Crosswalk America

@ Duck and Decanter

I have a CD set, Masters 1949-1976, of music by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Last week when I was playing it I was reminded of my theology when I was a teenager. The song that brought it to mind was That’s all. The lyrics pretty much sums up my theology of those days. I am a United Methodist now but started out in my religious life rather more evangelical. Sometimes refer to myself as a “recovering fundamentalist”. I have in turns been an ‘independent’ Baptist, Lutheran, Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, Episcopalian and finally a Methodist. I was 12 when “I gave my life to Jesus” in the lingo of my first church. From the list of churches I have attended you might be fooled into thinking that I was deeply religious and spent most of my time contemplating spiritual matters. Or you might think that I changed denominations and churches out of deeply held beliefs. Nothing could be further from actuality.

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I went to Goodyear Heights Community church in Akron Ohio because my mother wanted me and my brother out of the house for a week. The church had a summer camp that a neighbor knew about. There were many churches closer to where I lived including the Lutheran one in which I was later married. And that is how I became a Lutheran. The Pentecostal and Episcopalian phases were equally life driven. All through the many churches (there were several from each denomination) I kept the basic fundamentalism that I learned as a preteen. It wasn’t that I didn’t think about God and faith; I did. It was just that I couldn’t see anything other than the basic ‘truths’ I had heard when I first started attending a church. I also never heard anything in the churches I went to that contradicted what I had been told was the teachings of the bible or of God. And of course I never really thought about any of it in relation to the real world.

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It is almost as if I was schizophrenic. When I was in school learning about evolution, the age of the earth or any other subject that contradicted what I believed was the inerrant word of God I placed that data in the real world part of my brain. What I heard on Sunday went into the church side. Occasionally, I did have questions when the two parts were in disagreement but under the pressures of hormones at first and then the need to support a growing family I managed to stuff the tensions. That lasted until the early 1990s. Then life bumped up against my fundamentalist beliefs. Strangely enough it was my beliefs about homosexuality that caused the problem. This was really strange because other than believing that homosexuality was a mortal sin I had no beliefs about it. Nor did I have any real world knowledge because that subject wasn’t taught in any school I ever attended. The only thing life had ever taught me about it was that “queers” wore green on Thursdays. This, despite my high school Trigonometry teacher. He always wore green on Thursdays. He did this specifically to refute that bit of street wisdom. God bless him!

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But when I was in my 50s life came in the form of Gail who I met at work. Gail is a lesbian which in itself wasn’t a problem. I knew a lot of people that I believed were destined for hell. The problems came as I found out that Gail and I were very much alike. We certainly shared a work ethic and as we worked together I found myself liking her. Eventually I came to the conclusion that there was something wrong in my thinking. How could someone that I had so much in common with be destined for eternal punishment? If she was, why wouldn’t I be? It took me a long time to understand that in not believing Gail was evil (or an abomination) had put a crack in my fundamentalist belief system. It was then that I started to think about what I believed.

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I was aided in the thinking part by starting to attend Asbury UMC. How could it not help to have Jeff Proctor-Murphy as a pastor? Having Tex Sample around was another goad for thinking. It would be nice to be able to say that I first went to Asbury because of the theology. I can’t. I went there because it was #10 on the list of United Methodist Churches closest to where I live and I tried it first. But maybe the reason I went back the next Sunday is better. I was so overcome with emotion on seeing all the gay and lesbian couples going to the communion table holding hands that I knew Asbury was THE place. It was a short distance from there to CrossWalk America, the Phoenix Affirmations and walking to Washington DC from Phoenix. All of which is what started me blogging.

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I am completely surprised that I have been doing this for three years now (archived on Asphalt Jesus with all other CrossWalk America posts after 15 September 2009). I have finally figured out why I blog. You may have noticed that I am not the quickest thinker around. Writing a blog forces me to think about what I believe and perhaps more importantly why I believe what I do. The discipline of writing about the connection between the world and my theology forces me to think about that connection. My current theology is pretty simple. The Phoenix Affirmations states it much more eloquently than I can.

