First off, I want to say I noticed something interesting about people who hang around on blogs. They have agendas. If you read the blogs and the comments, after awhile, you will notice that certain people will always make comments related to their pet peeves, rather than the actual topics that are being discussed. People are so intent on their little agendas, whether it is being dissatisfied with their communities (Lakewood, Chassidish etc.) lack of women's shiurim, blah blah blah, that they dont have much of a sense of humor left. Also, there is a big emphasis and pride on being "open minded". Like that is the ultimate thing to strive for. In my opinion, one should only be open minded when judging others. When it comes to yourself, you should be close minded. you ask youself "is this right, based on how I was raised/Torah law / behavior appropriate for a jew/ chilul hashem?" and if the answer is no, dont do it. Dont start being open minded.

I have guilt. When I walk past the many shnorrers in town outside the co-op, bakery, or Bagel Nosh, and I dont give them anything, usually cuz I dont have any money on me. Sometimes I walk past this w0man outside the coop and dont give her anything. I feel guilty, cuz here I am with my cart loaded with food, and headed toward my pretty nice minivan. But I just paid for my groceries with a head check, and the nice car means car payments up the wazoo. I still feel guilty. And the next thing I know, I feel resentment towards this poor woman, and other shnorrers. Because they make me feel guilty, for not giving more.

There is an organization, Yad Lakallah l'devorah or something. They have a showroom with all this stuff displayed and the Kallah can pick out whatever she needs, from soup to nuts. I have never seen it, but I know someone who has. She told me all this stuff is the top of the line -- appliances and stuff. So I wonder, if someone is a kallah and she is poor, of course we should help her out. But do we need to give her top of the line of everything? the best food processer, mixer, vacuum cleaner, etc.? When I got married, my dad could not afford the best of everything for me, so I got middle of the road stuff. BH I was not a tzedaka case, and I am thankful for that. But what is wrong with giving these Kallahs middle of the road stuff. Not a Braun food processor, but a Black and Decker, etc.? I am not suggesting used stuff from the trash. But why the best? Using tzedakah money? Is that even right? For one thing, you could spend tzedaka money much more wisely, helping more kallahs. And again, if the wealthy kallahs get THE BEST of everything, cuz daddy could afford it, great! Most of us probably fall in the next category - dad is not wealthy, so we make do with average or cheaper stuff. The poor kallahs are getting the same stuff as the wealthy kallahs. Why cant they get the same as the middle class? SO the question is - am I being disgusting by even thinking this way? Should I feel guilty for it?

A wealthy guy I know gets a ton of shnorrers coming to his door. One woman came for hachnosas kallah, and said they are collecting for a custom shaitel for a poor kallah. Very nice, the guy says. How much does it cost? Well, its a RALPH so it costs $3000. (or whatever) HELLOOO?
why cant she get a $1000 shaitel like the average person? I am not suggesting a box shaitel, she should certainly get what an average kallah gets, but a RALPH? Get real! How chould they use tzedaka money for that?

Because I am a little farshlepped, and I also am forgetful, ( I always thought that Nashim Daatum Kalos was referring directly to me) I never remember to put white shirts on the kids on Rosh Chodesh. Actually, I dont even know its Rosh Chodesh half the time. Then I go out and see all the kids in town wearing their white shirts, and I say to myself what a loser I am. My kids are practically the only ones in town who arent looking all festive. Oh well. Today, however, for the first time, my son reminded me in the morning that it was Rosh Chodesh and I even had clean white shirts for everyone, which is a minor miracle. Wouldnt you know it, one (the ornery one) came out wearing his blue shirt with the ink stains on it from yesterday, and told me very clearly that at his age, he doesnt need to wear a white shirt anymore on Rosh Chodesh. So I am back to being a shlepper. It is my fate in life. I just cannot be put together. I get new furniture, it gets a big nick within weeks. I get a new car, the rear fender gets that nasty little dent. My kids will always get themselves dirty within minutes of getting dressed each morning. My son runs around in shoes without socks. All the doorknobs in my house are loose. One toilet is currently stuffed because the little genius had to empty out his leftover plaster from his project into the toilet. There is probably a big blob of plaster somewhere in the pipe blocking the way. Now we are down to one working toilet, and thats just plain difficult. Every time you sit down with a Reader's Digest, some kid has to come along and whine, "but I have to make NOW". Even my stroller, which we all know is the ultimate status symbol, is now very clearly yelling out "SHLEPPER" because the hood is on sort of an angle. Like I said, I think it's my fate in life, gd's way of saying, Megapixel, dont get too full of yourself. You're not in control.

