Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Our Tax Dollars At Work (Wordless Wednesday) and Words for Wednesday

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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Sandee at Comedy Plus, and BeThere2Day.     






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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.    


This month, the prompts are being provided by yours truly, right here.


This week's words are


bear

debt

gap

witness

describe

reaction


and / or one of these archaic/semi-archaic words


anon (at once)

forsooth (in truth; indeed)

wood mad (insane; wild)


A few days ago, i posted Sunday Selections photos of our Reformation Day celebration at church and some asked, "What is Reformation Day?"     


FORSOOTH, it is a good question, so please BEAR with me as i attempt to answer with the above words and without boring you to tears (although if you don't like history, you'll think that isn't possible).


On October 31, 1517, a young monk named Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses, a list of 95 problems he saw with Roman Catholic Church doctrine.  He felt there was a GAP when these doctrines were compared to what he read in Scripture.  


He was especially critical of the idea of the sale of indulgences.  The Roman Catholic Church teaches that if you die with small sins that you haven't confessed and had absolved by a priest, you go to Purgatory to finish paying for those sins.  An "indulgence" is a way to reduce the amount of punishment.  Friends and family members were encouraged to pay for indulgences for deceased loved ones, and unscrupulous priests sometimes preyed on those mourning, having them even go into DEBT to buy time out of Purgatory for the deceased.  This even though no priest could say, with any authority, whether your loved one went to Purgatory or not, or whether enough indulgences had been paid for yet.


Most current Protestant teaching holds that sins are forgiven through the work Jesus the Christ (Messiah, Anointed One) did, and cannot be bought.  Most also don't believe in Purgatory at all, since it's not in the Bible.


ANON there was a REACTION, although at first Luther believed he was simply trying to bring the simple WITNESS of Scripture to bear on church teachings.  Like many before and since, his first inclination was not to ditch the Roman Catholic Church wholesale, but to simply DESCRIBE problems he saw in some church teaching and get it changed.


Whether he and the reformers who followed, such as John Calvin and John Knox, are seen as heroes or as WOOD MAD depends upon whether you are a follower of Jesus or not, and of what "denominational flavor" as one friend of mine likes to say.


Right or wrong, Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church a few years later and what he and his followers started teaching marked the end of the Middle Ages in Europe, as well as the rise of the Renaissance and the decline of the Pope's influence in the affairs of civil government.


Many churches today, including the one i attend, celebrate the last Sunday of October as Reformation Day or Reformation Sunday.  Because we are Presbyterians, and the Presbyterian denominations in the US hail back to the Church of Scotland, it's a day of celebrating all things Scottish (although most of us draw the line at haggis), as well as celebrating a simple faith as taught in the Bible alone.



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Today is:


Allama Iqbal Day -- Pakistan


Chaos Never Dies Day -- internet generated, and just look in my closets if you want proof that we need this one


Couch Beachcombing Day -- internet generated; also called sofa diving, you will be amazed what you will find!


Dedication of the Lateran Basilica


Dia de los Natitas -- La Paz, Bolivia (Day of the Skulls, when skulls are decorated and then offered cigarettes, coca leaves, and other items)


Fiesta de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena -- Madrid, Spain (Feast of the Virgin of the Almudena, Patroness of the City)


Flag Day -- Azerbaijan


Go to an Art Museum Today Day -- it's a good idea, whoever started this one


Independence Day -- Cambodia (1953)


Lord Mayor's Day / Lord Mayor's Show -- London, England (traditional date, celebrated on the nearest Saturday; a traditional Show since 1215, when King John granted the people of London the right to elect their own mayor)


National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day


National Nibble Day -- as promoted by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith


National Scrapple Day


Neon Sign Day -- Georges Claude received a patent for the neon sign on this day in 1911


Night of Nicnevin (Gyre-Carling), Daughter of Frenzy, Banshee -- Scots Pagan (date approximate)


Paul is Dead Day -- Beatle's Conspiracy Theorists, who claim Paul died this day in 1966 and was replaced by Billy Campbell


Schicksalstag -- Germany (Destiny Day or Fateful Day) anniversary of

     the execution of Robert Blum in 1848

     dethroning of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918

     The Beer Hall Putsch in 1923

     Kristallnacht (Crystal Night, marks the beginning of the Holocaust), 1938

     the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989


St. Theodore the General's Day (Patron of soldiers; Brindisi, Italy; invoked for the recovery of lost objects)


Tag der Erfinder -- Austria; Germany; Switzerland (Inventor's Day; birth anniversary of Hedy Lamarr, who was an inventor as well as an actress)


Wish-Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Sprites)


World Freedom Day -- US



Birthdays Today:


Nikki Blonsky, 1988

Nick Lachey, 1973

Chris Hericho, 1970

Thomas Quasthoff, 1959

Lou Ferrigno, 1951

Tom Weiskopf, 1942

Tom Fogerty, 1941

Mary Travers, 1936

Bob Gibson, 1935

Carl Sagan, 1934

Dorothy Dandridge, 1923 

Spiro Agnew, 1918

Hedy Lamarr, 1913

James William Fullbright, 1905

Ed Wynn, 1886

Stanford White, 1853

Elijah P. Lovejoy, 1802

Benjamin Banneker, 1731 (first freeborn child of free African American parents)