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I wonder what my thoughts on the subject would have been if I had enough courage to talk to my trigonometry teacher about homosexuality.

Don’t forget some things do change as per below!

@ Duck and Decanter

It is somewhat ironic that after I wrote last week’s post (but before posting it), Somethings never change, that Rebecca Glenn telephoned me with the news that the CrossWalk America website is fading into the cyberspace. I have mixed emotions about this. It has been some time (June 1^st 2008) since we moved under the TCPC umbrella and so it is time to move on. Against this is all of the posts that I and others have shared. It started on February 12^th 2006 with Walk in the Path of Jesus. That post was Eric Elnes testing the blog. So it is with sadness that I move on.

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The archives will be moving to Asphalt Jesus which can be found here sometime before September 15 2009. The links to the CrossWalk website will no longer work.

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I will be moving to the TCPC blog located here (or www.tcpc.blogs.com/crosswalkamerica/ if you need to cut and paste into your browser window). Until that happens I will continue to post here.

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This is all scheduled to happen by September 15 2009. With any luck it will. I am too old a techie to have complete faith in predictions depending on computers but I have faith that it will someday.

@ Duck and Decanter

The volunteer office I manage is located in an area that has many small businesses in several dozen business parks. Dispersed among the commercial enterprises are a few churches. I know of an Anglican, Baptist and one, Beth Yachad, I had not heard of before driving past its sign. Being ever curious I checked out the web site, bethyachad.org, advertised on the sign. According to the web site Beth Yachad – House of Unity – is a Community of Messianic Synagogues. Huh…They also have an association with the Assemblies of God which makes me believe that they are of a Pentecostal persuasion. So, it is a synagogue – and an Assembly of God church – which welcomes gentiles. Interesting. I have been thinking about attending a service at Beth Yachad ever since I noticed the signs several months ago.

Last month I read an article, Starvation mum on home arrest, in the Straits Times which started me thinking about Beth Yachad in a different context. The article was about the member of an obscure (at least obscure to me) Jewish sect that became the focus of riots in Israel. The sect, Toldot Aaron, is one of several very conservative anti-Zionist sects in Jerusalem. Who knew that there were Jewish sects that were anti-Zionist? In researching the various branches and sects of Judaism I have come to the conclusion that Judaism is as splintered and divided as Christianity is. And always has been. The New Testament records the Sadducees, Pharisees and Zealots with maybe the Herodians thrown in for good measure. From other sources we know of the Essenes. Note: The links I have given here are from the online version of the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906 and so from a Jewish perspective but not necessarily a modern one. Bart Ehrman often mentions Christianities in the plural with respect to the beginnings of our religion and it is understandable how we started out that way with the example of Judaism as a starting point.

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I always assumed that all Jews supported the Jewish state of Israel but there sects -loosely associated and called Eda Haredit – living in Israel that believe that a secular Jewish state is heretical and evil incarnate. Knowing of and recognizing the divergence of Jewish sects, in the past as well as in the present, enables me to understand the arguments that took place in the synagogues during New Testament times. Apparently they are still going on.

We believe in Messiah Yeshua’s life, his miracles yesterday and today. His vicarious and sacrificial death as our atonement [my emphasis added], His bodily resurrection, His personal future return for His followers, both living and dead, and His future establishment of His kingdom on Earth. Isaiah 53:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Isaiah 9:6-7; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Zechariah 12:6-10; Zechariah 14:16-21

From We believe section of www.bethyachad.org

…, I have explained that contrary to the missionary claim that blood sacrifice is the only method of atonement [my emphasis added] in the Bible, there are three methods of atonement [my emphasis added] clearly defined in the Jewish scriptures: the sin sacrifice, repentance, and charity. Moreover, the sin sacrifice (known in the Jewish scriptures as korban chatat) did not atone for all types of sin, but rather, only for man’s most insignificant iniquity: unintentional sins. The sin sacrifice was inadequate to atone for a transgression committed intentionally.

