Some Thoughts on Giving it Awayâ Equal and Fair, But Will They Blow It?
By Francis H. Morrison
Do You Really Need to Control the Use of the Gift?
In 1933, my paternal grandfather, an A&P executive, gave his sister a $50 Christmas giftâreal money in 1933. The sisterâs family was not well off and struggled to put food on the table and pay the rent. There was no money for âluxuries.â His sister and her family promptly used the $50 to buy a radioâthey didnât have one. My paternal grandmother was outraged at such a âsillyâ use of the $50 gift. My grandfather told meâin 1955 when I was 8âthat âwhen you give someone a gift you get no say in how they spend it.â His reported comment to his sister was âenjoy the radio.â
In conversations with other women, we ve discussed how Mary the mother of Jesus is often used as a model for us, but in what we consider a caricature as only mother, pure and chaste, asexual, dedicated to serving others and submissive, and leaving out her need for support, her independence, courage, questioning, strength and authority. Image: a statue of Mary at Our Lady of Fatima in Brazil (Unsplash/Mateus Campos Felipe)
There has been much written recently about rising incidents of abuse and violence against women, including an important meeting of the U.N. Commission on Women. Through conversations about this, I also learned of another kind of abuse: spiritual/religious abuse. Although the term was new to me, the stories from women who have experienced it are not new. It was and is experienced in the context of obedience to church leaders, church teachings and projected images of women that tend to shame them.
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An assortment of Bibles owned by Always Buying Books owner Bob Wolfe, of various translations, that are more than 100 years old. Globe|Kevin McClintock
A collection of Bibles in various translations can be found on the shelves at Always Buying Books. At one time, owner Bob Wolfe owned the largest collection of Bibles in the Midwest. Globe | Kevin McClintock
The Bible is the king of books. It contains books that were written over a 1,500-year history by various authors living on three continents. To put this book in perspective, itâs a basis for the established traditions of three of the worldâs major religions â Judaism, Islam and Christianity.