My 52nd Trip

"By now, I know the way,"

So today begins my 52nd trip around the sun. I feel like I've been here before. It seems like each lap takes less time than the last one.

Hey. Maybe that's what's causing Global Warming. The only way that each rotation could take less time is if A) Time is moving faster (which I doubt), or B) the earth is actually getting closer to the sun.

There's plenty of evidence to support B). Rising sea levels, melting ice caps, earthquakes in Oklahoma - Oh Wait! That's a different man-made environmental disaster.

Could it be that Global Warming is actually nothing more than my birthday present from the universe? Hmmm.

I wonder if I can give it back.

OKC Festival Of The Arts (Again!)

"This event costs me money every year, and I love it!"

I found these cute guys hanging around at the Arts Festival last Friday, and brought them home with me.

The artist made them as inspirational pieces. They're called "Achievers", and are an artistic reminder that any goal can be accomplished with effort. Hard work and endurance always pay off in the long run. Sometimes you just have to hang on. Not a bad message.

I saw them and immediately thought, "I want to be skinny and strong like these guys."

I brought them home and immediately realized that they are really 'Delegates'.

Whenever it is time for me to climb the walls, I can delegate that to these guys, and I don't have to.

Too Cool. I've needed these guys for years!

20 Years Ago Already

"Remember Those Who Were Killed
Those Who Survived
And Those Who Were Changed Forever."

Sunday was the 20 Year Memorial Ceremony for Oklahoma City bombing of the Federal Building in 1995. It was a good ceremony, with a whole bunch of special guests and well done. There are a lot of articles and information about the bombing, the ceremony and the aftermath out there, and I don't want to write another one.

I want to emphasize how real the stories about that time frame in Oklahoma are. The "Oklahoma Standard" became a phrase used by people everywhere to sum up how Oklahoma responded to the tragedy 20 years ago. It was a real deal. For days, the whole city was 'on call', ready to do anything that could be done to help.

Once, the rescue workers put out a call for repelling equipment, ropes, anchors, etc. The TV stations repeated it, and within one hour they were telling everyone that they had more than they needed, and please stop bringing it. People stood in line for hours to give blood that turned out not to be needed, just to do something. Everyone drove around with their headlights on for days just to make a statement, to do something to participate in the rescue. Hundreds of volunteers camped outside the Red Cross center. There was nothing for them to do, but they waited anyway.

One rescue worker that also worked in the first NYC Trace Center bombing talked about his experiences here and there. He said that in NYC, people were coming around with bottled water that they sold the rescuers for $5 ea. In OKC, there was an abundance of water, food, support, encouragement and thankfulness that was just not there in New York.

Those things make good stories. But I was there, and I know how real, how genuine the outpouring of support was - and how deep and heartfelt. For this, I am proud of Oklahoma.

At the medical software company I worked at, we also had medical offices from several other states pack up and send basic medical supplies. Our customers did this completely on their own. Boxes of stuff started showing up the very next day, with a note of sympathy and support, asking us to make sure they got to the people who needed them.

For a tragedy that on a global scale just wasn't that big of a deal, the response from Oklahomans and Americans in general was really something special.

That's what I remember most from the day and weeks following a terrible incident in Oklahoma City. I hope I never have to see anything like it agian.

A Darker Side

"God is not mocked."

My last post about the intersection between STUPID (overbearing, aggressive policemen) and STUPID (guys running from and fighting with the stupid policemen) can easily have a darker side. I hate to admit it, but my first reaction to stories like these was instantly the Karma answer that I'm talking about today.

As humans, living within time and space along a thin line that only progresses in one direction at only one speed, we think in linear terms. Cause/Effect is limited to the contents of the various videos going wild on the internet. In that context, the dead guy in Tulsa ran from the Deputy who made a horrible mistake. Two apparent tragedies resulted. The guy running was killed - without being convicted of a crime, afforded due process or given the opportunity to defend himself or reform. The Deputy, by all accounts a pretty good guy with a record of community service and support, is charged with manslaughter, and may (should IMO) go to jail for years.

Both of these outcomes are tragic. Neither should have happened. If either the dead guy or the deputy had exercised anything other than stupidity, both tragedies would have been avoided completely, and nobody would have heard of either person. All kinds of police encounters happen without this level of stupidity every single day. My contention is that the stupid factor kicked in, one guy died, the others life is changed forever. My exhortation is, let's don't be so stupid.

But our linear, time sensitive and limited perspective doesn't see everything.

