A Cryin' Shame

"I Love Giving...But"

I love giving to organizations, causes, needs or people who need help. I have a life long track record of generosity. It's part of my own expression of who I am. I love the opportunity to contribute and help. (Note the infamous 'period' at the end of that sentence.) Giving is about self expression and me being who I am, not so much about whoever benefits from the gift.

But I have to object to some of the giving opportunities that have presented themselves lately.

It is a shameful thing that teachers and schools have to beg for donations for basic classroom supplies. That's just wrong. Teachers and classrooms are two of the most important assets any society can have. Why are these guys having to go on TV and beg for money? Their needs should be met by the government as a public investment in our way of life. And we pay plenty of tax dollars for this purpose already, State and federal government should fund education, and do it well. I understand raising money for extracurricular activities and opportunities for things that are above and beyond normal classroom teaching. But I can't understand why teachers are asked to raise money like missionaries just to do their job.

And even worse is the need for wounded veterans to raise money for equipment to make their lives better. These people signed, trained, traveled where they were told to, and made great personal sacrifices to make the world safer and better for all of us. Whatever they need should be supplied without them having to beg like animal rights groups for funding.

These things are statements about our culture and condemnations of our government and our ideology.

If we're going to fight wars, we have to take care of our wounded.

If we have a future, it is based on and depends on educating our children.

If our nation can't do these basic things, we really are failing as a government and a people.

Supreme Court Affirms Gay Marriage

"So?"

Well, this morning the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that GLBT people have the right to marry.

So what? Is this really a big deal?

So, now gay couples have the same responsibility that straight people have to do it right. We'll see if a court decision impacts the level of commitment, faithfulness and fidelity in gay relationships. If marriage means anything, it means that couples work through problems, and stop trading in partners like they trade in their old cars now and then. Straight couples aren't doing that well in this area, and we'll see what the GLBT community does. Personally, I expect that divorce lawyers and going to be thrilled with the results of this decision. I hope that gay world makes me wrong.

So, the last stronghold of legal discrimination and differentiation between gay and straight people has been removed. The ramifications of this decision are a lot broader than marriage. If gay people can marry, and that is the most sacred, most untouchable social right, then they can reasonably expect to be treated as equals in every cultural or social arena. The big one has been overcome. The little ones shouldn't be a problem anymore.

So, another huge step in the redefining of Christianity in the U.S. is reinforced. Christians no longer have the right to hate gay people. They can disagree, just as they disagree with all kinds of people groups, legal decisions, behavior patterns, etc. Maybe it's time for Christianity to see itself as ambassadors of God's love and redemption rather than defenders of God's integrity. God's integrity doesn't need to be defended by a group of hard line, hypocritical, hateful people anyway, does it?

So, it really is a landmark day. Personally, I really hope that people younger than me, who love God with all of their hearts and are also gay, can can have the opportunity to enjoy life on a level that I never could. God bless and help them.

Should We Educate Kids, Or Just Give Them Guns?

"Racially Motivated Gun Vioence? Who'd Have Thunk?"

I Support The Second Amendment. Period. But...

What do we think will happen in society when we give guns to kids but won't fund education?

There are a lot of people who were born on 3rd base. Their parents have enough money to get them an education, buy them their first car, bail them out of jail when they get their first DUI, fully fund their college experience, and set them up for life. Why do these guys think they actually hit a triple?

There are a lot of people who never had the opportunity to get a good education. They grew up in underfunded public schools with overworked and under-acknowledged teachers and couldn't afford college. They scraped up enough money for several down payments on cars from a 'buy here, pay here' place that raped them on interest. They miss a payment, and the cars are repossessed. They work for $8/hour as a worker bee whose purpose is to make someone else a ton of money. They are disenfranchised and disconnected from the American Dream, and (from their point of view) powerless to change that.

Education is empowerment. So is a gun. The Second Amendment is about empowerment of people against an oppressive government. We claim it as a right. But public education is a necessary evil. Rich people don't need it, and therefore don't want to pay for it. Poor people think in survival terms, not investment in the future terms, and don't appreciate it.

So why are we surprised when gun violence makes headlines?

Access to education is hard. Access to guns is easy. I think we can expect a lot more random, stupid gun violence in the future of our great country. (Or we could change our priorities a little.)

Why Does A Dragon Have Need Of Gold Anyway?

"I thought dragons were extinct."

It seems that as I get older, I meet more and more people who have achieved their dreams - successful people who have done life right. They studied hard, developed life skills, worked hard, built their mansions and bank accounts and have everything they ever wanted. They are living the American dream, and I'm proud of them and happy for them. I'm farther away from that goal, but getting there sort of.

