True heroism.
A grandfather remained in critical condition Thursday after police said he sacrificed himself to save his newborn granddaughter.
James Lewin, 65, was out Friday night walking with his wife, two grandchildren, his daughter and her husband. They were heading home after the annual Candlelight Walk and Tree Lighting ceremony in downtown Littleton.Lewin was pushing his 12-day-old granddaughter, Sara, in a stroller. They were entering a crosswalk at South Price Street and West Church Avenue when a Dodge pickup truck turned from Prince Street onto Church Avenue and hit Lewin, police said.
Lewin pushed Sarah’s stroller out of harm’s way just before he was struck by the truck, witnesses said. The family’s web site said the truck dragged Lewin 75 feet after it hit him.Thanks to her grandfather’s quick thinking, Sara was not hurt.”He pushed the stroller so hard, the stroller’s axle bent and the handle was broken from Jim shoving the stroller away,” said Carol Lewin, his wife.
Jim Lewin was taken to Swedish Hospital where he remains in critical condition. Carol told 7NEWS that Lewin has a fractured left wrist, a dissected artery in his neck which has caused several strokes, six fractured ribs, a bruised lung, multiple facial fractures, a broken nose, and a horrible road rash all over his body. He is breathing with help from a ventilator and has his entire abdomen stitched up.
He is heavily sedated but responds well when he can hear his 3-year-old grandson, Brian, speak, Carol said. “When Suzanne brought Brian in to see him and Brian said, ‘I love you grandpa,’ he went crazy with movement, flailing his left arm, moving his feet, trying to either talk or get the breathing tube out of his mouth,” Carol said.
Carol said that his injuries could have been much worse, and credits the family’s faith for the baby’s survival and Jim’s recovery. “The baby wasn’t hurt. There were tons of caring people around … It happened right in front of Columbine Ambulance Service so they were right there. Jim was at the hospital within 20 minutes,” Carol said. “The doctors are very pleased and amazed at Jim’s progress.”
Lewin was a firefighter in Los Angeles County for 29 years. He retired with his wife to Durango, Colo., in 1999. (Denver Channel 7 News)
Compassion and empathy are not extinct.
Reverend Maurice Chase, best known as Father Dollar Bill, often can be seen throughout the year handing out dollar bills to those in need. And Christmas and Thanksgiving are no different, except a bigger wad of cash. Today he handed out $15,000, mostly in dollar bills in amounts up to $20. The first ten people he saw in wheelchairs received $100 bills. Chase has been criticized for giving money to people who might spend it on drugs or booze, but he says that’s not the point. The point is to show them that they are not forgotten, not invisible. (Source)
When I was a theist, two theologians I really enjoyed reading were Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Thomas Merton, a Lutheran pastor and a Catholic monk.
Of Bonhoeffer’s books I’d recommend The Cost of Discipleship and/or Ethics. Three of my favorite books by Merton are The Way of Chuang Tzu, Zen and the Birds of Appetite and Mystics and Zen Masters. These also provide a Western thinker’s view of Eastern religion. Merton also wrote Faith and Violence and The Silent Life, both of which I also recommend even to secular readers interested in social theology or life as a contemplative monk.
Religious belief is a complex and puzzling mental process.
Science studies the physical causes of it but hasn’t reached any well-accepted conclusions yet. But science can’t address the philosophical aspects of religious belief. Atheists can, but in order to do so they need more than just a passing familiarity with religious belief in general. I don’t consider blowhards like Falwell and his kind to be deep thinkers, whether they’re discussing life or religion. They’re masters of the soundbite but couldn’t think their way out of a puddle.
To understand the appeal and the concepts of religious belief our best sources are those who have devoted their lives to theological contemplation. They aren’t out to stroke their own egos, name universities after themselves, pal around with the powerful. Yes I’m talking to you Falwell, Swaggert, Graham, your popiness, all you who value things of this world too highly, giving lie to your words. Pompous asses for the masses.
I believe in learning from the wisest, not the loudest or most popular. If you really want to understand religious belief, read the theologians, especially theologians who can present their ideas in clear, concise, moderate language, like Bonhoeffer and Merton.
