Our strange new world: Jesus can't post comments on the Washington Post

I like to post comments to articles.  Since Vicky and I are moderates and are conscientious objectors in the culture wars, I try to make my comments ones that accept all people and their ideas.

One major feature of our culture is that people don't just have different political views, but instead on the left and on the right those views are that the other "side" has serious moral defects.

We don't see things this way.  We also believe that social media is largely responsible for all of this hatred because we don't see it in the small communities where we live where we deal with people face to face and everyone is nice to each other.

Well, to try to control the ugliness on the Washington Post's comment section they have enabled the use of AI to monitor comments.  And if AI doesn't like a comment for some reason, it will not be posted.   It's a good idea to monitor comments.

Yesterday I posted a comment to the Post that was from Jesus, from his Sermon on the Mount, the most amazing words that were ever created.  My point was my usual point when I make a comment, which is to not divide us but unite us.  I added nothing myself to this....this is how it looked when I posted it: 

(I only identified it as spoken by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount)

 

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother^[c] will be liable to judgment; whoever insults^[d] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell^[e] of fire. 

And it was not allowed.  I thought perhaps the word "hell" was the issue so I tried it with "h___" and it still was not allowed.

I wrote to WaPo's customer care, and all I got back was a canned message that I should look at commenting policies.

They didn't get it that their AI was not allowing Jesus to post comments, and maybe they should look at that.  I didn't think anybody at WaPo would actually want that, and I still don't think anybody at WaPo would actually want that.  It's just an example of our automated world.

But isn't that a nutty outcome of our culture wars?  Even Jesus gets cancelled by AI?  

 

Celebrating our 4th Cabinversary

It’s hard to believe that we have owned our sweet cabin in the small hamlet of Pine for four years!

We have totally immersed ourselves into the life of our little village, and have explored miles and miles surrounding Tonto, Coconino, and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. We have lived here every spring, summer, and fall starting in 2021, after we fell in love with this mountain paradise when we spent a week here celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary.

When we arrive early each spring we get to watch the leaves budding out on the mountain oak trees, the Mama elk heavy in the final weeks of their pregnancies, and the spring blossoms. As spring flows into summer the desert mountains are covered with vibrant wild flowers and prickly pear cacti blossoms. And best of all, the Mama elk and Coues deer bring their new babies out of the forests to show their little darlings to the world. Then as fall arrives the oak leaves turn bright orange, red, and gold….and as a special treat, the big Daddy elk joins mama and their half grown babies. 

When we see the big Daddy elk with his enormous rack, we know that in another month or two the temperatures will drop.  We’ll no longer be comfortable in the afternoons sitting on our porch listening to the wind in the tall pine trees and the birds singing to us, while we watch the squirrels scurrying around collecting their winter store of food.  We will not be able to sit outside and watch the elk and deer parade down the dirt road and munching on grass beneath our deck.  Then it will be time for us to migrate south to our home in Mesa where it is warm all winter long.

But the cold winter weather is still a few months away.

Today on our 4th Cabinversary, it was beautifully warm and we spent several blissful hours immersed in nature….watching our rustic little world from our front deck.  We celebrated four years of loving and  living at our glorious mountain cabin! 

Here we are dancing on our front deck with Jane Morgan singing her 1950’s song, “Happy Anniversary,” to us.

We ate our Cabinversary dinner in bed….homemade yummy nachos!

 

Our hearts are full of gratitude for each other, our children, grandchildren, and family…..and of course for our lovely cabin, where we have lived happily together ever after (for four years).  We are truly blessed!

All play….no labor on Labor Day weekend!

Our family tradition on Labor Day weekend for over a decade is to plan a fantastic trip with our dear Georgia family….Sean and Emily and our precious grandsons, Soren and Sebastian.

Unbelievably, Soren is all grown up….and driving.  He drove us all to their community swimming pool, so we could watch Sebastian working out in the pool.

Sebastian at his swim team practice with Soren hanging out and giving tips to the coach….

Walking the sweet new puppies, Lucy and Daisy, with Emily….

Sean had to work on Friday, and Soren and Sebastian who are now a freshman and senior in high school couldn’t miss school, so on Thursday Emily and we headed up without them—into northern into Georgia mountains to Unicoi Lodge and State Park for our traditional Labor Day four day weekend family trip.  The rest of the family arrived Friday afternoon.  

This was our SEVENTH year at Unicoi, where we rent a two story cabin and play together for days on end….we all look forward to this time all year long.

After walking around the lake in the morning, three of us rented boats and paddled water at Unicoi Lake….

Finally, Sean, Soren, and Sebastian arrived at Unicoi, and the real fun began….our time together!

Off  for a day in the quaint “Bavarian” village of Helen….just a few miles from Unicoi.  We always HAVE to visit all our favorite shops, buy fudge,  and eat lunch at the Troll Under the Bridge Restaurant.  

This year we had new experiences….Soren and Sebastian wanted to learn how to fly fish and throw tomahawks.  This is something that we never knew that we needed to learn, but since Grandma and Grandpa didn’t want to miss out on all the fun, early Sunday morning we waded out into the lake (or at least Grandma did) and caught lots of reeds, but no fish.  Maybe next time….

We found out that getting a tomahawk to in-bed its blade into a solid board (and stay there) it took strength, technique, and a lot of luck.  But we all succeeded at least one time. 

 

I didn’t even hit the target on my first three throws.  I’m clearly not a natural born tomahawk thrower.  But I finally (after about ten throws, got the darn tomahawk to stick on the target.  I think that I should have gotten “ The Most Improved Tomahawk Thrower” award! 

We all agreed, Grandpa was the very best tomahawk thrower on the Borja Graybill Team, but we still lost. Look at this—all three throws on the target for a total of seven points!

It was a blast!

We had an early birthday party for Emily at our Cabin, and celebrated with MoonPies and lots of ice cream bars.  

We gave her a book about Francis Perkins, the amazing woman who conceived the idea and implemented the plan for Social Security.  President Franklin Roosevelt appointed her Secretary of Labor.  She was the first female to be a cabinet member, a well deserved position, as she had been fighting for worker’s rights her entire life.  As a Secretary of Labor, she fought to protect workers and children by working tirelessly to pass labor laws that addressed safety issues, shortened the hours of work allowed per week, and improved working conditions.

Francis Perkins, who lived 100 years ago reminds us of Emily.  She has also worked tirelessly all her life to protect the vulnerable and help children and families….in addition to being an amazing mother, wife, and daughter.

Playing together….

Sebastian resting on the porch at our traditional stop….Fred’s Famous Peanuts in Helen, Georgia.

We found an old photo in the peanut shop of the original people with their look-a-like dummies.  The dummies that are still sitting on the porch at Fred’s decades later, but the original people were nowhere to be found….

The infamous yellow bike at the peanut shop….

Three years ago at Fred’s Famous Peanuts….

Six years ago at our home on Whidbey Island……

My how they’ve grown!  But our grandsons, Soren and Sebastian, are just as sweet, caring, and loving as they were when they were little toddlers that we could carry around in our arms .

 It is so much fun “grand parenting” together and so very rewarding.  We love being grandparents to each of our dear grandchildren. This is what gives our life meaning.  

Thank you, Sean, Emily, Soren, and Sebastian for another Labor Day weekend filled with fun, tradition, and memories that we will hold dear forever.