This Keeps Christ In Christmas?

Tis the season to shop has begun.  You know, the one that everyone claims is horrible, but yet thousands flood the local stores.  You know the one that everyone screams, keep Christ in Christmas, but then they see how many presents they can buy baby Jesus.

I am never disappointed in being shocked by people and this Black Friday sales event was no exception.  Our refrigerator went out on Thanksgiving, so we're trying to find another one.  We figured that Best Buy in Sanford, Florida was on our way home from Thanksgiving meal and since they were open, we would stop in.

Oh my land!  It was complete pandemonium there. Yes, I was crazy for even thinking about going in a store to look for another one on this day.  Go ahead, call me crazy!

Dozens of cars were circling the parking lot looking for a place to park.  People parking anywhere they could and walking a distance to the store.  I guess, I should have known by that moment, but no - I had to go find a distant parking place and walk to the store. I ignored all the things that were telling me, this was not a good idea!

You couldn't see it until you were in it...

Once I got in the store, it looked like just a lot of people shopping.  However, as I made my way through the crowd that didn't seem as bad until I got in the middle of it, I realized that the store had the isles blocked with merchandise routing people around the store to their specials and the checkout lanes.  Of course, until you were in the middle of this, you didn't fully realize what you were in the middle of at that moment.  You couldn't see it until you were in it.

Realizing that about 30 people were standing in front of the appliance isle I needed to go to, I quickly determined there was no reason to stay and I started to leave.  Now, I'm claustrophobic and this type of scene dramatically increases my anxiety.  The walls were closing in quickly and all I wanted to do was get out of this store.  It was the moment of my anxiety where it was either me or others that were not in a good place and I knew I had to get out quickly.

I started to panic...

As I looked up and saw just what a mess it was in the store, I started to panic.  It was then that I almost put the football pads on and went plowing through people.  I knew I had only minutes before the anxiety would completely take over me and take me down.  Fortunately, I made my way out of the place before that happened.  I'm still shocked and stunned by what I saw.

If there would have been a fire in the store or some crazy person loosing it with a gun, there is no way anyone could have gotten out of their.  I can't believe the Sanford Fire Department would allow this type of behavior, but either they didn't know, they didn't care, or they just didn't want to be bothered.  Best Buy should have done something (anything) to deal with crowd control, but I'm guessing the all-mighty dollar of Black Friday sales is more important than worrying about the safety of their customers.  After all, if something bad doesn't happen - then what's the worry?!

This morning though, I saw the Orlando Sentinel with the headline, "Thanksgiving Day Shopping Falters On Shrinking Crowds".  Really?  Exactly where did they go to determine the facts for such a statement?  I mean, if you looked at the closed stores, sure I would agree with you.  There were no cars there.

According to the Orlando Sentinel...

Quoting their newspaper article, "But judging by crowds at Central Florida stores Thursday, Thanksgiving shopping just doesn't draw the same interest it once did."  Really?  Obviously they picked stores and places we were not at.  I mean, every open store we saw was jam-packed.  The roads were packed.  The interstate was bumper to bumper.  Exactly what part of "Central Florida" did the Orlando Sentinel travel to for this article?

It irks me when the media just flat out doesn't do their homework.  Some might call it dishonest and lying.  To make a statement as they did in this headline is beyond belief.  It isn't backed up by any facts other than trying to make a sensationalized headline to grab someone's attention.  Facts aren't necessary.  All you need for the media is hype and people will buy it.

So last night, not only did Best Buy fail their customers, but so did the Fire Department and law enforcement of this area.  And - so did the Orlando Sentinel for reporting bogus facts to make a bogus story.  That's what keeping Christ in Christmas is all about?  That's celebrating the season of peace and joy and love?  This is how we are human?

And no - its not all the other people out there.  Don't let yourself off the hook that easy.  It is everyone that gets caught up in the greed and "I have to have this" type of behavior.  It is everyone that gets caught up in being hoodwinked into reading news that isn't true.

Maybe we all want to ask ourselves a very hard question - is this what it means to be human?  Is this what Christmas is about?  What is our role in all of this - and don't let yourself off the hook!  I saw far too many that would be standing on the street corner claiming we need to keep Christ in Christmas!

#ChristmasShopping

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

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Crazy Is As Crazy Does

It seems like today, there are no sane people left in this world.  If there is, they are hiding.  The screaming and ranting and raving going on is really getting sickening.  Everything seems to be a victim moment or a point where everyone is afraid someone is coming after them.

I don't know these days, because I don't see the same thing as most people.  No, I don't watch the news constantly letting them scare the bejeebers out of me.  I don't gulp the koolaid of religion that tells me what I should believe and how I should believe it.  I really just try to see things in a more balanced way.

Of course though, the more crazy people get, the more crazy each person has to get.  No, I'm not referring to the "crazy people" out there.  I'm referring to each and every person that think there are little green martians hiding behind every tree, car, building and doorway.

