Well Written commentary by Ben Stein

[Robin1]

Many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone. He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to make people think clearly.

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The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don' t feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

:aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033:

Thank You Ben Stein,

Robin

 

[strass]

Robin, you're on a roll today. Where do you find all this interesting stuff you share with us?

 

[Miniv]

YAY!!!!

That needs to be sent to lots of media editors -- Newspaper and TV Types!

Why don't our "leaders" get it through their heads about WHAT THE GENERAL POPULATION WANTS, THINKS, AND BELIEVES????

MA

 

[susanne]

We need to be inclusive rather than exclusive.

Unfortunately, too many exclude all beliefs just to be safe. I am deeply gratified when I am wished Happy Hannukah, or Happy Kwansa, or Shalom, or whatever, just as I am when I am wished a Merry Christmas. I love it when anyone shares their happiness and deeply held beliefs; however, I want it to be genuine, not something a store employee has been ordered to say.

As for the tabloids, if we all just ignored them, they would go out of business. Sadly, too many numbskulls find this sort of crap interesting, and thus advertisers buy space and the gossip rags afloat.

 

[susanne]

Sorry...internet hiccup!

 

[Cimarron]

Thanks for this! that is a lovely commentary. Sheila

 

[Robin1]

Mike, I am blessed to have friends that try to keep my email full of interesting things.

:

Robin