Middle class running as fast as it can Rex Nutting - MarketWatch

I am completely aware of my own limitations as a writer - painfully so at times.

Painful because there are so many times when I observe things which I desperately feel need to be expressed on paper (or LCD), but can never quite make the words I spit out express the meaning I am trying to convey. And because of that, when I see a "real" writer put out something that expresses so well what I am seeing or thinking, I really appreciate it...

This column does just that. Enjoy

Middle class running as fast as it can Rex Nutting - MarketWatch

PERSPECTIVE....

Long Time - No Blog - Sorry to all...

But now I have been esconsed in my new job for nine (9) months, and I have made (or perhaps re-made) the most wonderful discovery about towns, cities, money, and life in general...

First and Foremost, as the hit song by Mellencamp says, I was born in a small town. Now, after almost exactly 40 years, I have managed to get back to one. And I know that I am Home. Five Hundred miles further south perhaps - but home nonetheless. In the most amazing (puzzling) way, I feel more at home here, where I work (population ±24,000) after nine months than I do 30 miles north, where I live (population ±256,000), even though I have lived there for 40 years - i.e. my entire adult life.

And I have figured it out, or so I think. The difference is the DYNAMIC of the town. In a larger city, there are sooo many people that it is common to only associate with a tiny fraction of the population, and that fraction is one that has been selected almost excusively because they share so many common interests, perspectives and attitudes. You don't live "with" your fellow citizens, you simply compete for space. This same self-isolation applies economically as well as socially - most "city dwellers" share very little time or space with those not of their "class". An affect made more acute by the fact that there are SO many different "classes" separated by so many $$$.

In contrast, in a smaller town, bthere are far far fewer people to "group" with. And as an inevitable result everyone is forced to associate to a much larger degree with those "different" from them. It's learning to coexist by simply coexisting. And the beautiful part of that is a much larger degree of acceptance - or rather learning to accept - those who are different. And economically, because the stratification is much more limited, there is much more "coexistence" in that way too.

So as if by osmosis, you "learn" your fellow citizens, their quirks and "funnies" and learn how not just to live with them, but to DEAL WITH THEM!

Now all this isn't perfect, of course. There are bigots and idiots everywhere and there always will be. And some people are just anti-social to the point of sociopathy. But they are everywhere, and at least in a smaller town, you have a greater chance of knowing who they are and how to be wary of them.

Liturgical Thoughts and Time Travel

I spent some time this evening watching my DVRed version of The Eternal Gift, which is the film of the celebration of the Easter Sunday mass at Our Lady of Sorrows in Chicago, circa 1940 (youtube version here). I recorded it when it appeared on EWTN on the same day as the celebration of the Extraordinary Rite by the FSSP for the EWTN special. (FWIW, I recorded that mass too, but could only bring myself to watch it once all the way through, the incessant high-pitched nun-singing during the mass grated on my nerves - but I digress).

The film is scratchy black and white, and the audio flutters and wows, but I can still watch it and transport myself back in time to when it was happening. It is truly amazing to do and to feel. But one of the things that is unmistakable is how deeply people believed then. Sure there were no doubt some louts and philanders and what all in the congregation, just as there are today, but people by and large believed unhesitatingly. You can see in the faces - hear in the voices - such unadulterated and heartfelt joy and pleading and just raw emotion. Not in a pentecostal kind of way, but in a more sincere, reasoned, and true-believing way. The people were there talking to God in a way that one would talk to - say - a Judge on the Bench, or the President of the US, or the Holy Father. As if they were in a room with Greatness and Power, and had a chance to address the All Powerful One directly.

Absent completely is the careless off-handedness one sees today. The attitude of "ho-hum, gimme my host so I can get out of here" that is EVERYWHERE today in the Catholic Church. And I am not talking about some stupid puppet mass, I mean a properly celebrated by-the-book novus ordo mass. People plain and simple, don't CARE. I'm not questioning their fundamental beliefs or motives - God forbid I should do that - but their slouchy attitude. What I'm saying is, I know they believe something, or else they'd be at St. Mattress every Sunday morning, but it is not possible to reconcile their attitude and behavior with a sincere belief in and understanding of the sacrifice of the mass and the real presence of GOD HIMSELF in the tabernacle - or on the altar.

So what happened???? I know that society in general is rapidly deteriorating to the point where clean cargo shorts and t-shirts are considered "business attire". But is what we see representative of that decline? Or is it something different? Well, to use an inapproriate but telling business technique, let's check out the competition! In the more mainstream protestant churches, never (nearly) does one see men go to Sunday Service in anything but a suit, or at the very least a jacket and tie. But in OUR church, such attire is a rarity! At each mass there are a few suits, yes, but about 80% of the congregation looks like they are dressed for a round of golf, at best, or a Jimmy Buffet concert, at worst. In fact, here in the south, I have often heard people (protestants) point out that Catholics "wear anything" to church!

