Guild of Health

Archive for May, 2009

Can you imagine a time when there were relatively few fast-food chains, coffee was just coffee and entrepreneurs were not all in a line to open the next, trendy bistro?  I can.  I grew up in that era.  Back then, dinnertime meant lining up around the table instead of lining up around the drive-up window, Starbuck was still that guy from “Moby Dick”, and “Chez” was just a misspelling of the place where the Mets played.  Yet, we were all tempted by the forbidden fruit and eventually found the way out of Eden.  Along the road, a number of restaurants came and went.  One of those was the Red Barn.

The Red Barn was a hamburger rival of both Burger King and McDonald’s, but they were also the first to offer both chicken and fish.  Their signature hamburger, the “Big Barney” actually predated the “Big Mac” by a bit, and their quarter pound burger, the “Barnbuster” actually came before the “Quarter Pounder” even though it strongly resembled the “Whopper”.  Their most used slogan went, “When the hungries hit, when the hungries hit, hit the Red Barn”.  The “Hungries” were their three iconic mascots.  Hamburger Hungry originally looked like Ernie from Sesame Street, but they gave him a cap and a V-neck sweater to avoid confusion.  Chicken Hungry looked like a fried leg of chicken, and Fish Hungry was just a big, blue fish.  Even though I ate there from time to time, to tell the truth, I really do not remember much about the food.  Personally, I remember preferring the products of both McDonald’s and Burger King, and that new upstart, “Taco Bell”.  I never tried Red Barn fried-chicken and I never ate their fish.  Nonetheless, I still have fond memories of Red Barn from High School. 

In the 70s, when I still ate such things, the Red Barn was our school’s Friday hangout.  On Fridays after school sporting events, everyone would meet down at the Red Barn over on 73rd and Federal in Westminster.  Curiously enough, our cross-town rivals, Ranum, would meet just up the road and across the street at the McDonald’s.  Even though they had the better food choice, we had the better “winter” choice because that McDonald’s was one of the old, golden arches McDonald’s with no indoor seating and no patio.  Our Red Barn had ample indoor seating and everyone knew to meet there for a snack before deciding how to spend the rest of the Friday evening.  Many good, Friday memories contain a meeting earlier in the evening at the Red Barn. 

At their peak, Red Barn had over 400 restaurants in 19 States and two foreign countries, but, for whatever reason, they did not make it.  They had the loyal clientele, they had the handouts and they had a decent product, but they still sailed into oblivion sometime in the late 70’s.  You can still find remnants of old Red Barns turned something else like other restaurants, car dealerships or rental stores, but other than those faded memories and a few mementos, Red Barn Hamburgers are now just a part of history. 

If you ever ate there, colored in one of their coloring books or took home a free glass, you are part of the history.  You actually still can visit that history at www.barnbuster.net.  This website is completely devoted to the memory of the Red Barn complete with pictures, commercials snippits, and T-shirts for sale.  I tried to get some of their pictures to post here for your enjoyment, but was unable.  Nonetheless, if you are interested at all, all the general memories are parked there for posterity.  As for the personal memories, I’ll just smile and keep those to myself. 

I don’t have a degree in journalism, but when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and be Brenda Starr: the red-headed ace investigative journalist of the Sunday comics. I even worked as a copy girl for one year after high school, but decided to go into nursing and that led me to marry a doctor, which enabled me to travel four times to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the last year and a half.

I am one spoiled American who lives a comfortable life on ten acres in paradise: an environmentally protected sanctuary atop of the aquifer in the Green Swamp of Central Florida. I am a homebody and never cared to fly anywhere, even before that day we call 9/11. But I have been compelled, impelled and propelled by a force greater than myself, to go, witness and report on life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories/OPT.

Because of the borderless world of the Internet, people who would never have crossed paths due to distance, now communicate easily via the World Wide Web. All life is interdependent and interconnected and the Internet is the visible reality of this open mystery.

I was raised in a Catholic family, but gave up on the Institution in the summer of 1964. I never doubted there was a God, but at the tender age of ten, I decided to find my own way and listen to my own heart to lead me to the truth and into the light. But, at the age of twenty-seven, from the pit of hell I had created, I cried out “HELP!”

There are no words to describe the overwhelming sense of connection I felt to the Mystery we call God, but I knew in my gut, that He/She understood me and loved me just as I was. That moment also was the beginning of my journey and desire to discover what exactly I was created for.

At the time I was working as a visiting nurse in the ghettos of Orlando, Florida, and in the shacks and squalor is where I learned about Jesus. While treating the wounds of the poor and the outcast I learned that gratitude was the ultimate expression of love. The poorest of the poor, who were grateful for my smallest kindness, verbally expressed it, by their constant refrain, Thank you, Jesus!

I explored every denomination Central Florida had to offer, but I never was a Pentecostal or Episcopalian; although I attended both churches as I searched for a home in the institutional church. It was not until I broke bread with the Christians in Palestine, did I experience a visceral sense of belonging.

As of this writing, no Palestinian Christian has ever strapped on a bomb and committed suicide/homicide. The Christian Exodus of the Holy Land has reduced their numbers from 20% of the total population to less than 1.3% since Israel became a state in 1948. The reasons are primarily the forty years of occupation, the oppression, The Wall, the lack of economic opportunity, the daily humiliations at checkpoints, the hassle of obtaining permits to be able to move about, ineffective and corrupt governments, the rise of fundamentalism in all three branches of Father Abraham s offsprings and the violence and destruction that surrounds.