Maybe the deputy had some karma bills to pay off, and the running criminal just presented the opportunity for "comes around" to collect from "goes around". Maybe the dead guy didn't deserve to die last weekend. But maybe he had a bill to pay too. We all know that there is a justice that supersedes and overrules legal or even moral justice. Faith teaches us that a whole bunch of events in life that seem senseless or cruel do actually make sense in a broader or higher paradigm.

I am not satisfied with that answer in a general sense, or saying that we can't do better as a civilized society. We need a police force with the power and authority to stop crime. And we need to keep our law enforcement officers from becoming terrorists. We need and value civil rights, due process, presumption of innocence and a justice system based on truth. We also need to aggressively and intentionally confront those who undermine the safety and security of society at large.

But in situations that happen, that we can't change or reconcile, sometimes the Karma Cop Out all we have to work with.

So my exhortation today is as it was a few days back. We need to be kind to each other. Karma will do what it does without our help. We don't know what others are going through or have endured in the past. So we need to treat each person with respect, with kindness and dignity. Or Karma may indeed ask us to walk a mile in their shoes.

When Stupid Meets Stupid

"Stupid comes in every color."

I know that one of the hot topics in the world right now is white police officers killing unarmed black suspects. This is a bad thing. Period. I'm not saying anything to the contrary in this post. It's appalling, wrong, horrible and should be stopped.

But if we're going to stop it, we need to find the actual (not politically and emotionally charged) root of the problem. Is it simple racism? Are all of the white officers involved in these incidents hiding a deep seated hatred for anyone who is black? I gotta doubt it.

In each of the incidents I have been exposed to, there has been another important factor. I wrote a little about it back in the case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. It was also apparent in the most recent incident last weekend in Tulsa when a 73 year old, pseudo cop working as a volunteer with the Sheriff's office used his gun thinking it was his taser and killed a suspect. The elements are there in the NYC choking incident where they guy selling cigarettes was choked to death, in the incident in South Carolina, and Ferguson.

In each episode, both the black victim and the white officer behaved stupidly. My contention is that none of these incidents would have happened if either party - anybody involved in the equation or either side - wasn't stupid.

We have police officers, and they are fallible. We don't recruit policemen from MIT. The uniform, badge and gun do not make them less stupid than they would be otherwise. It does make them meaner, bolder and bigger bullies than they would be otherwise. But that's life, and it's been that way in every culture for thousands of years. Stupidity is amplified by authority, in all facets of government. If a certain policeman is racist, that also adds to the stupidity.

So let's presume (falsely) for a moment that all policemen are stupid, predatory, racist, arrogant, bullies. Why would anyone more intelligent than plant life provoke them? Why did that guy in South Carolina or the guy in Tulsa get out of the car and try to outrun the police? Why did the guy in Ferguson, or the guy in NYC or Trayvon pick a fight? There's only one answer, and it has nothing to do with race. These guys are as stupid as stupid gets. And they paid the ultimate price for being so damn stupid. And it's not fair or right, and the officers should be punished, and none of them deserved to die. But that's life.

The great thing about America is that we have a court system where all of the details get ironed out - removed from the stress and heat of the moment. There is a place to make an argument, take a position and defend oneself from an overly aggressive thug with a badge and gun. It's a courtroom! Our legal system is what separates us from the rest of the world. Police are accountable to the judicial system here. It's not like that everywhere.

What about the murdering cops? Should they be exonerated? Hell No. The 32 year old, five year veteran with 4 kids and a wife who is 8 months pregnant didn't get up that morning intending to shoot and kill a black guy. He intended to go home to his family. Now his life is over. Why? Because he is stupid and behaved stupidly - with a badge and gun. The cop (sort of) in Tulsa was armed with a taser, a handgun and a pepper bullet gun. He got confused about which one he drew. How stupid is that? And who is the stupid guy who let him have all those weapons? He may not be charged with a crime, but will certainly have to cough up everything in the wrongful death suit that is surely coming.

Any of these situations could have happened without the race card. And I'm pretty sure there are stupid black policemen killing unarmed stupid white guys that never make the news. Stupidity is colorblind, chronic and sometimes fatal. I don't think Congress or the Supreme Court of the President can do anything about that. But each of us can. Maybe we should learn not to be stupid.

How To Kill A Killer Chapter 1247 (or so)

"Add Nitrogen to the list of humane ways to kill."