Debuting/Premiering Today:


"Wizard of Id"(Comic strip), 1964

"Omnibus"(TV), 1952



Today in History:


Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery, 694

The Family de' Medici were expelled from Florence, 1494

Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1620

Hungarian parliament promises Protestants freedom of religion, 1681

The Rabbi Yehuda Hasid synagogue in Jerusalem is set afire by Arabs, 1720

Napoleon becomes dictator of France, 1799

The first US pharmacy college begins classes in Philadelphia, 1821

The NY Symphony Orchestra holds its first public performance, 1858

The first documented Canadian football game is held, at the University of Toronto, 1861

Ulyses Grant issues orders to bar Jews from serving under him, 1862

The Great Boston Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings, 1872

Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first US president to visit other countries during his tenure, visiting Puerto Rico and Panama, 1906

The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people, 1913

Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect, 1921

Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast Blackout of 1965

First issue of Rolling Stone Magazine is published, 1967

Garry Kasparov 22, of the Soviet Union becomes the youngest World Chess Champion, 1985

The chemical element Darmstadtium is discovered, 1994

The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, 2005

The German Bundestag passes the controversial data retention bill mandating storage of citizens' telecommunications traffic data for six months without probable cause, 2007

The USS Gerald R. Ford is christened by the U.S. Navy; the aircraft carrier cost $15.5 billion and is technically the most advanced ship ever built, 2013

"Reclining Nude" by Italian artist Modigliani fetches the second highest auction price ever at $170.4m, 2015

The Kartarpur Corridor opens, allowing Sikh worshippers from India to access the holy site of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan without a visa, 2019

105-year-old Julia Hawkins sets a world record as the first woman and first American her age to run 100 meters, in the Louisiana Senior Olympic Games, 2021

19 comments:

  1. Thank you for this fascinating explanation of Reformation Day.
    My (much less informative) use of your prompts is below.
    Forsooth, I think I have got away with it. For years I put up with his abuse and his gaslighting. When I tried to describe his behavior to others I discovered that he had spread the word far and wide that I was wood mad and that nothing I said could be relied on. There is a huge gap between reality and her beliefs he told them. ‘Poor thing, she tries, but there is something missing’. All of my reactions were dismissed as delusional.
    So all I could do was grin and bear it. For years.
    Today his debt to me has been paid. In full.
    I waited. And watched. Patiently. When people would listen I talked about phone calls threatening his life. I finally saw my chance. And took it. Anon. And anonymously. With no-one to witness it.
    A certain nameless person hit him with a meat ax. Repeatedly. And left his battered and very dead body in the workshop I wasn’t allowed to enter. (‘Too many dangerous tools you understand. She wouldn’t be safe in there’). Days after the event I reported him missing. And when the police finally (reluctantly) came to the house it was them who discovered him. And broke the news to his poor bereaved wife, who knew that the neigbours would tell the police that she was a submissive woman who obeyed her husband’s dictates. She hoped that they would also pass on her carefully contrived rumours of a secret enemy.

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    1. Great use of the prompts as always!

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    2. Well done! Although i am sad she had to resort to such a tactic to get free of him.

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    3. A meat axe! you went to the dark side a little. Very nicely done and of course the police would never suspect her. she wiped off her fingerprints, right?

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  2. Thank you for your explanation of what is Reformation Day. Thanks to Martin Luther. Have a great week.

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  3. If you have your own business, as you know, you work and get the work done so you can be done. If you have a government job, you work, but there is no sense of urgency because if it doesn't get done quickly, so what.

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  4. I see workers standing around all the time. They get the work done eventually, but often they are talking and not working. It's the way of things.

    Thank you for the history lesson on Reformation Day. You're a wonderful wordsmith.

    Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Big hug. ♥

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  5. It's amazing in all type of weather these men & women complete their jobs.

    Cruisin Paul

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  6. Interesting story. I was raised Catholic, but as I have gotten older I find many things wrong with the church- especially how many children were abused by clergy. I feel like it is not much better than a cult.

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  7. One wonders when seeing inaction instead of action! Maybe they are just taking a lunch break? Cheers!

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  8. I expect they would tell you they were having a site meeting! Your use of words was very interesting and explained some things I didn't know.

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  9. I always assumed everybody knew what the reformation was/is, so I'm glad you took the time to tell it. I agree, hoping they are having lunch. ;-)

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  10. That was a good story. Hey, we've got those same excited workers here too.

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  11. Thank you for the history lesson and what a great way to use the words. I'm shocked at the "paying for indulgences" part.

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  12. Thanks for the words. I have used most of them for my Catch up post.

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  13. I've learned something today, including the fact that you don't like haggis ... what?!!!

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  14. I'm so grateful for those people throughout history who were brave enough to withstand what was 'accepted' in a search for the 'inspired'!

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