Living Proof

As most of my readers know, I live a little too close to comfort to the parental units. I live in the apartment upstairs from them. It’s interesting and sometimes it can be the same scenario as “Everybody Loves Raymond”. I’m the baby of the family; therefore, I’m treated as such. Fun. Sometimes I still feel as though I’m thirteen years old when I leave my parents’ house to go somewhere else. “Where ya goin’ Deb?” My mom calls out, as I’ve already said goodbye to her for the fifth time. “Oh just out with some friends.” Not elaborating too much on my whereabouts. It’s not like I’m out dealing crack or anything or that I live somewhere out in the ghetto. Now, the funniest thing is, my mother says this certain phase that’s so funny when you think about it. As soon as I walk in, I hear, “Ya home?” Sometimes I bust on her and just tell her it’s all in her head, but I go along with it and say ‘yes’, because it’s what I’ve been hearing all my life ever since I was a kid. I also hear the famo...

A gentleman named Gary Baker had commented on Enemy of the Republic’s blog regarding the issue of whether or not homosexuality is a sin. If you've never visited Enemy of the Republic's blog--do so! She's thought provoking, spiritual with a sense of awareness that's amazing. She's an incredible writer with a huge heart for others. She's one of my favorite bloggers out there. Gary’ s quite different in his approach on this matter. He questions me, instead of belittling me. He brings the issues up on the table, without judgment; without anger. His tactful ways of telling me his beliefs were so wonderful, that I wanted to share this with you all. It’s people like him that give me hope. He’s real, he’s claiming he’s human (a sinner like all of us) and he speaks boldly. So, thank you Gary, for showing me your human side! Here's Gary's note to me: Deb, Okay, here is where I am coming from: I don't hate sinners. That would be stupid and self defeating. ...

It starts out small. Sometimes it starts out when they’re just a baby. It depends on when the seed was planted. They call themselves “Christians” and speak the words of true hatred. They teach their children to hate and curse others. They twist the bible and reference scriptures left and right, that have no relevance whatsoever to what they’re trying to communicate. How do you recognize the seeds of hateful people? By their words. Their words speak a lot about their character. A person’s credibility relies on their words. Their actions are primarily focused on condemning and judging. Their target: homosexuals. Here are some scriptures that are thrown at homosexuals: Leviticus 18:22 (Whole Chapter) “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin." This is the old law. If this were to still be applicable, then eating shellfish would be detestable, having a clean-shaven face would be a sin, and sitting next to a woman on the same...

In a world baffled by religion and different interpretations of various beliefs, we’ve become more separated from God and even more so with our own people. We’ve alienated those who are different from us. We’ve only accepted the ones that look like us, walk like us and think like us, but we refuse to welcome those that stand strong in their own set of ‘beliefs’. Some call it ‘knowledge’, and others will simply say it’s ‘truth’. Whose truth? My gay brothers and sisters have been chastised for years, taking blows from radical extremists in the midst of their heated anger. They’ve been stoned to death, beaten by their very own kind---humans. Religion is the core reason for wars. Some would die for their God. Some would kill for their God. Where is the love in killing? The Ten Commandments teach us, ‘thou shall not kill’, yet we’re killing people left and right due to others not believing in what ‘we’ believe. Misinterpretations of love. I truly believe that many people misinterpret the m...

These images may be too graphic for some to view. I made this movie with the intention of helping those who feel depressed or thinking about suicide. There is hope.

Have you ever wondered why police and other authorities wait until the last minute until something occurs? We call the police, thinking that there may be a threat to someone’s life, or even our own, and they simply say, “Well, unfortunately we can’t do anything, until something has taken place.” They won’t look into it, because they think it’s a waste of time. What about a troubled student, Cho Seung-Hui? People knew he was troubled and a possible threat, yet they literally couldn’t do anything about it…until it was too late. Shouldn’t threats be taken seriously? Shouldn’t the scare of someone with mental illness, to that extreme, be something to be afraid of? Or do we just sit back and watch it unfold? I don’t get it. Cho Seung-Hui even went as far as attacking Christanity. He wanted to be seen like Jesus Christ when he went down. So, the comments I got the other day regarding his relationship with God were right. He didn’t have a relationship with God- he attacked God and everything ...

I have to say, I feel sick about this whole Virginia Tech tragedy. I can’t even imagine what these students are going through—even if they weren’t there at the time. How do they return to school? How are they handling all these overwhelming emotions? What about the absolute nightmare of the families who’ve lost loved ones in this senseless chaos? It affects us. It literally saddens us, scares us and brings us back to reality that anything can happen at any given time- just like that! How can someone be driven to shoot 32 people? How can someone be driven to shoot a person at all? Why are people killing one another? “Well he was a loner.” I still don’t get it. So this ‘loner’ was angry at the world. How does killing 32 people, plus himself, accomplish anything that he wanted to change? Maybe he couldn’t change his situation? They said he was in love with one of the girls that he shot dead. Maybe the love wasn’t reciprocated, so he needed to take action, but how does killing her give hi...

