President Trump has gained a reputation for making a prolific number of tweets, more than any other president. He also has used the Twitter forum to lunch attacks on any person or group that annoys him. The news media report on the content of his tweets more actively than they report on what is printed in the Congressional Record which is an official governmental publication. Twitter has no official standing, yet it receives more media attention than is due it.
This week a Twitter employee left the company. His parting gift to the world was deactivating Trump’s Twitter account. It was only inactive for 11 minutes before the error was discovered and the account was reactivated. I thank this former employee for giving the nation and the world 11 minutes free from the ranting posts of our current president!
Everyone knows that “Obamacare” officially known as the Affordable Care Act has improved the health of many people who now have health insurance that did not have coverage before the act was implemented. Another side benefit of providing more insurance has been the significant and steady DECREASE in the bankruptcy rate since it was implemented. We have gone from 1.3 million bankruptcy filings a year to 770,846 annually.
Who would have known, as our physical health improves so does our financial health!
Until I watched the evening news last night I was unaware of the 3 pm attack on pedestrians in New York by a lone wolf terrorist. Many of you recognize the picture above as the sight of the attack. The striking part of the image is the crumpled bicycles laying on the ground. No pedestrian or bike rider is safe when a pick-up truck is speeding toward them. This path is supposed to be free from motorized vehicles, which further surprised the people there when the speeding vehicle appeared.
I am glad they have the person responsible in custody. More than that I pray for the victims both dead and alive and their families. Their personal world has been shattered and done so in a cruel and violent manner. I also pray for the health care workers, police, and others whose jobs require them to respond to what has happened. All of them will need the power of prayer support in the days ahead.
Since I was a child Linus has waited for the Great Pumpkin every year. He has faced ridicule from family (sister Lucy) and friends (Charley Brown, Snoopy and others); with all the obstacles to his faith, he remains committed to what he believes.
In this comic strip Linus is quoting from the Bible as people have asked God to deliver them over the centuries. Linus holds on with ferocity to what he believes. Do we hang on to what we believe with a similar ferocity? That is a question we all must answer for ourselves.
Every year a friend of mine arranges to have volunteers come greet injured Marines who are recovering at the Marine Corps Depot in San Diego, CA.
Part of the volunteers’ activity is to deliver Christmas cards to each Marine. Where ever you live you can help by sending cards to be distributed Christmas morning.
Here are the instructions for helping:
Notes, letter, pictures and cards accepted.
Salutation should be “Dear Recruit”
Send all the letters/drawings in one package to the address below.
NO personal return addresses. Use your church’s address so the Recruit will have some idea where the card came from.
Mark the back of each note with a classroom sticker or stamp with the school address, if they desire possible responses from recruits.
We ask that you not use glitter.
Please mail your letters by December 4, 2017 to the following address:
Marine Moms Online Holiday Project C/O Mike Atkinson 3755 Avocado Blvd Box 402 La Mesa, CA 91941
Those who know me are aware that I am a huge Superman fan. Imagine my pleasure today when reading the comics section of the newspaper and seeing Hi Flagston dressed as Superman. Believe me if I had a Halloween party to attend, I would dress as Superman!
Del Fest is an annual music festival held in our county annually. This was the year for a new contract to be signed. The process was as much a melodrama as the bickering of the 2016 Presidential Primary Candidates performed.
There was a lot of misinformation swirling around our county during the negotiation process. A lot of information was reported in our local newspaper. The fact that these behind-the-scenes details hit print media further illustrates the collapse of common sense that prevailed. A new give year contract will be signed on Nov. 3, 2017. That is the best news!
There is some bad news which I will summarize in bullet points below:
Until less than 30 days ago the County attorney was not involved in the negotiations.
Until less than 30 days ago there had not been even one sit-down meeting with representatives of both organizations present.
The contract was being negotiated via email between 2 people, neither of them being a lawyer.
I feel a 5th grade student could have coordinated the process more intelligently than the County Commissioners!
At Western Maryland Health System, we have a terrific Hospice Team!!
At our Team Meeting yesterday I was presented this card, a wonderful wooden box with a Celtic cross engraved on the top of it and 3 gift cards. Our team holds celebrations for each clinical specialty during their designated week of recognition. So, this week being Spiritual Care Week and with me being the Hospice Spiritual Counselor, I was the lucky recipient of all the special activity. The team knows I love Superman, so the room and the cake were decorated with the colors of Superman.
I really was touched by the personal comments on the card and by all the effort everyone went to for the moment of recognition. Today I am using my blog to issue the Hospice Team a public THANK YOU!
Pictured from left to right: Melissa Jessen, Charles Shelquist, Bruce McBride, Paul Demers and Mark Perman
Hospitals throughout the nation are celebrating Pastoral Care Week October 23 – 27, 2017. The picture above was taken at our hospital yesterday when we hosted an information display during the lunch hour. This week we also held our third annual Pastoral Care Banquet with 20 people in attendance. Lew Twigg was honored at his retirement for 24 years as a Volunteer Chaplain Associate. I also received a special card of appreciation and a gift certificate for the extra level of engagement I provided this year when I operated the department during the 5 months the Director’s position was vacant.
In 1988 when I was appointed to my first congregation we used the Sunday Bulletin, a monthly newsletter, and the telephone to communicate with the membership. As the image above illustrates social media has added many new ways to share information. There are so many ways to communicate that I have chosen to use email, a blog, and Twitter as my social networks. There is no way I could keep up with the 15 options of social media that are available.
The key to choosing which social media options is enhanced if you which option your members or target audience will be most likely to use regularly. I know I am constantly frustrated because people will tell me to check Facebook for the information. I am not a Facebook account holder and am unable to access their pages. So, telling me I must check Facebook is the same thing as telling me, “sorry we aren’t sharing our information with you”.
We live in an era where accessibility is prime consideration. Organizations should not restrict themselves to only one option of social media or they will leave out communicating with many potential supporters.
