It is ALWAYS right to give Him thanks and praise

Part of the Catholic Mass (and in some other Christian services) there is a two way exchange between the Priest and the congregation, called the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer (Sursum corda in Latin). A few years ago I felt the need to add a word in the congregation's response because it makes the most sense...

Priest: The Lord be with you

Congregation: And also with you.

Priest: Lift up your hearts

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord

Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

Congregation: It is always right to give Him thanks and praise.

That last line. I add the word "always" in there, even though it is not part of official Mass... But it really balances things out correctly, because of what the priest says next...

Priest: Father, it is our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere, to give You thanks through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

So next time you're in a Christian church and they have this ping-pong style prayer, add the word "always" in your last response. It agrees with and helps the Priest or minister with his next part — the second part of the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer.

See also:
Rewrite of the Apostles Creed is Needed

How Hats Communicate Chivalry

Image courtesy of Th3 ProphetMan

Since I was a teenager in the early 1980s which was also when my Dad reached the age of 50 I had long ago decided that when I reached the age of 40 I would go from wearing a baseball hat to wearing one of those nicer ones men used to wear.

My Dad looked really awful in a baseball hat when he turned 50. His hair was not always short enough at the time to make it look good, but that was part of the hair style back then to begin with.

So flash forward to the past year. Men have lost their "cache" of being real men, and I guess when things got bad enough I decided that I needed to fight back as best as I could and this meant going from very casual dress code at work to emulating what men wore in the 1940s and 1950s...a suit, a tie....and a fedora hat.

The fact that I bought one so close to the opening of the fourth Indiana Jones movie is just pure coincidence. And I've noticed too that other men, young and old are also starting to wear the nicer hats.

I think it is all a part of men wanting to be men again, and deciding that when women told us guys from the late 1980s that we "should get in touch with our feminine side" was just pure rubbish to begin with.

The story goes that until the early mid 1960s all men wore a nice hat like the one above, whenever they went out beyond their home. There was a certain protocol that also went with wearing such a hat, rules that have been forgotten by men, such as when you're in an elevator. If you're the only man or if the elevator is full of other men you are allowed to keep your hat on. However, once a lady steps onto that elevator and until she/they leave you must take it off and carry it in your hand beside you.

You're also supposed to tip your hat to a lady that you know when you pass her on the street. I have never been taught this and I'm finding it hard to remember, but I know eventually it'll be as easy as second nature the more I practice.

And I suppose that to take this to the next level, as a man, you can act more gentlemanly, and use the hat as a sort of "prop". For example, this afternoon on my lunch hour I was waiting for the bus. A young lady was passing me by, and for a second she kind of glanced at me and my hat. What I should have done, and I think what men used to do in such a circumstance, is to tip their hat slightly and say something like "Afternoon, ma'am". But like I said, I need experiences like this to form or recall a protocol that I really was not mentored in.

What does this mean though? Why am I doing this? Aren't we really past all that formal stuff and just talk lazily like "Howz it goin', man"? I think that just like the dress code has slipped too far to the extreme, the way we talk to one another has also slipped. Therefore, I am all for bringing back civility to the way men and women talk to each other in our everyday lives. In the years ahead it may mean the difference between a nicer, more civil city, and one that is more meaner and less friendly than it is now.

See also:
Art of Manliness - The Perfect Hat For Your Face
AskAndyAboutClothes.com - Etiquette for Hats and Caps
The Fedora Lounge

Tears For Fears - The Hurting

I recently bought a CD of rock group Tears For Fears live concert from1985, playing the music from their first two albums -- The Hurting, and Songs From The Big Chair.

TFF, as fans like to refer to the group, was my third favourite group in the 1980s, behind Phil Collins (including Genesis), and Madonna.

While I've had a copy of The Hurting for a few years now, I have not really played it much. Maybe it is because of the heavy theme of family dysfunction. This now classic album cover features a young boy sitting down with his head in his hands looking as if he is crying. The songs are told as from a child's point of view within a family. Maybe it was just the technical standards of some of the tracks on the CD. For example the title track which appears first could have been produced a bit better with maybe more volume in the bass track prior to final mixing. But this may have more to do with the then new Compact Disc technology which appeared at the same time as The Hurting did. To test this theory I'd have to acquire a cassette tape or LP copy of it to compare.

The tracks that I have not really paid any attention to now were The Hurting, Memories Fade, Suffer the Children, and The Start of the Breakdown. Listening to these four tracks can be quite intense, and I recommend you not listen to them too often because of the likelihood you may feel worse off. Everything in moderation as they say.

Safeway Canada's Blue Ribbon Campaign for Prostate Cancer

Three cheers for Safeway Canada for their recent campaign to raise funds for prostate cancer research... We all know that prostate cancer affects more men than breast cancer does women.

Someone I know said that Safeway had a breast and prostate cancer campaign about four years ago, however, they chose to go with a pink ribbon as a symbol rather than keep the two campaigns separate as they should have been. This is a much better campaign. Perhaps we should give written kudos to Safeway for supporting men's health issues.

And yet the so-called breast cancer awareness campaigns have been ever present at various stores and in the print and electronic media.

I'd really like to get a Blue Ribbon campaign going in Winnipeg, to counter what is being taken away via breast cancer campaigns.

One of these days someone will be crying that their father, child, uncle, grandfather is dying of prostate cancer because there was not enough funding to help him.

I really feel that what the current craze over breast cancer is all about is not really about the cancer itself, but it is just the inevitable result of all those abortions that were performed after birth control pills were made widely available. It's just catching up to the women.

Told 'ya so.