The Oklahoma Legislature sent a bill to the Governor authorizing the use of Nitrogen Gas as a method of execution if the Supreme Court declares the previous humane method to be unconstitutional (or if they can't find the drugs for lethal injection).

I'm not particularly excited about the Death Penalty, nor am I against it. I couldn't help pausing today to consider how many ways governments throughout history have found to execute people. The list is long and gruesome. I think that the way the death penalty is carried out makes no sense.

If the object of Capital Punishment is as a deterrent, or for revenge or justice or some attempt to set right the actions of the condemned, a humane death is not really important. The punishment should match the crime, and the convicted should suffer as much or more than the victim. The deterrent impact would be stronger if the punishment were more painful or grotesque. But that doesn't seem to be what the death penalty is about in the U.S.

So what is it about? Making sure that the criminal never harms anyone else? If that's the case, many more crimes should be punished by death. (And they are in other cultures and throughout history.)

I think that the death penalty really is about revenge, retribution, justice, etc. But we don't want to admit that. We want to pretend that the object is something else - something undefined, but good and right nonetheless. But it's hard to feel sorry for the criminal.

When the jury system was instituted, the concept of an impartial jury was not part of the deal. In 1780, a jury of your peers would have been people from your town that knew you and your family. They would decide your fate not from an impartial legal perspective, but from personal experience with the accused and his background. Then the sentence would be carried out in public for all to see.

I think I'm okay with someone losing his life if he kills somebody else. I just don't want the government to do it. If the government has the right to kill any of us, they can kill all of us if they want to. I think I want to work to make that as hard as possible for vote-seeking politicians and over achieving district attorneys.

Locking people up for the rest of their lives seems like the worst possible answer - for the State and the criminal. Letting them come back into society is not an option. Killing them may indeed be the best of the available bad answers.

Can't we all just get along?

Sauntering With Awareness

"Men walk with purpose and urgency. Poor men saunter"

In a conversation at Home Depot, someone told me a "secret" about life. People who wander around gawking at stuff on the shelves of stores or craft shows or whatever are almost always poor. Rich people don't saunter. They do stuff intentionally and expediently. They know where they are going. They get there, get done and get out expeditiously and efficiently. Poor people bump around like a Roomba, and every time they bump into something, it costs them money - usually for something they don't need, and didn't want until the Roomba effect kicked in.

Maybe he has a valid point. Sauntering around at places designed from inception to get you to spend money is probably not a financially smart way to do things. I get what he's saying.

But there is a different kind of sauntering. I love to saunter.

But when I saunter, I'm not so much paying attention to the new and improved toothbrush at Target. I'm paying attention to the people.

It's really fun to be in public with the energy and life of others with whom I have nothing to do. But I do it with an awareness that their lives are as deep, as meaningful, as full and as important as my own. Everyone who buys groceries, attends the Arts Festival, goes to a baseball game or whatever, walks around with regrets and hurtful events in their past. They all have dreams, desires, hopes and fears. Each has a unique set of assets - skills, experience, point of view and outlook. Each is full of potential.

I believe that every one of the people I pass at the store is created for a higher purpose than they can know. Each can be more than they could ever imagine. To every one of us is attached a destiny that is as big as the universe itself. Some of them realize it. Others are sauntering around, bumping into stuff and spending money.

So, I guess I'm saying that we should all stop sauntering and begin to embrace all of that for which we are created. Except for me. I love to saunter.

But I really want to say that we all need to be kind to each other. You don't know what that person blocking the green beans has been through, how much they've endured. You don't know what they are capable of becoming or what they can accomplish. But a kind word or gesture can change their whole day. We can't dismiss people because they don't move as fast as we want them to.

And Ooh! I need that pretty bird sculpture. It would look great on my bookshelf in my living room!

Sometimes It's Best To Be Subtle

"Just check your calendar, then go back to your grind."

So it's April 1, and the whole office is expecting something over the top from me for April Fools. I wasn't much in the mood. But I found this on the internet, and made one for our bathroom door.

It was very enjoyable to see people come up, listen attentively, ask questions like, "Who brought live chickens?", or "Is this a real deal?" etc. Of course everyone asked me what (implied 'I') was up to. I claimed not to know, but threw out for consideration that since it was April First, something was probably up and that the sign should probably be considered fair warning.

Several of my coworkers were brave enough to cautiously enter the bathroom and do their business. Several others waited until they saw someone else do it.

Of course, there were no live chickens in the bathroom. But making people wary as they get vulnerable and do what they do there was enough for this year all by itself.