Censorship verses Common Sense

Repentance Part II
I remember a story about an old woman who died and went to heaven. At the pearly gates, she met Peter, who was not only there to greet her, but to also show her around. Peter showed her the wading pools, the pristine gardens, and the different neighborhoods. At one point, Peter placed a finger to his lips, indicating that he and the woman should be quiet. After strolling though the neighborhood, Peter began speaking in his normal tone. The woman was puzzled by this, and she asked, "Why were we so quiet back there?"

Peter grinned and told the woman, "We just passed through the Mormon community. They think they are the only ones in heaven."

Yesterday, I posted a bit about repentance, and I received a few comments that puzzled me. Then it occurred to me that with my one page limit, I may have been curt and did not explain myself very clearly.

Repentance, in my point of view, has the following steps:
1. Feel sorrow
2. Confess to God
3. Ask for forgiveness
4. Rectify problems caused by the sin
5. Forsake sin
6. Receive forgiveness

[Edited Note: I list "Confess to God" here because I am talking about repentance from a religious point-of-view; for repentance, acknowledgement is key. United We Lay kept me honest on this one. You can substitute #2 with acknowledgement of your sin.]

I think what some are confusing is repentance with redemption (the main difference is that "Road to Repentance" doesn't sound as kick-ass as "Road to Redemption" for a movie title). Plus I never mentioned that repentance makes us more God-like. I talked about being reconciled with God, not approaching God-like status. I actually read my post this morning – I usually just write; I don't read my own posts. Anyway, I don't think the point of our lives are to be turned into divine beings. Through discernment, I can see making decisions based on moving towards God or away from God, but it is the road, not the destination that seems to be valuable.

The Real Post Today
Okay, recently the Peanut Queen has had her IT department block certain sites and monitor all sites. Yeah, I know, at my work they may (do!) monitor my activity as well. By the way, Stacey and Ddot are not related, have not knocked knees, or whatever. They are part of two different royal lines – Ddot is more of a benevolent dictator, and Stacey is more of ceremonial monarch.

Well, now Stacey is posting from home. And you know, when you have a choice of doing the nasty with the Peanut King, or blogging, blogging is going to lose each and every time. Perhaps we can read some of her stuff during "that time of the month." And those will be some quality posts, let me tell you. May I read that with a side of bitch.

Back to monitoring the Internet at work. I know, the employer pays for the connection, it takes away from work time, yadda yadda yadda. And those are valid points.

But if you are most concerned with outcomes – with sales, or customer service, or whatever – then monitor the outcomes that mean the most to you. I mean really – okay block porn sites, hate sites, gambling sites. But concentrate on what is most important to the organization. Isn't this a simple concept.

I mean, when I worked elsewhere, I fucked vendors in my office during lunchtime. If I were a manager, I would rather someone be looking at blogs than getting nakkid in their offices and being inappropriate with vendors. And the smart-ass remark (that I expect) is that I could get the guy to "sharpen his pencil" when it comes to price. But on the other side of the coin, I may have bought lots of crap for a booty call.

Oh, and if you were wondering, I repented for fucking the guy.