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Asian

Asian: (adj) of or relating to Asia or its people, customs, or languages.dictionary with letter A

True ignorance is any notion or false concept that would lead us to believe that we’re not ignorant.

I have spent my entire life trying to free myself from the ignorance of suspicion which was infused in me as a young man growing up in Middle America.

Although I can speak of my triumphs of creating a section of my brain that is prejudice-free and bent on equality, I must tell you that I will never be totally absent “eyeballing bigotry.”

“Eyeballing bigotry” is that first thought that pops into our minds when we see anybody who’s different from us and therefore doesn’t immediately gain acceptance. Of course, we reject this first impression in favor of more enlightened views, but it is still there.

  • Black people still see white people.
  • White people still see Asians.
  • Asians still see Hispanics.

Well, it goes on and on.

I think there are three keys to achieving the kind of natural maturity that will help us get along with each other, accept one another, find our similarities and generate tolerance:

1. Deep in my heart, I don’t believe there’s any difference between races and genders.

2. Yet in some corner of my brain, I still see your color and sex.

3. So let’s laugh about it.

When my son returned from China with his wife, who was most certainly Chinese, I was completely comfortable, overjoyed and pleased with his glorious emotional acquisition. Yet the Midwest boy returned and I felt a bit uncomfortable at first–being “whitey” in the presence of the Asian girl. Rather than taking it seriously, I laughed at it, because not only was she intelligent, beautiful, valuable and present, but also in many ways she was more American than me. At least in a “hip” sense.

So it’s not so much that we occasionally burst forth with the ridiculous statement that Asians are “good in mathematics but horrible drivers” as it is essential that we follow that with the immediate realization of the limitations of such a proclamation–and giggle at ourselves.

In so doing, we won’t be looking for evil empires, dark religions and sinister terrorists, but instead, take the world on one by one–as solitary people.

 

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Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday: (n) the first day of Lent in the Western Christian Church, marked by services of penitence.dictionary with letter A

I like making lemonade.

The recipe is simple. Make it strong and sweet, and then add water to taste. If you’re going to put it over ice, you don’t really need to add any water.

You don’t have to come up with the perfect blend as long as you don’t make it too weak to begin with. Because after all, it is impossible to make stronger lemonade after you’ve already watered it down.

The same is true with people.

I would much rather have them strong and let time, experience and wisdom add the water of humility to them. Making them weak through anemic philosophy and then being upset with them when they fail at tasks or don’t have the gumption to keep up and continue is mean-spirited.

Faith offers us the pungency of life and then nature waters us down with humility. We don’t need religion to come along and tell us how weak we really are or smear ashes on our faces during Ash Wednesday to confirm our decrepit condition.

Life does a real good job with that.

So when we tell people they’re “filthy sinners” and they’re “unworthy” and they come face-to-face with life, which will also mercilessly point out their inadequacies, we are not raising children of the kingdom of God, but rather, nervous, twitching, frustrated and cowering victims.

  • Jesus did not come to take away our lives, but instead, to give us life.
  • Jesus did not come to temper our joy, but instead, to give us full joy.
  • Jesus did not come to tell us that we are bland and have no salt, or dim and have no light. He proclaimed us the “light of the world,” flavored with the “salt of the earth.”

As for me. I do not need ashes smeared on my face to remind me that I am often sullied by my own vices and weaknesses.

What I need is a faith that lifts me up so that when my lemonade is diluted … it still tastes sweet.

 

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Ashore

Ashore: (adv) on land as opposed to at sea.dictionary with letter A

There is an oblivious arrogance involved in expounding upon ideas of which you have little experience.

Yet if you wait for those who are acclaimed for their journey in a certain area to offer insight, their often mum profiles can leave one ignorant.

So it is our lot as human beings to get most of our data and insight from the offerings of the less-than-professional.

Like me, talking about boats.

  • I’ve never been in the Navy.
  • I haven’t captained a vessel at sea.
  • I have been fishing on a lake in a small craft that floated and had a tiny motor to propel us along.

My purpose for this journey was to fish, not to be a seaman or a conquistador.

Yet today, I will flaunt my knowledge in front of you, drawing parallels to life, stretching my resume of comprehension to the point of breakage.

Why? Because I can–and those who have salt in their veins choose to remain silent.

My memory of being on water in a boat for even a short period of time is how quickly I forgot what it was like to be a “land-lubber.”

What I mean is that I saw terra firma in the distance, but now, I was a creature of the water, and land seemed foreign to me. Matter of fact, as the boat came to shore and it was time for me to disembark and come ashore, there was a sadness in my soul.

How different from just a few hours earlier, when I tentatively and awkwardly put one foot into the boat, nearly tipping the entire floating mechanism over.

Now I had become John Paul Jones, the master of all H2O.

It just makes me realize how quickly we can assimilate into situations if we will deliver ourselves of the demon of bitchiness and just absorb the beauty of our surroundings.

