Times have changed

I was thinking of my late father today and was reminded of something that would probably be seen by most people today as a bit bizarre. Actually, if memory serves, my friends thought it was strange even back then in the 60' and 70's.

My dad worked as a labourer in construction most of his life and many times he would come home late and always exhausted. That's not the bizarre part. When dad came home, he was (obviously) kinda dirty. Oftentimes, he would plunk himself on a chair in the basement (we had a finished basement with a walkout) and call out to us.

It was an understood signal that one of us, us being the two younger siblings, or mom if she wasn't too busy, was being summoned to go and wash my father's feet. At the best of times my dad would have had a hard time washing his own feet since he was short and stocky. Bending over after working hard all day was an effort he didn't need. We even used to unlace and pull his construction boots off much of the time.

It didn't seem an extraordinary thing to us. Even then, I knew that the washing of someone's feet was performed in Biblical times as a show of respect, and our whole family having come from the "Old World" and being Catholic, we were steeped in tradition and the old ways. If Jesus could wash a friend's feet, who were we to refuse to wash our father's feet?

I also remember how funny I thought it was that when one of us kids showed reluctance to perform a small task he tried to assign, he would sometimes say "It's not like I'm asking you to wash my feet and drink the water." It was amusing then, but even more so now, because of the discontinued custom--as if simply washing someone's feet isn't a big enough imposition to make the point, drinking the water had to be tacked on.

These days, I imagine kids whine if they're asked to wash the car...even their own.

Q & A's from around the web

Why do you think Jesus washed Judas' feet?

He was trying to heel his sole.

Seriously Funny Quotes

From Family Guy:

Chris: What do you do at a Young Republicans meeting?
Alyssa: We help those who already have the means to help themselves. Also, we perpetuate the idea that Jesus chose America to destroy non-believers and brown people.
Chris: I don't know why, but I feel safer already.

Supermarket outlaws

Yesterday, I was at the supermarket check-out line and I noticed that the woman in front of me had eight 24-can cases of coke in her shopping cart. In fact, that's all she had in it. Moments later, a man whom I presume was her husband, brought an empty cart and they transferred four of the cases from her cart to his. Then, they proceeded to nonchalantly and while chattering, pay separately for the soda. In fact, it turns out he was a little short of cash and she provided the needed funds.

The reason was clear, but to verify it, when I got home, I checked the flyer from the store that gets delivered to my door each week (the flyer gets delivered, not the store) and sure enough, the pop was on sale and there was a limit of four cases per family.

Now, not only did they clearly violate the terms of the sale, they also thought nothing of the husband butting in line. Of course, neither offence was serious enough to end in a lynching, though it might have had a deterrent effect not only on those two culprits but also on other would-be supermarket rule violators.

I don't generally call people out on immoral behaviour, but I have on occasion, and I'm feeling sorry today that I didn't that time. Bothersome also, is the fact that the check-out girl never batted an eye during the proceedings. I think she should have lost her badge or at least forced to clean up aisle five for a week or so.

I wonder if people would be as quick to break with store rules if there were a gallows with two dummies hanging from it in the centre of every supermarket with a sign that reads "THEY VIOLATED THE LIMIT OF FOUR PER FAMILY PURCHASE RULE". Or perhaps a man on a cross--I don't mean as a threat to be crucified, but as a reminder to be decent for Christ's sake. Well, either way.