Imperfect World- Acceptance?

12-16-12 sad brain

Do I need to lower my expectations about life in the USA in 2012?  Am I NOT being reasonable enough?…. Like my need to lower my expectations about Madonna’s concert (see blog a few weeks back)… am I just living in the past too much?

This week on Facebook I’ve been pretty upset and vocal about the CT school shootings. Today, I had 3 hours in the car alone on my drive back home form KC to ponder without distractions. My mind went back to the sign on the VA Hospital in Des Moines which I recently visited two weeks ago.

The Price of Freedom is Visible Here.

I thought about the solders, past and present, who gave up their lives for our nation, our constitution and our freedom. Then I wondered if this same motto applies to the innocent people (children included) who give up there lives in order to protect the “out of control” 2^nd amendment.

I call this law “out of control”…. Not that I am opposed to gun ownership, and I don't want guns ban, but because I do have a problem with some of the guns out there….. assault weapons, automatic and semiautomatic guns which some people claim they need to feel safe and to hunt with. ….”Really?” Have there been wild animals, Indians or gangsters circling your house recently?   I assume not, so to me you seem to be living in fear and not living free at all.

There is the argument that guns don’t kill, people kill….. and sure school children could have been killed by a crazy person with a knife, or a car….. but a knife and car have  other purposes like buttering bread, and transportation….BUT  guns, especially assault weapons have only one purpose- to kill in large numbers.

However, I will acknowledge that I do think guns are only the tip of the iceberg. It is the visual part, easy to point to and blame first…. But there is much more ice below the surface which also needs to be examined, but hardly even does get examined.

Case in point, I once heard a preacher give a sermon on “Follow the Money”…... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)… it is not surprising that our nation spends more money on the military, weapons and war than all the other countries combined.

Reference here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxYboVoiejM

And then you have the lack of money available to pay for mental health issues….

Then there is all the violence in movies, TV shows about crimes and killing, video games which focus on shooting people….  And the media’s need to broadcast, for hours on end, any tragic story of mass shootings. There is a lot more to point at besides guns…. Yet those 20 children weren’t killed with knifes or run over with a car.

Others suggest “taking God and Prayer out of our schools” caused this type of tragedy to happen. Well if you don’t want sex taught in schools why would you let schools handle something as precious as spiritual health, which is better suited for home and church?

Besides, God is bigger than that.-You can’t shut God out of schools or anywhere. God lives in every cell in our body and loves us even when we choose not to love back. God is always present and waiting for us to cry out for help.

So I guess my conclusion after 3 hours in the car was that maybe I just need to accept all the facts about life in the USA in 2012-  And the resulting consequences which follow, sad as they may be…. And in doing so, I guess the real question would be- why am I even surprised that this shooting happened? I should be shocked in the fact that it doesn’t happened more often.

So while all you gun owners out there go hug your guns tonight as you put them safely away…. I hope you will also do the right thing by thanking the innocent children and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice for your freedom to own those assault weapons.

But if you don’t think this was a worthwhile sacrifice for them to make on behalf of you and your guns, then it is time for the difficult soul searching and discussion on how to improve our nation…. Looking at the big picture of our laws, rights, and even budget- could we use better  gun regulations perhaps?

But sadly…..the acceptance of an imperfect world is probably easier for most of us rather than that kind of deep soul searching and reflection in the mirror.

Alive and Kicking

12-12-12 life is good brain

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking.... and tonight I'll be ROCKING again. This time we are going to see the Brian Setzer Christmas Show. Other friends who have seen this in other cities have raved about it, so I'm all excited. I've seen Setzer already in his usual rockin-roll show and know he puts on a great time.

I find myself fairly ready for Christmas, which will be up in northern Iowa again this year. I'm getting some cards sent and I have most of my presents wrapped. Just a few more to check off my list.

This Christmas we will welcome a new member to our family gathering. Catherine-  she and Christopher recently got engaged and are planning a summer wedding. I am very excited about the whole sha-bag!
I spent time with Catherine over the summer and felt good about her and Christopher.

