Even before the shooting in Ft. Hood, I have been increasingly concerned with the plight of soldier combat fatigue in America’s War on Terror. The media attention I’ve listened to, mostly local, has turned this shooting into a renewed war-cry against Muslim terrorism. I do not doubt that there is plenty of incitement for Muslim extremists to give their all, but should this story be totally cast in that light? This article by Mark Benjamin tackles media ineptitude and bias.

As someone who’s been asked to talk about the shootings because of my work covering the poor psychological care given to returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, I’ve had a front-row seat on the way preconceived biases are distorting the debate.

First, the ongoing factual unraveling of the narrative. As the New York Times reported this Thursday, initial information seized on by talk shows that Sgt. Kimberly Munley, a petite police officer, bravely brought down Hasan in a hail of gunfire in which she was also wounded was, well, also not true. Munley, it seems, just got shot. Senior Sgt. Mark Todd actually shot Hasan to the ground and cuffed him after Munley had already been wounded.

He talks about other things that have been reported about the tragedy that are dubious, like that it came about because of political correctness in the military, and then settles on the “real reason” he thinks it happened,

Hasan was a military psychiatrist toiling in an overburdened, desperate Army healthcare system that will hold onto any warm body with a medical degree. Remember the Walter Reed scandal? The horrific treatment of traumatic brain injury and PTSD that has gone on for years? Army medicine has been dropping the ball on these issues for a long time. Given that history, it’s not hugely surprising they’d miss warning signs with Hasan and just let him go on being a doctor.

Army medical officials, at least to my knowledge, haven’t been asked even the most basic questions. Why, for example, was Hasan allowed to continue counseling troops suffering stress from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan after, for example, delivering a PowerPoint presentation in June 2007 at Walter Reed warning of “adverse events” if Muslims were forced to kill other Muslims in battle. It’s hard to imagine Hasan being particularly empathetic with his patients. Imagine coming back from Iraq with mental problems from combat, and this is the psychiatrist who is supposed to help you heal? So far, the only reaction from Army medical officials to these issues seems to have been the decision to move him to the war front in Afghanistan, so he could be even closer to the troops when they suffer adverse mental reactions. That’s odd.

As for Hasan getting promoted to major, the Washington Post Thursday suggested a more likely scenario than political correctness. They need more bodies. The Army is short 2,000 majors and the dearth is particularly acute in Army medicine. As the Post put it, “virtually all Army captains are being promoted to major.”

The passionate determination to hang the “terrorist” label on Hasan, or rail against “political correctness” in the military, are just more symptoms of media stars more excited about hot-headed debate than covering the real story. And the real story may be sadly familiar: It looks like Army medicine blew it, once again.

Lord have mercy.

“Rosie” has won by default. One son calls her “Cat”, I tend to call her “Kitty”. George’s “Pestilence” and “Allergen” get the prize for snarkiness. The son who calls her “Cat”’s “Chlorine” gets the prize for paying attention to other son’s passion. “Sam” is a little too masculine for this particular feline, but we like the driver on Foyle’s War who has the same color hair. It’s not exactly rose-colored, but since the name reminds us of my daughter’s middle name, it’s close enough.

Other son’s favorite science song,

[tune from Gilbert and Sullivan's "I am the very model of a modern major general" from The Pirates of Penzance.]

1. The dog eats stuff in the litter box.

2. They claw the furniture.

3. Some aren’t very cuddly.

4. They like to break through the screen on the Bearded Dragon’s cage.

5. Kids don’t like to clean the litter box.

However, the girls have been dreaming about the cute little things, so on my second trip to look at them at Petsmart, I listed all of the above complaints, except #4 unfortunately, to the volunteer. She said a child gate with a hole small enough for only the cat to get through placed in the doorway to where the litter box is kept will keep the dog out. She didn’t recommend declawing because it is painful and can change their personality. They make little plastic covers for their claws now apparently. She also could tell which kittens would be cuddly and less likely to climb the drapes. We only have one set of drapes as the rest of the windows have blinds, but still I don’t really want a Tasmanian devil kitty like the grey and white one seemed, tearing around the house. He sure was funny though in his cage. I would have named him Charlie Chaplin.

