I listen to an "All Beatles All the Time" station over my I-Heart radio I-Phone application. I prefer their earlier stuff, up to and including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. I don't have only one favorite Beatles tune. "And I Love Her", "If I Fell", "No Reply", "The Night Before" are a few of the ones I find myself singing when alone in my car or at home doing chores.

  
3. Valentine's Day-your thoughts? Do you celebrate in any way? Do anything special for the people you love? Expect anything special from the people who love you? 
    I will give SWMBO a tasteful greeting card and a small box of chocolates. I don't expect anything special from people who love me.

4. Steak or burger...you have to choose. Now that that's settled, how do you like it?
    I prefer a nice New York Strip steak cooked medium well. Yumm!

5. The Hodgepodge lands on the birthdate (February 12th) of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America. Lincoln is quoted as saying, 'Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test his character give him power.'  Do you agree? Why or why not?
    Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Our founding fathers knew this all too well and did their level best to construct our system of government in such a way that the tension existing between the three equal branches would keep our lesser angels in check. President "Honest Abe" believed this as well evidenced by this quote. Our nation is seriously lacking in people of such character today.

6. Honest Abe's image is featured on the US penny (1 cent coin) so I'm wondering...what do you do with your pennies (or your country's equivalent)?  It's been suggested the US stop making the penny, and two bills have been introduced proposing just that, but neither were approved. What say you?
     I still pick up pennies and save them in a "Penny Jar." When the jar gets filled I convert them to more convenient forms of cash and take SWMBO out to dinner. It still takes 100 pennies to make a dollar.

7.  Do you think pop culture deserves serious study?
    Yes, I do think that pop culture should be studied but not us, but rather by the people who come after us. I do not believe that we can accurately assess our culture from the present. For example, in my humble opinion we really did not begin to fully comprehend or appreciate the societal upheaval that was the 1960's until we looked back from the perspective of the late 1970's or 1980's.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
    I have been thinking about the humanity of Jesus Christ. What I mean is that I have been considering some of the events in His life and considered how He might have felt given how we might feel in the same circumstances.
   We can infer from a reading of the Gospels that Joseph, His earthly father, probably died sometime before Jesus began His public ministry. In my mind I see Him, with tears in His eyes and a broken heart, comforting His mother Mary and His siblings at the gravesite.  
     While on earth, Jesus chose twelve men who became His disciples, His Apostles and I believe His closest friends. One of these friends, Judas, conspired with His enemies to arrest Him. In my minds eye I see tears in Jesus' eyes when Judas kissed Him in the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus said "Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"
    I see Jesus walking through the courtyard and His eyes meeting Peter's after Peter denied knowing Him three times before the rooster crowed. Peter was one of His three closest friends and even though Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny knowing Him, it had to cut Jesus deeply for that prophecy to have come true.
   As Christians I think that we sometimes fail to fully appreciate the extent of the humanity of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Think about it and see where your thoughts take you! May God bless you on your mental journey!