Rabbi Tovia Singer, Could Jesus’ Death Atone For Any Kind of Sin?, Outreach Judaism website

Rabbi Singer also quotes the Tanakh –what we Christians call the Old Testament. Notably, Leviticus 17:11, Numbers 15:27-31, Hosea 3:4-5, Hosea 14:2-3, I Kings 8:46-50. Outreach Judaism, where I found Rabbi Singer, is “Judaism’s response to Christian Missionaries”.

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I find the disagreement on atonement historically interesting but I believe that other issues are more pressing at present. The Assemblies of God believe that homosexuality is a sin (here); I wondered what Rabbi Singer’s position is on that issue. I asked him that question and submitted it through the Outreach Judaism website. This was his answer:

Male homosexuality is a mortal sin.

With love of Zion,

Tovia

Isn’t it nice that they can agree on some things?

@ Duck and Decanter

Have you ever been to a twelve step meeting? In twelve step programs they often refer to a “higher power” which some people call “God” but others refer to the higher power as something other than God. The simplest definition I ever heard was that GOD stands for Good Orderly Direction. That is about as basic as you can get. Being pretty simple myself that definition has an appeal for me. The reason I am thinking about twelve step programs and addiction is that I have been reading a lot about death and addiction lately. First there was Diane Schuler in New York who drove the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway. The police say she had way more alcohol and TCP in her body than was legal.

Schuler’s blood-alcohol level was well above the legal limit, and she still had undigested alcohol in her stomach, State Police Maj. William Carey said Tuesday.

Blood tests also showed she had smoked marijuana 15 minutes to an hour before the crash, said Betsy Spratt, chief toxicologist for the Westchester County medical examiner.

As reported in The Washington Post article, NY police: Wrong-way crash driver was drunk, high, August 4, 2009

Then there was the TV pitchman Billy Mays. Billy died of a heart attack but:

The medical examiner “concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death,” the office said in a press release.

As reported in Huston Chronicle article, Autopsy blames cocaine in Billy Mays’ death, August 7, 2009

I had a good friend that died of a heart attack in a Seattle hotel room while he was there on business. This was back in the 80s. I never heard of any drugs in my friends system. But then I might not have been on the distribution list for that information. I do know that he had done cocaine. It was something he had learned in Vietnam. Even then I knew that coke was associated with heart conditions. And I wondered.

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In both of these deaths the families are aghast at the idea that there was any abuse of drugs or alcohol. – Technically alcohol is a drug so I wonder why we always need to say “drug or alcohol” – I know about being aghast that a family member abuses alcohol. I was married to a woman that went to the original twelve step program, Alcoholic Anonymous, long after we were divorced. I asked her later if she had been drinking while we were married. Her answer was “Of course”! So much for my keen powers of observation. My denial (and that of Schuler’s and May’s families) is not that unusual.

“We were totally unaware of any non-prescription drug usage and are actively considering an independent evaluation of the autopsy results,” Mays’ family said in a statement.

As reported in Huston Chronicle article, Autopsy blames cocaine in Billy Mays’ death, August 7, 2009

Schuler’s husband, Daniel, and other family members said the 36-year-old Long Island mother and cable executive was never known to drink. His lawyer insists that a medical problem – an abscessed tooth, diabetes, stroke or a pulmonary embolism – might have led the mom to self-medicate herself.

As reported in LoHud.com article, Alcohol keeps ‘cagey’ grip on moms, August 9, 2009

Daniel Schuler has a lawyer because relatives of the three men that died in the accident caused by his wife’s driving the wrong way are planning to sue her estate. He even had a tearful press conference (available here with more about denial in the Schuler tragedy: Family denial or hidden personal demons?) in which he denied that his wife was an alcoholic. He has not only the shame to overcome but legal woes as well. The Mays family has only the shame but their denial is just as strong

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There are many twelve step organizations (AA, NA, CA for users; Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, ACOA for friends and family members of users; OA and EA for non-drug related abusers) that are based on the 12 steps developed by Bill W, a co-founder of AA. Many people have found them to be useful in dealing either with their own addictions or those of others. A basic premise of the twelve steps is that each individual is only responsible for his or her own actions (or addictions) and no one else’s. I believe both the Schuler and Mays family could use a dose of that.

