Susan Beckett

An amazing thing happened this past week in the religious community, and just in case you've been boycotting the news - I sure wouldn't blame you - let me fill you in. Harvard University, which was founded in 1636 for the purpose of educating ministry students and meeting the unique educational needs of Christians, has just appointed an atheist as the school's chaplain. The school, whose motto is "Truth for Christ and the Church," evidently feels this is an excellent choice. As one student said, "Greg's leadership isn't about theology…."Apparently not!

When you hear the names, Penn and Teller, if you immediately think magicians, comedians and fabulous entertainers, you would be 100% spot on. These guys have been entertaining crowds for decades and are still going strong. I recently read an insightful quote from Penn that I actually had to read through twice to get its full impact. Coming from a well-known atheist, Penn’s words about religion are profound:

This is going to be hard to believe, but in 1980 a young lady named Rosie Ruiz cheated her way to a win at the Boston Marathon. How does someone do that? Many believe Rosie jumped onto the subway for sixteen miles, then got off the subway, then got back into the marathon, and crossed the finish line! Her cheating was found out and, of course, she was stripped of her "first place" champion title. The story made headlines and Rosie acquired public notoriety and lasting name recognition. To this day, "Doing a Rosie" is runners' slang for cheating by taking a shortcut.

RED TEAM. I recently heard this term and my brain immediately shot to politics - red states vs. blue states. But this was not in context with what was being said, so I had to check it out. Turns out, a “red team” is a group that plays the role of a competitor or an enemy, and provides feedback from that unique perspective. Basically, the red team’s objective is to improve security for the good guys by role-playing the bad guys. In essence, they’re playing the devil’s advocate. Not a bad idea.

This has been a very blue week here at the Beckett abode. We had to put our beloved Roxie down - our thirteen-year-old Maltese. I cried till my heart hurt. Our Roxie was older than our two youngest granddaughters and she had become a fixture in the family. She was just a mere seven-week-old puppy when I brought her home; she snuggled into the palm of my right hand as I drove with my left. Always so sweet and cute and loving, she had a quirky little smile that she'd throw out there whenever she wanted to be mischievous plus cute, and it melted our hearts every time. This morning when I fed Boogie, our two-year-old Coton, I had to miss Roxie all over again, as only one bowl of food went down on the kitchen floor. And Boogie misses his Roxie - how do your tell your other dog/person what's happened?!