Good Morning Digital Neighbors! Hello Friends & Refugees, Phamily & Triggeratti! Happy Saturday Dawn Patrol, Early Birds, Fascinating People, Conversants, Lurkers and of course Joyful Bigots! (Bigot is a term of endearment over at Triggernometry) 😉
We had a New Parishioner Meet & Greet last night. We welcomed three new couples and an individual to our parish family along with about 20 members of the Welcoming Committee & members of our staff. It was a full house and a great evening. Few things can match enjoying the company of neighbors. Thanks to @kmeyer & @Berf for all of their work and the fact that they are two of the most enjoyable people to share company.
Digital Neighbors are pretty great too! Thanks to all who visit these various communities and get to know others. Some of us have developed post relationships as we share on these sites and offer our comments. That has lead to chat conversation in an old school manner like 1st generation social media of the 90's before it was even named as such. It has lead to ZOOM conversations were we can match voices to @handles as well as occasionally see a real person depending on the circumstance's and comfort level.
There is more civility, maturity and patience in the average Local's supporter. Members can only like things - a wish choice since they have no skin the game in the terms of the community life. They aren't supporting creators, so why should a random visitor be allowed to try to up-end the cart for the sake of drama and trolling a community when there are already plenty of places to do that on the inter-webs. Members who like what they see, and wish they could interact can become Supporters.
Supporters not only get to interact with the Host/Creator, but with one another. I have a number of people in my intention network of new neighbors that I see as friends. While a bit different than the flesh & blood people I bump into daily, in some ways because of our reason for being here, many conversations can take on a more meaningful nature because we at least have an idea of why we are all here. (Whatever Local's that might happen to be.) The Morning Coffee Talks I host are just a way to begin the day with some decent human beings, not all on the same page about issues, but all willing to listen & respect, to question & comment without getting defensive or petty. I hope you find such good people among the flesh & bloods you know and I hope your involvement at Local's affords you that opportunity if that is what you are seeking. Sometimes Digital Neighbors can become a refuge & haven if the flesh & bloods among you are incapable of civility without dogma. Sometimes the culture wars have cost too many relationships with family or friends, isolation & humanity usually does not end well for the individual or at times the neighbors. We don't need many friends or neighbors, but a few real & reliable ones sure can make a difference. On to the quote & photo!
The underlying message of the Neighborhood is that if somebody cares about you, it's possible that you'll care about others. 'You are special, and so is your neighbor' - that part is essential: that you're not the only special person in the world. The person you happen to be with at the moment is loved, too. - Fred Rogers
Montana - Glacier National Park (Beautiful state @eclecticRPT & @montanacurt)
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
