My uncle experienced a motorcycle crash about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Brain surgery, an induced coma and many tubes/probes stuck in his body have been some of the more recent experiences he has undergone.

The initial intensity of feelings and the weighty unknown made the first days seem slower, the world carefully pressing the brakes so as not to stop abruptly furthering injury to my uncle. He’s a well-loved man with many friends and a fiercely supportive family. None of his family lives in his town or even in his state anymore (actually cousins do, but not his kids or siblings), but at least two and upto six family members have been at the hospital daily. Friends send their love from the western states and even Hawaii. The also send food and make donations in his name. As I type this, I cringe a little at how clinical some of it sounds. I love my uncle. I don’t know him all that well, but I like him because he is someone you can’t help but like. He’s been up to visit us in our new city the most, bar my mom. There’s a teddy bearish quality about him, though hiding, albeit not too well, a mischievous man. I can imagine the grief and annoyance he caused his two younger sisters, my mother and aunt, as a boy. And, just as revealing, I’ve seen their devotion and love for him in their vigil at his bedside.

The doctors have not wanted to give too much hope. The brain is a tricky thing. Today, however, as he has been gradually weened out of his induced coma, there was seemingly good news about his brain activity and the expectation of him waking up as soon as they can get the medications right (i.e. stop doping him up too much). I hope it happens soon. I hope we get to welcome him back to the world.

Just how much of him will wake up is something we will find out then. The doctors have warned that, even if everything goes well, we won’t really know the full results of the trauma for a year. Recovery, medication, therapy… He’ll also have love, friendship and the strength of many whose lives he has touched over the years.

And so to take a moment to be selfish, I ask myself, what can be learned from this? Have I learned something? I imagine if this had happened to me I’d have a small close contingent of family and perhaps some friends, but not the magnitude of outpouring that my uncle has had. Have I let too many friendships fall to the wayside? Perhaps that is a fault of my character. Deep down I think sharing love and kindness is important, but often I find myself too weary to share these beyond my very close circle, and even then it is not always love and kindness I’m giving to those I love. 

So, I don’t usually respond to or pass along any of the mass email that comes from my family and friends. I have a time or two in the past, but then was chagrinned to find out that a supposed threat of increasing cancer risk was simply another “scare tactic” by someone out there who was against a certain type of product. Afterwards I stopped my knee-jerk reaction to such types of emails and decided to research the “true claims” they made myself.

So, I get an email today that puzzled me. Basically it said (paraphrasing here): If the Gov’t removes any mention of God from their money, the pledge of allegince, military endeavors, etc., then god-fearing people should protest the government “using” religious holidays to give time off.

The logic here is astounding. (Yes, I am being facetious.) Firstly, there is the first amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

As for the money and military and the pledge, now that is actually showing so much respect that those not of certain God-fearing religions are being infringed upon… Though the extent isn’t much with the money… I mean it is there, but who spends time reading money? I mean buy a book.

The pledge?... Tell your kid to say “Under Daddy” instead of “Under God” and hope no one in the class says “Just like your mom”... or better yet, just don’t say “under God,” right? Say “under Allah” or “under Buddha” or say nothing at all… I know some guy sued, so maybe the pledge has already been changed, but at this point they are just some words written by someone who didn’t happen to read the first amendment or failed to understand that Christianity isn’t the only religion out there.

...The military stuff, I have no clue about this. Do you get courtmarshalled and more for not following the 10 commandments as laid down in the King James Bible? Is that really true?...if so, scary.

So basically, go ahead and protest if you must. But sheesh the very first thing they thought of when writing the Bill of Rights was religion and keeping it and gov’t away from each other. Why? Because they knew that gov’t could go terribly awry once religion started getting swirled into the mix. (As some of us have caught glimpses of in the past 5 years or so… )

There may be talk of removing “religious” references or practices in anything gov’t related, but has it happened? No. Will it happen? Doubt it. Maybe eventually, and then how much of an effect will it have on me or you or that other guy over there? None. (Perhaps some effect on the military… again not my area of expertise.) So, I don’t get the indignation. What’s the big deal? It seems like some bored guy is sitting in front of the tv watching Fox News, yelling out his window if you aren’t going to recognize my God, then I’m not going to let you enjoy my religious holiday. So there!!! Rather silly isn’t it?