The orange and white, medium fur-length one stole our hearts. She was laid back and not nervous about being held. She leaned into my daughter and purred. The tag said she’s also playful. When it was time to meet the guys for dinner before Vespers I told the girls they’d have to convince Dad. The youngest’s Puss from Shrek face sealed the deal.

The next day, last Thursday, we brought our carrier and picked her and her accessories up from the store after early Vespers. She didn’t mind the cage too much – she’s pretty easy going. Pippin, the Corgi, can be pretty aggressive with cats so we kept him on a leash and, with the new child gate, walled off the hallway to the oldest daughter’s room and the bathroom with the litter box to give her a safe place to be. When he barks and lunges at her, which is getting less frequent, she hisses and swipes at him before she outruns him, but otherwise she doesn’t seem too nervous. This morning as he slowly came toward her on the couch, she curled up and amusedly watched him approach. He got within a foot and then turned away. No hissing and no lunging! Maybe they’ll be friends.

Then she jumped on top of Kronk the Bearded Dragon’s aquarium which is covered by a duck taped screen that a heavy, visiting cat broke through. They were staring at each other when I got her off and put her in my daughter’s room. Looks like I’ll have to order another screen. Kronk has thus far won battles with cats and dogs though. We haven’t witnessed his hissing, puffing and swatting or biting tactics, but bigger, stronger dogs come out from under the table, where the confrontations usually occur, scared.

And why is liquor always involved?

Okay it’s not a book, but it’s still a classic in my book.

In order to try to prevent things from heating up again, I feel the necessity of establishing some guidelines for this blog. If one feels that one’s buttons are being pushed, take a deep breath and count to 10 or however many numbers it takes. Then vent to one’s hearts content about how wrong the other person is and what about his character and discernment is lacking to make him as blind as he is. Next, be very careful to erase that comment BEFORE posting it. Then acknowledge one’s own blindness and how upset we all were when told that Orthodoxy is right and everything (or at least a good amount, or at the very least one or two of our pets) we loved, were taught, and held dear was wrong. If the most traditional forms of Orthodoxy are right (and I believe they are) then they should be strengthening us in genuine understanding, humility, love, and patience. This will help convince others of the ancient way.

Our friend The Ochlophobist posted a good quote from Fr. John Chagnon yesterday,

The desire to crush, kill, and feel powerful can often be masked by a feeling of righteousness. In all the comments posted and even the anonymous thoughts of our hearts we need to take care not to relish these events. If we believe that sin is present we should point it out but with sadness and the hope that we, too, may not fall. At all costs we need to starve off any part of us that lusts for the kill or sees these times like a wolf in the presence of a wounded animal.

I think we all need to step back and consider that our righteous indignation may not be so righteous after all. And regarding sin being present, the above is about a national leader, not a commenter on a blog post whom we do not know enough about to make such judgments. I posted more specifics on general statements vs. statements about particular people in the comments of “Development up to a point“.

A Sermon by:

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There are blessed or tragic moments when we can see a person revealed to us in a light, with a depth, with an awesome beauty which we have never suspected before. It happens when our eyes are open, at a moment of purity of heart; because it is not only God Himself Whom the pure in heart will see; it is also the divine image, the light shining in the darkness of a human soul, of the human life that we can see at moments when our heart becomes still, becomes transparent, becomes pure.

But there are also other moments when we can see a person whom we thought we have always known, in a light that is a revelation. It happens when someone is aglow with joy, with love, with a sense of worship and adoration. It happens also when a person is at the deepest point, the crucifying point of suffering, but when the suffering remains pure, when no hatred, no resentment, no bitterness, no evil is mixed to it, when pure suffering shines out, as it shone invisibly to many from the Crucified Christ.

