In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

While I don’t do this often, this post is of the personal kind.

Anyone who knows me will readily attest that I’m not the easiest person to get to know. Whether it’s a matter of me being disattached, unengaged, or slow to trust; it takes a lot for me to accept someone wholly into my life. For the past couple of weeks, this has been the theme of many thoughts and musings; how distant I know I must seem to others. Incredibly, during the time of these considerations, I meet someone who somehow managed to instantaneously bridge the gap and unlock the doors to every compartment of who I am.

And I feel vulnerable…

…like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, heels planted into the hard ground knowing that with any gust of wind I’ll plummet to whatever doom awaits. Even still, in this most precarious of positions, I have hope that I will be pulled to safety by the hand of who has captured my thoughts. It is the slimmest of possibilities that this hopes for hand of rescue will materialize; or even if it did, that it would be permanent.

It is amazing how everything can be different with one person; how everything is better, and seemingly like it should. Damn the uncertainty though; the questions and the waiting.

And while this makes you want to become a better person in every way, you struggle with the fact that you can’t possibly become better fast enough to stop them from slipping way. I can’t become better fast enough, but I hope my best for now will do.

So this is what Spring has brought, characteristic of the season. Uninvited, yet not entirely unwelcome; contradictions and all.

These ads have a different feel than any ads I’ve seen from other candidates. They focus on the positive, and the hope for a better America.

His origins mysterious and dark. What we do know is that he was taken from his mother at an extremely young age, shipped across the country, and sold into bondage. It’s well know where most like him end up; facing the heat of the kitchen or sacrificed in the ongoing drug war within our nation. But Marty escaped this fate, as he was purchased with something much different in mind: He would be an Easter Egg.

While his calling ensured the extension of his life, and some remarkable publicity on highly regarded blogs, all involved know that his days are numbered, and they are few.

So Marty, wherever you are and whatever your status, we thank you for being the best Easter Egg you could be.

Farewell.

No charges will be sought against the Mormon missionaries from the Colorado Colorado Springs Mission who posted pictures of themselves online disrespecting a Catholic shrine in Colorado. The local parish in San Luis responsible for the shrine had voted to seek charges, but reversed their decision after receiving an Easter letter from Bishop Tafoya urging forgiveness. He wrote,

“. . . we as Catholics, who believe in the forgiveness of Christ, will ourselves forgive, and pray for the young men who showed such a lack of tolerance and understanding.”

It should be noted that these missionaries, two of which were already home when the pictures were discovered, and one who was sent home upon the discovery, still face or have already faced discipline from The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

Link: Salt Lake Tribune