THE UNTOLD STORY OF CHRISTMAS

After the birth of Jesus, Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all male children under the age of two. Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus fled to sanctuary in Egypt, generating a lovely legend.

            Pursued by Herod’s murderous soldiers, the Holy family took refuge in a cave. The night was cold. A hoar frost covered the ground. A spider, seeing the shivering baby Jesus, spun a closely-knit web across the cave entrance. The ice-covered web stretching across the entrance convinced the pursuing soldiers that the cave was empty. Story tellers say that the glittering tinsel streamers that some of us place on Christmas trees represent the ice-covered spider’s web that protected the baby Jesus from Herod’s bloodthirsty soldiers.

A Thousand Year summary

            The return from Babylonian exile closes the pages on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament begins four hundred years later. The four centuries between the Old and New Testaments explain Herod’s paranoia. His attempt for retribution goes back to Solomon’s time. To make a thousand year story more palatable, a few embellishments endeavor to brighten the narrative and a cavalier style aims to improve interest.             

            ALEXANDER’S GREAT GENETICS. Some guys have all the luck. Alexander the Great was born with beauty, brains, and bravado. Alexander’s father, the Macedonian King Phillip II, gave him training in military tactics. He won a sword fighting scholarship to Athens University where he studied under Aristotle, who had been mentored by Plato, a student of Socrates. He also got Bucephalus, the best horse in the barn. Soon legends about his exploits began to appear. One of finest involved Alexander and the Gordian knot. It was said that the man who could untie the knot would rule the world. Alexander didn’t bother with esoteric solutions. He drew his sword and with one mighty blow slashed the rope in half. Soon Greek culture dominated the world.

            Another legend says that when Alexander discovered he had no more worlds to conquer, he wept. After drying his eyes, he mysteriously died. Some say he was poisoned; others contend that he drank himself to death. When legend and truth are in conflict, print the legend. Poisoned reads a lot better.

            Alexander’s death threw the dynasty into turmoil. Even before the pallbearers were picked, his buddies drew straws over who would be King of the World. Antigonus drew Asia Minor; Ptolemy got Egypt; and Seleucus chose Babylon-Mesopotamia.

            ROME BUILDS AN EMPIRE. While the Greeks were drawing straws, the Romans were building a house of bricks. Conflicts with Cartage taught the Romans that fighting could be profitable. Defeating Hannibal enabled them to possess ski property in the Alps and gave them enough elephants to dominate the circus market. After acquiring the best beach property in France and all the condos west of Italy, the empire builder, Julius Caesar, pursued his chief rival, Pompey, into Egypt. Caesar dispatched Pompey. While investing in Egyptian pyramids, Caesar fell under Cleopatra’s spell. But before she could let the snake out of her bag, he returned to Rome. (Caesar’s famous line—“I came, I saw, I conquered”—referred to Gaul, not Cleopatra). On the Ides of March (March 15) in 44 BC, the knives of Brutus and the Brutes made Caesar wish he had spent more time counting shekels with Cleopatra.

            MOVIE MATERIAL. When Julius Caesar died, Octavian and Mark Anthony controlled the empire. After they defeated the Brutus Brutes, Anthony decided to cruise the Nile with Cleopatra. Distracted by Cleopatra’s décolletage, Anthony became an easy prey for his ex-friend Octavian. Finding Anthony dead, Cleopatra committed suicide by Asp so people could make movies about their love affair. Wanting to be in movies himself, Octavian changed his name to one with more marquee appeal—Augustus.           

            MEANWHILE BACK ON THE RANCH. A few decades earlier, the vilest of all villains, Antiochus IV a Greek descendant of the straw-drawing Seleucus, had been creating a desert storm in Mesopotamia. Antiochus IV had two great enemies, the Romans and the Jews. He infuriated the Romans by favoring Greek culture. Advocating Greek culture when Rome is in power is not a smart thing to do. The Romans chased him all over the Mesopotamian desert. He finally retreated to Palestine where he began reading the Desert Times best selling book, When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do. Between chapters, he waxed his mustache and tormented the Jews.           