I believe in hard work and the risk/reward equation on which our economy and culture is built. I get the Republican disdain for a government that wants to take away the fruits of their labor and give it to people who didn't work for it, didn't make good decisions, don't earn their keep and don't add anything to our society. The government wouldn't care about them either, except that they can vote.

I even get it that people who crossed the finish line years ago, and have enough wealth to fund the rest of their lives and their children's still work every day to increase their success and impact on the world around them. They just keep doing what they do, being who they feel they are created to be and expressing themselves through the gifts and resources they have been given in life. Their self worth is in their success, and their reward quantifies their value. I get it.

But at some point, people become just like dragons of ages passed. They accumulate gold for its own sake, and defend it with all of the claws, teeth and fiery breath of the best folklore. They act as if they will live a thousand years, and drive themselves mad with fear that someone will take away their fortune.

I don't ever want to be a dragon.

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!

Is Global Warming Analogous to The Economic Environment?

"True or False? Global Warming is to the Planet what Debt is to the Economy."

As I understand it, the Scientific point of view about global warming, is that the long term effect of our short term actions will result in the earth becoming inhospitable to life as we know it. This is an obviously oversimplified synopsis, but accurate as I understand what Science is saying.

So I ponder whether or not the following equation is accurate:

Global Warming : The Earth : : Debt : The Global Economy

We are continuing to produce greenhouse gases faster than the ecosystem can process them. We are using fresh water faster than the climate system can replenish ground water. We are depleting forests faster than nature can produce them. We are destroying the ozone layer faster than the atmosphere can replenish it. The life cycle of the planet will be altered by these factors in ways we can only guess at, but seem to be negative - at least for civilized human beings.

Are we doing the same thing to the global economy?

National debt worldwide is beyond the tipping point. Every major country owes more than it can repay. Greece is the first of many. It can't even pay interest payments on its debt. And interest rates are at historic lows. Italy, Spain, Argentina and a whole bunch of countries are on the brink of being where Greece is. (Or did Argentina already default?)

Japan has more national debt than any other country on the planet. Their economy has been in a recession or stagnant for two decades.

The U.S. and Europe are fighting neck and neck to see which currency collapses first and the winner pushes the other over the finish line.

The U.S. is not bankrupt only because the Federal Reserve is doing a whole bunch of 'creative accounting'. And the U.S. alone owes enough money to China to send that economy into the toilet.

Interest rates have to go up sometime. Zero per cent is not sustainable forever. When it does, the debt service equation worldwide changes exponentially, doesn't it?

What's the difference between 1) the debt service equation and rising interest rates, and 2) warmer temperatures and rising sea levels?

What's the difference between using too much ground water and borrowing too much money?

Is there an analogy here? It seems so to me.

So where the hell is Science? We have a 30 year plan to discuss that might mitigate the impact of global warming. Why don't we have one that might mitigate the impact of global financial collapse? It seems like the economic problems are a bigger threat to Science than global warming. Where are the scientists? The research? The dire warnings? The passion? The outrage? The plausible solutions? The arrogant criticism?

C'mon Science. Get to work!

Looking Inside

"I'm not talking about being introspective."

Mom had a heart attack a year ago. They also found and fixed an aortic aneurysm.

Mom's mom died of a heart attack. Mom's dad had diabetes, lung cancer, etc. (They died two weeks apart.)

Dad died of lung cancer, COPD, emphysema, etc. So did his dad, and his dad's dad.

Great-Grandma stroked out. Great Grandpa had cancer. Uncle died of heart disease.

So, health problems present themselves in every family. Nobody ever knows about any of it until it's too late.

What do we really look like on the inside? Not in our hearts, but our hearts themselves. Not mentally, but inside the brain? Breast cancer has gone from the #1 cause of death among women to #3 because of the mammogram. And in a few years, it will fall even further. Why? Because we figured out how to look for it.

So there are MRI's, CT scans, x-ray machines, etc that can look at our bodies on the inside. Sometimes they find stuff. But traditionally they are only ordered when symptoms dictate or when something is suspected to be wrong. We have a Disease Management system in the U.S., not a healthcare system. Tests are only performed when symptoms present themselves. With cancer, usually once symptoms are present it's too late for effective treatment. Aggressive treatment kills as many as it saves.

But how often do we have the opportunity to go get a full body CT Scan simply as a screening? Not often. But the technology exists now to do this relatively inexpensively, with relatively nominal radiation exposure and supposedly clear, reliable results.

