I’ve always liked Lucinda Williams, though I am hardly an expert on her music. I’ve seen her on TV a few times. She always seemed rather conflicted, dark, uber-melancholy, frail, and fragile. When I’ve seen her in TV performances she has been almost statuesque and about as non-demonstrative as one can be. Nevertheless I have always thought she was a very gifted songwriter, one of the very very best of our generation. And I personally dig her voice.
I really wasn’t prepared for what hit me Sunday night at the Carolina Theater. First let me say that the experience of attending a concert at Carolina Theater was very positive. My seats in the front of the mezzanine were super. The sound quality was great. It’s a great venue for music.
I was quite taken and intrigued by Lucinda Williams herself. What I saw Sunday night did not match the mental image that I had developed – at all! There was a relaxed ease about her. She was way more chatty than I expected, very human and personable. She did a good job introducing the songs. Her performance also evidenced to me that she has rediscovered herself, her calling, her joy in music, and her voice - her voice was Lucinda Williams on steroids - strong, passionate, powerful, still with that gravely quality but also holding huge notes long and clear. She even looked stronger physically, maybe a little heavier, in a good sense, in that she has seemed to be quite frail to me in the past. She shared that she was engaged to her manager, and that at her age, and without kids, it can be quite hard on the road, and that is was very nice to be able to travel with your partner. She spoke of her songs as being her children, and her band as her family. Lucinda Williams had said herself early on that she thought she was at the peak of her career, and I totally agree with her assessment.
Her attire was interesting in its own way . She had on this utterly awful and totally endearing outfit where nothing "matched" whatsoever - she had kind of a retro hippie thing going plus a big cowboy hat, tons of eye make up, and a couple of her big tattoo’s popping out from her shoulders and upper arms. It seemed she was just cool with herself and really didn't care what you thought about how she looked. She moved a lot around the stage almost dancing, and so totally groovin' to the band, quite nicely giving them their place and their due, and very much seeming to dig their sound.
She even 'fessed up to the obvious - a notebook on a stand in front of her containing lyrics to her songs. She expressed wonder that people like Dylan and others could remember all their lyrics, and that she didn’t want to forget the words, thus the book.
The concert started with several Lucinda staples of the more alt-country variety. I have the set list below. I like her alt-country thing, so that was fine by me. In fact, I would say that between her voice and the band the music was beautiful and excellent. "Blue" was beyond beautiful. I was charmed.
When she introduced the 8th song, “Are You Alright,” she first said that contrary to common belief the song was not about an ex lover, but about her little brother. And then she mentioned a letter from a Vietnam veteran (who was also there at the show), wherein he shared that he had gone to Arlington Cemetery and sung that song to a fallen friend from Vietnam. She not only dedicated “Are You Alright” to this man, but also used that as a kind of thematic pivot for the rest of the show.
It wasn’t long before she put behind the alt-country thing and the show became a first rate rock concert. This began in full force with “Are You Down,” a song that has a kind of “Brazilian” thing about it (in her words). From then on every song included extended instrumental interludes, and those guys can flat out play, including Lucinda. I leaned over to my daughter during "Are You Down” and said that they sounded like the old Santana, and that was no small compliment. And it just went from there...by the time she sang her song “Joy” the band was smokin’ hot, and then they segued from "Joy” to “Riders on the Storm.” Wow, that was not expected, and it was groovy with a very big “G.” She finished out the pre-encore set with a hard-rockin' version of a really amazing song, “Unsuffer Me.”
Somewhere in all the incredible band work I felt a joy well up, that sort of transcendent happiness one like me feels at a butt kicking rock concert. I’m going to reflect upon that in a later post.
The closing set of five songs contained only one of her own, the rest were covers, amazingly well done. I need here to offer a word of criticism. I mentioned that she was chatty. Well, apparently the aforementioned letter had led her to change her set list to include songs consistent with a kind of sixties anti war theme. That’s fine of course, whether I agree with her or not. And I really liked the songs. In fact, she did the last four songs unbelievably well, and ended dramatically with the best version of Bob Dylan's “Masters Of War” that I have ever heard or could ever imagine hearing. It was powerful.
In contrast, her ranting was ineffectual and a little distracting. Well, it’s hard to call it ranting really, she talks so slowly, with “you know” breaking every sentence multiple times. She was a little apologetic for talking, maybe realizing the fact that, well, she is a much better song writer than speaker. I think she was self conscious about her obvious struggle to be articulate. I will say that she admitted that she didn’t know the answers, she was self effacing and humble, and she encouraged people to vote, and said she didn’t want to say who to vote for.
But there was still this “shut up and sing” thing going on in my head. And I think it was warranted. Like many artists she is much more persuasive and articulate and speaks way more powerfully through her art. I will go as far as to say that there is nothing she could have possibly said, were she John Kennedy himself, that could have added one iota to the power of the last few songs, especially “Masters Of War.” In fact, her talking took some of the oomph out of that song if anything, and left me a little less impressed overall. Her closing farewell of “peace, love, and revolution” was just kind of silly.
But I didn’t really care that much, for I had been treated to music of the highest quality, by a song writer with few peers, renewed and invigorated in singing and writing and obviously happy to be doing what she was doing, and for that I just say “thanks Lucinda,” and thanks for booking her Carolina Theater!
