Hypocrite?

Pigs eat people too. Have you heard about that farmer in Oregon?

bagsim very hurt.
I shall go and sulk in a corner with my Turkish delight and crochet!

We...eeelll - O.K. jeni, I will make an exception for you - certainly you are a domestic goddess, whatever anybody else says. Ignore that nasty bags, she is just jealous.

to GNHQ AND TECH

How's the GD cardi coming on, jeni? I thought you'd started a Bagsism topic!!

AND HAVE YOU SEEN THE CRESCENT MOON?!!!!!?

Yeah. I'm more like a domestic pig.

Look above--- the thread not the sky!

Well, they snook that in!

It's grey.

moons aren't grey

bags at the moment I'm trying to remember all my crochet stitches

It's lovely.

What colour do you think they are jing? Blue?
I've seen a bright orange one once. It seemed weird!

Going back to my original post – although I am pleased that you have finally got the crescent moon that you craved jeni – Mr absent is completely bemused by my concerns about this birthday charity donation/gift. It has truly been a dilemma for me which is why I posted in the first place.

I do hope that my lovely sister-in-law (or even, unlikely that it is, the brother-in-law at the centre of the issue) is not a member of Gransnet.

Really interesting discussion, I found everyone's thoughts interesting. Re-reading absentgrana's original post, I think Greatnan's solution is the wisest.

But I quite admire the host for two reasons. First he is making it clear he does not want guests to waste money on presents (presents for '0' birthdays tend to be either expensive or silly) and second, he had the guts to name a charity he believes in, maybe knowing it would not be universally popular. To his credit, he did not know if or who donated, or how much. Thus leaving his guests free to follow their own consciences.

However the principle absentgrana identifies goes deep. How far do we let our own beliefs influence our lives and actions?

I am nominally an Anglican Christian, and I do believe in a loving, creator God, but I have a problem with institutionalised religion and its politics (with both big and small 'P's) and pettiness, which makes me a non-churchgoer. Pity, because I love the architecture and music in great cathedrals.

Over the years I can no longer believe that there is only one way of understanding the great issues of Life (why are we here? what are we here for? do we have a purpose? etc etc)--and Death (is it The End? etc etc). I am interested in the beliefs of many different cultures, as well as the monotheistic religions, Buddhism and the Tao. This is why I took a degree in Medical Anthropology in my 50s--to help me explore different peoples' ideas about 'health', life and death. And I'm still exploring what I believe!

But I would draw the line at donating to a charity whose aims I had thought about, but was opposed to. And I have problems with proselytising too.

Maybe I should change my username to 'confused.oap'

Just read the latest posts (which I hadn't, when I posted the above in good faith).
I feel as if I've eavesdropped on some supernatural (yes, supernatural!) secret society with its own language. Or maybe just a fringe group from the Scottish Play?!

Forgive the intrusion Taking life a bit seriously is one of my longstanding faults which I've been working on for years--obviously more work needed!

miney, your post two up was lovely, I thought. I enjoyed reading it .

You're not intruding. Keep posting