David Swink's blog

Many people in Haiti are faced with a difficult choice. Having left everything behind in last month’s devastating earthquake, thousands are living with only the clothes on their backs.

In the 1980’s I was privileged visit Haiti twice. I found the Haitian people to be clean, modest, and hard working. One month after the devastating earthquake, in a hot Caribbean climate, people are faced with the choice of wearing the clothes on their backs, even though unclean and smelly, or going naked while they wash their clothes.

“If it bleeds, it leads.” That is the mantra of the national and local news media. They love a good fight! What they do not particularly like, and therefore seldom cover, is a cooperative spirit that does great good for the community. So the headlines scream chaos, while a lot of good is being done by many people in Livingston County and other Michigan counties every day.

There is a mystery in Brighton. Someone is handing out “stupid” pills. How do I know this? The streets of Brighton are turning into a big bumper car game. The people of Brighton are well-educated, good citizens. In their right minds the bumper car game would be unthinkable. So, the mystery is: “Who is passing out stupid pills in Brighton?”

In times of economic upheaval, apocalyptic stories become popular. So it is not a surprise that one of Hollywood’s new releases would play to the fear of the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012. The movie “2012” is an interesting little recipe of misread Mayan culture, an astrological lie, a little bit of Nostradamus, and a few misinterpreted Scripture references.

As the politicians rant and rave in Lansing about the budget. The “T..” word gets bounced around quite a bit. Angry voices are heard shouting against the “T..” word. Fearful voices quietly mention the “T..” word in back rooms. Can somebody tell me what is wrong with the “T..” word?

Every high school senior was required to take a Bible course at the South Carolina college preparatory, parochial school I attended. At the conclusion of the course the teacher warned us to ignore whatever a college professor might teach us that was different from her teaching. The message was clear: “Vary from my teaching and you are going to hell!” Her statement didn’t make any sense to me. After all, I was attending a college preparatory school. I learned then the difference between education and indoctrination.