Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

To make Comments write directly to Jim at jimt@quixotic.ca

 

12

Mar

2022

Giving God a name

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday February 17, 2022

 

The “Golden Guys” meet on Mondays. Mostly, we talk about what it feels like to grow older. On a recent Zoom call, we talked about how our lives have changed. There were six of us:

·      One university professor, no longer teaching any students.

·      One high-school principal, no longer administering anything.

·      One orchardist, no longer tending trees.

·      One business executive, no longer running any business.

·      One minister, no longer offering leadership in any kind of pastorate.

·      And me, the only one of us still doing what I had done most of my life – writing – although at a significantly reduced level.


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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: God, Moses, Exodus, YHWH, Yahweh, names

6

Mar

2022

If shunning doesn’t work, why do we keep doing it?

Author: Jim Taylor

Sunday March 6, 2022

 

The last two weeks, I’ve tried to keep up with the changing scene in Ukraine, and our reactions to it. First, Russian forces were merely threatening to invade Ukraine. Then they invaded, but ostensibly to enable two eastern regions to breakaway from the rest of Ukraine. Then they clearly invaded all of Ukraine, from the north, east and south. 

            I’m shocked. Appalled. Disgusted with Vladimir Putin. 

            Let me be clear -- I am 100% opposed to the Russian invasion. 

            I’m less confident about the effectiveness of the western deterrents. 


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6

Mar

2022

Dear Mr. Prime: about those robocalls

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday March 3, 2022

 

Dear Mr. Amazon Prime,

            Thank you so much for looking after the best interests of your customers. The other morning, before I was even out of bed, one of your Customer Service Representatives called to inform me that they had detected suspicious activity on one of my credit cards. 

            Someone in Dayton Ohio had used my credit card to make a purchase of $197.33.

            I asked her to wait a minute, while I checked my wallet. Both of my credit cards were safely there. But when I got back to the phone, she had hung up on me.

            That wasn’t very courteous of her. 

 

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26

Feb

2022

Personal stories trump international news

Author: Jim Taylor

Sunday February 27, 2022

 

Two important things happened on Tuesday February 22. 

            On the international scene, Vladimir Putin thumbed his nose at world opinion and declared two sections of eastern Ukraine “independent states.” The next day, he sent “peacekeeping” troops across the border to invade Ukraine. 

            The second event? I had to have my dog euthanized. 

            Guess which event I will remember for the rest of my life. You’re right. The personal always trumps the universal.


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25

Feb

2022

Prejudice visible only to victims

Author: Jim Taylor

Thursday February 24, 2022

 

Oliver is a peaceful little town of 5,000, nestled in the south end of the Okanagan Valley.  Earlier this month, though, an apparently racist incident outside the high school made headlines. While a “Freedom” rally went on outside the school, a young mother was caught haranguing a student. The video clip where she directed profanity and racial slurs at a high school girl has since gone viral.

            She has been fined. She has apologized. The regional newspaper has published her letter expressing regret.

            Even so, one sentence in that letter caught my attention: “My intent was never to cause anyone any harm.”

            Right there is the problem with prejudice. We -- speaking generally here -- seem to assume that prejudice has to have some kind of ill intent.

            The essence of prejudice, in fact, is the failure of the persons expressing prejudice to recognize that their words and actions HAVE any ill intent, that they may cause harm -- or pain, or humiliation -- to someone else.


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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: Prejudice, victims

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