Thoughts on the Afterlife

Last week, All Things Considered on NPR, talked each day to people of different religions about the afterlife. The stories were called "What Comes Next? Conversations on the Afterlife." The link is to the story by the Catholic nun but along the side you'll see other stories too.
I agreed with some of what I heard from the various religions and disagreed with some of what I heard from the various religions. But one thing kind of bugged me.
One person said that whatever you want in paradise will be there, and that includes maids.
I'm sorry, I do not want to be a maid in heaven and I can't imagine that there will be enough people whose dream is to be a maid to fulfill other's wishes in heaven. Right?
I guess, I imagined either beds would make themselves, or we would be so far from sleeping and changing sheets, and making beds each morning, that it wouldn't be an issue.
I don't want to be a car mechanic or even a cook in heaven.
Can I be a writer in paradise? Maybe a writer whose every word is like manna from heaven.
What do you think about heaven?

Choosing Charities

I have a hard time choosing which charities to give to. They all seem so worthy. How do I decide?
I usually give to the local NPR station. I love NPR. I would not have survived being a stay-at-home mom without the intellectual stimulation of NPR. It seems right to give to something that I'm using daily.
I also give to the local YMCA. My kids have done sports at the YMCA since they were little. Now only Tucker continues to swim there, but I know plenty of other kids who don't have the money or are in danger of becoming obese can go to the Y and learn how to play soccer or basketball. That seems worthy too.
With the slow economy, I also felt like I should give to the local food pantry. Making sure people have enough to eat seems more important than playing games or listening to NPR, right?
But wait a minute, I just got something from the Sierra Club explaining how the earth might not even be habitable unless we take some action. I mean, what good does it do to provide food and exercise for people along with intellectual stimulation if the earth becomes too warm or too watery for people to live here. We have to take care of the earth.
Then I get an email from a politician or a political party pledging to make things better in the economy, which could fix the hungry people, and they also promise to help clean up the oceans and wean the U.S. from its oil fixation so the earth can be healthy again. Maybe I need to support the politicians and trust them to improve our country and our planet.
It's so hard to prioritize.
Then I'll see a picture of little children in an orphanage and I'll be sucked right back to thinking that I need to donate to them instead. It's a vicious cycle for me.
Which charities do you donate to?

NPR Saved My Life

We spent a leisurely Saturday morning as teenagers stumbled from their beds. Earl had driven 13 hours to pick up Grace for Spring Break the day before. Earl made omelettes and the boys poured heaping bowls of sugary cereal. Our conversation meandered from the sad, the earthquake in Japan, to the trivial. In the background, as always, was the sound of NPR, National Public Radio.
I told Grace about the story I'd heard on NPR the week before of a flamingo in Siberia.
"Yeah, so these boys were ice fishing in Siberia and something fell from the sky. It was a pink flamingo," I told her.
She didn't believe it. They took it to the zoo. A year later in November, the exact same thing happened. A flamingo froze in the skies above Siberia and fell to the ground in the same village. NPR talked to a scientist and learned that birds can sometimes get turned around so they fly exactly 180 degrees in the opposite direction of where they should be migrating. And guess what, this village in Siberia was 180 degrees opposite of Iran where the flamingos who summer in Kazakhstan should have been headed. They get turned around and go 180 degrees opposite of where they should go.
The flamingo story was amazing, but even more amazing is the fact that I get to hear stories like this on NPR and relate them to my children. Sometimes they care; most of the time they don't.
When Grace was a baby, we lived in a small city in the middle of Florida. As I stayed home with an infant, nursing her, rocking her, singing to her, I could barely tune in the NPR station in Tampa, which helped me stay sane. I could listen to the station for brain stimulation while I sang "Hush little baby don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird" for the 100th time that day.
When the boys were born, we lived in Michigan and the Ann Arbor NPR station came in loud and clear. Each morning and each evening, the wisdom of the reporters boomed from the radio. Although I might be spending the day with infants and toddlers, I could carry on adult conversations and stay up to date on important issues.
I'm sure that when my children have moved out of the house, the sound of NPR morning edition wil give them a homesick feeling. The morning theme music should always remind them of me, even if now they switch channels in the car when we drive together.
Today, more than ever, we need a news organization that has the goal of finding and sharing the news with the American people without a secret agenda. So many "news" channels have become propaganda arms of either political party. People watch Fox news or MSNBC and actually think they are giving a straight news story rather than propaganda. But they aren't; both channels intend to persuade viewers that their points of view are correct. They leave out important points. They tell their side and ask leading questions.
NPR shows both sides. How do I know? Because many times, I disagree with the person being interviewed on NPR. Many times I agree.
So whatever happens, whether the government continues to help fund NPR, it needs to continue to operate, delving into the events of the day and giving the news in a straightforward manner.
Some days, NPR has been the one thing that gave me hope. Some days.."If that mockingbird don't sing, Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring"...NPR saved my life.