Greensboro Set List, September 23, 2007
1. Ventura
2. Fruits Of My Labor
3. Reason To Cry
4. Blue
5. Price To Pay
6. World Without Tears
7. Everything Has Changed
8. Are You Alright?
9. Drunken Angel
10. Are You Down?
11. Honey Chile (Fats Domino)
12. Honeybee (new song – not yet recorded)
13. Joy
14. Riders On The Storm (The Doors)
15. Unsuffer Me
Encore:
Poem Read – Pity the Nation
16. American Dream
17. For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield)
18. Marching The Hate Machine Into The Sun (Thievery Corporation, with lyrics penned by Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips)
19. Masters Of War (Bob Dylan)
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Picture of the Day - September 19, 2007 - Ferry Silhouette
Me, heading back from an excursion to Victoria, BC, scanned from slide. Taken on trip with my dad just prior to my first tour of duty at Regent College, Vancouver, late summer 1980, .Took it on my old Fujica 801 by my dad. No filters, no post scan fiddling - this is just how it was. We were so incredibly lucky to have the sky the color it was, with the reflections off the water, and to be heading in the right direction! Actually I used my father a a subject, set the lighting and focus, and the gave him the camera to snap the picture. Soon after he bought his own Fujica and got the photo bug.
Lucinda Williams
I'm so happy! I'm going to see Lucinda Williams Sunday night at Carolina Theater with my daughter. Just picked up my tickets - seats right up front in the mezzanine. I know not everyone likes Lucinda William's gravely country-ish music, but I think she is a super songwriter, and kind of like her gravely voice. Here's a nice video from Austin City Limits. Two nights later is Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. That would be cool too. Want to see some amazing bass guitar, check this out!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Guilford Pine Trees
There seem to be four major pine species in Guilford County, with several minor species popping up here and there. It’s fun to learn and notice the differences.
But what is it that makes a tree a pine tree?
First of all, pines are evergreens, that is, they keep their leaves all year round. Actually the leaves are not really permanent, but they are not shed all at once at the coming of winter as with our deciduous trees.
Second, pines have long narrow leaves we commonly call needles rather then leaves. Most pines have needles that come in bunches of two to five, the bunch being connected and held together at the stem end of the needle by a sheath.
Third, pines all have cones. These are the woody (as opposed to pulpy) seed bearing fruits commonly called “pine cones.” The cones we think of as “pine cones” are the female or seed-bearing part of the pine reproductive system.
Pine trees are “gymnosperms,” that is, they produce “naked” seeds, or seeds without ovaries, seeds without surrounding fruits. Pine tree seeds are protected within the woody cone which is itself often covered with sharp scales to discourage animals from eating the seeds, though it is not unusual to see a cone stripped of scales and seeds by a hungry squirrel.
These uncovered seeds of Pine trees, when released from an open woody cone, generally circle to the ground like maple keys. Kids commonly call these pine seeds “helicopters.” When I was a kid we used to punt footballs straight up into the pine trees to knock loose the helicopters, which we then run all around and try to see how many we could catch before they hit the ground.
The very small male cones or catkins at the top of the pine tree produce the wind borne pollen that is released in the late spring covering and fertilizing the temporarily opened female cones below, as well as covering cars and parking lots and lakes and anything else nearby.
Fourth, pine trees tend to grow tall with straight trunks and limbs mostly higher in the tree in older trees. White pines tend to keep their lower limbs the longest, and the limbs on a white pine tend to come out from the trunk in whorls or 5-6 branches.
Fifth, pines do not like shade. The are usually first to invade an abandoned field, although in our part of the Piedmont many deciduous trees are quick to invade abandoned fields as well. Eventually over the course of a hundred years or more pines will become less dominant and hardwoods like oak and hickory more dominant in a forest. Being sun loving, pines and are found more on sunny south facing slopes than shady north facing slopes. A walk around Lake Brandt will make that point clear enough.
There are many evergreen trees that have needles and cones that grow in Guilford County that are not pines, such as firs, hemlocks, and spruces. These are not only shaped differently as trees (more like “Christmas trees”), but have different kinds of needles and cones.
Hemlocks and firs have short flattened needles typically white underneath that grow singly out from the stems, usually along a flattened plane. They have small cones. The needles of spruce are four sided and grow all around the twig, that is, do not grow out in a flat spray from the twigs. Junipers, particularly the very common native “red cedar” have scale like leaves or needles, commonly grow on fence rows, and have a very bushy look, even in older specimens.
The four major pine species of pine tree in Guilford County in estimated order of frequency are Virginia Pine, Short Leaf Pine, White Pine, and Loblolly Pine. On average there are more Shortleaf and Loblolly pines in the southeastern part of the county where the elevation is lower and it is a bit warmer, and more Virginia and White pine in the northwestern part of the county.
But what is it that makes a tree a pine tree?
First of all, pines are evergreens, that is, they keep their leaves all year round. Actually the leaves are not really permanent, but they are not shed all at once at the coming of winter as with our deciduous trees.
Second, pines have long narrow leaves we commonly call needles rather then leaves. Most pines have needles that come in bunches of two to five, the bunch being connected and held together at the stem end of the needle by a sheath.
Third, pines all have cones. These are the woody (as opposed to pulpy) seed bearing fruits commonly called “pine cones.” The cones we think of as “pine cones” are the female or seed-bearing part of the pine reproductive system.
Pine trees are “gymnosperms,” that is, they produce “naked” seeds, or seeds without ovaries, seeds without surrounding fruits. Pine tree seeds are protected within the woody cone which is itself often covered with sharp scales to discourage animals from eating the seeds, though it is not unusual to see a cone stripped of scales and seeds by a hungry squirrel.
These uncovered seeds of Pine trees, when released from an open woody cone, generally circle to the ground like maple keys. Kids commonly call these pine seeds “helicopters.” When I was a kid we used to punt footballs straight up into the pine trees to knock loose the helicopters, which we then run all around and try to see how many we could catch before they hit the ground.