Bruce Springsteen Concert

11-21-12 holiday brain

Thanksgiving weekend has arrived and I am looking forward to some family time.

Since I wrote about my experience at Madonna's concert in late October, I think it only fair to write about my experience at Bruce Springsteen's concert last weekend...... night and day difference!

Bruce started his concert 2 hours earlier than Madonna, and he played for 3 hours instead of Madonna's two.... plus his tickets where less expensive. Of course there was a difference in staging.... nothing fancy for Bruce, but he did have a larger E Street Band.... I especially enjoyed the large horn section.

Bruce's music has been a part of my life since 1975...... and covers every decade since then. He sampled music from every decade in a very satisfying way, playing about 25 songs and even included "Santa Clause is Coming to Town".... well it is the season!

In summary.... BEST CONCERT EVER!  Bruce still rocks in his 60's. This inspired me to know that I need to keep moving and keep rocking and rolling myself!

Here is a good review with more details if you are interested.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/18/3923428/springsteen-gives-the-faithful.html


Happy Thanksgiving!

MADonna in Concert 2012: "What was that?"

11-2-12 "still scratching my head" brain

I was a big Madonna fan back in the 80’s, so it made perfect sense for Greg to get us tickets for her concert in KC which fell on my Birthday. I was excited since I never  thought I would have a chance to see her live. Friends are asking me now…. “How was the show?”….. so HERE is what I have to say about it.

Madonna, at age 54, still “has it”…. But sadly, I’m not buying “it” anymore…. Maybe because I’ve aged too- BUT in a different way than Madonna.

 I’ve been working up a scathing review of the concert in my head over the last few days, but now I’ll back off a bit…. Since I think I need to own up to the fact that I probably went  into the concert with unrealistic expectations. I was hoping for, and looking for some fun 80’s music escapism. After all, Madonna’s music represents “good times” to me and I still often play her top hits when I am looking for a positive boost of energy. I love dancing and exercising to many of her songs.

More realistically, I should have expected that Madonna would be trying to stay fresh and relevant by creating NEW music and the concert would focus on her new music. But gee- you’d think she could have worked in a few more of her top hits. AND I ask you, shouldn’t I have been able to expect the show to start sooner than 10:30PM since the time on my ticket stated 8:00PM? Good grief….. how rude to keep your fans waiting that long…. Or course the fact I had a head cold didn’t help my mood much either.

Long story short: Her NEW music didn’t appeal much to me at all- and I think that is what disappointed me the most. Sure the whole stage production and dancing was awesome, but the content was too violent for my taste. Give me back the sexy Madonna any day.  Right from the start, Madonna was carrying an assault rifle and sang some song about shooting her boyfriend in the head. The video screen was splattered with blood.

My real disappointment came from wondering what happened to the Madonna of the 90’s who was studying the Kabbalah- Jewish enlightenment.  At her age, I was expecting Madonna to have grown in wisdom and able to understand  her power to influence the world in a positive way.  Unfortunately Madonna is still stuck in her narcissistic, ego-based material world, reflecting the world....... rather than CREATING a new positive movement to CHANGE the world for the better . 

I later read that theme of the show as: “a journey of the soul from darkness to light”…..  and her concert ended in an uplifting gospel version of “Like a Prayer”…… some of us didn’t stay around for the end of the 2 hour show to experience the “light”….. instead I left confused and depressed by what I experienced.

As one couple leaving at the same time as we did (midnight)- they asked us….. “what was that?”  I shook my head unable to come up with an answer.

