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Dec. 6, 2003 As the Christmas season nears I keep thinking of the real meaning behind Christmas, and Christianity. Love, forgiveness, understanding, and empathy. Aren't these the qualities we all should have in our hearts? Yet everyday I get e-mails asking me, telling me, urging me to hate other people because they aren't "Christians". The people I've been urged to hate and act against are members of the muslim religion. Yes there are some groups of Muslims out there who hate, kill and harm others. But to call all Muslims murderers just because some Muslims are bad is not only wrong, it's the opposite of what Jesus taught us and wanted for this world. It's like saying all Jews are theives, all Blacks are no good, etc., etc. These are all things that ignorant people profess, and it's wrong. I'm sure I'll make many enemies with this entry.....fine, join the crowd. But I believe to allow bigotry and hatred is to be a bigot yourself. This is how this garbage continues to grow....good people are afraid to speak their minds. God knows I'm not perfect, and yes there are many things I don't know. But I know what's right and what's wrong, and I won't stand by idly while bigots continue to spew their hatred. If I could send a gift to everyone in the world I would give these things: Love, Patience, Kindness, Understanding, and Empathy. These are my gifts for you this holiday season. To my Christian friends.....Merry Christmas. To my Jewish friends Happy Hanukkah. Seasons Greeting to all! Dec. 14, 2003 Each year two guys...Bill & Barry...coordinate a fishing trip for kids with Cerebral Palsy & Down Syndrome. They provide donuts and juice for breakfast, then they take the kids out on boats fishing. The men who own the boats provide their time and equipment to take these kids fishing. Around noon everyone comes back to Barry's house for hotdogs, hamburgers and the fixings. Once lunch is over comes the awards ceremony. Each kids receives a hat (or t-shirt) and a trophy for their catch......whether they've caught a fish or not. Thursday night I got a phone call from my brother Mark. He'd asked me if I'd be interested in taking my nephew out fishing Saturday. Since I love to fish, and I love my nephew I said sure I'd take him. We got into our boat....which was slightly bigger than a row boat. Since it only had 2 seats I got the prized spot on the cooler. As we sped along the waves kept splashing into the boat. Since I sat facing the rear of the boat my back was sopping wet. My poor nephew sat facing forward and he was soaked from head to toe. Four times I had to wipe off his glasses for him. By the time we got to the first fishing spot we were totally soaked. Naturally we never had a bite. We packed up and moved to another spot. That too proved to be unsuccessful. Then the captain said he'd try to find the other fishermen. A while later we found 4 of the other 7 boats. They'd all weighed anchor next to each other. But not our captain, he wanted to drift fish. And that's exactly what we did. We drifted in to all the other boats. By the time he knew what he was doing we'd gotten our lines caught on one of the other boats anchor lines. The poor guy on the other boat had to bring up his anchor so we could get loose. v Needless to say the other captains decided to call it a day and turned their boats toward the house. We decided to go back too. On the way back the water had gotten even rougher. The wind was really blowing and the waves were building higher and higher. It also didn't help that these bigger boats kept passing us hauling ass. We'd no more than get over one huge wake when we hit another. All the time our "captain" is driving way too fast. We'd gone under a bridge when I heard someone screaming and swearing. I looked up to see a diver....his flag waving plain as day.....screaming at our captain. He'd driven right OVER the poor diver!! I was shocked he hadn't killed the guy. v We hadn't gone very far when I heard some more shouting and swearing. Sure enough he'd gotten way too close to another diver....his flag also waving plain as day. All the way back to the house I'm saying to myself....."please God get us back safe". I just knew we were going to hit a wave the wrong way and all be thrown from the boat. I wasn't worried so much about myself, I can swim. But my nephew has all he can do to walk most of the time, much less try to swim. The poor kid was so scared he literally pooped his pants. The only place he had to hang on to was a small handle by his seat. He was holding onto that for dear life. Mercifully we made it back to the house. The hot dogs and hamburgers hit the spot. After lunch they had their award ceremony. Brian got his fishing hat and award and we headed for home. Looking back now I can see how some of this fishing trip from hell was fun. Mostly I was just glad to be alive. One thing I know for sure, never again will I fill in for my brother on this fishing tournament again! (lol)

      

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