The very small male cones or catkins at the top of the pine tree produce the wind borne pollen that is released in the late spring covering and fertilizing the temporarily opened female cones below, as well as covering cars and parking lots and lakes and anything else nearby.
Fourth, pine trees tend to grow tall with straight trunks and limbs mostly higher in the tree in older trees. White pines tend to keep their lower limbs the longest, and the limbs on a white pine tend to come out from the trunk in whorls or 5-6 branches.
Fifth, pines do not like shade. The are usually first to invade an abandoned field, although in our part of the Piedmont many deciduous trees are quick to invade abandoned fields as well. Eventually over the course of a hundred years or more pines will become less dominant and hardwoods like oak and hickory more dominant in a forest. Being sun loving, pines and are found more on sunny south facing slopes than shady north facing slopes. A walk around Lake Brandt will make that point clear enough.
There are many evergreen trees that have needles and cones that grow in Guilford County that are not pines, such as firs, hemlocks, and spruces. These are not only shaped differently as trees (more like “Christmas trees”), but have different kinds of needles and cones.
Hemlocks and firs have short flattened needles typically white underneath that grow singly out from the stems, usually along a flattened plane. They have small cones. The needles of spruce are four sided and grow all around the twig, that is, do not grow out in a flat spray from the twigs. Junipers, particularly the very common native “red cedar” have scale like leaves or needles, commonly grow on fence rows, and have a very bushy look, even in older specimens.
The four major pine species of pine tree in Guilford County in estimated order of frequency are Virginia Pine, Short Leaf Pine, White Pine, and Loblolly Pine. On average there are more Shortleaf and Loblolly pines in the southeastern part of the county where the elevation is lower and it is a bit warmer, and more Virginia and White pine in the northwestern part of the county.
Photo of the Day - September 17, 2007 - Looking Up Into a Shortleaf Pine, Fisher Park
Though I took this picture in Fisher Park, this shows well the way my world looked as I grew up in Columbia SC. As I have often said, I grew up looking at the Carolina blue sky (that is, when it wasn't a hazy grey summer sky) through the limbs of tall pine trees, mostly Loblolly, Short Leaf, and Long Leaf pines. I'm glad we have several good stands of "real" pines here, though not nearly as many as in the drier sandy soil of hot Columbia. It's hard for me to think of Scotch and Virginia Pines as "real" pines - they're kind of wimpy to me. Fisher Park has a lot of nice trees - it's our prettiest park I think.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Rachel: A Life Remembered
Today, September 16, 2007, is my little sister Mary's 48th birthday. Mary is the youngest of the four Gillespie children; the rest of us have turned 50 already. It's your turn next little sis! Happy birthday Mary.September 16 was also the birthday of Mary's first child, her daughter Rachel Elizabeth Johnson. I would like to report that today is Rachel's 23rd birthday, but I cannot.
On February 9, 1987, at the young age of 2 1/2 years old, Rachel died quickly and unexpectedly from an overwhelming bacterial infection that mimicked the flu, invaded her organs, and caused her little body to just shut down. I still feel a sense of anxiety and dread as I remember that phone call received in the middle of a school day as I was teaching at a local school then.
It is impossible to think of Mary's birthday without thinking of Rachel. What would Rachel have been like today? It's hard not to imagine.
Rachel's short life touched many people, and deeply impacted everyone in my family. She was not only Mary and Sandy Johnson's first child. She was my parent's first grandchild, and the very special apple of their eye. She preceded my own first daughter Shannon into this world be a mere four weeks. Since we lived in Columbia at the time, there are lots of pictures of Rachel and Shannon together
Rachel was a fun and delightful and curious child. She learned to walk a little later than some, but she was a regular speedboat crawling. She could have won a crawling race if there had been one. When my daughter started to walk, somewhat early, and often rather wobbily, Rachel would crawl into her like a bowling ball into pins. It was funny. And then when Rachel began to walk, she was a speedy one at that too!
We all miss Rachel, and wish her memory to live on the the lives of the people who knew her, and maybe in some who did not.
I dedicate a set of photographs on my Flickr site to Rachel's memory. Please feel free to look at it, and ponder the fragility of life, and the blessing and good that even a short life can bring into this often hard and cruel world.
The world was a brighter place with Rachel in it. It is a brighter place with her memory still alive in it. Even as a little child she seemed to have real and vital and lively faith. She loved to sing. I cannot sing Holy Holy Holy without thought of her little voice singing that hymn. We all loved you, and miss you, Rachel.
Mary, I know this day can be hard, and may the Lord bless you with richness of memory, even as we all remember not just Rachel, but you on this day, your birthday. Happy Birthday sis!
Brother
Friday, September 14, 2007
Persimmon On the Brain
Last evening I was at some friends’ house helping look after their kids while they attended a funeral. I was walking around in the front yard with one of their sons, and I asked him if their persimmon tree was producing yet. He said yes, and we went over to take a look. Wow – a bumper crop, and many already on the ground. I picked one up, and with that mix of anticipation and dread that accompanies biting into a persimmon, I put a slit in the skin and sucked out enough for a taste, which was sweet, and then I ate the whole thing, skin and seed excepted. I don’t know if the dry weather has caused the persimmon tree to convert the fruit to sugar more than usual, but boy was that persimmon good!
Growing up in Columbia I was blessed to have a large and very productive persimmon tree on the edge of the woods just up from my house. I learned over time how and when to eat persimmons. There are few things as tasty as a sweet ripe persimmon, and few things as awful as a bitter one. A bad or unripe persimmon can create more facial contortions than you are aware you an make. A good persimmon can make you smile with joy.
