Ollie's Follies

It is No Secret

Oliver — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:01:58 +0000

I saw on “60 Minutes” last night that a school called SEED in Washington DC has almost 100% success in placing its graduates in colleges, even though the students it accepts may have been making very poor grades at the time they enter the school. I wondered how they did it for only the time it took to find out that SEED is a boarding school. The instant I heard that, I thought, “Of course!” They have no secret, no magic. What they do is get the kids away from their homes. Whereas in a large proportion of homes. the home is the inspiration for academic achievement, in millions of cases the home is the Geat Destroyer of academic achievement. It begins its work of destruction in kindergarten and continues until the kid drops out of school. This is not owing to conscious malice on the part of the parents. It is just an unfortunate, catastrophic fact. Of course kids do well in boarding school–it gets them away from their homes.

Wives, Be Submissive

Oliver — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:03:13 +0000

Chapter 3 of I Peter begins with, “Wives, be submissive to your husbands.” Why did Peter go to the trouble to insert that statement in his letter? Surely he had better sense than to advocate it as a general rule for Christian wives in all times.

Some say Peter had learned that among the exiles to whom he was writing there were many Christian women married to pagan husbands. His purpose was to advise these wives not to rock the boat. “Let your modest, quiet, submissive behavior reflect the depth of your faith,” is what he was driving at. This is consistent with his view that the end would come soon, as expressed in Chapter 4, verse 7. He was telling the wives just to hang in there until Jesus returned.

Other interpreters, though, contend that Peter really meant for his injunction to apply to Christian wives in general, in ages to come as well as in the present. Peter recognized, so they say, that any organization requires a person in charge, in authority, and that this applies to a family. There is nothing wrong with this idea. Where it breaks down is in asserting that the authority ought to belong to the man.

Life in Steel

Oliver — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:25:28 +0000

We own a “grabber,” a thin metal rod about three feet long with a hand grip at one end that operates a claw at the other. We don’t use our grabber often, but when we need it, we need it. During the long spells when we don’t need it, it moves surreptitiously from place to place around the house. I know this to be true because it is always in a different place. Most of the time it is in fact obtrusive. But in conrtrast, when it is needed, it is nowhere to be found. I think that the very instant that the thing senses that someone is looking for it, it quickly hides, behind a curtain for instance.

I Killed a Weed Today

Oliver — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:05:36 +0000

Growing out of a crack in the front steps was a solitary weed, its thin stem about as tall as my hand is wide. Its presence offended me. Visitors might conclude that we were neglectful homeowners if they saw this weed growing out of a crack. So I yanked it out. It came out easily, with a root three times as long as the part that had been visible above the concrete.

Then, remorse. What had I done? I had killed a living thing that had never harmed me. It was just trying to survive where survival was difficult. But the deed had been done, and I set about rationalizing it. First, I was wrong in thinking it had not intended to hurt me. It hsd been instead maliciously bent on expanding the crack so as to make the steps crumble. Second, the plant was inferior because it was a brainless plant and I am an animal, with a brain. I am master of plants and can do as I please with them. And third, I had lost my conscience years ago in the matter of slaying weeds. I have already slain 357,886, 593 of them and will go on to slay more. Let it go, Oliver. Put it out of your mind, I thught, just as Stalin put the kulaks out of his mind and Hitler, the Jews.

The Roundup

Oliver — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:32:20 +0000

Time to round up the wild horses–
Rid the country of them all!
For they graze on scarce resources
That are not their own to call.
Time to ship them from our nation,
Taking all their young along,
On the buses, at the station–
We would see the end of wrong.
Every day would be so mellow
If their presence here would end—
Yet it’s hard to hurt a fellow
When the fellow is your friend.

Time to round up the wild horses–
Let their plots be soon revealed.
Plots to run their terror courses
From their secret grazing field.
We are fearful of their teaching
When the hundreds come to pray–
Fearful of their leader’s preaching
Evil thoughts against our Way.
Every day would be so mellow
If their presence here would end—
Yet it’s hard to hurt a fellow
When the fellow is your friend.

Where Is It Written?

Oliver — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:34:49 +0000

Is it written that God guarantees us a prosperous and healthy life? According to Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968), “Anyone who says that economic security is a human right, has been too much babied. While he babbles, other men are risking and losing their lives to protect him. They are fighting the sea, fighting the land, fighting disease and insects and weather and space and time, for him, while he chatters that all men have a right to security and that some pagan god – Society, The State, The Government, The Commune – must give it to them. Let the fighting men stop fighting this inhuman earth for one hour, and he will learn how much security there is.”

What Jesus Can Do

Oliver — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 13:56:05 +0000

Jesus can not save you, due to circumstances beyond your control, from losing your job, your savings, your land, or your house. He can not keep you and your loved ones free from cancer. He can not keep tornadoes, floods, hurrlcanes, mudslides, sinkholes and earthquakes from hurting you. And no matter how strongly you believe in Jesus, you may still flunk the exam or lose the match.

What good is it to you, then, to be a follower of Jesus? Much good indeed. Jesus can keep you out of jail and out of hell on earth. You will not rob or defraud your neighbor, commit adultery, commit arson, cheat on your income tax or kill unless necessary to defend yourself. Granting that you are not abused, you will respect, honor and love your spouse forever. You will not perjure yourself, either in or out of court. You will not ignore the hungry, the sick and the prisoner. You will do your best to love your neighbors and even your enemies.

Both Sides Now

Oliver — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:48:10 +0000

Heaven’s where the Master serves you burgers, what a thrill–

Hell is where the Devil flips you over on his grill.

Science and Dogma

Oliver — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:16:13 +0000

His dogma maintains that sailboats cannot sail into the wind. His friends conduct him to a regatta and confront him with the spectacle of fifty sailboats proceeding together on a tack. He calmly declares that it is an optical illusion, that they only give the appearance of sailing into the wind, just as a curve ball thrown by a baseball pitcher is an optical illusion.

Prayer of the Baseballs

Oliver — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:07:50 +0000

O Lord, as game time approaches we pray for rain, that the game may not be played; for skilled pitchers, that the bat may not strike us; for the bunt, that minimizes the blow; for ground balls, that the grass and good earth may assuage our pain; and for home runs and fouls into the stands, that remove us from the field of danger. Amen.