Theists, particularly Christians and Muslims, cast themselves as enemies of sin, evil and other works of the devil (free speech, equality, humanism, etc.). In other words, enemies of the rest of us who don’t swear allegiance to their particular notion of god. With that in mind, I recommend getting to know thy enemy.
From LifeHack.org, some points to consider. Click over to their site to read more.
- Stop taking so much notice of how you feel.
- Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse.
- Ease up on the internal life commentary.
- Take no notice of your inner critic.
- Give up on feeling guilty.
- Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you.
- Stop keeping score.
- Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned.
- Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions.
- Don’t worry about about your personality. You don’t really have one.
Some of those might sound a bit radical until you read the reasoning behind them.
Time is one of the more elusive concepts in science. We believe we experience the passing of time, yet on the most fundamental level we have no proof that time exists as an objective reality.
This creates one of the biggest problems for people trying to transcend their distracted, complicated human minds. We worry about the past. Mistakes we made, goals we failed to reach, we dwell on what we perceive as the past as though we could somehow go back in time and repair the damage we fear we’ve caused. When we aren’t obsessed with the past, we’re trying to imagine the future. We set goals and priorities without any thought that circumstances may make those plans meaningless. In our minds, the past and future are real.
Yet every single person on the planet only lives in the present moment. 
The past is actually just our imperfect memory’s reconstruction of events that have already happened. The future is nothing more than our limited hope that somehow we can affect events yet to come through sheer willpower. We ignore or are ignorant of all the factors that will determine what actually happens once the future become now.
We can’t change the past, nor can we be sure our image of the future will ever come to pass. The only reality we truly have is the present moment. This second counts, this moment is all that’s important. We can only be fully aware of life if we remain focused on the moment we’re living.
Do you wish you were more empathetic, more loving, more giving? Then be that, now. Any one of us could die in the next second. How foolish to waste the moment dreaming about what could be, what might happen. If it’s important to you, if it will make you a happier person, do it now. Don’t wait for something to happen, don’t put conditions on your peace of mind (saying that when so-and-so happens then I’ll be able to …). The only time that you have to do anything is this moment. All else is imaginary.
Focus on this second. Look around you. Take in all that’s happening in this moment. Everything that matters is happening right this moment. Don’t miss it by being distracted by what isn’t. Life is what is, right now.
At its core, spirituality is about transcendence. Any time we move outside our normal existence, any time we see through eyes not blinded by the patterns of our own history, any time we are startled or surprised by a new thought/insight/idea, we transcend our everyday world and experience a moment of spirituality.
Most of us spend our days in a sort of fog. We react according to patterns established early in our lives. Those patterns are addictive. How many times have you responded negatively to a suggested change of routine just because the idea of altering your normal pattern bothered you? We become addicted to our routines, yet those same routines are what deaden us to the spiritual, the magical, the wonderful. Love, joy, amazement, we are robbed of our enjoyment of these aspects of life every time we allow the routine to cloud our ability to appreciate the spiritual.
We can enjoy spiritual moments more often in our lives. We are in control of our addictions and our perceptions. We have the ability to defy the routine and experience moments of joy and wonder. How we do that will be unique for each person. Yet we can suggest that you make an effort to be conscious of how much of your day is spent running on “auto-pilot”. Try to reduce those periods by causing yourself to try something new, shifting your attention to something you haven’t noticed before, take joy in doing what didn’t bring any pleasure before. Bring wonder and innocence into your day. Fight the jaded outlook. Reject the “Oh, I know just what’s going to happen” response when some novelty interjects itself into your routine.
In short, become aware. Self-awareness is the start of any spiritual or philosophical journey. You can’t go somewhere else if you aren’t sure where you are now. Just don’t let yourself get stuck in what you are now. That’s just the starting point. You are what you make of yourself. Your life is what you make it, as well. It doesn’t have to be boring, depressing or wasted.
Experience joy, wonder, love. Shed the average, the boring and the routine. You are a god, and your life is your creation. Cherish it, nurture it. Pay as much attention to the health of your spirit as you do your body. Life is a miracle. Treat it as such.