Once I got used to the fact that a persimmon had to be almost mush to be good to eat, which was kind of gross, I made it a habit every fall to visit that tree many times. Once I even got my mom to make a persimmon cobbler.
I miss the taste. It is quite unique - nothing like it really. And there is a certain fun that goes with the risk of eating persimmon. Sometimes you think you’ve got a sweet one, and then you open up the fruit and suck out the mushy insides (staying away from the skin and seeds), expecting this wonderful tangy sweetness, and instead it feels like your mouth is swelling up from the bitterness, and no matter how much you spit, the taste stays there all day.
Persimmons are rather nondescript straight up smallish trees. Their most distinguishing feature is perhaps their bark – very alligator in nature with very dark small squarish blocks. The bark looks much like a dark dogwood, though the tree is taller, the trunk bigger, and the leaves longer and narrower, and opposite with no teeth. The bark can also be confused with the black gum, though that tree has leaves more like a dogwood and also grows much taller, with its own little blackish fruits. Its bark, though sometimes dark and blocked, is more irregular, and may well be more furrowed. I’m quite fond of the black gum tree. My friend with the persimmon is fortunate to have a black gum right next to it!
Persimmons can grow in various places, on a dry hillside, in an open field, or as an under story tree in a mature forest. They seem not to be terribly picky and take to bad soils fairly well.
Their fruits have long been eaten by man and beast. They were made into cakes of various sorts by our native forbears. Early colonists made persimmon cakes as well as puddings. And to the animals of the forest the persimmon is a favorite. If one is inclined to look, one can find persimmon seeds in the scat of most of our common woods mammals, as well as many birds. Possums love them. If you like having possums around, plant some persimmon trees! Dogs also tend to like persimmons, and seem to be able to discern which ones are good to eat.
Persimmon wood is exceptionally hard and heavy, and was used in great amounts in the hey day of the textile industry as shuttles for the looms. It was a very valuable wood and was thus logged heavily, about everywhere it could be found, and so truly old large persimmons are hard to find today.
Most persimmons you see these days are smallish trees, maybe 30-40 feet. They can get much taller – up to 120 or so feet. The 2005 Guilford County treasure tree program identified a persimmon in Jamestown at 37 feet high and 8 inches in diameter as our county’s biggest, but there have to be bigger ones than that around. Anyway, I’m in a persimmon eating mood, so if you know of any good fruit bearing trees, give me a shout.
Growing up in Columbia I was blessed to have a large and very productive persimmon tree on the edge of the woods just up from my house. I learned over time how and when to eat persimmons. There are few things as tasty as a sweet ripe persimmon, and few things as awful as a bitter one. A bad or unripe persimmon can create more facial contortions than you are aware you an make. A good persimmon can make you smile with joy.
Once I got used to the fact that a persimmon had to be almost mush to be good to eat, which was kind of gross, I made it a habit every fall to visit that tree many times. Once I even got my mom to make a persimmon cobbler.
I miss the taste. It is quite unique - nothing like it really. And there is a certain fun that goes with the risk of eating persimmon. Sometimes you think you’ve got a sweet one, and then you open up the fruit and suck out the mushy insides (staying away from the skin and seeds), expecting this wonderful tangy sweetness, and instead it feels like your mouth is swelling up from the bitterness, and no matter how much you spit, the taste stays there all day.
Persimmons are rather nondescript straight up smallish trees. Their most distinguishing feature is perhaps their bark – very alligator in nature with very dark small squarish blocks. The bark looks much like a dark dogwood, though the tree is taller, the trunk bigger, and the leaves longer and narrower, and opposite with no teeth. The bark can also be confused with the black gum, though that tree has leaves more like a dogwood and also grows much taller, with its own little blackish fruits. Its bark, though sometimes dark and blocked, is more irregular, and may well be more furrowed. I’m quite fond of the black gum tree. My friend with the persimmon is fortunate to have a black gum right next to it!
Persimmons can grow in various places, on a dry hillside, in an open field, or as an under story tree in a mature forest. They seem not to be terribly picky and take to bad soils fairly well.
Their fruits have long been eaten by man and beast. They were made into cakes of various sorts by our native forbears. Early colonists made persimmon cakes as well as puddings. And to the animals of the forest the persimmon is a favorite. If one is inclined to look, one can find persimmon seeds in the scat of most of our common woods mammals, as well as many birds. Possums love them. If you like having possums around, plant some persimmon trees! Dogs also tend to like persimmons, and seem to be able to discern which ones are good to eat.
Persimmon wood is exceptionally hard and heavy, and was used in great amounts in the hey day of the textile industry as shuttles for the looms. It was a very valuable wood and was thus logged heavily, about everywhere it could be found, and so truly old large persimmons are hard to find today.
Most persimmons you see these days are smallish trees, maybe 30-40 feet. They can get much taller – up to 120 or so feet. The 2005 Guilford County treasure tree program identified a persimmon in Jamestown at 37 feet high and 8 inches in diameter as our county’s biggest, but there have to be bigger ones than that around. Anyway, I’m in a persimmon eating mood, so if you know of any good fruit bearing trees, give me a shout.