Touching on the topic of gossip is a difficult one, because whether or not we know it, we all gossip in one form or another. What exactly is gossip? 1. idle talk or rumor, esp. about the personal or private affairs of others: the endless gossip about Hollywood stars. 2. light, familiar talk or writing. 3. Also, gos·sip·er, gos·sip·per. a person given to tattling or idle talk. 4. to talk idly, esp. about the affairs of others; go about tattling. –verb (used with object) Idle talk or rumors are mostly seen as ‘lies’ or ‘exaggerated truths’ about a person. Even writing about someone is considered gossip, as shown in the web’s dictionary. In the Jewish culture, it’s been told that gossip kills three people: *The speaker *The person you are speaking about *The listener But at what lengths do we consider “talk” about other people, gossip? Do we stop talking about how Julie’s husband just got a promotion at his job? Do we stop talking about our kid’s achievements in school? Do we go as far a...

Do you believe that everyone has a purpose in life? Is it possible that some people on earth are just taking up space, with no reason to be here at all? People with faith in something larger than themselves, tend to believe that life is one big experiment, or that we, as people, need to learn and evolve from doing good instead of evil. It’s been said that it’s easier to hate, lie, cheat, steal, and to be unmerciful, rather than to be the total opposite. Being good is harder. What is good? What’s good in people’s eyes? Most of all, what’s good in God’s eyes? Do you believe in God? If you do, then the biggest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and to love those around you. What does loving other people mean though? Does it mean you have to like every single person that walks on the earth? No, however, it means to treat others as you would yourself---the golden rule. It’s nice to live by, but is it realistic? I mean, we’re only human, right? There are going to be stumbling ...

When have we become so defensive? We’re offended by everything we see, hear and read. We know that ‘freedom of speech’ is a right of ours, however there are some people who feel that higher people of rank shouldn’t be giving their honest opinions regarding others. Don Imus has taken on a lot of flak for a few poorly chosen words against the Rutgers’ female basketball team . He called them, “Nappy-headed hos.” While gathering other people’s opinions on this, I happened to be watching “ The View ”, listening to what Rosie O’Donnell had to say about it. She said that there are certain things that the black community can say to one another, however in the same respect, white people are not permitted to say the same thing. For instance, a black person can call one another the ‘n’ word, without repercussions. White people cannot. It makes sense. Now, what happens here is, the word “ho” went right after the nappy-hair comment. That was definitely uncalled for. My opinion is based up this. Pe...

The mixture of these two words makes for one freaky combination. Easter Sunday was spent at my sister’s home. Since she has the bigger tent in the family, we all decided to congregate over there. It was nice, from the hors d'oeuvres, the lamb dinner, among other delicious foods spread out, to the wine that was constantly pouring into my bottomless glass. My sister and her husband have wine glasses as big as fish bowls. One bottle of wine can fit into a goblet- I swear. After dinner, we all gathered around the island of the kitchen and drank some more wine. I didn’t really keep in mind how big these goblets were. I always said, “Oh well, three or four glasses are my limit- no more after that.” Well, after two of these wines, it’s as though you had more than six glasses! Three servings of wine are held in one goblet. Since I haven’t been my normal ‘guzzling any sort of alcohol even if it’s cough medicine self’ , it affected me more. Lately, I have not been wanting to drink more than...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6 Our own understanding is not enough. We need more. I need more. When your trust in God becomes genuine, more contingent, then your faith brings you to a whole new level of a different type of understanding. Questions that we raise, “Why did this happen God”, will soon be a matter of relying on God’s plan. God sees the big picture, while we see just a small scope of it. We pray, but sometimes we pray ‘hoping and wishing’, instead of ‘expecting’. If you pray without faith, and I talk about faith in the terms of not ‘believing’ that God will come through with it, then it may not be answered. Pray and expect. It’s as if you ask God for something and think, “Well maybe He’s not able to do that kind of thing…” You underestimate him basically. “You didn’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them, “I assure you, even if you had faith as small...

If I could give you one piece of advice, never tell people your personal life at your work place. I happened to find myself in a predicament that sort of fell on my lap. A few years back, I started working for a company where most of the people that worked there went to the same school I went to. It was uncanny and downright awkward- a huge disastrous, unwanted high school reunion. Even the people who were ten years older than me were from the same school and the same area. They knew my older sisters and called out my last name as though they haven’t heard it in years—but were refreshed to see a “Pasquella” in their office. “How’re your sisters? How’ve you been? What’s going on in your life?” And… “Are you married…kids?” I always had to answer, “No, not married and no kids just yet,” with a big smile, hoping they would walk over to the next cubicle and rehash old times with some other lost soul. I was never fond of high school reunions or even the thought of one. My ten-year reunion w...

This shot was taken right outside my deck yesterday evening around 7pm. It was right before the sun was going down. Usually, when we’re under pressure, sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the smaller things in life. In my case, when I’m stressed out or full of anxiety, I take a lot of things for granted. I forget how good it can be if I “let it”. There are many people who believe we create our own anxiety- our own chaos that literally drives us to drink. The theory is that we “choose” to stress over something, or that we “choose” to be depressed about a certain situation. I believe this to be true. To have peace around us, what do we need? We need peace from within us. If we don’t have peace within us, then we can’t have peace in our environment. It’s the same concept as, if we don’t have love within us, or love ourselves enough, we cannot expect to love someone else. If we don’t have money, we can’t give it away, right? At times, when I find myself drawing farther away from God, my life...

From a peaceful morning with a nice cup of coffee, an interview with my sister, as she explains her thoughts regarding this post , to a hectic carwash that I got anxiety in, to Amy playing football and me driving on the roads like a mad woman with Amy yelling at me! Enjoy!