A Tribute to My Beloved…

J E B Stuart says farewell to his loving wife before going to the War for Southern Independence (he was to fall in that noble cause…. may his memory last untarnished)… this is my pictorial tribute to my man… he is QUITE enough for me! I stand behind him without stint or limit. Femininity is not only grace and lace… it is fire and steel, as well.

Recently, last Friday, in fact, my Nicky celebrated his birthday (he’s 59 now). I cannot tell you how much I owe to this man. At a low point in my life, he reached out to me and pulled me out of the slough of despond. No… my Nicky is not a man of many words… he does what he must without complaint or demur. There are times when we just barely scrape by, yet, he never gives up. Yes… I can feel when he is discouraged… when he is feeling low and crank, I remember what he did for me…

More than once, I have struggled to find the right word for what I wish to say. Nicky comes out with something that is either completely à propos or jogs my mind into working. Indeed, without his aid and ideas, I would only be half of what I am… perhaps, even less. There is a oneness of mind with us… oh, that does NOT mean that we don’t scrap and squabble… see us when we get up in the morning (I am convinced that no one is fit company until they get their eyes open and have that first coffee of the morning…)! We had a FUNNY dispute last night over how to make the borshch (that’s beetroot soup for the uninitiated)… well, it wasn’t funny at the time… each of us had our firm and inflexible ideas on the topic… needless to say, both concepts were melded together (after a bit of fuss n’ sparks, I must say)… and it turned out right and proper, after all.

What can I say? I cannot express the depth of my feelings in words, except to say:

I LOVE YOU, DEAR.

God willing, you have the same in your life. Cheers to all of you and HAPPY WEEKEND!

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Saturday 24 October 2009

Albany NY

Advertisement

Merrily, We Roll Along

Are you a missionary if you are out for 9 to 21 days? NO! OF COURSE, NOT! You are nothing but a tourist with a delusion.

A news-item on oca.org caught my eye. The fatuousness of it all was breathtaking… be a missionary… it shall only take 9 to 21 days of your life! WOW! Here is the URL for the story. Please, do read it, its short (you shall be able to retain your dinner, I promise):

http://www.oca.org/news/1969

It’s sincere and in earnest… it’s meant to be taken seriously and the authors mean for us to applaud those who sign up for such nonsense! The following is not ironic:

OCMC teams will be offered during more times of the year and for varying amounts of time (as few as 9 days and as long as 3 weeks) and there will be opportunities for families as well! Be a living witness of your Faith on a teaching team; provide labour on a construction team; engage the future of our Church on a youth team; or take part in the holistic mission of the Church on a health care team. Develop deep relationships with others, have a cultural learning experience, and live in response to the Lord’s command to “make disciples of all nations”.

For over 20 years, thousands of team members from across North America have brought the saving message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

We should all check ourselves into Bedlam if we believed such fulsome drivel. How can one do anything substantial in such a short period of time? In short, this is nothing but “feel good” tosh of the worst possible sort. Do you wish to be a missionary? Do you wish to “live in response to the Lord’s command to ‘make disciples of all nations’”? Do you wish to make a deep and abiding difference in the lives of others? Then… do what is necessary and do not play at such foolish and rubbishy games. It shall take you YEARS… it shall take dedication, persistence, perseverance, and many days of seemingly-dull routine in preparation for it all. It shall be HARD… it shall be the hardest thing that you have ever done. The Lord shall expect you to give a TOTAL self-sacrifice of your talents, skills, education, energy, and health. If you do anything less… you are an utter phoney and fraud, and deserve to be called such openly.

If you cannot do this, you can still be part of the effort. Give your money (or, help raise it) to the proper agencies so that others with the time and commitment necessary can carry on with their work… don’t waste it on airfare for yourself or family members to go on some self-serving and narcissistic junket. Do NOT be fooled… the end of missionary work is not to “develop deep relationships with others” or “have a cultural learning experience”. The goal of the missionary is to make a profound and enduring impact on the society that they have gone out to. THAT cannot be done in 9 to 21 days… indeed, what kind of “deep relationship” can one develop in such a short time? Only a superficial airhead would write and believe such stomach-turning hogwash. As for “a cultural learning experience”… that is nothing but a collection of empty weasel-words… it is Orwellian Newspeak, utterly devoid of any real meaning or value.

This reminds me of something that I once saw on the internet. A young woman had just converted to Orthodoxy; she had only been in the Church for one year. Can you believe that her priest wrote a recommendation for her to go to SVS? What utter insanity! That priest deserves to be taken out at dawn and shot by Wally the Mexican and his merry band of grinning banditos (don’t give me PC lectures, please… there is a fellow with the nickname of “Wally the Mexican”… his real name is Guillermo and that is what people call him… he thinks it’s funny as all hell… pooh on all who believe in multi-culti piffle!). Hmm… if Wally is in a good mood, he might give him a slug of mezcal before the festivities begin… but, Wally is keeping the worm for himself!

Get real, people! Going to seminary after only one year in the Church? Why, she hadn’t learnt the Orthodox equivalent of “a cat sat on a mat”, and she’s going off to seminary! That meant that she went off to school with her heterodox illusions still intact, a fact that SVS could not help but be aware of. Hmm… Hatfield is one of the pookah sahib poohbahs there… that means that such lunacy is acceptable to him. THAT speaks volumes, does it not? Ask yourself a reasonable question… would you ask a toddler to do anything of substance? No! Of course not. This poor girl went off on one of these short “missionary” junkets and was full of utterly repellent delusions. It isn’t her fault… true… those who encouraged her in such foolishness are to blame. Reflect well on the fact that there is a faction in the Church that believes such to be not only acceptable, but, laudable.

Do NOT lecture me on how nasty I am being… or, how “nice” such people are. THAT means nothing. Resources are being squandered so that self-centred affluent suburban twerps can claim to have engaged in “mission work”. What is worse, these wasted monies could have helped real missionaries and the people they work amongst. THAT is the true tragedy of all of this.

Never accept the “apparent” for the “real”. A child can see the difference.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Saturday 24 October 2009

Albany NY