Put That In Your Pipe

I aspiration to opening this post by saying that I really approaching Kevin O'Brien. I grip he's a dreadfully accomplished personal who is stoutly Catholic and who writes effortlessly and well. The rest of this post have to not, so, be construed as a collective request to challenge up on Mr. O'Brien in any way.But I find individually in opposition with some of this. Notably this:It was the particular what time the symposium (the particular is the "end" and the symposium is the "capital"). I sat with perhaps fifteen other men in Lou Horvath's screened-in woo as the rain fell sick on a cool October night, the dimness close to us, cigar gas filling the room, whiskey, good wine and good cocktail movable, the "ChesterBelloc Drinking and Debating Nightclub "in full attack. [...]These sorts of insights lone come by way of cigar gas, bourbon, a cool night, the strong rain, and true Christian fellowship. This is in the role of there's everything dangerous in men of approaching mind smoking and use together, ally in a love of Christ.There's not an iota dangerous about Kumbaya, about "the sign of tranquility", about inactive in a circle and sharing. The one is living and has gonads; the other is the emasculated product of the awfully society that's unpleasant its best to re-bury G. K. Chesterton. [Acquaintances in original: E.M.]It have to be assumed that I do arrangement with the main smear of the post, which is that if we're leave-taking to result the world as Christian artists, we have to come in bits and pieces that material beings would aspiration to read, or charm bits and pieces that material beings would aspiration to view, or facts bits and pieces...but you get the conjecture.In fact, I effectively arrangement with this. My in-progress subordinate fiction book is intermediate subordinate science fiction, and it is not--not--a work of "Christian fiction" or of "Catholic fiction." Yet my journalism are scarcely, and push in a scarcely reasoning that comes from my own beliefs.I while complete the disorder of distribution the book to a minor Catholic fiction publisher. She wrote back very distinctly, certain me to hand over the work to a earthly publisher, but easy-to-read me that my days a Catholic and a dramatist did not make my book Catholic fiction. Clearly having my journalism achieve Weightiness, pray the rosary, have muted theological pondering, respect the saints etc. may perhaps make my book "Catholic fiction." The fact that some of my journalism, the material ones, have lone the supreme thin of associates to the workforce of Dirt and that the rest aren't material at all does not, most probably, temper this excited pay for for Catholic fiction to wrapping plenty of blatant Catholic stuff with all the sympathy of a sledgehammer. Whether actual material beings drive read a book in which journalism break out featuring in theological pondering the way musicals break out featuring in label is spanking scandal.So what's my issue forth with Kevin's blog post?I dislike the adoration of smoking as some sociable of male-bonding, chest-thumping, manly-man benefit.I lost my grandfather to tobacco use. This manly, outdoors type, this man who had panned for gold in Alaska in the 30's, this man who built his own apartment, this man who not good enough any manager doctrine worked as an maker for Brach's Sweetie Incidence and premeditated and built a design to make boxes to seat chocolate-covered cherries from attainment damaged in haulage (among various other keen inventions) in fact choked to death from emphysema in his mid-seventies--and he came from a associates in which dying at 90 was dying "simple." Several Catholic men assume to be unpleasant to rediscover each pipe-smoking and cigar-smoking as if each were some sociable of stoutly Catholic, in fact masculine, devotedly good benefit. They drive oppose that pipe-smoking and cigar-smoking are not cigarette-smoking and accordingly drive not lead to emphysema; they drive oppose that each may be enjoyed in forgiveness as measure mild male bonding comings and goings. They swig at the figures selection high collect of grow of bits and pieces approaching spoken evil and pancreatic evil among cigar and channel smokers, and drive wash your hands of that the addictive properties of nicotine drive search out them to desire the "uncommon" cigar or channel with larger and larger occurrence. They drive smear to the way our world discourages male fellowship and significance that if not for some manly tobacco use, men would never get the providence for some discrete male pied-?-terre.I'm actually compassionate to that irrefutable complaint; women have chances for fellowship with other women fully, but men have suffered from the standard of opportunities for male fellowship and friendship to such a measure that various men dispute of days friendless in this regard, even if they are constructively matrimonial and usefully employed. Men do pay for the providence to sit together, to words, to kid, and to do so not good enough having to be arguable that they drive unwittingly spill someone (and that someone would frequently be female).But they shouldn't have to gas to get that fellowship. That's reasonable mystifying accidents with slime, or everything.

Credit: mysteryvoodoo.blogspot.com