So, my reading list got put on hold when the math textbook conundrum invaded my world. Yesterday I pulled _The Peacemaker_ off of my shelf:

http://www.peacemaker.net/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=aqKFLTOBIpH&b=6598003&en=kmL2I9MVLpLVK7OUJkJVIeP2IpL5KiNXLgL4KgM0JtL3KjO6JlKUIaPYKqI7JvL&ProductID=922969

So many people... so much conflict.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being our Peacemaker.

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Jason, in retrospect I see I created ambiguity by first making a poor choice of idioms and then mixing metaphors -- a sure formula for konfusion I’ll warrant. The idiom intended by “pulling the chain” was ringing up the servant via the bell rope. I simply meant I felt summoned to action by remarks you and LeeQuod made.

The point of comparison, then, between the ball-and-chain and the awl was this: that as the OT slave who had the option of freedom could, if he wished, choose instead to remain bonded to a master he loved, and signify that choice with the awl through the ear, so Rolley, though “free”, perhaps, from the necessity to do so could evince the same sort of choice by letting love’s infinitely light ball-and-chain bind him to the service (or at least the attempt) of his friends. If noblesse oblige, the clown reasons, how much more l’amour?

... Rolley is the be-awl and end-awl.

Thank you, Mr. Haggard. It is delightful to know that when we cawl, you hawl. We only yank your chain because your presence is so desperately missed. There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother...

And, dear Ellen, *THAT* question is easy: The universe is the sum of all our perceptions and assumptions about reality and rational possibility. And, alas, there is the universe that most of us live in, with its high correspondence to both what is true and what is achievable, and there is that other universe in which some of my clients obviously live, at least mentally.

Fortunately for me, when we ask for a clown, he considers himself duty-bound to respond. And this lemon meringue is delicious.

Imagine a world of 6,999,999,999 more Bozos. It would be a definite improvement, wouldn't it. Might even reduce panic.

1. Why do Muslims, the world's fastest-growing demographic, prohibit abortion?
2. Why are radical secular feminists not rabidly Islamophobic? Why are they not *at least* as hostile toward Islam as they are toward the Roman Catholic Church?
Posted By: LeeQuod on November 12, 2011 11:25 AM

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Question 1: Because having no overlap with Moslems would be extremely odd

Question 2: Because Radical Feminists despise Moslems as people Not Like Us. "Multiculturalism" is not really Multicultural-it is simply another way to say I Hate My Daddy.

Rolley's Question: Could you please explain the thing about the awl and the loyal bondservant and how it applies?

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…where levity’s services are required.

And if I’m not mistaken, LeeQuod (in this thread) and Jason Taylor (in another) have pulled my chain (quite unintentionally I’m sure); the chain to which, significantly, is attached a large iron ball which bears the Western equivalent of the same symbolism described in Deuteronomy 15:16-17.

Therefore, reverently heedless of the looming YOD, swift and faithful to visit richly-deserved correction on the head of the brash goer-off-topic, and mindful of the ever-present possibility of undisclosed coulrophobia among friends, I will once again don the threadbare mantel of my eccentric trade in the sincere attempt to cheer my dear friends with facial pie.
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Crime of Punishment

They sat me down in front of a huge oak desk the color of toasted bread. Across from me sat an angel whose salt-colored face was nearly indistinguishable amid his bright rustling robes and folded wings. But his dark eyes flashed out of the whiteness like a raven bolting from a snow bank. He was leafing through a folder that had my name on it in bold, blocky font.

“Mr. Wuuwuu, it says here that you held certain, shall we say – unusual - ideas regarding the nature of reality.”

I squirmed but said nothing. The room seemed a few degrees too warm.

“Surely you’ve heard rumored what the penalty is for such extravagant unorthodoxy.”

I swallowed so hard it echoed. “Actually…” I began. But he cut me off.

“I really don’t know where to start. The list is long enough that to recite each charge would take half of eternity.”

A bead of sweat rolled off my nose. Whatever it hit made what I could swear was a sizzling sound. Only I sensed this was no time to swear.

“In the interests of time”, he sniffed, “I will confine myself to your most egregious doctrines.”

For some reason I thought he was going to rattle off my ideas on the resurrection of animals, for which I had no Biblical basis other than an admittedly overly-ambitious application of Christ’s words in John 16:23-24, when He said,“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” I really liked my pet rabbit.

But no. Peeking over his feathered shoulder I could see that that particular idea wasn’t even on the list. I felt myself simultaneously elated and terrified, and like Wesley, strangely warmed; but on further reflection the latter doubtless had to do with the room’s thermostat. It was hot as… ahh… let’s not go there. Seriously.

