Love the quote!

On a completely different note, I've always considered myself a Randian, though I don't care for the works/philosophy of Ayn Rand. I thought it meant something else. ;-)

By the way, people talk about the state of education in America, but 16th century England must have been awful. Cranmer could write lovely prayers, but his spelling was atrocious! :p

I don't know if it was clear in my first post, but I am coming to appreciate the combining of the Passion and Palm Sundays. And I do think that remembering the Passion is more important than remembering the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Still, it's not ideal.

I do wish the observance of Good Friday was not falling out of fashion. I had little appreciation for the holiday (other than the day off from school/work) when I was a Campbellite, and now I find Good Friday is perhaps the most important day of the year for me spiritually (perhaps channeling those early and medieval Christians).

I'm not a fan of having Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday in the same Eucharist. I've never liked crying "Hosanna" and then, maybe 10 minutes later, crying "Crucify Him!" It seems to me that both events get shortchanged by combining them. But I suppose both events were so closely linked temporally that combining them does give one a sense of emotional lability present in Jerusalem that week. Perhaps it is also unsettling enough to prepare us for the most emotionally intense week of the year.

Disgusting. New London deserves being jilted by Pfizer for favoring a private corporation over its citizens, but unfortunately that is cold comfort for those whose properties were condemned in the first place.

I think you can probably chalk some of the effect up to the more collectivist cultures that exist outside of the U.S. Our culture tends to be more individualistic than any other culture I can think of, and while that is not always a bad thing, I do think it can pose a dual threat to marriage. The first is the social support of extended families, which tends to help with the stress of child rearing et al, especially in cultures where there aren't as rigid of interpersonal boundaries expected from grandparents. In other words, I don't respond well to my folks butting into parenting sometimes, but that's probably as much a product of our individualistic culture as the fact that they don't live with us.

Secondly, that individualistic culture often favors personal happiness over collective stability. While there are still societal pressures to stay married in our culture, there are also pressures to be happy and leave situations that are unsatisfying. While this is beneficial in cases where there is abuse (and there is partner pressure to remain in the relationship, so any societal pressure to leave is welcome), it is detrimental to family stability over the long term.