Aren’t We Beyond This Now?

I went to a movie today at the local theater. Saw the same movie previews I saw a couple weeks ago at the same theater. And I realized something had changed in me in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago when I saw the trailer for Napoleon I was thinking this looked like a movie I wanted to see – great acting, interesting time in history, yada yada.

But today when I saw the same preview, I found myself reacting differently. As cannons were booming and bloody body parts were flying and a tyrant was crowning himself monarch, I found myself feeling… I guess “repulsed” would be the best word. I found myself asking, “Aren’t we beyond this now? Aren’t we done with this, yet? Why are we still making these movies about these egomaniacal men and glorifying the wars they mongered?”

I’m so done with it.

I think at some point in the last couple of weeks I reached some kind of mental and emotional tipping point. Our world cannot go on as it’s been going on. Things are going to have to change if humanity is going to survive.

War is not the answer.

“Bloodshed, war, and oppression belong to the darker ages, and shall be relegated to oblivion.”
– Mary Baker Eddy


New Review for *Looking Forward*

I just got a new review on Goodreads for Looking Forward: More Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist. The reviewer filled my heart with her kindness. I really needed her kindness today. Here’s what H. Benson wrote:

Karen’s message is one of LOVE’s ability to carry us through the ups and downs of daily life as well as support us and provide hope in these crazy times when the world seems to have gone mad.

I’ve had the pleasure of reading 3 of Karen Molenaar Terrell’s books, the most recent being “Looking Forward,” which I’ve read twice in the past couple of months. It provides solace to the soul as you read of the kindness, love, humor, and compassion that infuses Karen’s life and daily activities with aging parents, husband, adult sons, extended family, pets, and community. She shares about her life with such openness and vulnerability that when you’ve finished reading, you feel like you’ve thoroughly enjoyed catching up with your best friend and you’re looking forward to your next get-together.

All teachers should read Karen’s chapter on education. The country and the world would be a far better place if teachers shared Karen’s perspective on students and incorporated her creative ways of sharing academic lessons and life’s wisdom with students.

Karen’s political campaign gives the reader a taste of how our country’s leaders could and should be: intelligent, passionate, respectful, articulate and kind. How we sorely need that in this world!

The quotations and book references with which Karen begins each chapter have been added to my reading list. If they inspired Karen, they are sure to inspire me.

This “Madcap Christian Scientist” has a heartfelt and hopeful message for all of us: LOVE and a sense of humor are the keys to a fulfilling life.