The KC Star Review gave the concert a more positive review than I, however a few others who posted on their blog seemed to agree more with me:

“It could have been a good show but she played way too many unknown songs and concentrated on everything but the music” - Clint

"The dancing was great, the music was terrible. I’m sure she gets tired of performing her hits from the 80’s and 90’s, but that is what most of us want to hear” JB

Monday shout out

10-29-12 lazy brain

It's been at least 3 weeks since I last blogged, and I must say that I am not missing it at all. I wonder now how I ever had the time to write daily and I wonder what was so important to write about.... Today when I am feeling sick with a cold and last week when Greg was sick.... blogging seems like such a luxury and leisurely act.

Halloween is upon us, but the real scary things are not candy related. The Election next week and the possibility of a tie.... the nightmare of political fighting would continue. The Hurricane named Sandy is the nightmare for the east coast. Frankenstorm, they are calling this. I was  happy this morning to see on the front page of the KC Star newspaper them referring to the storm as "the worst case-scenario" storm.... I was glad the over-used term of "perfect storm" has been abandoned for something new.

Well it was nice to say Hi to you blog folks today..... now back to bed for awhile.

Honeymoon #20

10-8-12 happy brain

I'm just returning from a week's vacation with Greg for our 20th Anniversary. Boy- time flies when you are having fun! Spending time with Greg still is fun after all these years.  We traveled to the place of my choosing- I decided on Santa Fe, since I had never been.... and what better place to go for an artist. There was an overwhelming amount of art to take in, architectural beauty, and nature to inspirit me! I loved it so much.... Thanks to Greg to planning such a wonderful trip for us!

I'll try to post some pictures, but for those of you who don't know: you can follow my art page on Facebook.  Search under "pages"  for "Judy Sebern Beachy Art" ...... and LIKE it!

Here: Sunset on roof patio bar of La Fonda in Santa Fe; Hiking in Albuquerque;  Hotel El Monte Sagrado in Taos... we got the Egyptian room!

Weekend Report

9-16-12 busy brain
I found out the problem with my blog has to do with my allotted space for pictures is almost full. I've only spend a short amount of time trying to delete some pictures to free up more space..... but it also seems like a good reason to take a break from blogging, since September is a busy work month- and I don't miss the pressure of daily blogging.

This weekend was such a perfect few days of gorgeous weather here in Iowa, which made the Beaverdale Fall Festival even more enjoyable this year.

The parade was fun and I even talked Ann into walking with our church's entry "All under God's Umbrella".

Prior to this, Ann wanted Greg to snap this picture of her and I. Politics is heating up-but Ann and I are trying to keep civil and respective of each other. I hope others can take our lead. Ann even surprised me by complimenting Hilary Clinton's work in the Middle East mess. Ann is open minded enough to appreciate a smart, strong women.  (Ann would probably say that is one of my back handed compliments that I am so good at giving her.... innocently-  really!)

Today at Church the Art Show on Forgiveness opens with a reception this afternoon. This morning I was part of an artist discussion of our work which was fun to share our thoughts and inspiration with interested members of church. My part of the talk went well.

This is  my piece for this show: It is about 2.5 feet by 5.5 feet.

“50 Shades of Grace: Peace Enters a Forgiving Heart”

By Judy Sebern Beachy

The human view of the world is black and white- either something is good or evil; respectable or vile; worthy or useless. We have the cowboys wearing white hats or the villain dressed in black. This human view makes it hard for us to understand the unconditional forgiveness of God which is demonstrated to us in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  God’s view of his children brings our black and white mentality together, mixing and creating shades of GRAY. This is where forgiveness, BOLD GRACE and peace exist.

Judy views her life as “split in two” as she seeks that ever elusive tight-rope balance. By day Judy works full-time as a data collector in cancer research for the University of Iowa. By night she nurtures her creative side with art. Although interested in drawing as a child, Judy became serious about art 15 years ago while taking her first watercolor class. There she met local artist, Mary Muller, which lead to a series of classes in drawing, charcoal, and pastels at the Mary Muller Studios.

Judy’s favorite subject to paint is nature, especially flowers and landscapes. Over the last few years Judy has become engrossed with abstract art using acrylic paint on paper, cut into 1 inch square pixels.