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Billy and Diane are dead. Does it make any difference to them how they died? I don’t believe that it makes any difference to the other six people that died – because of Diane’s actions – either. Likewise, I seriously doubt that it makes any difference to God.

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I wonder: how one would go about praying to Good Orderly Direction?

@ Duck and Decanter

Your boy, Lester, will never learn music.

Childhood piano teacher of Lester William Polsfuss in a note to Lester’s mother.

As reported in New York Times article Les Paul, Guitar Innovator, Dies at 94, August 13 2009

You may know Lester better as Les Paul. He died Thursday, 13 August 2009.

@ Duck and Decanter

Sometimes my mother asks me if I went to the National Cemetery in North Phoenix. She usually asks this after some holiday weekend when she and my brother have gone to the columbarium where my father’s ashes are. I am sympathetic but my answer is always the same. “No, I didn’t go this weekend, maybe next.” My dad died last December. I don’t think my mom is taking his death very well. She is having a difficult time of it. As is my brother. I remember my brother once telling me that he could not imagine life without our parents. My brother has always been closer to my parents than I am. The lack of attachment I attribute to the fact that I was left in care of my maternal grandparents before the age of six months and not re-united with the rest of the family until after the age of 18 months. It was during this period that my brother was born. So it was that I never bonded well with my family.

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The lack of bonding at an early age has very little to do with my refusal to visit with my father’s ashes. Before his death I visited with my father nearly daily, first in the rehab facility and then the group home in which he was placed. I was his most frequent visitor. I wondered at the time if perhaps my lack of closeness enabled me to visit him more often than the other members of my family. I still wonder. The real reason why I have no intention of going to where his ashes are stored – ever -, is that for me the remains in the columbarium are a collection of atoms that formerly were part of my father’s body. Those atoms have been around for more than 4.6 billion years. They have been around ever since they were formed in the nuclear furnace of the unknown star that died to give life to our solar system. It is difficult for me to become nostalgic about something that old that only spent the last 8o odd years as part of a human body.

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As far as I can tell, I am in the minority in holding this opinion. Last June I read about a seven year old boy that fell into a canal in Salt Lake City. Tuesday (4 August 2009) I read in The Salt Lake Tribune article, McEntee: Finding Trejon a final act of love, how they found his body. The body apparently floated down the canal and into The Great Salt Lake where it was found last Saturday (1 August 2009). He was found by friends of his grandfather. The grandfather never stopped looking for Trejon.

It’s what those who love the missing almost always do. They marshal their strength and hope, their friends and relatives, and they never stop searching.

As reported in The Salt Lake Tribune article, McEntee: Finding Trejon a final act of love, 08/04/2009

I can understand searching as long as there is hope for life but it has always seemed to me that there is a point after which all you are looking for is a body. What is the point of that? From a somewhat different perspective I read of finding the only MIA from the first Gulf War. U.S. Pilot’s Remains Found in Iraq After 18 Years was in the New York Times but the same story was carried in many papers across the country. It seems that 18 years ago some Bedouins found the dead pilot (apparently he did not survive the crash of his aircraft) and buried him. Recently an Iraqi led some US Marines to the grave. The navy took the opportunity to get a little propaganda in:

Our Navy will never give up looking for a shipmate, regardless of how long or how difficult that search may be.

Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations as reported in New York Times article, U.S. Pilot’s Remains Found in Iraq After 18 Years , August 2, 2009

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I am glad that the families of Trejon Fite and Capt. Michael Scott Speicher can have some closure. But for me I always think of these words in similar situations:

… let the dead bury their own dead…

Jesus of Nazareth, as reported by Matthew and Luke, ca 30 CE

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There is something I am a little curious about. Why did the Bedouins bury an American pilot in the middle of a war?