            Antiochus IV required Jews to offer Pagan sacrifices. He forbade the observance of the Sabbath, disallowed reading the Mosaic Law, and tortured those who followed Jewish tradition. He build an altar dedicated to Zeus in the Jerusalem Temple where he sacrificed swine (the “Abomination of Desolation” mentioned in the Book of Daniel).

            Whenever a villain does dastardly deeds, the hero soon appears. The hero’s father, Mattathias, killed a royal official who was demanding that the Jews offer pagan sacrifices. Mattathias and his five sons fled into the wilderness sparking a revolt. After Mattathias died, leadership fell to his son, Judah.

            NAME THAT REVOLT. The names get a little confusing here. Because Judah’s nickname was Maccabee—Aramaic for “hammer,” the revolt lead by him is known as the Maccabean Revolt. Yet, because Judah came from the Hasmonean tribe, the revolt is sometimes called the Hasmonean Revolt. No matter what name is used, Judah and his brothers hammered the Seleucids. In December 164 BC, Judah recaptured the Jerusalem temple, dismantled the pagan altar, and cleansed the temple.

            IT LOOKS A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS. Hanukkah, an eight-day festival that commemorates the cleansing and rededication of the temple following the Maccabean victory, is the only Jewish festival not specified in the Hebrew Bible. Jewish tradition recounts that when the Temple was rededicated the priests could only find enough oil to keep the sacred candelabra (called the Menorah) burning for one day. Miraculously, however, it lasted for eight days. Hanukkah also called the Feast of Lights begins on the 25^th day of Kislev (December) and, like Christmas, involves gift-giving, lighting candles, praying, and playing games.

            HEROD RETURNS. The Hasmonean Revolt leads us back to Herod the Great. In 37 BC, the Roman Senate with the approval of Mark Anthony (before he died) and Octavian (before he changed his name) appointed Herod as King of the Jews and gave him rule over Judea, Galilee, and Samaria.

            Herod was an Edomite. The Jews considered him a half-breed, unfit to rule. To secure his throne, Herod married a descendant of Judah Maccabee, a Hasmonean princess, Mariamne. But the Jews still didn’t like him.

            Herod tried another tactic to win friends and influence Jews. He started a huge building campaign. He built a new palace in Jerusalem and added a theater, hippodrome, and stadium to the city. He built a magnificent port facility and constructed a series of fortresses including Masada and the Herodium.

            THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD. Herod’s crowning achievement was restoring the Second Temple. In 959 BC, Solomon completed the First Temple on a Jerusalem hill where Abraham had been willing to sacrifice Isaac. After having been plundered several times, The First Temple was finally destroyed in 586 BC during the Babylonian captivity. When the Jews returned from exile, a Second Temple was built. Herod rebuilt and refurbished the Second Temple, doubling the size of the Temple complex with massive earthfills, adding retaining walls, expanding the building, and overlaying its marble façade with gold trim.

            DEATH AND HOPE. Despite his building projects, Herod remained feared and unloved. Exacting vengeance on real and imagined conspirators, he murdered his wife Mariamne, his mother-in-law, three of his sons, and dozens of other family members and government officials. Before he died the vicious old man ordered the arrest and imprisonment of seventy eminent Jerusalem citizens. He commanded his soldiers to assassinate these distinguished Jews upon his death. Herod reasoned that these murders assured the shedding of tears at his funeral. When Herod suffered a horrible death in 4 BC, Jesus, Joseph, and Mary returned from Egypt where they had been hiding.

THE RIVER OF TIME

RIO GRANDE RESCUE

            North of Taos, the Alamosa Valley flattens the land west of Highway 38.  In the distance, across the sagebrush desert, one can see the beginnings of a cut sliced by the Rio Grande.

            The gash deepens as the river’s icy knife chilled from the mountain snow carves through soft, volcanic rock forming the Grand Canyon of the Rio Grande.  The narrow canyon walls tumble and twirl the river into Class IV & V rapids.

            Several years ago, my son and I took a raft trip down this twisting canyon known as “The Box” by river guides.  Just before we entered the most treacherous part of the river, our guide steered us to the shallows where we paused to receive his safety instructions.  He told us what to do if we got caught in an undertow or a hydraulic, how to sit and lean through the narrows—and “for goodness sakes don’t fall out of the raft here.”