Vancouver Winters
I didn't think I'd ever sigh and wish for something like a Vancouver winter, but today with the drizzle outside, and given how dry it is, I wish it would just keep doing this for a month - or four. Vancouver is glorious from mid July through October, and then the winter rains set in. Before too long there is interminable cold rain - often with the temperatures never leaving the thirties day or night - just a non stop drizzle. With the short days of winter there would be days when I would trudge the three blocks to the bus stop in the dark rain, take the hour bus ride to school, spend most of the day in the Regent College library, get back on the bus in the dark and rain and go home. Sometimes a cold front would pass through and sweep away the clouds, leaving a beautiful scene such as above. Sometimes it would even snow. And, interestingly, while it would be raining down below in the city, it's snowing about a about 2-3000 feet in the mountains north of the city, providing a base of snow 10 -15 feet for skiing there. Finally Spring hits in April or so, and the flowers come out, and it is beautiful again. Today I long for Vancouver winter. I didn't think I'd ever say that.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Photo of the Day - September 13, 2007 - Three Brothers
"Mike, Bobby and Joe," as folks in Columbia would refer to us Gillespie brothers. This was taken last Thanksgiving in my brother Bobby's front yard, late in the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day. Obviously somebody said something funny. Bobby's expression is priceless! So how come I'm the only one with hair? Oops, some hidden corner of the not yet transformed pagan in me just wished I hadn't said that!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Photo of the Day - September 12, 2007 - Remembering Last Autumn
This very nice autumn hickory is right on Elm Street, half a block south of Bessemer on the west side. I took this with a cheap little digital camera. It came out nicely. I couldn't get an angle without the wires, but then, this is a city tree, so may as well include the whole deal. I hope the drought won't leave us with little color this year. So many leaves are drying out and curling up already. Anyway, here is to falls past.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Don't Be Talking About My Wiki (or Translation Please)
I read the following on The Starry Dynamo's site. It sounds fascinating - AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE IS TALKING ABOUT :-) . Translation anyone? And I hate to ask, but, what is a wiki? I just want to know if I should be concerned about somebody talking about my wiki that way.
"I am one week out with my instance of MediaWiki on a WAMP stack and am surprised at how easy it is to manipulate the CSS and PHP. Particularly with CSS it is very easy to customize the look and feel of your wiki. I consider myself to have above average technical skills but was skeptical that I would be able to wade through the language. PHP looks so foreign, but made more sense the longer I stayed in there. I have been experimenting adding color, customizing the sidebar and adding extensions. There are two sites that are great examples of how MediaWiki can be customized."
"I am one week out with my instance of MediaWiki on a WAMP stack and am surprised at how easy it is to manipulate the CSS and PHP. Particularly with CSS it is very easy to customize the look and feel of your wiki. I consider myself to have above average technical skills but was skeptical that I would be able to wade through the language. PHP looks so foreign, but made more sense the longer I stayed in there. I have been experimenting adding color, customizing the sidebar and adding extensions. There are two sites that are great examples of how MediaWiki can be customized."
Please Clouds, Bring Rain
Whether liberal or conservative, straight or gay, male or female, Tarheel or Blue Devil or Demon Deacon, white or black or neither -- I think we can all look up in the sky on a day like today and say or think something like "please clouds, bring rain!" I mean, that's something, right?
The Cost of Chaos
Applied Rationality has a good piece today on the cost of our ongoing presence in Iraq, including the ongoing costs even if we pull out in a reasonably quick but responsible fashion. He compares this expense to what we are spending in other areas. In his words:
“To provide some perspective about the size of the funds, the $116 billion that has been requested for Iraq in FY 2008 is larger than the combined budgets of all federally-funded education, training, and social service programs ($83 billion), energy programs ($1.4 billion), and community and regional development programs ($25 billion). Alternatively, it accounts for roughly half of the projected federal deficit for FY 2008.”
Apart from the fact that I think the federal government is terribly inefficient, arbitrary and borderline corrupt in spending large sums of money (e.g., post Katrina spending), it is hard not to imagine what amount of security and economic growth and energy independence could have been created by spending that amount of money in other ways – education, energy R&D, biotechnology, welfare to work programs, etc. And of course, knowing me, I am inclined to imagine how many endangered habitat could have been saved.
However, here is my concern. Are we accounting for the very possible if not probable costs to us of being in a position of having to re-enter the fray after all hell breaks loose in the region after we leave? I know that many would say that had we not gone in in the first place we wouldn’t have to think of the post withdrawal chaos. Well, maybe so, but we did, and we do. We made our bed and now we have to sleep in it. So has someone charted out the several possible post-withdrawal scenarios that could see us re-engaged in a different capacity, and what they each could possible also cost us? Could it be worse? I wonder. I just think we need to see that spelled out before we can make a rational assessment and evaluation of the real financial costs related to our ongoing current occupation of Iraq.
“To provide some perspective about the size of the funds, the $116 billion that has been requested for Iraq in FY 2008 is larger than the combined budgets of all federally-funded education, training, and social service programs ($83 billion), energy programs ($1.4 billion), and community and regional development programs ($25 billion). Alternatively, it accounts for roughly half of the projected federal deficit for FY 2008.”
Apart from the fact that I think the federal government is terribly inefficient, arbitrary and borderline corrupt in spending large sums of money (e.g., post Katrina spending), it is hard not to imagine what amount of security and economic growth and energy independence could have been created by spending that amount of money in other ways – education, energy R&D, biotechnology, welfare to work programs, etc. And of course, knowing me, I am inclined to imagine how many endangered habitat could have been saved.
However, here is my concern. Are we accounting for the very possible if not probable costs to us of being in a position of having to re-enter the fray after all hell breaks loose in the region after we leave? I know that many would say that had we not gone in in the first place we wouldn’t have to think of the post withdrawal chaos. Well, maybe so, but we did, and we do. We made our bed and now we have to sleep in it. So has someone charted out the several possible post-withdrawal scenarios that could see us re-engaged in a different capacity, and what they each could possible also cost us? Could it be worse? I wonder. I just think we need to see that spelled out before we can make a rational assessment and evaluation of the real financial costs related to our ongoing current occupation of Iraq.