The technology is called an Electron Beam CT Scan. I had one today. They're a little expensive, but not compared to individual tests for all of the things mentioned above. I'll know the results in a week or so. Of course, I think I will be 'unremarkable'. But it will be fun to know for sure.

It's Not About Saving The Planet!

"It's About Whether We Can Live On It."

OK, I'm still not going to present myself as a tree-hugging hippie.

I'm entirely skeptical about science - funded with public dollars (taxes) - that needs a crisis so voters and politicians will continue to pay for their work. I was around in the 70's when hair spray and deodorant was killing the ozone layer and we couldn't buy freon for the air conditioners in our cars because 'science' told us we were destroying the planet. (That was all crap.)

Science and Doomsday Preachers both need money, and both groups require the world to be ending to get any. But Data is Data all by itself.

Are we killing the planet? Is global warming the catastrophe Science is claiming it to be? Is fracking (which has increased our energy supply to the point where $2/gallon gas is again a reality) causing earthquakes? If we continue fracking, will earthquakes increase in number and intensity? Is ground water level decreasing as rapidly as Science says? Are weather patterns really changing because I drive a Jeep instead of a Tesla? Is the sky falling?

I don't know, and neither does science. But science promises to tell us if we give it enough money.

Capitalists and greedy oil companies tell us not to worry. Just be happy and buy more stuff.

Common sense tells us the world is changing, but it doesn't know whether that is good or bad.

Ego tells us that whatever happens, we will overcome through ingenuity, effort and adaptation. We'll figure out how to deal with whatever happens - unless it's a great big asteroid in which case only the cockroaches will survive no matter what we do.

Faith tells is that God is in control, and He won't let anything too bad happen.

I don't know what to think. But I think it's in all of our best interests to live a slower, simpler life. Among the benefits thereof, we consume less resources and kill fewer trees. But that's not a sustainable answer for future generations, and doesn't really address the 'health and wellness' of the environment we live in.

I wish someone would figure this out and tell the rest of us. Someone who doesn't need our money to find the answer.

But overall, I think we need to understand that whatever stress us humans put on the global ecosystem, the planet can handle it. It's been here for four billion years, and will be here long after we're all gone. Saving the planet is not the issue. The issue is whether the planet remains a place where we can live, thrive and be happy.

And there is a whole lot more to that issue than just the environment.

Seeking God?

"Everybody worships something. To see what a certain man worships, watch how he spends his time."

To be alive is to seek God. The question is, "Which One". We're all seeking something. We can all envision something better than what we see before us. This applies individually, within our circle of influence and also universally, within our field of vision.

For some, god is money, fame, power or safety. For others, god is simply enough food to eat, some education for their children or a place to live that doesn't flood when the rains come. For some, the party this weekend is god. The rest of the stuff they do all week is only to facilitate the fun.

Whatever god is to us, it changes our life. Our god becomes the lens through which we see everything else. For one who seeks money, a promotion means a raise. To the one who seeks power, a promotion means control. To the one who seeks the party, a promotion (and the responsibility, commitment and effort it represents) may actually be a distraction that interferes with god and life.

But most of the gods people seek are pretty empty. If the seeker actually asks the question, "So What?", it becomes obvious that all of the seeking, working, trying, failing and succeeding are pretty shallow. Even if I succeed in my quest to have a lot of money, I can't take it with me when I die, and I have to now spend every waking moment making sure thieves don't steal it.

Most of us play a game in life that we lose, even if we win. For many, the things we seek don't matter, and we spend our lives attaining that which we will lose.

To seek something better: A Life that matters not only now but forever, is to seek God. But how? Where do we look? How can we possibly connect with anything that matters forever, that is bigger than our own lives, that is more significant than our checking account balance and more effective than whatever fad diet I'm trying this year? Seeking God, intentionally and diligently, becomes a quest that changes the way we view and do everything else.

The best answer I have found is the Christian story. In it, I find a God who created everything, who reached out to me so that I could connect to Him, who loves me as a man loves his child or wife, who wants me to know Him and who has a plan not only for me and my life, but also for all of mankind and the universe as a whole.

If someone else is interested in seeking God instead of god, my advice is to read the book of John in the bible. Read it and let it tell its story, without tripping over every pronoun or overthinking every verb. Read John and meet God who loves people and is competent and eager to show us what life is about and how to participate in it the way we were created to do. After reading John, if you want to know more read the whole New Testament - again without overthinking it. Just let it tell its story. Let it say what it says without all of the religious interference or secular skepticism. There is time for all of that later.

Before you know it, you will see life through a different perspective than the gods you have been serving before could ever show you. It's a great trip.

