Two short news blurbs caught my eye today.
First, the sad AP story of a homeless man, Felix Najera, who was sleeping outside a church in Harlem, NY, and was set on fire. He suffered burns over 40 percent of his body and died Oct. 9. A 29-year-old man has been arrested and charged.
Second, after Dallas police began "removing" homeless people they found sleeping in public places, the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas started letting homeless people sleep in the church's parking lot and hired a security guard to watch over them. So far about 150 homeless people are using the parking lot. It's a "temporary solution," the pastor said, but a very compassionate response to the situation.
It's a tragedy that so many people are homeless in this land of abundance. I realize that many of them brought the problems on themselves, usually through drugs or alcohol abuse, but there are some who just had too many bad breaks. And even those who are substance abusers are human beings created in the image of God.
My friend Ken Leslie is organizing a Tent City in downtown Toledo Nov. 2 & 3 to raise awareness and hopefully some money to help the poor and needy in our hometown. I am going to help out however I can, including playing guitar with the praise and worship band on Nov. 2.
Let's give this problem some thought instead of trying to ignore it, and maybe we can find a way to deal with the tragic situation of men, women, and children in our land of plenty having nowhere to go at night. This becomes even more urgent as the weather turns cold in this sometimes brutal Midwest.
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Blade business writer Jon Chavez raises some interesting points in his article published today about local pharmacies providing birth-control pills for the discount price of $9, compared to the usual $30 cost. Most of the store p.r. people didn't even give any thought to the possibility that there were some moral issues involved. They were simply making a business decision to follow Wal-Mart in offering low-cost birth control pills.
So the question becomes: What about the Catholic Church's ban on such pills? None of the pharmacies wanted to address that issue. The Toledo diocese's director of communications was quoted as saying: "The Catholic Church is about natural family planning, but we also realize that people have to make choices."
I'm scratching my head over this, but maybe it's just me. Does it make sense to you?
You can read Jon's story here.
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Just a quick note about the Cleveland Indians as the postseason drama continues: I went to bed Saturday night with the Tribe losing 6-5. Manny Ramirez, a former Indian who jumped ship as soon as he was eligible for free-agency, hit a 2-run dinger for Boston to tie the game and then Mike Lowell followed with a solo shot to put the Red Sox up 6-5. It was already around 11:30 p.m. and only the 5th inning, if I remember correctly, so it was a loooong, slow, and very late game. I had been up since 6 a.m. and knew I'd never make it to the 9th inning, so I hit the record button on my DVR and went to sleep.
Around 2:45 a.m., my daughter Cara comes home from a trip to Cedar Point and inadvertently woke me up. Once I was awake, lying there staring at the ceiling, I just had to check the score. I used my cell phone's internet connection (dontcha just love modern technology?) and up pops the news on the little screen: Cleveland 13, Boston 6 F/11. I did a double take. The translation is that the Indians won 13-6 in 11 innings, which meant Cleveland must have scored 7 runs in the top of the 11th! Amazing! I went back to sleep with a smile on my face. In the morning, I turned on the DVR to watch the fireworks but, alack and alas, I only recorded 9 innings -- I didn't set it to record past the scheduled broadcast time, and the game went into extra-innings. Oh well... I watched what I could and am thrilled that the end result is the Indians won, tying the mighty Boston Red Sox at 1 game apiece in this best-of-7 series.
Those 7 runs in the 11th set some kind of postseason record, I heard an announcer say, but I'm not sure exactly which one.
You've got to love this Cleveland Indians team... which is looking like a team of destiny.
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One more little observation: The only shows I really watch on TV, besides sports and movies, are Survivor and Amazing Race. I actually applied to be on both shows, but never got the call (I think it's because I don't have any tattoos or piercings....Jeff Probst or Phil Keoghan, if you're reading this, how about giving this religion journalist from Holy Toledo a shot?) The new Survivor: China has been pretty good so far but I was disappointed in last week's show (which I just watched yesterday on DVR...glad to be able to skip the commercials) when Dave, a bartender and former model, was voted out instead of Sherea.
Granted, it was a lose-lose situation. Dave is obnoxious and overbearing; Sherea is insultingly lazy and thinks her tribe mates are too stupid to notice. Not that I care much, it's just a bit odd. The good news is that even though Dave was booted out before Sherea, it's seems clear that Sherea will be following Dave out the door pretty soon.
At least I hope so.
Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 15, 2007