My Latin basically is nonexistent, consisting of one year at Page High School in '75, so I can't translate this. But, as the church, and Pope Benedict in particular says "as we pray, so we believe" (Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi), I would like to add "how we act and dress is how we believe". And I speak with personal experience. Looking Back over the years at my own behavior, there were times when I went to church in a ratty t-shirt, holey, dirty jeans, and old sneakers. Only now, with the clarity of hindsight, do I realize that those were the same times when I was just "going though the motions". It may be unfair or unreasonable to extrapolate that out to the Catholic world in general, but I don't think it is. I think it's the only logical choice.

The question for the ages is, how did we get here? And how do we get out? The first half is easy. We got here because we were put here. A whole generation of priests came out of Vatican II with the attitude of "Jesus is COOL man!!!" "He Loves you no matter what you wear". Combined with their own laissez-faire attitude toward reverence and respect, they dumbed us all down.

The answer to the second is harder, and it will be the topic of my next post....

Tune in again tomorrow!!!!

How Stands the Empire???

SO WENT the last words of the late King George V. Or so the (apocryphal) story goes.

The question nowadays is more along the lines of "How Stands the Western World?". Well, for those of us who care, and are observant and not entranced and numbed by the indescribably vapid pop culture around us, the answer is obvious - it sucks. We live in a world where of people lead empty hedonistic self destructive lives. Examples are everywhere, form non-existent birth rates to drunken louts running amok to the worst offense of all - indifference. Indifference at the same time the culture is being overgrown by external forces hostile to the past 500 years of western heritage - here is a column from today about that very thing.

Well, fortunately, not everyone in a position of power is oblivious to what is happening. The Throne of Peter is currently occupied by one who not only sees what is going on, but who is so intellectually powerful that he has a plan to try to stop the bleeding - and re-win the battle. This aside from the fact that he has the Holy Spirit on his side - as well as at his side! Pope Benedict is a man on a mission. Not only that he is a man with a plan. Bit by bit we can see it being played out. And it is beautiful!

Today, browsing my usual blogs, I came across this post by my friend the Catholic Knight. Obviously he is onto the same thing. His Holiness sees a problem and he means to address it! A year ago, I had the feeling (as did many) that he was intending to derestrict the old mass the try to save keep the church from flying apart due to the lack of discipline and teaching and the liturgical free for all that had developed. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi. Now it is apparent that that was only a small small part of the plan.

Then, thanks to a "google alert", I got a link to this article which is saying some of the same things. Yes I know that it's from the followers of the late Herbert W. Armstrong, and I am in no way endorsing that, but that doesn't exclude it from being insightful and correct - albeit from a different perspective.

So, bit by bit the lines are being drawn. And the people are deciding on one side or the other. It's still somewhat at an embyonic stage - actually more of a 12-week fetal stage - but it is happening. Get ready, folks. It's gonna take a while, and it's gonna get rough.

An Observation

This post has only a little to do with church, and only a little more to do with liturgy. It is a reflection on life and society that has been a long time coming. I have been haranguing my long-suffering wife for years about this topic, and as the phonomenon seems to be progressing so rapidly of late, I figure that the time is right to unleash it on the world.

Some years ago, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, coined the term “Defining Decency Down”. It is used to describle the slow, creeping deterioration of our societal mores wherein behaviors that were once considered disgusting and taboo are now considered normal and healthy.

Well, I am now borrowing and adapting that term to define the similar slow, creeping changes to what is considered decent and appropriate behavior and dress. I call it “Defining Slackness Down”. Nowadays, attire (and attitude) that was once to be seen only in teenagers on vacation is now considered acceptable nearly everywhere and anytime - even considered “Sunday Best”.

There is a phrase, “the clothes make the man” , but it really should be “the clothes reflect the man”. That is, the voluntary decision one makes as to is or her attire reflect the attitude with which that person approaches everything in the world. The man who dons a suit approaches himself and everything else in the world with an attitude completely different than the one who chooses a wrinkled t-shirt, shorts and boat shoes. If an example is needed one need look no further than the term “wife beater”, used to desribe the tank-top style shirts worn consistently by the drunken male sleazeballs seen in the infamous “Cops” TV series.

The extrapolation of this is that people in such a flip-flop wearing society expect to approach everything with a sort of slack, casual attitude. It is the projection of the personal comfort “uber alles” worldview. This is the reason that everywhere, no matter where you go, people don’t seem to give a damn about anything - anything that is ecept themselves. This is the all-pervasive flippant don’t-give-a-rats-ass about you attitude that we have to fight in so many situations is the ultimate result.

In the movie “Patton”, General Patton, as played by George C. Scott, was charged with turning a losing army into a winning one. His first observation - and definition of the problem went like this.

“You want to know why this outfit got the hell kicked out of it?
Hell, a blind man could see it in a minute. They don't look like soldiers.
They don't act like soldiers. How in the hell can they be expected to fight like soldiers?”

Well, the same can be said about our society today. People don’t look like they give a damn. They don’t act like they give a damn. How can they be expected to actually give a damn.

Perhaps, after all, this post does have to do with liturcgy and the church. Look up some photos on line. Take a look at the congregation at a tradtional mass. Then take a look at the congregation at one of the “progressive” masses. Which group do YOU think looks more like they give a damn about the fact that God himself is on the altar???