It's a Boy!

The story will go down like this...

On a Friday evening Alyssa and I went out for dinner at one of our favorite greasy spoon diners, The Grand Coney. Our plan was to read some materials on digital cameras and camcorders over our meal, and then go shopping for one or the other. Alyssa had a turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy and one bite from my coney dog. Toward the end of dinner, she felt a pain in her lower abdomen, but neither of us thought anything of it. On the way out of the parking lot Alyssa told me we needed to go home. Her water had broken, but we were new to this, so we just figured this was a sign that things were moving along--good, but nothing too significant. After all, we were a month away from our due date. We called the hospital, expecting a nurse to tell us that this kind of thing was to be expected and nothing at all to be concerned with. The nurse told us to come into the hospital, and honestly we were both really bummed. We felt like this was going to be a needless hospital trip when we had shopping to do! I remember telling Alyssa that she should have insisted on talking to our doctor before we went to the hospital. "Well," we asked each other, "should we pack a bag just in case?" Why not? So we threw some things in a suitcase and off we went.

Imagine our surprise when upon admittance the nurse told us Alyssa was already three centimeters dilated, and nine hours later, at 5:15AM on November 18, we were holding our firstborn, Lucas Michael. He was six pounds, ten ounches, and 19 inches long, and had a head full of red hair. Mother and child are well.

Religions

At the Y where (when I'm feeling vigorous) I work out, they've recently installed televisions on all the treadmills, and as extravagant as that is, I'm glad of it. It sure beats staring at a wall or, worse, a mirror!

This morning I watched the Today Show, on which Matt Lauer is beginning a series on religion. As you might expect, the program featured clip after clip of religious imagery: Muslims bowing to Mecca, Christians in arm-raising praise, Jews at the Wailing Wall, Buddhas, crosses, and so on. It also featured images of religious violence: the smoking towers of 9/11, a Jewish man getting violent with a Muslim, Osama bin Laden in a white robe as he shoots an automatic rifle.

And it hit me as I watched the flashing, juxtaposed imagery of all these different religions: we must learn to live together. We must rise to higher ground than that of claims to superiority. We must hold hands with one another in peace and solidarity.

Religion can be the greatest force for peace on the planet, stronger than any defense strategy, economic policy, or international diplomacy. I really believe that. Or it can be the deadliest force the world has ever known. Which will we choose?