Prophet

   
     A  visionary of a new belief, cause, or theory who may be able to predict the future.  Traditionally, a person who may receive guidance from the spirit world.  More loosely defined as someone who understands cause and effect in the past and present and may be better able to guess the future.  And most loosely defined as anyone with wisdom garnered from experience.
     Prophets, however, are not always believed.  The Bible even relates how a prophet often has no honor in his home town, in his own home, or among his relatives.  They often think he has lost his senses or gone out of his mind.  Even though a prophet always tries to tell the truth, those closest to him or her are resistant to what they attempt to teach.
     The process of becoming a prophet does not have to include spiritual intervention.  Intelligence, an inquiring mind, a broad perspective, and maturity can aid this process.  Most people have beliefs and theories that involve the future.  They may base their behavior on perceived outcomes, make plans to pursue goals, and avoid what may hamper future accomplishments.  They also may have the ability to have a positive influence on others.  Additional abilities can come from being a lifetime learner, from living many decades and experiencing many phases of life as parents and grandparents, as friends, as workers paid and unpaid, as witnesses to many years of history watching the changes in society and making comparisons how some things are better, some worse.
     Unfortunately, our society overvalues the young, often undervaluing the wisdom of the not-so-young.  The more mature generations have had the time to go beyond the beliefs they were  taught as children.  Some beliefs may have proven false; some may have evolved creating new beliefs.
     Just as in the past, those people closest to visionaries may not appreciate or accept their wisdom.  Have the confidence and courage in presenting new ideas and predictions, but don't be surprised when you find it difficult to get your message across.  Try to use logic and sensitivity to present your ideas when the time is right.  Remember that even the best prophets had problems.

Goodbye, Hello

   
     Saying goodbye does not mean losing the memories.  In fact, treasuring and protecting those memories is a privilege and responsibility.  A few years ago and even farther back than that, legal records, family trees, photographs, and more recently, movies and VCR tapes composed our record of the past.  The digital age has increased our record-keeping.  We can also tell our story in our words, verbally and in writing.  Deciding what mementos to save for ourselves and future generations is also a privilege and responsibility.
     Some goodbyes are out of choice; some are forced upon us.  Some are temporary, some permanent.  Time forces us to say goodbye to childhood, adolescence, and "youth."  As years go by, parents must say goodbye to their "babies," to their college-bound teenagers, to their "children" going away because of marriage or moving to other homes, even other countries.  Almost half of us will have to say goodbye to a spouse, a husband or a wife.
     Some goodbyes are beneficial, like saying goodbye to bad habits.  Other goodbyes are very sad and need a recovery period.  Adjusting to a new normal takes a lot of work but gives us an opportunity to renew ourselves and plan our future.
     Many people believe that we don't have a final goodbye, that after death, we will live in heaven and be reunited with those that have already passed on.  Others look to nature where everything that  lives, dies, and turns into small bits of matter.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  No matter what you believe, we have to say goodbye to our life on earth.
     On a brighter note, many goodbyes enable new hellos.  Goodbye past.  Hello today.  Hello future.

"The Last Mrs. Parrish"

     Amber Patterson is determined to become "The Last Mrs. Parrish."  Mr. Jackson Parrish, however, appears to be a happily married man with an adoring wife Daphne and their two daughters.  Amber uses cunning, ingenuity, and manipulation to go after this man who has limitless wealth and can provide a lifestyle where she would be pampered and envied by all.
     Part I reveals Amber's story, Part II Daphne's, and part III the resolution.  Thinking you know what you want and doing whatever it takes to get it may bring many unexpected results.  After you get what you think you wanted, it may turn out to be something completely different.  "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808)
     The black cover of the book could be a warning this novel has a dark side.  The cover also states: "Some women get everything. Some women get everything they deserve."  Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine.