I heard someone squeaking in a speaky voice. It was me.

“Edogious greektrines?” I stammeringly spoonerized.

He was clearly impervious to humor. “Many of these could, under certain circumstances I suppose, be forgiven. But not this one,” he said, jabbing a haloed digit at peccadillo Number One. I noticed it was written in red letters. Being fond of the King James Version, I considered suggesting that maybe here was something significant in my favor, but decided I’d better hedge my bets and keep quiet. Not that I’m a betting man; just a figure of speech, you know.

To my horror I saw that he had literally and metaphorically put his finger on the very thing that defined me; my very essence you might say; the belief that people are infinitely important, not only intrinsically, objectively, but also to God Himself. Seeing the look of disgust on the angel’s face, I was suddenly conflicted, feeling at once like a martyr and a devil.

“Do you really believe”, he began, in a tone that conveyed unmistakably the impermissibility of a response in the affirmative, “that the Holy God of the Universe, before whom the nations are a drop in the bucket and as the dust on the scale, whose thoughts are higher than the highest heavens, who made man from the same dirt we routinely shake off our feet in disdain – do you really believe He whom not even we stunningly immaculate angels, white-hot with holiness, can look directly in the face and live, would deign to value dirty man half as much as you would like to suppose and have the audacity to publicly advance? The very suggestion, I warn you, is blasphemy of the highest, rankest, most outrageous order.”

By now I was gulping like a fish. Oddly, the only thing from his speech that really struck home with me, other than the veiled threats of damnation, of course, was his use of the “white-hot” adjective. I felt I myself was rapidly traversing the temperature spectrum from ruby to sapphire to ivory, and had but seconds and inches before I would join him in that untouchably hot state he called “holiness” but that inclined towards attributing to inadequate ventilation. Were there no windows in this place opening to heaven?

“Well?” he boomed. “How do you plead? Do you deny holding to such foolish excess?”

I sensed he already knew the answer and just wanted to make me feel like the disrespecter of God he thought me. Reasoning that it was probably futile to argue with heaven’s adamantine archangel, my thoughts went, curiously, from the Fiery Lake, which I swear (dang it; did it again) it seemed I had three toes in already, to Calvary.

First, I tried to envision myself spitting in that lovely, thorn-marred Face. My inquisitor was accusing me of doing, essentially, that very thing. Next, and only because it was the proverbial hour of extremity and there was seemingly little to lose, I attempted something I’d never before dreamed of doing: I tried to form the words, “Jesus is accursed” on my parched tongue. Couldn’t do that, either. Finally, I tried construing the unspeakable sufferings of Christ as something other than the most profound, sublime, ineffable, exquisite and outrageous declaration of the love of God for humanity.

I heard another drop of salty water fall sizzling to the obsidian under my feet, under the angel’s unshod-because-it-is-holy-ground feet. Dirt underfoot; such is man, I thought.

As he led me away in ungainsayable triumph, I recalled one more scene from the Savior’s life; and with Him, I wept.

--
Have a good day, LeeQuod, and a better week. Jason, sublimate your flirtations and just be your delightfully-charming self. Put yourself in the company of good people, and the worthy among the fairer sex will be irresistibly attracted to you, I promise you. Man- and womankind is not so beyond hope that they can long remain blind to the treasure before them.

And Shane (not to say Gina and Kim), thanks for your indulgence. It is a given that I require forgiveness from all, for all.

Hope you guys liked the pie. Took not a few raspberries to make it.

:)

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Word Problem #4:

The current population of the USA is about 307 million. Take the 53+ million aborted, and imagine they were not aborted, and that (to keep the math simple) 30.7 million of them entered the workforce as adults. (Some stay as homemakers, some are disabled, etc., etc.)

Since each generation of new workers funds the previous generation, with an average 10% increase in labor and innovation over the last 40 years, would we have a Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid crisis today?

Extrapolating worldwide, if 7bn were instead 8bn because 1bn babies were not aborted, would Europe, Japan and the USA be facing the economic meltdowns we're now seeing?

Extra credit: Compare and contrast Shane's title "Population Panic" with the term "housing surplus". Do research on the latter as needed.

For further study:
1. Why do Muslims, the world's fastest-growing demographic, prohibit abortion?
2. Why are radical secular feminists not rabidly Islamophobic? Why are they not *at least* as hostile toward Islam as they are toward the Roman Catholic Church?