            Not a second after our guide had shouted this last warning; our raft hit a bone jarring rock.  I tumbled backward.  My upper torso was in the river, a safety rope kept my legs inside the boat.  The river undercurrent frustrated my efforts to pull my upper body into the raft.  My son braced himself, grabbed my life jacket with both hands, and yanked me aboard.

            Within a millisecond, we were plummeted by rapids.  Huge boulders flew by. Spray soaked us.  The guide shouted instructions that we couldn’t understand over the river roar.  Then, suddenly, we were through.  The river had sucked us into turmoil and then spit us into tranquil waters.  All the shouting and paddling had little to do with our safe arrival.  The river had mercy on us.

            As we paddled the placid waters, my thoughts were on my son.  When he was, five I carried him on my back up the rocky cliffs of New Hope Creek near Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  We took our first raft ride together down the French Broad in West Virginia when he was nine.  He had questions and wanted help with his life jacket, his paddle, his safety gear.  I was his protector.  He looked to me for his strength and support.

            And now in a blink of an eye, I had become dependent on him.  He had rescued me from a bump on the head—or worse. No doubt, my son will help me in other ways as he matures.           

            Our raft trip completed, we rode up the canyon road to Taos in the Mountain River Adventure bus.  Wet, tired, thirsty, and hungry, I looked back at my son, sleeping peacefully, a slight smile on his face. I remembered, then carrying my grandfather, dying from leukemia, from bed to bathroom.  He, who had once carried me when I was a babe, had become too frail to rise from bed without my help.

            From grandfather to father to son, life flows at rapid river speed.  When fathers guide their sons with care and tenderness the bond of trust and love can be passed from generation to generation.

Concepts to Consider:

1. What character traits are demonstrated in this vignette?
2. How does a father influence a son to be “strong and courageous?”
3. How can trust and love be cultivated between father and son?
4. How does example trump lecture in teaching how to live life well?
5. What character traits enable us to grow old gracefully?

AGING MYTHS

The Gilgamesh Myth: Rejuvenation Bites Back

            The earliest surviving work of literature in the Western canon, the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, deals with many themes including the quest for fame, sexual temptation and the flood story. Gilgamesh meets Uta-napishti who survived the Great Flood and was granted immortality by the gods. Uta-napishti tells Gilgamesh how to find a plant at the bottom of the sea that will renew his youth.  Gilgamesh dives for the plant, finds it and sets out for home. When he stops for the night to sleep, a snake steals the plant of rejuvenation. This magic plant allows snakes forevermore to shed their skin and become young again.  

LOVE AND MYTH

Cupid and Psyche: Love Lives Forever

         The radiant beauty of Psyche so angered the goddess Venus that she contrived to imprison her on a rocky mount. Zephyr, the gentle west wind, carried her off the cliff to a palace of gold and silver where Cupid came to her in darkness, but always left before daybreak. Her visiting sisters were amazed to see Psyche’s lavish wealth and to hear her speak so lovingly of her husband. The jealous sisters convinced Psyche that her husband was a hideous monster. They gave her a lighted lamp to prove their assertions. That night, holding the lamp high above her lover, she gazed at the fairest of all creatures. Hot oil from the lamp fell on Cupid’s shoulder awakening him. Cupid expelled Psyche from the palace telling her that love died when trust was lacking. After accomplishing a series of seemingly impossible tasks imposed upon her by the gods, Psyche was given ambrosia, the taste of which made her immortal. Love (Cupid) and the Soul (Psyche) live forever as husband and wife in a union that can never be broken.

The American Girl Doll: What Every Girl Wants for Christmas

If your family has so many things that you can’t put them in a big house all at once but have to store some of the things in the attic, or the basement, or the garage, or even in the shed way back behind the main house, you probably have heard of American Girl dolls.

            These dolls cost a lot of money, because a girl who has a house with lots of storage space buys an American Girl doll and her neighbor who lives in a big house with an attic and a three-car garage sees the American Girl doll and wants one too. These girls take their American Girl dolls to school and every girl with a big house and lots of storage space wants one too. Then a girl from North Carolina takes her American Girl doll to visit a cousin in Texas who has a ranch with acres and acres of storage space. She orders one too. The Texas girl takes her American Girl doll to New York where a girl with lots and lots of warehouse storage containers buys an American Girl doll too.           