Its sad really because by being crazy, everyone has to one up that.  If you do something that gets people's attention, then someone else says, I have to do more.  I have to be crazier.  Don't believe me?  Take a look at the Facebook news feed.  Take a look at the Twitter news feed.

If you still don't believe me, stand back a minute and look at how much of the news is dominated by the discussion of politics and who is right or wrong.  If you want to see crazy, stand back and drop your political beliefs for one minute so you can be objective.  You will see crazy!

At some point this world is going to spin out of control.  Hopefully we catch ourselves before it is too late.  At this point though, I'm not so confident we can.

After all, no one listens to one another.  Everyone has dug their own foxhole (thanks Frank Burns).  It is just one crazy act and statement and person and politician after another with no hopes of letting up!

However, I still hope that maybe crazy is as crazy does, won't be the norm one of these days.  Maybe we all will wake up and come to our senses?  I can dream can't I?

What if instead, we all sat down with someone else that we would otherwise oppose and chat for five or ten minutes.  Have the conversation be about anything but politics, guns, religion or our woes.

Maybe we could just have a chat with what we find good about our life and the world.  I know, it sounds like a crazy idea, but maybe this crazy idea could become the norm.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 1/18/16 by Don Shetterly

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Conversion Disorder Doesn't Mean You're Crazy

So often, the medical establishment struggles to understand what this condition is about for their patients.  Even if they have an understanding of it, often they are at a loss of how to treat it.  In addition, the patient is often so scared and afraid that they are crazy or there is something wrong with them, that they fight against everything that will most likely help them heal.

Conversion disorder does not mean you are crazy!  It is a very real condition that exists and people who are suffering through it, are not faking the symptoms.  It is very frightening to experience and for many people, they struggle to find the way to heal from this.  It generally frightens the family to the point of wrongly thinking that something is unfixable in their child or family member.

If you have followed my blog for some time,  you know will know that I have been through a conversion disorder (also known as a functional neurological disorder).   Fortunately I found the courage and strength to heal from this, but many are still searching.  I happened to find the right people at the right time in my life to help me come through this and to really heal from this disorder.  If you see me now, you would have no clue that I have been through this.

Black Friday Craziness

I'm sure we all sit here gasping when we read various headlines.  After all, we see this black Friday craziness and wonder if we reside on the same planet with these shoppers that purport to be human.  I've seen accounts this year of someone claiming they will stab another if they try to shove their way in.  I've seen accounts of a lady that fought with police to get in line until they held her down, handcuffed her and hauled her to jail.  There are the people who spend days of their life waiting in line, trying to get a deal that saves them a couple hundred bucks.  Last but not least, there are the ones that spend day and night shopping and buying everything they can get their hands on.

Of course, we have the other side of the issue where some people boycott businesses on Black Friday and urge everyone else to do the same.  There are ones who could care less what is going on in the store and try to stay away from all the Black Friday Craziness.  Yet, you also will find people who have waited all year to buy some items that are now deeply discounted and make them more affordable.  I'm sure I am leaving out many other people as well.

Validation Of Child Abuse

I was reading about some of this stuff from the minister dude in Atlanta, Georgia (Pastor & Bishop Eddie Long) that is accused of molesting some boys. That in itself makes me want to puke. However, that's not why i'm writing here.

Many of the things that I've been through, sometimes it seems like no one else has ever gone through it, or I just don't often hear about it. And so at times, I fall back into the old tapes that I'm crazy, I've been brainwashed, etc. These are all the things that my family said to me.

There was one part in some of what I read on this current news story about the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church story where the one boy stated (and I'm paraphrasing), "it started out with a neck massage and then led to further things." When I read that, it hit me so hard. It was like the story of someone I never met was validating what I already know has happened to me.

My father used to always have neck, head and back pain. He knew that I had a touch that could do a little back rub on him and he would feel better. I was only a young teenager at the time much like these boys were in this church. The only thing is, that the massages often led to him pulling his pants down and then off into the land of sexual abuse. Writing about this still almost makes me want to go puke right now. And I've moved way beyond so much of this but it still hits me deep.

Its one of the reasons I think that I still struggle to do massage (I am a licensed massage therapist) which I enjoy doing and so many tell me I'm very talented with. I know my touch isn't like many other massage therapists because I sense, feel and pick up things that most don't. Yet, I'm still triggered back to those days of a massage where the the message is so mixed and confused in my mind at times. It is like trying to split the good part of massage from the bad part of massage where my dad molested me. It is like dividing water or so it seems.

But hearing this in the news is tough. I feel for these boys. Like these boys, I too, went through all the justifications of the abuse because of some scripture or interpretation of this being what God wanted my father to do. I ache for these young guys because I know first hand how freaking hard it is to deal with this. The anger within me rises!

While it is rough, I know this is just an opportunity for me to heal further and go deeper into reclaiming all of these things. After all these years of work, it sometimes gets tough. It feels extremely tough and difficult right now but I know I can make it through this - I've already survived much worse!

(Above Picture taken at Fort Lauderdale, FL - (c) 02/15/01)

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