@ Duck and Decanter

In my last post I mentioned the hike on Camelback Mountain with Arizona Outdoor and Travel Club. On that trail in the steep ascent out of Echo canyon there is a section that is bounded on one side by a towering cliff and the off side has a high mesh fence (so that hikers won’t fall off the cliff). The trail is wide and steep. It is so steep that there are two hand rails (made of iron pipe) to enable ascent and descent. One handrail is next to the fence and the other is in the middle of the trail. The fence (and its handrail) is on the up traffic’s left. On this particular hike (Saturday, July 25), a man was going up along the handrail next to the fence (his left). One of the things I dislike about hiking on Camelback Mountain , my usual Summit trail, or any of the more popular trails in Phoenix is that many people neither know nor practice trail etiquette. This man was staying to the left going up and thus violating the “stay right” rule which was causing problems with people coming down (and staying to the right). The problem was that for them staying to the right was conflicting with the “give those going up the right of way” rule.

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I was going up and had watched 3 or 4 problems occur with this situation. When I had overtaken and was passing the man causing the problems, I violated one of my personal (on trail and off trail) rules. I gave him some unsolicited advice. I suggested that he might have fewer problems if he stayed to the right. I am sure that he had gotten this advice before because his answer was instantaneous. He said:

It doesn’t work that way for me. It just doesn’t work the same for everyone.

Anonymous

I have been thinking about that all week. What happens when the right of an individual (to decide what works for him/her) causes problems with others following rules designed to eliminate conflict? Personally I believe following good trail etiquette makes for a more pleasant hiking experience. Not everyone agrees. Having thought about it for a week I am just as happy that he wasn’t staying to the right. He was moving a lot slower than I was and I would have had to pass him if he had been following “the rules”. While I haven’t made any decisions about the basic question of individual rights vs. problems for the many, I have resolved to follow more closely my own rule about giving advice. Especially the unsolicited variety.

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The following Monday, July 27, I was in Flagstaff and hiked the Elden Lookout Trail #4. Mt. Elden is a lava dome associated with the San Francisco Peaks lava field. It is 2.5 miles from the parking lot at the trail head to the lookout. That is about the same distance as from the start of the Cholla trail to Echo Canyon on Camelback Mountain. The distance is the only thing the two hikes have in common. Camelback tops out at 2,706 feet while Mt. Elden reaches 9299 feet (The sign at the lookout reads 9300, but that is incorrect). The gain in elevation for the Mt. Elden trail is almost a thousand feet more than that of Camelback (2,200 vs. 1,300). The climb up was difficult, sweaty and worth the effort. I blamed the sweat on the high humidity – it had rained the afternoon before – but I suspect my age, the elevation, my condition and the steepness of the trail had more to do with it. As on the previous hike I heard something that gave me food for thought.

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The Elden Lookout Trail #4 intersects the Pipeline trail and the Fatmans Loop trail about 0.9 miles from the trailhead. I was about halfway between the intersection and the trailhead on the way back to my car when I met a group of six people on their way up. The group included a woman with a gorgeous Irish setter. The woman asked me how much farther it was. My reply was: “That depends on where you are headed.” What she said next just floored me.

We don’t know where we are going.

Woman with the Irish setter

Now, who would ask for the distance to an unknown destination? Keeping in mind the resolution made after my Camelback hike, I told her that there was a sign a little farther along the trail giving the answers to her question.

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I was reminded of the Irish setter woman’s question as I read Spong’s Newsletter Thursday morning. It was about The Study of Life, Part 1, A Journey Into the Mystery of Life Begins in the Amazon Rain Forest and somewhat indirectly about his forth coming book on life after death. As Spong so eloquently points out in his column no one knows where (or when) we are going when we die. That doesn’t stop us, like the woman on the trail, from asking:

How much farther?