            Soon everyone wants an American Girl doll including mothers who really wish they were little girls again instead of a workingwomen who spend all day correcting mistakes made by their male bosses with IQs lower than room temperature who make twice as much money as they do. If you are a working mom playing with an American Girl doll is much better than going home to mow the grass, trim the hedges, balance the check the book, take your daughter to ballet lessons, and sit through your son’s T-ball game that lasts 6 hours and 23 minutes until being called on account of lightening. After that you cook dinner, do you kids’ homework, read a bedtime story out loud (three times), kneel for bedtime prayers, give hugs and kisses all around, and don’t forget to leave the hall light on and crack the door a little wider. Then you clean the house, feed the parakeet, and take the dog for a walk.

            Finally, you get to put down your cell phone which you have been talking on continuously since you walked out the office door, and you head for the computer where you read group emails warning about people who will drug you and steal your kidneys. In your email, you find a request for people to decorate a table at Central Baptist and a message asking how much to spend on a group gift for Mary. Another email mentions that “because of the hectic schedules we face during the next two months with people moving, new committee demands, and of course, the holiday season, it seems it might be best to postpone our Alert Citizen project until January.” If you are lucky, you will get a slide show about Vacation Day. You can always count on finding 53 new recipe messages in your email. Then you discover email instructions on voting for the city ordinance forbidding cooking on Saturday night that is enforced by the police who put yellow tape around your kitchen if you try to cook. And you always get useful public announcements in your email such as the one from the Mental Health Association with instructions on how to get in touch with them:

             “If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly; if you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you; if you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can trace your call; if you are depressed it doesn't matter which number you press, nothing will make you happy anyway; if you have short-term memory loss, press 9—if you have short-term memory loss, press 9—if you have short-term memory loss, press 9; if you have low self-esteem, please hang up our operators are too busy to talk with you; if you are menopausal, put the gun down, hang up, turn on the fan, lie down and cry. It won’t last forever.”

            After reading 586 emails, you compose witty replies to answer all your messages, not forgetting to forward 376 of the emails to your group lists. When you go to bed you dream of American Girl dolls.

            Grandmothers know deep in their hearts that cuddling an American Girl doll is better than playing bridge with boring people who talk about their sore knees, and the size of their kidney stone, and how no one will operate on their back that hurts more than sitting in a nest of fire ants because the doctors say that their spine makes a pretzel look straight, and how their grandson is so handsome that he has waited tables on Hollywood Boulevard for eight years expecting an audition soon, and how fifty-five church friends went on a charter bus trip to Nova Scotia that was a lot of fun except Betty got lost and was picked-up by the police when they found her wondering the wrong way down the middle of a one-way street and how Al spoiled their fun at lunch everyday by yelling, “Let’s eat at Hooters. Let’s eat at Hooters” and how Sharon embarrassed all of them by asking if anyone had some extra Viagra that she could give to Richard.

            You can see why all grown women like the American Girl dolls. But not men. They sit home in big chairs, drinking beer and eating pizza while watching the Dallas Cowboys on television because the Cowboys can win, and saying bad things about the local college football coach because his team can’t win.

            The America Girl catalogues go to homes where people have more things than they can find storage for. The little girls can’t wait to get American girl doll catalogues that are expensive not even counting postage, but are worth it because they have slick pages, color pictures, and stories about each doll.           

            When the little girls get their American Girl catalogues, they stop playing with their other toys. When the mother finds a discarded toy in the washing machine or the shower or maybe in the oven, she calls to the daddy, “Father please come and put this toy in the attic.” And at half time, the father puts it in the attic behind last year’s Christmas tree ornaments and no one ever thinks of the toy again or even misses it.