Gay Pride
It reminds me of a joke I once heard. This guy, Yankel has a problem. He's a bedwetter. Now that he is approaching shiduch age, he's 21 years old, his buddy, Nate says to him, "Look, Yankel, you gotta take care of the problem. Here's the number to a good shrink, he's supposed to be good with this kind of stuff" Well a couple of months pass, and Nate bumps into Yankel in the shtibel, and asks him "nu, Yankel, vus is geshen? Did you ever see that doctor I told you about?" "yeah!" says Yankel, enthusiastically.
"Well, what happened? Did you stop wetting the bed?"
"NO! I didnt." answers Yankel. "But now I am Proud of it!"

See, this is similar to the gay issue. It really is a Problem, but instead of addressing the problem and trying to fix it, they are now Proud of their problem.
Now, supposing that Yankel decides that he is so Proud of his problem, or differentness, that he decides to "come out of the closet" and get together and form a club with other people who have the same problem. Next thing you know, they decide that they want to march down Fifth Avenue, proclaiming their Pride in their bedwetting. Let us say that they will wave their flag, a big plastic sheet, and announce to the world how happy they are to be a bed wetter. Does anyone care? No, of course not. Who cares what goes on in their private lives. I for one, am NOT INTERESTED!! Too Much Information!!
Of course, this is a very simplistic view of the whole thing, because our bedwetting comparison leaves out a major wrinkle - religion. As far as I know, nowhere in the Torah does it say "Thou shalt not wetteth thy bed" so they are not in violation of anything but bad taste.
Up till sometime in the 1970s, homosexuality was considered a mental illness and was listed as such in the medical textbooks. Somewhere about that time, (forget the exact year) a big convention was held for mental health professionals. This issue came up - the very vocal gays wanted it voted out of the "mental illness" category of the textbooks. Cleverly, they managed to hold the vote at a time when most of the convention participants had stepped out, it was lunchtime or some such thing. Just a handful of liberal professors were there, and the vote was passed. So from then on, it is not considered a mental illness anymore. See, the vocal gays know what they are doing. From "mental illness" to "alternative lifestyle" then its "equal rights" and their next demand is for the word "marriage" to include two gays living together.
Gays are guilty of the same tragic mistake as our friend Yankel. Instead of focusing on fixing their problem, they want to world to agree that all is cool. There are therapies that can help. The vocal gays have managed to get so much publicity for the AIDS cause. Millions of dollars are spent each year to study and find a cure for AIDS, largely a PREVENTABLE disease. Imagine if all that effort and money went into finding a cure for HOMOSEXUALITY? Wouldnt that be so much better? Most gays say they didnt want to be gay. So surely they would be GLAD to be rid of that burden.
The big issue was the Jerusalem gay pride parade. We all agree (except for maybe a few Neturai Kartas) that Israel is a jewish country, given to our forefather. It's in the Torah. Even the irreligious Israelis will tell you that. Yet it is the same Torah that condems homosexuality! How can you choose to believe in one and not the other? So how can they allow a parade of sinners to proudly march thru the holiest city in the world? Would they allow a parade of convicted murderers? Not that I say gay people are murderers, but they are guilty of violating the same Torah.
It is one thing to lose to your yetzer hara and commit a sin, but if you at least regret it, or are ashamed of it...but to PROUDLY parade around? It adds insult to injury, I think.

megapixel
I asked myself the same question as in the previous post, and here's what i came up with:
Should I flip my wig? well at this point in time, it is certainly easier to give it in once in a while, and pick it up the next day all clean and styled. Who has time to do their hair every day, not to mention cutting, and dying and touching up roots and stuff? Nah!
treif food? Most treif stuff doesnt really excite me. I mean, we have cholent, kokosh cake, and huliptches! Shrimp looks like fetuses, and lobsters remind me of giant underwater cockroaches. Gross!
I love Shabbos! when else can you take a nap in middle of the day and not feel guilty about it?
Yomim Tovim are hard, but also enjoyable. You get to make roasts and other good food and sit around with friends and family and eat lavish meals. When else would you do that? (I could definitely skip the cleaning for Pesach part, though)
Lashon Hara maybe?
I dont know...
I think I would just let go alot of Jewish guilt- maybe I dont do exactly what I am supposed to, or sometimes do things for the wrong reason, and then feel guilty about it.