   

"Necessary Lies"

   
     Everyone needs help sometime in their lives, and many of us can provide help either personally or through social services.  But who decides the best way to help and thereby benefit society as a whole?  Even with the best efforts, some people can barely survive.  Even with the best intentions, the type of help offered may not be what others really need.
     The causes of poverty are numerous including being born into a family of meager means, low intelligence, insufficient education, and lack of a family support system.  The results of poverty are also numerous including insufficient housing, nutrition, and medical care.
     Diane Chamberlain's "Necessary Lies" is based on real conditions in rural 1960 North Carolina and reveals how poor families lived and how social workers helped and hindered their situation.  Tenant families on a tobacco farm, dependent on the owner, had to struggle to survive.  Two sisters and their family living and working on the farm needed help.  A social worker assigned to them realized that the family and the agency needed to change.
     For those of us not born into poverty, our understanding of the situation is meager and even prejudicial.  We might feel that if they only tried harder, worked harder, and lived a moral life, they could escape the situation.  Some even feel that the government helps too much and even slows their progress toward independence.  "Necessary Lies" shows how revealing the truth serves us best.

Why We Believe

   
     We believe what we trust: our bodies and minds, people we honor, and other  sources of information.  A helpless baby cries out for survival needs, nourishment, comfort, and human contact.  It then learns to trust the parents or caretaker who provide these needs.  Later, the parents' beliefs are incorporated into the developing brain.  Additional people also become influential and trustworthy.  As we observe, listen to and read the words of more people, our beliefs are reinforced, altered, or changed.
     As a result, our parents' beliefs often remain our own.  Because we trust and honor them, going beyond their beliefs is very difficult.  When we learn from other sources of information which continually bombard our minds, we have the power to choose what we  believe.
     Religious, scientific, and political beliefs develop and hopefully evolve.  Some believe God has influenced the authors of religious texts like the Torah, the Bible, and the Koran, and that He continues to influence us directly.  Trust is also given to the experts, the scholars, the devout, to help interpret and reinforce religious beliefs.
     Scientific discoveries expand our beliefs about the universe.  The methods used by scientists to make these discoveries seem logical.
     Political beliefs also develop from parents, other trusted individuals and sources of information.  Some people give more honor and trust to those who reinforce their long-held basic beliefs.  Others try to keep an open mind and increase their ability to consider a variety of opinions.
     As we mature, we become responsible for our own survival.  We listen to our bodies and minds to stay healthy physically and mentally.  We form our beliefs based on many factors.  Our minds have the power to trust wisely, absorb many sources of information, and decide what we believe.

Celibacy

     Common messages: Save yourself for marriage. Sexual relations outside of marriage are too risky because of disease, pregnancy, and emotional upheavals. Another message: Be a celibate priest. This will remove the distraction of wife and children and you can devote yourself to God and your flock.
     In the animal world, the female goes into heat and the male responds.  A few species keep the same mate for life doing what comes naturally.  Human beings evolved and life became more complex. As tribes formed, we learned to cooperate and set standards of acceptable behavior.
     In more recent history, a man wanted to marry a virgin, a guarantee that a woman hadn’t had sexual relations or been pregnant. He would become an owner of a brand new vehicle with zero mileage. His premarital behavior wasn’t scrutinized.  In fact, he was allowed to sow his wild oats before settling down and marrying.
     In some patriarchal religions, celibacy is required of priests. The lack of sexual expression may cause a state of frustration.  Some experts say that mandatory celibacy remains "the major risk factor for child sexual abuse."
     Celibacy can be a temporary or permanent choice which can have advantages. Guilt is seldom attached. Forced celibacy from societal or religious pressures can create guilt when not upheld.  Sexual relations or lack thereof is serious business. 
   

“As I Lay Dying”

     In a southern farmhouse, Addie Bundren lay dying.  She and her family plus many other characters, multiple narrators, describe the events throughout the story. Each person can only see through their own eyes with limited understanding due to their past experiences, opinions, and emotions.  While presenting various points of view, some people try to understand others, but everyone influences present and future events surrounding Addie’s death and the following journey.
     Faulkner illustrates how the survival instinct is part of human nature. Some people also have the instinct to protect and develop their children.  A few may extend their empathy to their social contacts and even to strangers.  For self protection, people keep secrets and only reveal what serves their own purposes.
     Addie’s doctor realizes, “I can remember when I was young, I believed death to be a phenomenon of the body; now I know it to be merely a function of the mind - and that of the minds of the ones who suffer the bereavement.”  After Addie dies, her final wish is fulfilled as her family makes the journey to return her body back to her hometown.