            As soon as the little girls have looked through the American Girl catalogue, they call their grandparents because they know that their parents are too busy putting things away to listen about American Girl dolls. If the grandfather answers the phone they talk real sweet to him but not very long and then they ask to speak to their grandmother who they call Mimi or Gigi or Nana or Nan-Nan or something else only little girls call Grandmothers and they say:

            “Mimi, guess what the American Girl Doll Catalog came today. Did you get yours? Oh good! Aren’t all the dolls just beautiful? I like Felicity the best. Please, please grandmother can you give me Felicity for Christmas? Actually, I was thinking that because Christmas is so far away that maybe you could give me Felicity for my birthday on December 19. Would you please?

            But grandmother, let me think. Thanksgiving is coming even sooner. Maybe you could give me the doll for Thanksgiving Day instead of the footballs grandfather gives to girls when he should give them to boys only.

            I would have so much to be thankful for if I had the American Girl doll for Thanksgiving. Mimi you are the best grandmother in the whole wide world especially when we play with the American Girl doll together.

            You know what Mimi? I’ve been thinking again. Because Thanksgiving is about Turkeys and Pilgrims and Indians, maybe you could also give me the Indian doll, Kaya. Look on pages 44 and 45. Isn’t she just adorable? And look. See the food Kaya eats. We could get that too. And then we could learn all about what Indians eat everyday and for thanksgiving too. Kaya’s food only costs $20.

            Kaya will need a bedroll. See it at the bottom of the page. It only costs $24. And look, look. Oh, I’m, so excited. Aren’t you excited too Mimi. Just think of the fun we could have together. See her Tepee, and Kaya’s Mare—Steps High, and her saddle, and look Steps High has a foal called Sparks Flying. It only costs $38. Oh, this is exciting. Kaya has a dog, Tatlo. And Tatlo has his own gear. I could read all those books at the bottom of page 44 and really learn about Kaya and other Indians. Wouldn’t that be great? We could read them together, Mimi. I love you so much, Mimi.

            Mimi, I’ve been thinking. You know what? Felicity could ride in her Colonial Carriage to visit Kaya. And look two dolls can fit inside the carriage and Felicity can take Kaya for a ride and Kaya and Felicity could spend the night in Kaya’s tent. Look at Felicity’s holiday outfit. She could visit Kaya in that outfit and she could show it to her. And Kaya can show Felicity her Indian dress and maybe they will decide to change clothes and fool everybody who they are. And Felicity can ride Steps High. Oh, Mimi, we will have so much fun playing with them.”

            And what do you think the grandmother says? Of course, the grandmother says, “Yes dear. I will send it to you as soon as I can order it for you.”

            All grandmothers who have credit cards, don’t think about the bill that totals $998 not including taxes and shipping. They don’t think about spoiling little girls or closets and attics full of toys. And they don’t think about the father who has to get an unsecured loan to build a bigger house just to store all the things grandmothers with credit cards give to their granddaughters. This is called free enterprise. Aren’t we thankful?

Stop Anxious Thoughts

When we put our mind on Jesus we have no room for anxious thoughts:

Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything through pray and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:6-7

A Warning

Warning:  If any worthwhile concept can found at this blog address, the usefulness is purely accidental.   If you believe that you have received something significant from this blog, please reconsider your opinion. The more you think about the ideas written here, the less meaningful the information will become.  If you have a consequential idea, please send the information promptly. We need all the help we can get. If, however, you have an original thought, Dr. Walker will most likely fail to understand the concept.

Medications to treat bipolar illness, anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric illnesses

MOOD STABILIZERS

Lamictal	Inhibits glutamate (stimulating neurotransmitter)	Stevens Johnson Syndrome (rare)	100-200 mg daily
Lithium	Alters sodium transport	Tremor, ataxia	300 mg TID
Depakote	Increases GABA (soothing neurotransmitter)	Hepatotoxicity	10 mg x body weight

ANTIPSYCHOTICS

Risperdal	As do all the so-called atypicals, blocks dopamine 2 receptors reducing hallucinations and delusions and blocks serotonin 2A receptors decreasing EPS	Risk of CVA in elderly; dose dependent EPS & hyperprolactinemia	0.5- 6 mg daily
Seroquel	Sedating	Hypotension	100-800 mg divided doses
Geodon	Generally activating	Agitation or sedation; rarely causes EPS	120-240 mg in divided doses
Zyprexa	Good for psychotic depression	Weight gain; diabetes; metabolic syndrome	5-20 mg at bedtime
Abilify	Partial serotonin and dopamine agonist	Nausea	5-30 mg daily
Haldol Decanoate	Decanoate injection increases compliance	EPS; akathisia; tardive dyskinesia	100-200 mg IM monthly
Stelazine	As with other older neuroleptics probably just as effective as newer antipsychotics but with more EPS	EPS; akathisia; tardive dyskinesia	5-20 mg daily
Thorazine	Sedation	Hypotension	50- 800 mg daily