Photo of the Day - September 11, 2007 - A Red Rose on 9/11
My friend Sherb Naulty who lives up up in New Jersey is a seriously good photographer, and has had many shows of his photographs. You can see some of work at www.sherbnaulty.com/. He sent these to me because he knows I love pictures of flowers. I hope you will check out his site.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Photo of the Day - September 8, 2007 - Snow Laden Trees
Nostalgic for cold weather...Snow Laden Trees Lining Death Valley Parking Lot, 1977ish.
Can We Not Pull for and Hope for Success in Iraq?
Joe Guarino provides a link to an article by Kimberly Kagan of the Wall Street Journal, and review of that article on the site Captain’s Quarters. The gist of Kagan’s article seems to be the success of the surge – the surprising success.
From the multiplicity of the reports coming back from Iraq it seems to be that there are many reasons to be very cautiously optimistic. Is not the ideal outcome that the surge would be successful, and Iraq would be stabilized?
But, as things appear to me, there are many politicians and pundits who want the Iraq effort to fail, and there are those those who would paint an overly optimistic assessment. Once again, from where I sit, it seems that our own political divisions are making it hard for us to assess accurately the situation. yet there is enough testimony and apparently compelling evidence that there are good things happening - and that from people who are not Bush stooges - to think something is going right for a change.
It seems to me that we should all be hoping and praying that, despite all that has gone wrong, the tide will turn, and things will go right. It is certainly in the interest of the Iraqi people that things get better. It would also be in our armed forces interest, and in the interest of our national security and financial stability. It seems the only people who would lose if things were to get better are the Iranians, Al-Qaeda, and all those who politically need to see this fail in order to be or feel vindicated.
And regarding all the talk about the money being spent, yes, it’s astronomical. Yes, it could be used on other things. But I would like someone to paint for me a realistic scenario whereby our effort there fails, we pull out, the surrounding powers jump in , and the situation does not end up pulling us back in and under possibly very worse circumstances and into a broader and even more expensive war, because I just cannot see it.
I cannot understand what seems to me to be at least an appearance of a deep seated desire for this whole thing to fail. That just bothers and disturbs me very much.
And could we possibly lay off the Iraqi government just a little. Go back and read about our own national beginnings. There was enough division and intrigue to fill a hundred books – oh yeah, they’ve been written, and are being written. We are expecting the Iraqi people, with their multi religions and ethnicities, complex histories of deep seated distrust, including some who have killed and brutalized others, to sit down together and smoke peace pipes and play “All You Need Is Love”?
I think maybe we don’t appreciate how hard the process is. Who are we to lecture their leadership? Look at our own divided mess here.
Of course the war and its aftermath were handled poorly. I don’t hear anyone disputing that. But we are where we are. And it just seems to me that we should hope and pray that these more optimistic assessments coming from various quarters to be realistic. It is in the interest of all decent people that we succeed. The situation is no doubt fragile and this is no time for popping corks. But maybe it is a time for hope.
From the multiplicity of the reports coming back from Iraq it seems to be that there are many reasons to be very cautiously optimistic. Is not the ideal outcome that the surge would be successful, and Iraq would be stabilized?
But, as things appear to me, there are many politicians and pundits who want the Iraq effort to fail, and there are those those who would paint an overly optimistic assessment. Once again, from where I sit, it seems that our own political divisions are making it hard for us to assess accurately the situation. yet there is enough testimony and apparently compelling evidence that there are good things happening - and that from people who are not Bush stooges - to think something is going right for a change.
It seems to me that we should all be hoping and praying that, despite all that has gone wrong, the tide will turn, and things will go right. It is certainly in the interest of the Iraqi people that things get better. It would also be in our armed forces interest, and in the interest of our national security and financial stability. It seems the only people who would lose if things were to get better are the Iranians, Al-Qaeda, and all those who politically need to see this fail in order to be or feel vindicated.
And regarding all the talk about the money being spent, yes, it’s astronomical. Yes, it could be used on other things. But I would like someone to paint for me a realistic scenario whereby our effort there fails, we pull out, the surrounding powers jump in , and the situation does not end up pulling us back in and under possibly very worse circumstances and into a broader and even more expensive war, because I just cannot see it.
I cannot understand what seems to me to be at least an appearance of a deep seated desire for this whole thing to fail. That just bothers and disturbs me very much.
And could we possibly lay off the Iraqi government just a little. Go back and read about our own national beginnings. There was enough division and intrigue to fill a hundred books – oh yeah, they’ve been written, and are being written. We are expecting the Iraqi people, with their multi religions and ethnicities, complex histories of deep seated distrust, including some who have killed and brutalized others, to sit down together and smoke peace pipes and play “All You Need Is Love”?
I think maybe we don’t appreciate how hard the process is. Who are we to lecture their leadership? Look at our own divided mess here.
Of course the war and its aftermath were handled poorly. I don’t hear anyone disputing that. But we are where we are. And it just seems to me that we should hope and pray that these more optimistic assessments coming from various quarters to be realistic. It is in the interest of all decent people that we succeed. The situation is no doubt fragile and this is no time for popping corks. But maybe it is a time for hope.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Bloxorz
My very good friend Sam, at my request, sent me a link to a very cool online game sight called Mousebreaker. There is one game called Bloxorz that is very cool.
