From: owner-angry-psychos-digest@smoe.org (angry-psychos-digest) To: angry-psychos-digest@smoe.org Subject: angry-psychos-digest V3 #361 Reply-To: angry-psychos@smoe.org Sender: owner-angry-psychos-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-angry-psychos-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "angry-psychos-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. angry-psychos-digest Sunday, December 20 1998 Volume 03 : Number 361 Today's Subjects: ----------------- NPR: The X-Mas Files ["sp00k" ] npr: sorry about the xmas tirade ["Sad Alcoholic Clown" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 03:29:10 -0500 From: "sp00k" Subject: NPR: The X-Mas Files Ho, Ho, Ho, PsYcHoS :> I've held off on touching this one cuz I've really tried to ponder what it must be like to NOT enjoy christmas. I was born into the tradition, baptized catholic, used to spend hours straining my neck studying over and over again the details of the massive stained glass windows, and listening to a priest go on in a language I was clueless about. Now as a child, whats not to like, your talking time out of school, sledding, 10 foot high snow forts, bombing busses with snow balls, shoveling for money, staying up late, eating good food, hanging out with the extended family, and usualy getting one item that ya had to have. Keep in mind that I came from a family of 5 kids, blue collar, so its not like we were crazy spoiled. Is it fair that others go without? Far as I can tell everyday is christmas for the rich, and as far as I know nobody is feeling bad because I only get to celebrate once a year. By time I was 11, the santa myth was over, and I had fallen in with a group of born again christians. I was saved, but can't say that I really understood what was going on, and shortly there after my family fled to the burbs. I didn't realize how different things were until the october holiday for the hebrews which I think is called "yom kippor" and many of my classmates were missing and that was the reason why. I also soon came to realize that somthing was wrong about a god who would send all of my new friends to hell because they had not accepted jesus as lord and savior. And so it was that from 7th grade thru graduation I would grow up in a predominently jewish community, and in my travles I would come to know jehovas witnesses, mormons, muslims, quakers, witches, and voo doo people. I came to the conclusion that nobody was right. I do not question the reality of a higher power, and I have studied the evolution of the earth and man. X-Mas is a time to once again ponder these questions, that will never be answered. I pray to a "god" in blind faith, I suspect that my "god" is really a comedian, born to sin, I try to lead a morale life by striving to be fair, honest, helpful, caring, etc... I don't need a bible to tell me to live this way. My X-Mas focus and my reprimand to those who forget, X-Mas is for kids, innocent enough to still believe that a jolly fat man in a red suit, goes to every single house on the planet, squeezes down the chimney, and leaves perhaps, just what you asked for. In MY culture, the holidays are the glue that binds the scattered extended family for perhaps once a year visits, as adults, none of us have any illusions about santa, or god, and in the mean time we hope the kids are really enjoying themselves while they can. I enjoy X-Mas lites, so much so that I have always had a string in my favorite room for as long as I can remember, I like my 10 foot tall tree thats across the room from me, I enjoyed taking picturers of my daughter and her friend as they put the decorations on. My town has long main st. that is a valley with the erie canal in the center, and from one end to the other all the trees are strung with white lites, its quite an awesome site, especialy with the foot of snow we just got, whats not to like? Holidaze that do piss me off are veterans day, memorial day, and independance day, on those days I remember all the good people who have died in the name of democracy, for causes that were more often about business, ho, ho, ho. Gift giving.... the motto is take care of the kids, somthing personal for those you care dearly about to show that you are thoughtful... if you think your already trying, try a little harder to be nice to those less fortunate, like I said, its a good time for reflection, no matter what you believe. For those of you who have no fond memories of X-Mas past, or who because of YOUR culture, simply find this to be a huge waste of a couple of months, well, I've been to plenty of concerts just for the party. NOW just one more thing, when I see an "athiest" use the word "goddamn", isn't that a LOT like me asking "santa" for a new POE CD? Ho h0 hO U PsYcHoS and remember only 9 days left to vote in http://wber.monroe.edu 'S Top 30 Listener poll for your chance to get your greedy little non-denominational hands on a Sony Play Station, or other stuff, but MORE importanly, it is a chance for ALL "AP's" to let the station know how you feel about POE, as an onair/internet station, they have a world audiance, as is reflected by the e-mails they read, I hope to hear that the AnGrY-PsYcHoS were heard from. Heres to whatever floats your boat, or the hope that you find somthing that does. Peace, Sp00k, etc ... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 14:45:35 PST From: "Sad Alcoholic Clown" Subject: npr: sorry about the xmas tirade i apologize for my inappropriate harangue about the lack of spirituality this time of year, but i was and continue to feel vastly depressed and empty. i don't know if it's the overall climate of the holidays or if it's because i'm visiting the folks, but i can no longer see the substance beneath all things. everything seems vacuous to me, even things i've held sacred like music. i cannot feel it anymore. all that i do feel is misery and sorrow. i feel i need an anchor to keep me from floating away into emotional oblivion. i need a philosophy that can calm the emotional turbulence within me and inside create a harmony. this is the last time i expose this list to my rambling self-indulgence. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 16:13:30 -0800 (PST) From: Shanna Hollich Subject: *NPR* a little about Ramadan...and then some - ---steve wrote: > bye:) > steve > > ps -- for your info, ramadan is NOT a gift-giving holiday. it is not > even roughly parallel to the christian christmas, besides the fact that it > just happens to fall around the same time of year. I would just like to elaborate a bit about Ramadan, for those that have no clue what it is. I am by no means a definitive authority on it, but I've read quite a bit about religion, especially the three major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), and I know I teensy bit of information. Ramadan falls during the 9th (I'm pretty sure it's the 9th) month of the lunar year, which is based on the cycles of the moon and not on the Gregorian months (January, February, etc...). Therefore, it occuring during the traditional holiday season is not something that occurs regularly. This is not a gift-giving holiday, as Steve mentioned above. It is a holy month for Muslims, and it is usually observed by a period of fasting for the entire month wherein anyone observing it chooses not to eat, drink, smoke, or have sex between the hours of sunrise and sunset. Now, since I don't want to make this too terribly lengthy and I don't want to ramble on and on about religion, philosophy, etc. (unless anyone's interested, in that case, private e-mail me), I will stop here. If you have any questions, comments, or snide remarks, feel free to send them to me and I'll try to deal with them the best I can. :). == Shanna Hollich - Shadow123@poe.org http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Sands/7738 IRC: Shadow123 or ShadowAP, Yahoo Pager: Shadow123, or AOL Instant Messenger: RHFoJo _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 20:37:42 EST From: Xeno55@aol.com Subject: NPR: Xeno's Birthday Happy Birthday Xeno!!! -Xeno ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 22:49:09 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine Lewis Subject: Ramadan > ps -- for your info, ramadan is NOT a gift-giving holiday. it is not > even roughly parallel to the christian christmas, besides the fact that it > just happens to fall around the same time of year. And furthermore, it just by chance happens to occur at this time of year. Ramadan moves about 11-12 days every year (it's based on the Islamic lunar calendar, not the Jan-Dec calendar). It is a religious 'holiday' celebrated by Muslims, but it has nothing to do with giving gifts. It is a month of fasting during the daylight hours (sunrise to sunset), and it is the third of the 5 pillars of Islam (the others are, in no particular order: making the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca; praying at certain specific times of the day; saying 'La ilaha illah Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah' [putting the Arabic into our letters is really difficult, since they have no vowels -- but it means "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet"]; and giving alms to the poor). - - Catherine ------------------------------ End of angry-psychos-digest V3 #361 ***********************************