ANTIDEPRESSANTS

Prozac	As with all SSRIs useful in panic; PTSD; OCD	Avoid in agitated insomniacs	20-60 mg daily
Zoloft	Enhances dopamine	GI side effects—diarrhea	50-200 mg daily
Paxil CR	Social anxiety	Cutting tablet destroys controlled release	12.5-50 mg daily
Lexapro	Best tolerated antidepressant; low sexual side effects	Cognitive and affective flattening	10-20 mg daily
Luvox	Rapid antianxiety and insomnia benefits	Can increase tricyclic blood levels	100-300 mg divided
Effexor XR	Boosts norepinephrine and serotonin	Withdrawal side effects if DC quickly	75-300 mg daily
Cymbalta	Useful in chronic pain and stress urinary incontinence	May increase BP	60 mg daily; 40 mg BID for stress incontinence
Wellbutrin XL	May help sexual SE caused by SSRIs	Insomnia; agitation	150-450 mg daily
Vivactil	Activating; energizing; increases dopamine	Anticholinergic SE	10-40 mg divided
Pamelor	Chronic pain	Therapeutic window	50-150 mg daily
Elavil	Sedating; helpful in insomnia; chronic pain	Cardiac precaution	50-300 mg bedtime
Trazodone	Treatment of choice for insomnia	Ataxia; tremor	50-600 mg bedtime

ANTIANXIETY AGENTS

Xanax	Short acting	Breakthrough anxiety	0.25-0.5 mg QID
Ativan	Useful with Risperdal in acute agitation	Confusion	0.5-2 mg TID
Klonopin	Adjunct with SSRIs in panic disorder	Use with caution in liver disease	0.5-1 mg QID

PSYCHOSTIMULANTS

Ritalin	Useful for depression in medically ill elderly patients	Slows growth in children?	2 mg/kg/day
Adderall	Fatigue as residual symptom of depression	Cardiac Caution	5-40 mg divided
Provigil	Sleep apnea; improves attention; useful in fatigue	Headache	200 mg daily

Quiz: Do You Have Wisdom in Your Relationships?

	Yes	No
Do you spread good will, gratitude, and happiness?
Do you solve problems rather than worrying about them?
Do you channel anger and frustration into productive work and joyful play?
Do you have a purpose for living?
Do you have goals and a plan for the future?
Do you know when to talk and when to listen?
When you make a mistake, do you admit it?
Are you able to develop friends who are free of vices?
Can you discuss your problems with close friends?
Do you avoid gossip—both speaking gossip and hearing gossip?
Can you keep a secret?
Can you avoid telling your problems to people you don’t know well?
Are you able to delay pleasure to accomplish worthwhile goals?
Can you enjoy yourself and take vacations without feeling guilty?
Can you avoid negative talk?
Can you control your temper?
Can you say “no” to other people if the requests they make are unreasonable, amoral, illegal, or detrimental to your self-development and physical health?
Are you patient with yourself and others?
Do you feel comfortable being alone?
Do you feel comfortable in social situations?
Can you serve others without expecting anything in return?
Do you feel that the desires and hopes of others are just as important as your desires and hopes?
Can you follow rules and regulations of society?
When you feel guilty about your behavior, can you stop or change that behavior?
Can you drink alcohol in moderation or not at all?
Can you have sexual intimacy without being promiscuous?
Do you have a satisfying spiritual life?
Do you save 10% of your income?

Score yes answers (Yes = greater than 75% of the time):

0-5                        =            Put on your pampers

6-11                        =            King of kindergarten

12-18                        =            Young and restless

19-24                        =            The wisdom of Solomon

25¬-28                        =            Close to sainthood