The only difference between insanity and genius is the genius has proof

Pope rejects condom distribution

The Catholic Church seems to be stuck in another awkward situation. It just doesn’t seem to be going well for them in the PR department. I mean, it’s enough to have a bishop declare that the holocaust was not a real event and bungle the response in the manor they did. But now the Pope goes to Africa and wants to take on HIV/AIDS by declaring people have more restraint and discipline in Abstinence Only education/programs. That is a really large can of worms to open and sort through. I don’t doubt the Church is trying to do the right thing, but I wonder how they came to the decision to go this route. Africa is not Europe or of European descent. I’ll give it to the Church for making the impact it has had on the continent. Jesus is spreading through there with fury and commitment.

And the Church wants to use the momentum to address a community engulfed in the largest, deadliest epidemic per capita than any other State in the world, Washington DC excluded. His Pontiff is going to take a cause, one which hasn’t really been figured to work so well in developed nations, to communities that have different cultural beliefs, backgrounds, and practices. Again, Jesus is growing through some of those communities in huge ways and I am not about to say He can’t do something. So it really boils down to the same debate we face here between conservatives and liberals.

So the two sides of this debate are as follows:

Conservative:

• The only way to 100% prevent pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted disease is to be 100% abstinent.
• Educating individuals to the proper use of condoms will lead to promiscuity.

Liberal:

• Does sex outside of marriage happen?
• Do kids who encounter abstinence only education have sex outside of marriage?
• Since the answer to both of those questions is yes, what can effectively be done to stop it?

Just to clarify before the inevitable attack. Do I think people should engage in sex outside of marriage? Nope. But I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t happen and I’m certainly not going to pretend I can solve it.

Research and studies show that abstinence only education doesn’t work at preventing 100% unwed pregnancy, let alone the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. I may have an overall impact on lowering unwed pregnancy, but sexual behavior changes and STD’s spike among those individuals who don’t have access to preventative measures.

It’s plain that I lean toward educating people and making available to them the tools necessary (which includes abstinence and marital fidelity, but I doubt anyone notices that) to prevent unwanted diseases and pregnancies. What I don’t understand is the necessity to stay rooted in programs that historically don’t succeed. I mean, isn’t the very definition of insanity doing the same things again and again while expecting different results?

Turning water into wine was an easy show of power compared to this train wreck

Friday I posted the question and got a response. So, I guess I’ll answer the question posed. Joe writes,

Do you find it difficult to have so many people obsessed with you?

Joe, I have a sneaky suspicion that your name is not real. But I’ll do my best to answer anyway. First, I don’t have a clue as to what you are referring. I think you may have stumbled upon this question and confused me with the good Sean Michael Murphy. I am not someone who is obsessed over in the way in which you seem to believe. I hope that answered your question. Look for the next installment of “Ask About Bragg” this Friday morning.

May I be honest? That’s a silly question to ask isn’t it; I mean, I’m going to be honest or I’m going to be deceitful and there isn’t much you can do about it except weigh what I say next against what you know of me, what I have said in the past, and what my character might look like in your view.

I have a really difficult time being honest. Oh, not as in I lie, steal, cheat, or take advantage of-kind of honesty issue, it’s one of those talking to someone about one of their ‘things, and it’s driving me crazy’-kind of honesty. It’s not that confrontation is foreign to me, or that I’m anti-confrontation and shy away from it. At least not when someone confronts me. I just have a really difficult time confronting someone else when a particular behavior rubs me the wrong way. For some reason I never seem to have good luck with thost conversations ending well.

For instance, there was a guy that I lived with for 4 or 5 years during college. After he graduated (I still had a year to go), he got busy with his career. He also got one of them wives. Just wait until the end of the story before making any assumptions about where this goes. Anyway, one summer day about a year after we had stopped hanging out/stopped talking, a plane crashes in the suburbs of our city. Knowing that I had begun flying again, he called me to ask if it was me or if I knew the pilot in the crash. I confirmed my continued existence on the planet and hung up. The next time I saw him, about two months later at a wedding, I pulled him aside and asked why he called me that day. I then continued to explain that I was hurt that the only reason I got a phone call after a year of nothing was because there might have been a chance that I had perished. Why does it take an event like a plane crash to spur a phone call to see how a ‘friend’ is fairing in life? Since that confrontation, I’ve never received another call.

At that same wedding, I was approached by another guy I used to live with at a different house. He and I were pretty close during that year and a half. He told me that when he watched ‘Survivorman’ on Discovery, he would think of me and this time we went camping. We made this really stupid lean-to shelter because we both forgot to pack a tent. I asked why he only thought of me instead of calling to see how I actually was. Again, I left that conversation virtually guaranteeing to never talk to that guy again. Both of these guys still live in Cincinnati ironically.

What I learned from those encounters is that whenever I confront someone else with something that bothers me, I lose even more. So, I tend to just keep it bottled (like every good citizen) and deal with the internal frustration as it being a fault of mine. And usually it is. I need to be more patient. I need to extend more grace. I need to…

…keep my sanity. After living in community for the last 8 years, you’d think I might have learned how to deal with conflict better. Turns out I’m just a jerk. And that makes me sad.

How do you deal with conflict in a healthy way that doesn’t ruin friendship, destroy opportunities for the future, and promotes community?