Except, how am I supposed to get ANY work done now?
Except, how am I supposed to get ANY work done now?
Richland Creek Is Dry
About an hour ago I drove north on Lawndale Drive past the Food Lion (in the old Winn-Dixie building) and noticed that Richland Creek (that flows through Country Park and Battleground Park, and after crossing under Cottage Place and Lawndale Drive, eventually empties into Lake Jeanette) was completely dried up – no water flowing at all. I don’t remember that happening even in the terrible drought of a few years ago.
My garden is dying; including some beloved shrubs and bushes – such as one of our two Rhododendrons and my beloved Tea Olive. The particular Rhododendron should not have been planted where it was – but it was there when we bought the house. I planted the Tea Olive myself. It’s hard to know how much I should water them given the state of things. I am PRAYING that that tropical depression makes its way right to us and gives us a whole lot of rain.
My garden is dying; including some beloved shrubs and bushes – such as one of our two Rhododendrons and my beloved Tea Olive. The particular Rhododendron should not have been planted where it was – but it was there when we bought the house. I planted the Tea Olive myself. It’s hard to know how much I should water them given the state of things. I am PRAYING that that tropical depression makes its way right to us and gives us a whole lot of rain.
John Edward's House (and how it saps his credibility to me)
I just read Time Magazine’s article (in the Sept. 10 edition - see also here) about the John Edward’s campaign - "Why Iowa Loves John Edwards - And how he's betting the farm on their support." Time gives much credit for the renewed vigor of Edward’s campaign to his war on poverty tour, or whatever exactly it was called in the article.
Though I am not terribly fond of Edwards’ style or persona, I admire him for defying conventional wisdom and leaning as far left as he has. And I am glad someone is drawing attention to the more needy amongst us.
As a practicing Christian and a Christian pastor, I believe that the manner in which we as a nation treat the poorest and weakest among us is of profound significance and importance. I have studied significantly what the bible has to tell us on the matter, and though it does not tell us what role a secular government should play or not play, it tells us much about how we are to act. I have written about this in my Caring for the Poor and Needy: the Biblical Mandate.
We all share a responsibility to care about the lives of widows and orphans and the poor and “strangers and aliens” – and to do more than just care: even as James says in his epistle:
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27).”
But I just cannot get past the fact that John Edwards lives in one of the biggest houses in Orange County. Hey, I am all for a guy making money – more power to him. But to preach and advocate governmental responsibility to the poor, and yet to live out an appearance of such conspicuous consumption, well, it just bugs me. It makes him seem disingenuous. It saps his credibility to me.
I suppose it may be asking too much of any of us to address this issue in a way that not partisan, but I’d like to know how others feel about this.
Though I am not terribly fond of Edwards’ style or persona, I admire him for defying conventional wisdom and leaning as far left as he has. And I am glad someone is drawing attention to the more needy amongst us.
As a practicing Christian and a Christian pastor, I believe that the manner in which we as a nation treat the poorest and weakest among us is of profound significance and importance. I have studied significantly what the bible has to tell us on the matter, and though it does not tell us what role a secular government should play or not play, it tells us much about how we are to act. I have written about this in my Caring for the Poor and Needy: the Biblical Mandate.
We all share a responsibility to care about the lives of widows and orphans and the poor and “strangers and aliens” – and to do more than just care: even as James says in his epistle:
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27).”
But I just cannot get past the fact that John Edwards lives in one of the biggest houses in Orange County. Hey, I am all for a guy making money – more power to him. But to preach and advocate governmental responsibility to the poor, and yet to live out an appearance of such conspicuous consumption, well, it just bugs me. It makes him seem disingenuous. It saps his credibility to me.
I suppose it may be asking too much of any of us to address this issue in a way that not partisan, but I’d like to know how others feel about this.
How to Avoid God
A friend sent to me a great quote from CS Lewis, that I thought I would share, along with my friend's intro:
C.S. Lewis would not give advice for pursuing God, having always felt like the one being pursued. But he did make some suggestions for promoting God’s absence which should give us some hints about independence from the flow of our culture. “Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status and (above all) on your grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in a crowd. Use plenty of sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you’d be safer to stick to the papers. You’ll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or a snobbish appeal.”
C.S. Lewis would not give advice for pursuing God, having always felt like the one being pursued. But he did make some suggestions for promoting God’s absence which should give us some hints about independence from the flow of our culture. “Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status and (above all) on your grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in a crowd. Use plenty of sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you’d be safer to stick to the papers. You’ll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or a snobbish appeal.”
Thursday, September 06, 2007
My Stupid Poem
No More Clinton
No more Bush
Time to give them
Both a push
Twenty Years is
Long enough
I’m so tired of
All their stuff
Let us have
Barach Obama
He’ll send ‘em in
To find Osama
Let us have that
Thompson dude
If he is picked
Osama’s screwed
We don’t need
Another dufus
Saying things that
Just confuse us
We don’t need
Another bear
Who panders to
Who’s sitting there
Time for change
Time for newness
Time to shake off
All this blueness
To Hillary
Goodbye I say
To Billary
To W
Goodbye I say
To brothers too
No more
No more Bush
Time to Give them
All a push
Photo of the Day - Thursday September 6, 2007 - Snowfall in Amsterdam
On such a warm and dry day as today I thought I'd bring you thoughts of cooler times! This picture was taken on one of the most awesome days of my life. I was in Amsterdam, April 1978, staying in a youth hostel. I had already spent a day at the Rembrandt Museum and the Van Gogh Museum, and was quite satisfied with my visit. And then it started to snow. It snowed and snowed and snowed, and I walked all over Amsterdam until I was completely exhausted. It was SO beautiful. I had black and white film in my old Fujica 801 that day. I'm glad I did.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
pandora.com - way cool
My friend Brad turned me on to Pandora (www.pandora.com) and I am totally digging it. I am using the free service so far. Basically you type in an artist or a song and it creates a “station” (as in radio station) of music that shares similar characteristics, and presents the songs one after another. You don’t know what’s coming, and you can’t choose a particular song to play, though by clicking “thumbs up” or ‘thumbs down” for each song you can “teach” Pandora what songs you want to hear or not hear. I have about ten stations of different genres. For each song you can click on an icon and get detailed information about the song, the album, or the artist. It is a super way to hear both music you like and music which you may not have known before. I’ve discovered I really like the band “Wilco” about which I had known pretty much nothing. I have a hard time working in total quiet, and it’s great to have the music playing in the background, and if I want to pause and listen closely I can do that. You should check it out.