So having completed this brief essay (and admitting that I’ve said very little) I will now close, leave my ocean of thoughts … and come back ashore.

 

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Ashen

Ashen: (adj) (of a person’s face) very pale with shock, fear, or illness.dictionary with letter A

Whatever we plant grows.

I know there may be weeds. Sometimes the seeds don’t sprout quickly. But the truth of the matter is, what is sown eventually does reap.

I’ve been thinking about this.

I have casually made jokes, or even been careless in my speech with my fellow-humans under the guise of being honest or just joking around, never coming to the full comprehension that the little seed I plant is very easily watered and can grow.

A lady came up to me just three months ago and told me that I looked “ashen.” Of course, she couldn’t stop there. She said I should probably go to the doctor to have my liver checked. Actually, all I needed was a good night’s sleep, but the seed was planted.

It was so deeply engrained in my mental earth that when I saw the word “ashen” today, the incident came to my mind. She probably thought she was doing me well by warning me of my pale complexion, but actually she just stirred an insecurity in me which sprouted some overgrowth.

All of us are occasionally going to be foolish in our wording, but when we realize that we’ve planted something inside another person, we should probably take the time to let them know it needs to be extracted.

I just don’t know what good it does for someone to know that they’re ashen–because to run off to a doctor every time one’s pallor goes meek would leave one little time for anything else.

 

 

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Ashamed

Ashamed: (adj) embarrassed or guilty because of one’s actions, characteristics, or associations.dictionary with letter A

There are two “rest areas” that people often stop off in on their way to completing the journey to repentance.

Repentance is easy–maybe not to accomplish, but certainly to understand.

  1. I see what I did wrong.
  2. I see what I need to do.
  3. I see how to start.

It is the essence of what makes human beings believe in and strive towards the divine instead of settling for the devilish.

Now, back to those two stop-offs:

One of the stop-offs is called arrogance, and once people stall there, they tend to stay. Arrogance is:

  1. I see what I did
  2. It’s not that bad–I’ve seen worse
  3. No one’s going to force me to change.

But equally as debilitating and ignorant is the stop-off of being ashamed, because rather than being a stepping-stone to solution, it is an egregious ceasing of progress–and ends up being poorly disguised self-pity.

It has three parts as well:

  1. I see what I did wrong.
  2. I don’t see how it can be forgiven.
  3. So I am going to choose not to do very much.

I am convinced that once people become arrogant, they unwittingly also become a repellent to other human beings.

And I am equally as convinced that people who choose to be ashamed end up being the victims of nasty fellows.

Without making the full journey to repentance, we end up stuck in one of these rest areas … which usually end up smelling pretty crappy.

 

 

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Ash

Ash: (n) the powdery residue left after the burning of a substance.dictionary with letter A

I thought it was going to be an urn, but I guess I was on the budget plan.

When my young son passed away, we decided on cremation. There were two reasons–at that particular time we were traveling around and didn’t exactly have a “home cemetery.” And secondly, it was cheaper.

What they handed me was a black plastic box.

I carried it around for several weeks, a little bit spooked by the fact that my son’s entire life and memories were confined within this container.

Then one day, in a private moment, I opened it up. There was a plastic bag which was sealed, filled with gray dust.

I must have stared at it for a solid hour.

It was more than surreal. It was nearly mentally debilitating.

I had a picture of my son in my right hand, and in my left hand was a bag of his ashes.

I didn’t cry.

Rather, I felt great bewilderment, revelation and hopelessness, all at the same time. How could such a beautiful spirit, smile, giggle and mischief be burned down to a bag of what appeared to be the dumpings from a vacuum cleaner?

“Ashes to ashes…”

Is this really how we begin? Are we made from the dust of Earth?

And how do we reconcile that in our pursuit of creativity and invention?

After about an hour of staring at that bag of gray residue, I stuffed it back into the black container and have never looked at it again.

We are more than ashes and less than gods.

Wherever that revelation may take us is what we must truly discern … to be righteous.

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Asexual

Asexual: (adj) without sexual feelings or associationsdictionary with letter A

Tommy was a dynamo.

He was one of my friends from high school, who was constantly interested in making out with girls, and was willing to go almost anywhere to do so.

Compared to the other guys in my class, he was a firecracker, and to some degree or another, the rest of us–fizzles.

He had boundless energy for any romantic activity with women.

I, on the other hand, was poised among the emotions of terror, intrigue, lust and intimidation. If you’re wondering what you get when you stir those together, the best term would be “stalled.”

Matter of fact, I wondered if I would ever actually have physical contact with a woman. What made it worse was that I frequently drove along in the car with Tommy, to have him pull over at some park where there would be a young lady waiting for him. He told me that he was going to fe back in a few minutes. They would spread a blanket not even forty yards away and I sat there for fifty minutes watching them make out.

There’s nothing sexy about that at all.