Woman with the Irish setter

I know that it is farther for some than others. Is it different for everyone or does it work the same for everyone? I especially wonder about people that are happy when false prophets get convicted and go to jail (see my previous post below). But… I haven’t a clue.

@ Duck and Decanter

I really feel good this morning, for two reasons. The first is that I did the rump to head and back again hike on Camelback Mountain with Arizona Outdoor and Travel Club. The only bad part of the hike was that I forgot my camera. Drats. The hike took four hours. We started at 5:15 so it was a bit warm at the end. It was great.

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The second reason is that they convicted 74 year old Tony Alamo of violating the Mann Act. I read about the trial last Thursday (here) in the Singapore Straits Times and the again in a more complete story in the Washington Times article, Evangelist convicted of sex crimes. According to the article he could get up to 175 years. I hope he does. I have posted about Tony before – here. Tony denies everything and says that

I’m just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel

Evangelist convicted of sex crimes in the Washington Times, Saturday, July 25, 2009

If you want Tony’s side go here. I am not buying Tony’s story. The article said that the jurors wept as the witnesses told their stories. Can you see the five women (now 17 to 35) coming forward in court to tell how when they were younger (the youngest was eight or nine) they were “married” to Tony and sexually abused. What courage that must have taken.

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One question that occurred to me was: Where were the parents? And what is being done about them? Google located the answer for me. In an Associated Press dispatch, Parents’ role in Alamo case is a tricky question, I found some rather unsatisfactory answers. Some parents apparently encouraged it. Some believed Tony when he said he was a prophet. I guess. This brings to mind scenes of parents sacrificing their children to Moloch or some volcano. I have always had problem understanding how any parent could condone or abet any harm to their children. The answer appears to be that if you believe your salvation and that of your child depends on doing something that you would in other circumstances find abhorrent then you allow it. I don’t buy it any more then I buy Tony’s claim to be a prophet. I also know that in the past some parents in Tony’s church, Tony Alamo Christian Ministries , have complained even if to no avail.

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Tony was tried in a federal court on federal charges (transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes). I wonder if any state (Arkansas especially) will prosecute him or any of the parents. Some other questions have occurred to me. How much of my interest in the saga of Tony Alamo is due to my concern with modern Christianity (and the abuses in it)? How much of it is due to the fact that I was sexually abused as a child? I don’t know the answers to any of the questions. I do know I am happy that Tony got his.

@ Duck and Decanter

I heard some unexpected good news this morning at Asbury UMC. I will quote from the report:

The major actions taken by the conference was the passage of the desert southwest regional conference was to vote in favor of the petition for “all means all”…….it was an example of ”extravagant hospitality”, the theme for this years conference. For all persons in the GLBT it is a major affirmation of our holiness and the example of Christ who was willing to set aside standards of holiness for a ministry extended to all.

Asbury’s lay delegate, Robert Nielson-Tweet

This resolution means that the DSW Conference has become a reconciling conference just as Asbury is a reconciling church.

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I thought it was especially fitting that Robert Nielson-Tweet was the one reporting the news. I have posted on Robert before. Clicking on his name will take you to that post. The news gave a twist to the reading, children’s moment and message for this Sunday.

1. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

3. He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4. Even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 23 (New International Version)

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I memorized the 23^rd Psalm as a teenager because I lived in fear that God could never love someone like me. I repeated it to myself many times for reassurance. The words I heard the loudest were “…I will fear no evil…”. Now, fifty years later, the promise of goodness and love seems to be more important (and to the point). The DSW Conference in its action has increased goodness and love in the world just a bit more. Not just for the GLBT community but for “all” of us.