If A Christmas Tree Falls And Nobody Hears It...

"There is more than one way not to hear."

Usually my Christmas Musings revolve around the Christmas Star. If is a visible sign of hope for the whole world, and shines to herald the coming of Christ for all generations. I love thinking about the wise men who started the trip, following the star. I'm not sure how many wise men there were, but I'm pretty confident that more started the trip than finished it.

This year, my thoughts surround the music - the sound - of Christmas. We sing the old hymns, but do we really hear them? We are inundated with the noise of Christmas, but do we distinguish the noise from the sound of it?

It's almost a cliche to talk about remembering the reason for Christmas, and not get sidetracked by the commercialism, hustle, blah, blah. That's sort of what I'm thinking about this year - but not quite. Separating the music from the noise is a good thing. But having done that, we also need to hear the music, not just recognize or appreciate it, but let it in. We need to experience the sound of Christmas.

The Christmas star stands out as a guide. It gives hope and purpose to those who follow it. It gives assurance and motivation to stay focused and on target. It helps is not be discouraged, distracted, despondent or defeated in our pursuit of Christ. The wise men completed the trip. We will too. And the rewards, as we present ourselves as living sacrifices before Him, are tremendous. The star guides from afar and leads us forward.

But the music of Christmas is more immediate. Somehow, it is more tangible than the idealistic and futuristic connotation of the star. "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus", "Away In A Manger", "Silent Night", The First Noel" and a hundred other carols all talk about an event long ago. But the connotation of the music is to bring that moment in history to us today - each Christmas, right now.

The carols, the Christmas Story (Luke 2), etc. remind us that Immanuel (God With Us, Revealed In Us) is more than a major historical event, but it is an ongoing event, day by day in our lives. Just as God's Words "Let there be light" created an ongoing event we call the universe, the words of Christmas, the Incarnation of Christ, create an ongoing event inside each and every one of us. An event that has a beginning, an impact and a consummation.

As we look at the Christmas star and follow it intentionally and diligently, we also need to hear the music of Christmas and allow its creative and ongoing impact to influence the very core of our beings. Because of the star, we know that everything will be different and better. Because of the music, it already is.

Let's not ignore the star. And let's not let the music be drowned out by anything...not even the tradition of Christmas itself. Let's allow the music and the coming of Christ to change us, remake us and give us peace this year and forever.

Merry Christmas.

1 Cor 6:9-10

"Thou Shalt Not Take The Name Of The Lord Thy God In Vain."

I have thought forever that Duck Dynasty is the stupidest show on TV. But I'm all about political and social agendas. We all have them. We all have issues we believe in deeply, and want to see changed. Since I have a blog, I think I shall promote mine here:

My issue is the drunks. I believe very strongly that a third conviction for DUI should be a capital offense, and should incur the death penalty. Drunk drivers kill people - innocent people who were not involved in the perpetrator's decision to get drunk and did not receive any benefit or pleasure from that decision.

Further, violent crimes such as child or spousal abuse, rape, assault or anything associated with firearms when the suspect was drunk at the time of the incident should incur the death penalty on the first offense.

That may sound harsh, but violent drunks and drunk drivers cause incredible harm and should be purged from society.

That's my opinion, and I am allowed to have one.

But when I escalate that opinion to the level of spiritual truth, documented by snapshots of scripture like 1 Cor. 6:9-10, which clearly states that "neither [blah, blah], nor drunkards [blah, blah] have any part in the kingdom of God", when I tell all of the Christians they aren't following Christ if they disagree with me, when I use the Bible (God's Holy, self expression to man) to justify and solidify my social/political opinion and coerce others into submission to it, have I not violated the Third Commandment?

Using the name of Jesus and all that He stands for to promote any agenda is exactly what the Third Commandment forbids. And we do it all the time. Hitler killed 6 million Jews in Jesus' name and the Catholic Church sat by in silent agreement. The concept has been used to persecute and discriminate against all kids of people groups throughout history including blacks, divorced women, kids born out of wedlock, and a whole lot more.

This is as wrong as anything else on the planet. Period.

Which is more important, the Third Commandment or the First Amendment?

Bethany, Oklahoma's Sad Demise

"I'm so glad I don't live there anymore. If a decent wage for firefighters threatens the fiscal stability of the city, people that live there better pay attention!"

I am embarrassed of my home town. For many years, Bethany, Oklahoma has been in demise. I graduated high school in 1981. There were 683 seniors in my class. Now there aren't 683 students at the whole high school - and they added a grade too.