Truth of the matter is that human sexuality is not nearly so simple as “gay” or “straight.”

Some people seem to have huge libidos, which they use at will.

Other people are anxious to get married so they can carry on a once-a-year sexual calendar.

I suppose those who are hungry for love think the other people are asexual–but actually, we all, in our own way, have an interest in sexuality, and it varies so much that it certainly should not be a matter of debate or scrutiny.

As it turns out, I wasn’t asexual at all–just lacking in opportunity.

Tommy also settled down and married the least likely woman you would have thought such a Don Juan would pluck.

Sex is weird stuff.

Not so weird that we want to avoid it–just weird enough that we need the mercy of understanding from ourselves and others.

 

 

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Aseptic

Aseptic: (adj) free of germs that cause diseasedictionary with letter A

One of the more miserable times in life is when you discover that you’re contagious (and I’m not talking about having a sparkling personality.)

It could be a runny nose, a stomach virus, a cold sore or any one of a number of little irritations that come onto the human pathway and make us temporarily unacceptable for communion with our brothers and sisters.

Only once in my life was I dubbed “septic.” I had picked up a couple of bacteria microbes which had spread through my bloodstream, and then, upon being hospitalized, the environment of the healing institution afforded me a couple more.

Yes, I went to the hospital to multiply my contagion.

It was very annoying.

The nurses who took care of me had to take the precaution of wearing masks and rubber gloves all the time, and I felt like Typhoid Johnny. They checked my blood daily to see if I was decreasing in toxicity, and if it would be possible for me to once again someday walk among the living.

And what made it worse was that I did not feel bad–I was basically without symptoms, but still viral. And I do not mean like a video.

I cannot tell you how overjoyed I was when the last blood test declared me aseptic. There were still nurses who didn’t believe the test, and appeared donning their garb, obviously trying out costumes for Halloween.

But I had the confidence that I was no longer a threat to others.

Now I am not going to go philosophical here and discuss how septic attitudes–disgusting prejudices–can be passed along to other people. Far be it for me to turn every conversation into some sort of human parable.

But let me say that having been septic … I can recommend aseptic.

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Ascribe

Ascribe: (v) to attribute something to a causedictionary with letter A

Now that we know that “ascribe” is not the traveling companion of a Pharisee, may we take a look at what possibly could or should be ascribed to our lives and virtues?

  • My hope defines my flexibility.
  • My faith advertises my endurance.
  • My love is a beacon to my passion.

At least, this is what I believe.

I do meet people who have a great impetus to love, but they have not followed through on their faith and hope, so their affection is often temporary.

Some individuals ascribe to faith a religion about religious matters which offers no hope or love to the world around them.

To see the value of the human journey and the purpose for spirituality, you must ascribe faith, hope and love to what you do in the proportion which causes this trio to not only fellowship with one another, but become dependent on each other’s involvement.

I must have hope for mankind–otherwise my faith will be solely in God, when He insists that I include others. And in the process of including others, it’s a tremendous idea to find a way to love them instead of treating them like pets or pests.

What do I ascribe to my personal success, such as it is?

My hope needs my faith and my faith generates my love.

I would be frightened to disassemble them, because in doing so the whole system would fall apart and tumble to the ground … like a house of cards.

 

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Ascorbic Acid

Ascorbic acid: (n) a vitamin found particularly in citrus fruits and green vegetables. It is essential in maintaining healthy connective tissue, and is also thought todictionary with letter A act as an antioxidant. Severe deficiency causes scurvy.

Since revelation usually comes in trickles, it is very difficult to be showered in knowledge.

Such was my situation many years ago when I was traveling and singing in a musical group, and because we were young, we were susceptible to every cold virus that happened to come into town, gunning for victims. As you probably know, it is difficult to sing without your voice, and the common cold does quite often hold your entire throat hostage until further notice.

The conventional wisdom of the day was to take large doses of Vitamin C to counteract the cold or even build an immunity against being attacked by the “snootiness” in the first place.

Since I was not particularly fond of swallowing the large amounts of pills necessary to create the dosage considered therapeutic, I opted for orange juice. Being a dumb kid, I failed to realize that even though the juice of the orange does contain large amounts of Vitamin C, it is possessed by even greater amounts of sugar–and the higher your blood sugar, the more susceptible you are to viruses.

So I thought I was pouring liquid gold down my throat to give myself a suit of armor against the dragon of coughing and stuffiness, but I actually ended up throwing gasoline on the fire.

I could never figure out why the more OJ I drank, the more quickly I became sick.

I’m sure this was also true with the pills, because the amount of Vitamin C it takes to address the burden is nearly beyond comprehension. Also you have to consider that Vitamin C is very quickly absorbed by the body–therefore, every tine you pee in the pot, you have to start over again.

So like many home remedies and doctor-approved solutions, if you wait around six months, the suggestion will be revised without apology … and usually with the absence of any culpability about offering the advice in the first place.

 

 

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