Before Emperor Constantine brought Christianity into the mainstream, all the early Church Fathers taught that Christians should not serve in the army but instead willingly suffer rather than inflict harm on any other. St. Augustine was the first Church Father to consider the concept of a Just War. Within 100 years after Constantine, the Empire required that all soldiers in the army must be baptized Christians and thus, the decline of Christianity began.

With the justification of war and violence supplied by Augustine’s Just War Theory, wrong became right. Nothing much has changed in two millennia, for in today’s Orwellian world politicians claim the way to peace is through war and that nuclear weapons provide protection. I don’t care who wears the uniform, or how noble they believe their cause, war is the ultimate form of terrorism for any civilian caught in the crossfire of violence.

I still do not understand the logic that promoted the need for Hiroshima and Nagasaki to save American lives; and why there was never a mention of repentance for the innocent that died. Eisenhower warned America not to bind our economy to the Industrial Military Complex. But, like most prophets, he was ignored.

In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine legitimized Christianity and thus, those who had been considered rebels and outlaws began to enjoy political power and prestige. Jesus’ other name is The Prince of Peace, and with the marriage of church and state, his true teachings were reinterpreted. The justification of warfare and the use of state sponsored violence corrupted what Christ modeled and taught. Jesus was always on about WAKE UP! The Divine already indwells you and all others. Christ taught that to follow him requires that one must love ones enemies; one must forgive those who hate, curse and revile them, without a thought of payback.

Christ lived a life that proved evil can be opposed without being mirrored, and that the cycle of a “tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye”, will never bring peace and justice. Before Emperor Constantine brought Christianity into the mainstream, all the early Church Fathers taught that Christians should not serve in the army but instead willingly suffer rather than inflict harm on any other. The term Christianity was not coined until three decades after Christ walked the earth. Until the day of Paul, followers of Christ were called members of The Way; the way being what he taught! Christ was never a Christian, but he was a social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who rose up/intifada and challenged the corrupt Temple and disturbed the status quo of the Roman occupying forces by teaching that God was on the side of the poor and the outcast.

Clement, Tertillian, Polycarp and every other early Church Father taught that violence was a contradiction of what Christ was all about. There have always been those Christians who spoke out against this corruption of scripture and they have been ignored, reviled, rejected, mocked, persecuted and maligned throughout time. There have always been Christians who have never abandoned the true teachings, such as the Quakers, Mennonites, some Catholics and Protestants who have been faithful witnesses to Christ by denouncing violence and caring for the poor. There have also always been Jews, Muslims, atheists, anarchists, secularists and other’s who have lived lives that embody the message of Christ.

I have had the opportunity to meet some of these people in Israel and Palestine and they too, are the inspiration for my second book. They fill me with hope to believe that as greater numbers of global citizens come together -which is inevitable with the borderless World Wide Web-in solidarity with The Universal Declaration of Human Rights we will find the way to challenge and remedy the wrongs committed by the princes and principalities of this world that perpetuate violence for violence.

It is a spiritual battle we all fight, for both good and evil cut through every human heart. Because all life is interconnected and interdependent we are all forced to deal with the war within the individual human heart when ever it erupts into society and issues forth from the political realm.

The Heart of American Charity

There is something very unique about the heart of what it is to be an American that results in Americans being the most charitable people in the world. That is not just a generous exaggeration. Documented studies have shown conclusively that Americans give far more to charity and to help out their fellow man in times of trouble than any other private citizenry in the world. Just consider these statistics.

* When the tragic tsunami hit Asia and devastated so many countries, American private citizens gave 1.78 billion dollars in relief above and beyond what the U.S. Government gave to help bring relief to the suffering. This size of donation just on the private sector side dwarfed even the best of what other developed nations could contribute.

* Only a few months later when a terrible earthquake devastated Pakistan, American rallied again giving 78 million dollars to aid the suffering there.

* When hurricane Katrina and Rita devastated the US coast states, Americans from all over the nation responded with 3.12 billion dollars and relief efforts are still underway to reach out to those displaced by that terrible storm.

These are just a few of the hundreds of examples of charity that Americans give willingly every year whenever the need is great. Americans donate an estimated one quarter of a trillion dollars to charities such as the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and The American Cancer Society. And the amount that Americans give through their places of worship exceeds the gross national product of all but the most prosperous of nations.

These figures stand in direct contrast to the idea that Americans are selfish and spoiled as some would like to maintain. But the reasons for how deeply the belief in giving to others in need is engrained in the American psyche are diverse and an important part of the American dream and how this country came to be.

Part of the reason lies in the immigrant heritage that is what virtually everybody who makes up this great country can call their linage. That is because when we all go back to our roots, we all started out with a dream and this great country to grow that dream in. And all along the way, we helped each other. So we have a generational debt to pay back to all who pitched in and helped our ancestors establish this great country.

But it’s more than that. Our zeal to help others doesn’t stop at our shores. Americans give more than any other nation to help out others in need around the world. Our instinct to give is stronger than even our national politics as we will give generously even if an enemy of America is hurt by storm or disease. When it comes to helping out our fellow man, we put aside national animosities and reach out. That is a people who have that kind of deep empathy for others. That is what it means to be “an American”.

That empathy for people of all races and colors, nationalities and countries of origin is very natural for Americans to feel. We are a people made up of the immigrants from all lands. And so when we reach out and aid others who are suffering, we all feel like we are touching our own family that way. That is the heart of what makes American charity so amazing and so generous.

And even if the countries we reach out to don’t always appreciate what we do, Americans will always be a people who will not sit by and let others suffer. We have that deeply held national conviction that we are all going to get through this life together. And that is just another in the many reasons why America is the greatest country in the world.