First of all, thanks to all of you who made the right comments on the photo of Leya's first Halloween that I posted yesterday. From the tone of your comments, it appears that I succeeded in getting across the proper tone of grandfatherly love and pride. Not that it was hard.
We didn't have nearly the number of trick-or-treaters last night that we've had in the past. The number tends to vary from year to year, and depends a lot on the turnover in the neighborhood; evidently, the downturn in the housing market, which has greatly reduced the number of home sales across the area, has held us at pretty much last year's number of local children. Those that came were, of course, cute (except for the barely-made-up teenagers trying for their last year of trick-or-treat eligibility), and tended to be shepherded from door to door in large packs by small teams of parents. Princesses were popular this year, as were Spider Men and pirates ("of the Caribbean" and "plain old"). The cutest was a little boy whose parents made him a robot costume out of a cardboard box - the box had cutouts for eyes and mouth, and holes for his arms positioned to keep the eyeholes in the box properly aligned at eye-level. It didn't work. The little guy shuffled up the sidewalk with his head down, trying to see where he was going, and finally stopped when he spotted my feet with the bowl of candy between them...at which point the gaily-painted box popped up and a muffled "trick or treat!" echoed from within.
As usual, we're stuck with about four cubic meters of leftover candy, which will suffer the usual fate: Agnes and I will take some of it to work (as will all the other parents with leftover candy), some of it will disappear over the coming months as quick snacks, and the remainder will finally be thrown out a week or two before next Halloween. This is all so predictable...
Break, break - new topic.
I didn't realize until I received my "This Day in History" e-mail (from The History Channel Online) late yesterday afternoon that October 31st is not only Halloween, but also is the day on which, in the year 1517, Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation by nailing his famous "95 Theses" to the door of the castle church in Wittenburg, Germany. Luther, a German monk and theologian and (by all accounts) very disagreeable person, was enraged by the rampant corruption within the Roman Church, in particular the sale of indulgences and the prostitution of church offices. The movement Luther started led to what we now know as The Reformation and in many ways shaped the development of the Western world that we know today. "Lutheran" churches are widespread today, and owe their existence to the activities of one angry monk who was willing to take on the excesses of the mighty religious establishment of the time.
Some have asked whether there isn't a need for a similar Reformation within Islam, that will take the focus away from anger and violence and back toward a love of God consistent with a love of one's neighbor; others believe that much of the tumult in the Islamic world today indicates that such a reformation is already underway, and reflects the struggle for primacy between the hard-core intolerance of the Wahhabis and similar sects and the more tolerant "mainstream" Muslims living mainly outside the Middle East. I don't know who's right, but the outcome will greatly influence the world in which our children and grandchildren grow up.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Have a good day. Happy November First! More thoughts tomorrow.
Bilbo
6 comments:
Halloween, Reformation Day--both have people pretending to be something they're not. Maybe next year I'll dress up as the angry monk or better yet, a priest selling sin!
good luck with all of the candy!
The Robot Boy sounds cute!
Your mention of Martin Luther reminded me of Worms.....something about the Reformation had to do with a place called Worms (I think). That shows you how much attention I paid in class. Obviously the 'Worms' word stuck because it sounded funny at that time. No idea what he was doing in Worms though.
Amanda,
Yes, there is a city in Germany called Worms, which has been a topic of low humor for decades. It doesn't actually mean "worms" as in creepy-crawlie things (those are "Wurme" in German); the name derives from an old Celtic term meaning "settlement in a watery area." The worst (or best, depending on how you look at it) Worms jokes take off on the so-called "Diet of Worms," a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire in 1521. Among other things, the Diet of Worms was a forum for discussion of the activities of Martin Luther and the incipeint Protestant Reformation I wrote of in my original post.
More than you ever wanted to know, eh?
Keep up your Christmas cheer - I'll be looking to you for inspiration as we get closer to the date!
Each day is the anniversary of something.
hi,i read your post about the protestant movement and need for similar reforms in islam.there is no need for reforms in islam itself but rather the way it is being practiced.like you said we need to concentrate more on peace and kindness because according to islam no matter how pious you are ,if youre mean and cruel you will never attain salvation.it is a religion of peace and tolerance but we see a lot of intolerence today.which as a muslim it troubles me greatly to see.what these extremists think is that the ends justify the means so they think using force to implement personal obligations is justified,like in the case of the veil,intergender relations etc.what they need to realise is that they cant use force no matter what and each person alone is responsible for his/her action unless it affects the community as a whole like murder,rape in which case the state butts in.but other than that personal obligations are for each to fullfill and no one else is accountable for each persons actions.we need to get back to the way the prophet preached islam and try to lead our lives that way.
Ria, what is needed is more people like yourself who are willing to speak out against those who practice hatred and intolerance. It's not enough to just state that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, because the actions of many Muslims prove that this is, in many cases, not so. It is still illegal to worship God in Saudi Arabia unless you are a Muslim. The same is true in much of Pakistan and Iraq. Someone once said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Good people must speak out against hatred and intolerance. If they do not, it simply strengthens those would use religion for their own ends. And as for "get(ting) back to the way the Prophet preached Islam,"kw remember that he was also a warrior who spread his faith with the sword, and not always through persuasion!
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