There are many reasons for the decline. But it used to be a great place to live and grow up. Now, it's just mean and terrible. From city leadership to the police department to the religious kooks that control the place, Bethany has suffered greatly during a time of relative prosperity and growth for the rest of the OKC Metro area.

But this post is not really to criticize Bethany. That would take a whole book, and would be totally unnecessary anyway.

This post is about the recent controversy between city leaders and the fire department. The fire department union pushed for a raise and won through arbitration. The City responded by agreeing to the raise and cutting staff. The story is here.

I understand fiscal responsibility. But Bethany already pays firefighters 25% less than surrounding municipalities. Are they really so defunct that they can't staff the fire department properly and pay a decent living wage? Things really are getting bad there.

Firefighters are part of a group of people that we really need, and they usually get the very short end of the deal. They, along with police officers, social workers and a host of other public servants, see the worst of society. Firefighters do a lot more than fight fires. They work car accidents, medical calls, and a whole lot more. Whenever anybody thinks he needs help, the fire department is the default answer.

And that kind of work takes its toll. Many of these guys get calloused and bitter and suffer personal tragedy that is entirely a result of their chosen vocation. And society needs their sacrifice. We can't get along without them, even if many of them live miserable lives and die young helping the rest of us. It takes a very special person to be a public servant and not be victimized and traumatized by the experience.

But it's just wrong to ask them to to do that and not even pay them enough to live - or, like Bethany, use them as pawns in a power struggle.

Melodious Etude No. 11

"This is why I bought a trombone!"

There is a famous trombone study guide called "Melodious Etudes For Trombone" that has been around for a hundred years, but I never used it during my trombone playing time. The idea behind it is, it is a method book that lets trombone students play exercises that are arranged as music. It is used the world over by trombone players on every level. I picked up a copy when I got my trombone earlier this year.

I have very much enjoyed working my way through the book, playing pieces that I think sound good. Some of it is beyond my ability, and I hack through it the best I can. After not playing for 27 years, I am amazed that I can still play any of it.

There is a fundamental difference between playing classical music and playing jazz. Jazz music has boundaries, not rules. As long as you stay within the boundaries, anything goes. The point to playing jazz is to be creative, spontaneous and interpretive. The idea is to express oneself and (again, within the boundaries) play your heart out.

Classical music is different. The issue here is to express the music - appropriately and exactly as it was designed and written to be expressed. The objective is to honor the music and the composer (creator) by performing it to the level of proficiency and standard for which it was composed.

There is room for both in the world of music, but there is an absolute distinction between the two. The principle, which deserves much more thought and comment that I can provide here, applies to a whole bunch of different paradigms in life. Jazz is about expressing myself musically. Classical music is all about the music. This distinction and contradiction applies to religion and our relationship with God, to work, to marriage, raising kids, and a whole lot more. Knowing the difference between Jazz and Classical music, and knowing when use each approach is a really important life skill.

But my point for today is just how good I felt this morning playing Melodious Etude No. 11. When you play a piece like that really well - above your own ability. When it sounds and feels just perfect, it gives you goose bumps. At the end of it this morning, I actually cried a little. It was so right. And nothing in a world based on this music can ever be that wrong.

This is why I bought a trombone.

Feels almost as good as getting licked by a horse!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's one thing to be thankful for stuff - family, material stuff, status in life overall, whatever.

It's another thing to be thankful to someone - God, family, employer, whatever.

It's still another thing to be thankful for surviving and prospering through a situation or season of life.

It's still another thing to Give Thanks.

As I celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I want to emphasize the Giving part of Thanksgiving, intentionally and specifically in every paradigm of life. I am Thankful. But just now, in addition to being thankful, I want to Give Thanks.

Vancouver Bans Door Knobs. Really?

"And I thought Oklahoma City trying to ban E-Cigarettes was bad."

So, as if the world needs proof that government is getting too big, to invasive, too restrictive, too much, our neighbor to the north drives the point home.

Do we really need government on any level meddling with how we open doors? Whether a door is opened with a knob or a lever just doesn't seem to pass the importance test as far as I'm concerned. The fact that there are city councils, county commissioners, state committees and federal agencies that have absolutely nothing better to do than study such things demonstrates clearly that there should be no budget deficits. There is a lot of money that just doesn't need to be spent.

I could rant about this forever, and get totally depressed for the future of human life. No wonder government is so broke. If I catch anyone in our business worrying about such trivial issues, I make it a point to give them something more important to worry about. On one occasion, I suggested that a certain employee work on his resume instead of the BS he was so worked up about.

What a bunch of crap! I think I'll use the door knob on my office door to close it long enough for a nap so I can forget I read about Vancouver banning door knobs.