Sit, Stand, Kneel...

Sounds like a dog obedience class, doesn't it?   Not that MY dogs have ever been to one.  No sir, they are just naturally well behaved (not), but we've done the home schooled version of dog obedience:

Lady & Lucky do well enough, but that has nothing to do with what this blog is about.

Rather, it is about the recent struggle in the NFL as to what to do during the playing of the national anthem.   Colin Kaepernick (San Francisco 49ers, for those of you out there who don't live and breathe football from August to January every year) started it by sitting during the national anthem for the first three pre-season games (again, for those of you who don't live and breathe football, that's the time of year that the boys in the NFL test out their new boys to see who they keep and who they toss into the wind like deflated footballs).   Colin Kaepernick sat during the national anthem to protest the way the United States now treats blacks and other people of color.  His sitting during the national anthem was followed by a multitude of other NFL players resting on a single knee during the anthem and joining Mr. Kaepernick in his public protest against the recent and ongoing injustice against blacks and others of color in a country that is supposed to embrace people of all color... a fundamental premise on which this country was founded.

In response to his protest, we have seen more protests and counter-protests and sadly, even death threats to Mr. Kaepernick.  Many who disagree with Mr. Kaepernick believe that we should stand during the national anthem, particularly to avoid disrespect or dishonor to those veterans who have fought and risked their lives to protect the very freedom that allows us to protest, to struggle, and to inch ever closer to the true spirit of the golden rule... to love and treat others as we would ourselves.

As I have been pondering what I think of sitting or kneeling during the national anthem, I have had thoughts that range from:

'It's better than burning the American Flag, but ....'

to

'Is Standing no matter what blessing something that is fundamentally wrong?..'

But, in the middle of my pondering, my favorite NFL team did something about the Sit, Kneel, Stand dilemma.  

On September 11, the Seattle Seahawks stood during the National Anthem... arm in arm, intertwined, alternating black and white, united.

How, in all of our struggles have we forgotten this very basic message?  To fight together.  Not separately.   To come together as the melting pot on which our country was founded.

Our Seahawks (and others) sent the very message that we so very much need to hear. Whatever the injustice, whichever the ugliness, however the struggle, whenever the tragedy... we need to blend and fight it as a single country... stumbling, struggling, and inching toward a better unity.    

And, in my not so humble opinion, there is only one thing we need to alternate with being on our feet during the national anthem... and that is kneeling on not one but both knees in humble acknowledgement to an all powerful God that we need help from Him to more fully love and accept one another.   We simply can't do this by ourselves.  We are too weak and too flawed.  

Sound corny?  Well, of course.  But, let's give it a shot.  Instead of protesting, polarizing, arguing, or worse... can we spend some time standing, intertwined? ... black, white, asian, hispanic, male, female, poor, rich, and also some time on both knees?... acknowledging with humble hearts, that none of us has this whole relationship thing exactly right... and we need help.

Please?

A Food Experience

I looked up the definition of foodie the other day:
"a person with a particular interest in food"

My waistline suggests this description fits me, but I envision foodies to be individuals who can sit in the middle of a crowded, noisy, chaotic restaurant and enjoy the gourmet plate placed in front of them.  Place me in that same situation and I might as well be eating cardboard (which I have never tried, but I can imagine it is most unpleasant for both the palate and the GI tract).

I think rather than being a foodie, I am a connoisseur (yes, I had to look up how to spell it.... too many syllabus for my frail memory) of the food experience.   Put in terms I can spell (and understand), that means the whole circumstance, ambiance, and memory surrounding the eating of food which itself has to be exquisite in some way ... the proper Food Experience can emerge from many a circumstance, no matter what the number of stars next to the restaurant review, no matter what the number of $$$ (although I confess to being partial to fewer $$$ rather than more $$$$$).  

For example, my husband and I had the wonderful blessing of doing something that many Americans choose not to do each year:  go on vacation.   We didn't go very far, but we don't need to.  We are blessed by living in a place where we are surrounded by tourist destinations, and once the tourists go home after summer's unofficial end on labor day weekend, we head out to take their place in solitude and quiet... which brings us to Cannon Beach, Oregon.

The day at Cannon Beach starts with a simple walk in the sunshine on a beach that, located anywhere in the continental U.S. outside of the Northwest corner, would be crawling with people.  But, here, people remain few and far between... and allow us to stroll in peace along a little bit of sand, a lot of sunshine, and a rock of some stature:

Such weather and scenery puts us in the mood to walk for several miles, use up all of our film (not... thank goodness for digital cameras!), and after unceremoniously dropping down on to the sand for a sit-in at Haystack rock (above), we head back to the town, feeling of all things... hungry.



At this point, we are primed for a memorable Food Experience  I can sense that the time is just right for the moments of the day to join into an Experience so, despite my rumbling stomach, I become much more particular about our lunch perch.   After wandering along the main street, I see the potential..  at the Driftwood restaurant.

It's a sunny day on the Oregon coast, so eating outside goes without question.  We are seated under a large old pine tree whose shape clearly narrates the windy and stormy nature of the Oregon winter... a season which seems as remote to us as Siberia during our sunny, low seventies heat wave.  

The pine, the shore, the sand, the sun.... mean that it simply wouldn't do to just order anything off the menu.  A true Food Experience does not allow for a willy nilly selection of anything to satisfy whatever craving lurks inside.  Instead, it becomes extremely important to choose a food (and a drink) that matches the mood... otherwise, it's just lunch.  No Experience for us.  Just some disjointed memories of good times someplace along the Oregon coast.

After browsing the menu for far too long, I believe I have discovered the correct items for the Food Experience of September 7, 2016.   After my husband orders the exact same thing that I do, without ever having consulted on the subject, I think we have a winning combination.  When my martini arrives and has the absolutely correct number of olives and two tiny ice cubes to offset the warm day, I am further convinced that we have our food experience is coming together fabulously:

Don't worry.  I am not a Foodie proper.  I am not going to venture into elaborate detail on the lunch itself. Halibut with a creamy lemon dill sauce and rice pilaf on the side

And the Halibut did what Halibut is supposed to do.  It melted in my mouth, joined with the dill and the lemon across the cream... and sealed the deal.  The day has graduated into a Food Experience.. to be remembered and cherished anytime I am stuck at McDonalds or eating Mac and Cheese because life is far too busy to seek out, orchestrate, and gift wrap another experience like this treasured day.

Many thanks to Barry Maulding for helping to being part of my Food Experience on Cannon Beach... I'll remember the day for a lifetime!