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Here’s a more practical Engineering problem:

Assuming each little body is assigned a plot 50% of the normal 11’ x 5’ dimension allotted for adults ( http://dbpeckham.com/Temp/Cemetery/PlotMarking.pdf ), calculate, in square miles, the amount of real estate necessary to build a cemetery adequate for the burial of the 53+ million people who have been aborted since Roe v. Wade.

For extra credit, draw a 3-inch diameter shaded circle depicting to scale the cemetery as it would appear from Mars through the equivalent of the Mt. Palomar telescope if each marker were lit with a tiny birthday candle on a cloudless, windless, soulless terrestrial night.

Fade to brilliance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZDpqDpIsfs

Explicate the Universe and cite two examples.

... and your problem is solved, Ellen? ;-)

I don't work in restorative justice, but just this past week I found I have a similar problem. (I post at this blog more frequently when I've had difficulty at work. Sometimes I'm yammering here a lot.)

Per my comments on some of the other posts, one solution that springs to mind is to use the power of the media. I.e., refuse to meet with this person without videotaping the encounter. Nothing trumps a bully's denials quite like a movie showing proof, endlessly looped on the evening news "You Gotta See This!" segment.

But I worry that this would cause you to descend to his level, bullying the bully. (FYI, one of my British colleagues informed me that in England "bullying" is a legal term, and means exactly what we in the U.S. call "harassment".)

Hm. Lots of harassment in the news, including Joe Paterno's assistant as well as Herman Cain. I have yet to read Tom Friedman's "Hot, Flat and Crowded", but I believe it claims that abusive behavior increases in frequency as humans are more tightly packed together. (I'm keeping one eye peeled for any twitch of the YOD.)

Hm again - "WWCD", "What Would Chuck Do?" I believe Mr. Colson would claim a moral imperative to confront evil, but also insist that the confrontation be done with grace (since we all, all 7Bn of us, sin). I think he'd also be wise enough to confront only with at least one witness.

Word Problem #3: If there is a position that only one person can fill at a time, but there are 7,000,000,000 possible candidates, how long can someone violate behavior standards before a replacement is rather easily found?

Extra credit: If every homemaker in the USA got a jerk ousted and took their job (by, for example, running for the office themselves), and this caused a 1% rise in the unemployment rate, would the rise in that rate generate enough media attention to reduce harassment in the workplace by 50%?

For further study: How many YOD smacks outweigh a really bad week at work, where that week included a day like the "Engineering" question found here?
http://www.fiction.net/tidbits/school/exam.html

Great video. There's a lot of people on this planet, which means a lot of conflict. (do you see the segue coming?)

In my math textbook travails (see www.blaineparents.org), I've become aware of a much bigger issue. Basically one person is using their position of power to intimidate subordinates into fear and silence. I keep hearing that this person is a bully. If not guilty of harassment and bullying, at the very least they are guilty of grossly unprofessional behavior such as yelling, sneering, condescension and lashing out in anger - a bit of which I have seen first hand.

My reason for writing of this here at BreakPoint is that I know you're in the business of Restorative Justice. I've met with one person regarding my concerns and they have directed me to my next step, which is speaking to this person's direct supervisors. I keep hearing the rumors, "this happened" and "that happened" and then "this other thing happened." So lots of people know of the situation, and today I've heard that this person has been confronted on their behavior at times and it has gotten some better recently. However, I know that there is still a lot of current job security fear that has been generated by this person's unprofessional behavior.

So my question is this, how does a large organization go about calling this person to account, restoring relationships and restoring trust? It's going to be a big job. This person's contract is up for possible renewal at the end of this school year. If the contract is simply not renewed and the person is never called to account for their behavior, what's to keep this person from inflicting the same grief in a new job? I don't think its fair to current or future work colleagues to let this behavior continue without more strenuous checks. I look forward to receiving advice from the BreakPoint community and hope I haven't diverged too horribly from the Shane's original post.

Question #1: How many people now working at PFM were born *after* 1970, when the book "The Population Bomb" was published? That would be the book that claimed we'd be extinct as a species by 1995 due to overpopulation, having consumed all our resources like - hmmm, like one of Kim's grasshoppers.
http://www.amazon.com/Population-Bomb-Paul-R-Ehrlich/dp/B000EI3XOS/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321033374&sr=1-2

Question #2: How many people now working at PFM remember Zoe Sandvig? I certainly do, and when I think of her, I smile.
http://thepoint.breakpoint.org/tp-home/blog-archives/blog-archives/entry/4/2968

I smile with the same delight when I think of you, Gregory/Shane. Thanks for the video. Keep up the good work.