The Weather?

It's a little after 6pm, and we have both kids in bed - and asleep - for the night. It feels a little bit like Bizarro World (Seinfeld reference), but instead of switching Kramer's and George's somebody switched nights and days. I have a feeling I need to go to bed soon in order to get up that early with the kids. And it's Shabbat?

Moving on to the weather. Seriously.

I don't get out much these days, but I was at Wal-Mart thanks to Jess the Mechanic. Tire Tim aided our analysis of the no load, 270-40-15 tires (or whatever those #'s were). So there I was ... the Wal-Mart tire/lube waiting area. The service was quite poor, but they were the only ones who had my tires. No wait - maybe due to the poor service. Odd though, as I expected more people there for an oil change at least on a Friday afternoon from 3-4pm.

While working on my computer in the waiting room, the TV was on the Weather Channel. After awhile, the show started recycling itself through duplicate clips of this guy and then a gal telling us AGAIN what the weather would be. While thankful that trash TV wasn't what I was trying to filter out, it did make me curious.

Since Wal-Mart influences so many Americans, then is this a sign of where our culture is at? Do we have to have the Weather Channel on in the waiting room in order to not offend anybody - by "keeping all conversations limited to weather" in theory? Is this what secular multi-culturalism has brought us to - keeping us all united on the least common denominator of weather? It just felt very pathetic. Maybe even pacifist. Eventually depressing, which I noticed may be a theme of the stereotypical Wal-Mart worker. They just look sad, bored, or lonely ... or all of the above.

In reading lately, I realized that loneliness is not only the product of secularism (I use that term now to include atheism, humanism, nationalism, agnosticism, etc.). Loneliness is also a product of Hindusim, New Age, and Buddhism. These monistic religions are polytheistic, secular, or both - depending on the "denomination" you refer to. Why do they breed loneliness though? First, if truth comes from man like in secularism, then men never agree ... thus bringing about isolation and loneliness since you have no ultimate shared values or thinking/feeling/experiences with others. It's painfully isolating, even though you get to be "right" about your faith or worldview 100% of the time. But polytheism is just as isolating, as truth supposedly comes from one of many gods, or spirit guides, or even themselves. (Note that it's really only the monotheistic faiths which foster a pure communal identity.) My educated guess, after researching, is that 99% of our country is in a place of secularism or polytheism, since anybody "blending faiths" falls into one of these two categories.

So maybe my Wal-Mart weather experience was a picture of the State of the Union?

Let the evangelism begin.