This can help us to understand what the Apostles saw when they were on the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw Christ in glory at a moment when His total surrender to the will of the Father, His final and ultimate acceptance of His own human destiny, became revealed to them. Moses and Elijah, we are told, stood by Him; the one representing the Law and the other representing the Prophets: both had proclaimed the time when salvation would come, when the Man of suffering would take upon Himself all the burdens of the world, when the Lamb of God slain before the ages would take upon Himself all the tragedy of this world. It was a moment when in His humanity Christ, in humble and triumphant surrender, gave Himself ultimately to the Cross.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today the boys have been over at Reader David (Bryan)’s house helping him load up his moving van.

After laying out some brochures for Church and playing a round of Tetris with my two daughters, we went swimming.

In doing research about my back pain…(edited out)

This is a beautiful CD from then Abbot, now Metropolitan Jonah’s former monastery. It was recorded at the monastery, and conveys a peaceful, prayerful tone, much like the Valaam CD’s do. From the inside cover,

The collection on this CD represents many of the different styles of music that we sing at the monastery: Valaam and Byzantine-style chant as well as some music which I [Monk Martin] have composed to meet the needs of our community. As Orthodoxy moves form being an immigrant religion in this country towards an indigenous expression of the ancient Christian Faith, it is natural and necessary for such a progression to include the development of music native to our hearts. Monastics have often been the initiators of such creativity. As Fr. Alexander Schmemann once said regarding liturgical development: “The absence of such development would be the sign of a fatal sclerosis.”

It is our monastery’s vision that a uniquely American chant will gradually develop, growing up from the seeds of our inherited traditions. As they take root in American soil, this chant will become an organic hybrid of different influences from our own folk melodies and harmonies, rooted in the traditions of oiur ancestors and drawing from the springs of the memorable melodies of the Carpatho-Rus’ and the timeless and other-worldly modalities of western Gregorian chant and its eastern counterpart, Byzantine chant.

My hope is that the medium of this “American chant” will impel us to worship in spirit and truth from the depths of our hearts and enable us to pray the prayers and sing the rich texts of our ancient faith with the same honest fervor today as when the words were first composed.

Sorry! It’s http://blip.tv/file/2290895/

It is with sadness that we in the Diocese of the South receive the news of our dear Vladika’s retirement after so many years of dedicated service. He is the first and only Archbishop of the Diocese and the many mission Churches that he founded. His well-established legacy will live on.

March 22, 2009                                     Sunday of the Cross

To the Clergy and Faithful of the Diocese of the South
Orthodox Church in America:

I would like to take this opportunity first, to ask for your prayers and forgiveness as we continue our journey to Pascha.  May our Lord grant you a blessed and fruitful Lent and Holy Week.

In addition, please know that over the years your tireless efforts in service to Christ have been a tremendous source of inspiration and joy. We have labored together for ‘the Truth that sets man free’:  in light of your personal dedication it may be said that, “I have (had) no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 4).  With each conversion, with the start of each new mission I thank the Lord for “revealing Himself unto us,” and for providing His humble servant an opportunity to be a steward of such a flock as we have in the Diocese of the South.

Overseeing a Diocese, however, is a temporary calling by nature.  Thus, after fifty five years in the priesthood and forty years as a bishop of the Orthodox Church in America, I have asked for retirement from the active episcopacy, effective March 31, 2009.  It is not a decision I make lightly.  I feel confident that with our current Synod of Bishops as well as Diocesan leaders (both clergy and laymen) already in place, that the work of the Orthodox Church in the South will continue.  Together we have helped to lay the foundation which is Christ, and now it is time for others to build upon our labors (1 Corinthians 3).

Again, I ask for your prayers.  Be assured of my love and prayers for all of you.

In the love of Christ,

+ DMITRI

Archbishop of Dallas and the South

From the Diocese Website

I understand that Metropolitan JONAH, who was elevated to Bishop under the influence of Archbishop DMITRI, will become our Locum Tenens. Our love and prayers for a well-earned, peaceful retirement are with him.