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I was meditating on this when Tex Sample gave the Invitation to Holy Communion. In his invitation he mentioned Ludwig Wittgenstein. Now I had never heard of Ludwig before so how could Tex be describing him as the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century? I googled Ludwig (and here) and confirmed that Tex knew what he was talking about. Not that I had any doubts. Ludwig had an immense effect on Bertrand Russell who is my pick for greatest (definitely my favorite) twentieth century philosopher. So, my question is: how is it that I never heard of Ludwig Wittgenstein? I attribute it to a misspent youth (fearing that God could not love me) and an inferior education. I can’t do anything about the misspent youth but I can remedy the education. I checked Amazon, found “Culture and Value” (Tex’s recommendation) by Ludwig Wittgenstein; Paperback; for $10.92. I bought it which is good. Unfortunately I also bought “War of the Lamb, The Ethics of Nonviolence and Peacemaking” by John Howard Yoder; Paperback; for $16.49. I may regret the last one. Yoder always makes my head hurt. I hope “Culture and Value” doesn’t.

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I wonder when the rest of the United Methodists Church will catch up with us in the DSW Conference and Asbury.

@ Duck and Decanter

My friend, Charlie, and I hiked the Summit Trail on Piestewa Peak this morning. It was warm (high eighties) when we started just before sunrise (5:27 AM). Thankfully, the humidity was low which meant that evaporating sweat worked well at cooling. There was a pretty good breeze from the .75 mile marker to the top which also helped. All in all it was a good hike. The moon, just past full, was high in the western sky and many of the clouds were tinged with pink. Scenic, it was. Our conversation turned to what our plans were for the coming week. For my part I have a brake job (for my automobile) and a visit to the doctor.

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The visit to the doctor is mostly about my hands. One the one hand (left) I have arthritis with some bone on bone rubbing going on. The pain is at this point pretty minimal and I still have almost complete function. At my age such things are pretty normal. On the other hand (right) I have Dupuytren’s disease. This is actually a pretty cool (read interesting) disease. For one thing it is incurable. For another thing it won’t kill me. Also, it isn’t painful. I found out that I had Dupuytren’s last year when I was having neck problems. As part of the investigation I was sent to a neurologist. The neurologist tested the nerve pathways in my arms, hand and fingers. His diagnosis was that the lack of feeling in my fingers was due to some minor carpal tunnel syndrome. The carpal tunnel syndrome’s root cause is heredity and mine merely causes some numbness in my pointing finger. So, no big deal. I also happened to show him the interesting bumps in my right palm (which had appeared in the previous year and in my right hand only). He knew instantly what the cause was: Dupuytren’s disease which is also mostly inherited.

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Not only does it have a cool, hard to pronounce (say “doo-pwee-TRAHZ”), French name, it is also known as the Vikings disease. Usually the disease progresses slowly. However in the last year I have become aware that I can no longer place my palm flat on a table top (this is known as failing the table test). Time to talk to a doctor, I think. And that is what I told Charlie. From there our conversation went on to how a hundred years ago medicine and treatments were very different. Two hundred years ago there wasn’t even a name for Dupuytren’s disease. Guillaume Dupuytren only described it in 1831. Two hundred or even one hundred years ago I would have eventually lost the full use of my right hand – because Dupuytren’s usually progresses to the point where the fingers curl into the palm. And that would have been the least of my problems. The arthritis in my left hand (and neck) would have left me immobile and in pain. It is hard to earn a living in that condition, especially in occupations that required a lot of heavy physical effort which most did. Money would have been another issue. There was no social security, few pension plans and leisure only for the wealthy.

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Bottom line? A hundred years ago I would have been dependant on my family to feed and care for me – if I was still alive. In any case my life would have been very different from the one I lead now. I have a feeling that I would not have been enjoying the sunrise after hiking a 2600 foot peak even if the peak wasn’t in the middle of a desert and the month July. The thing is that today I can enjoy my life. Without modern medicine (and social benefits) it would be not nearly as enjoyable. Did I mention that, a hundred years ago I would not have been able to view a sunrise the same as I can today? I had cataract surgery four years ago and one of the benefits of that surgery (besides being able to see) was that colors became brighter. I should have missed sunrises like the one this morning and this one taken last month:

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