"The defining photos of the Millennials"

My husband found this appalling photo of seven women taking a "selfie" in front of an explosion and fire in Manhattan's East Village this past week. So far two people are confirmed dead from that tragic incident.

Yet these giggling women are taking a selfie. They even had a "selfie stick" to assist in their memento. Little did they know they'd end up on the front cover of the New York Post.

My husband saw the photo and was appalled by the implications. He called it "the defining photo of the Millennials."

You know how certain events or demographics are defined by epic photos? The end of World War II saw the sailor kissing a nurse. The Vietnam War was tragically personified by the child running naked away from napalm.

And here we have Millennials -- who, if this photo is anything to go by, are shaping up to be shallow, thoughtless, and oblivious to what's going on around them.

Please don't think I'm condemning the entire demographic (our daughters, for example, are considered Millennials) -- it's just that this photo personifies the shallow, thoughtless, and oblivious members of the generation. Death, destruction, and mayhem are taking place behind them... and yet these women are saying “Let’s take a selfie!” and even have a selfie-stick for that very purpose. Then they post their self-absorption on social media. Wheeee.

The defining photo of the Millennials? Lord in heaven, I hope not.

Please help Orange Jeep Dad

As many of you have doubtless heard, the blogger who runs Orange Jeep Dad suffered a terrible tragedy on Saturday -- their home burned completely to the ground.

By the grace of God they and their pets/animals are safe, but they've lost everything except the clothes on their backs.

Orange Jeep Dad is a hard-working family man with a family of six daughters who has spent the last couple of years striving for greater independence and self-sufficiency. They moved to a more rural area earlier this year, and now to lose everything so unexpectedly is shocking.

Thankfully OJD and his family have kind friends who are taking them in for the moment, and their church is rallying around. But they need help. They pretty much need everything -- storable food, kitchen implements, furniture, anything.

I am appealing to all of you wonderful and generous people to help them in any way you can, either financially or with tangibles of whatever you can spare. Financial donations can be made through PayPal at lisajones515@hotmail.com

Tangible items can be sent to:

Orange Jeep Dad
2532 N. Fourth St. #230
Flagstaff, Arizona 86004-3712

SurvivalBlog has post up on specifics of what this family needs; please visit the link here. James Rawles is also auctioning a roll of silver American Redoubt coins on eBay, with all gross proceeds to go to OJD.

It's rare that I ask for donations on someone's behalf, but this is a clear case of a family in need. They could also use a lot of prayer.

Thank you all on behalf of the OJD family. Please be generous.

Sad sad news

My WND column is due Fridays at noon. This morning I emailed it off to my editor, Ron Strom. Shortly thereafter he emailed me back as follows:
_______________________________

I wanted to share with you a tragedy our family, church and homeschool community suffered this week. This is what I shared Monday on our WND in-house site:

Friends: On Saturday my older daughter's fiance's brother, 19, was killed by the mighty Rogue River here in southern Oregon. My wife, younger daughter and I were part of a party of eight who hiked to a popular but wild spot on the river. Josh was taking pictures on some rocks near the rapids and fell in. Despite hours of searching by us, Search and Rescue and aircraft, he has not been found. His body likely will come up from the bottom of the river in a couple days -- that's the pattern.

Please pray for the Eddy family and Josh's many friends. He was a vibrant, passionate Christian young man whom God inexplicably took early. He wrote this blog post just a month ago. It is entitled To Die Well.

Here is his memorial Facebook page.

Many thanks.
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We used to live in a town in Oregon called Gold Hill, which sat literally right on the Rogue River. It can indeed live up to its name. During flood stage, it can be terrifying. It doesn't sound like Josh was doing anything irresponsible or heedless... it's just a tragic accident.

I can't imagine what these families are going through, to lose such a fine young man on the brink of adulthood. What a sad situation.

Please pray for these families, that they may be comforted in their affliction. I'm sure they would like to hear your condolences on the Facebook page as well.

Rough week

It seems sadness and tragedy are striking left and right this week.

My daughter's elderly piano teacher lost her adopted daughter a week ago -- just keeled over from a heart attack. This adult daughter had been estranged from the family for many years, and now there will never be a chance to mend fences.

A beloved cashier at a local grocery store died in her sleep. Her cash register was covered with flowers and notes.

A friend who owns a small apartment complex had a much-loved older tenant die of cancer this week.

Several friends reported friends with losses.

Our barn cat, JJ, died yesterday -- possibly of old age. She was a feisty old feral scrapper who adopted us. At least we gave her some security in the last years of her life.


And to our shock and devastation, a dear neighbor's wife went in last Tuesday for routine surgery to correct a partial blockage in her carotid artery, and developed some post-surgical complications that resulted in a stroke. They're still assessing the extent of the damage, but the left side of her body is not doing well. It has affected her sight, speech, ability to walk, and ability to use her left hand. She is starting therapy this week. Prayers for her improvement would be greatly appreciated.