Try Again - After Larry Craig: Let's Reconsider Chastity
OK, I was up too late and butchered the English language on my post from 1:00am or whenever it was. Good grief, I didn't even spell "Larry" right. I have corrected it, much to the relief of my language-loving friends, and if you want just follow this link for the corrected version - After Larry Craig: Let's Reconsider Chastity. And yes, I think he should resign.
Cool It
Bjørn Lomborg’s new book, “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming,” will, hopefully, add positively to the debate regarding global warming and it’s impact upon the earth over the next hundred years.
At this point I support almost anything that falls between global warming hysteria on the one hand and conspiracy theorists on the other. Open minded discussion devoid of strong arming on either side would be nice.
But what we really need is a wider-spread ethic of creation care. OK, I grant, not everyone can embrace my use of the word “creation.” Such implies a creator, and some folks can't go with that. If you’re one of those folks, translate my phrase as “ethic of earth care” if you’d like.
In the end it should not be fear that motivates us to care for this good earth upon which we have been set. Ultimately what should motivate us is virtue, love, stewardship, and moderation.
Love of God is a good motivator – it is His earth and we should not be poisoning it and ripping it apart to satisfy our lust and greed. We should not be wiping his wonderful creatures off the map either.
But love of neighbor should also be a good motivator. How we treat the earth, what we put into the air and water – all this impacts other people. Do we want to do good to our neighbor or harm to our neighbor?
Love of creation itself is a good motivator. Some have called this “biophilia,” and it speaks to that bond we have (or our better selves have) with the living creatures and systems around us.
The virtue of moderation is another good reason to care about the earth. How many of our environmental problems are caused by unbridled and conspicuous consumption – consumption which requires unsustainable use of limited resources. Contentment, moderation, gratitude – the exercise of these virtues alone would impact our world for the better in countless ways.
And this brings up the virtue of stewardship, the wise and sustainable use of that which has been given to us. Stewardship is a virtue. Good stewardship would cause us to look closely at our patterns of life. Good stewardship leads to moderation, conservation, recycling, and loving care of fragile ecosystems and their biodiversity. Those ecosystems have not only animals and plants that we do better to love than to abuse, but they also contain the future cures for many if not most human diseases. We have barely begun to understand the relationship between rare bio-chemicals in this plant or that fungus, and our own diseases.
Good stewardship protects and defends the good and beautiful things which are given to us, as it were, as a gift. Beauty is a central part of the human experience. The absence of it harms our souls and strangles our spirits. We are less without it. As a species, to a great extent, according to our stewardship of a beauty we received but did not create, we play a role in whether beauty remains. It is a gift to be cherished and protected, as good stewards do.
Good stewardship keeps in mind the generation to come after us. What do we want to bequeath to them? Would the virtue of good stewardship not want to give to our children and children’s children an even better and more beautiful world than we have received from our fathers and mothers? I think so.
This is, again, why putting global warming up front as the be all and end all environmental issue concerns me. Eliminate that from your mind and you still have hundreds of reasons to practice an ethic of creation care, or earth care, and hundreds of ways, big and small, to make this world a better place for all who inhabit it.
At this point I support almost anything that falls between global warming hysteria on the one hand and conspiracy theorists on the other. Open minded discussion devoid of strong arming on either side would be nice.
But what we really need is a wider-spread ethic of creation care. OK, I grant, not everyone can embrace my use of the word “creation.” Such implies a creator, and some folks can't go with that. If you’re one of those folks, translate my phrase as “ethic of earth care” if you’d like.
In the end it should not be fear that motivates us to care for this good earth upon which we have been set. Ultimately what should motivate us is virtue, love, stewardship, and moderation.
Love of God is a good motivator – it is His earth and we should not be poisoning it and ripping it apart to satisfy our lust and greed. We should not be wiping his wonderful creatures off the map either.
But love of neighbor should also be a good motivator. How we treat the earth, what we put into the air and water – all this impacts other people. Do we want to do good to our neighbor or harm to our neighbor?
Love of creation itself is a good motivator. Some have called this “biophilia,” and it speaks to that bond we have (or our better selves have) with the living creatures and systems around us.
The virtue of moderation is another good reason to care about the earth. How many of our environmental problems are caused by unbridled and conspicuous consumption – consumption which requires unsustainable use of limited resources. Contentment, moderation, gratitude – the exercise of these virtues alone would impact our world for the better in countless ways.
And this brings up the virtue of stewardship, the wise and sustainable use of that which has been given to us. Stewardship is a virtue. Good stewardship would cause us to look closely at our patterns of life. Good stewardship leads to moderation, conservation, recycling, and loving care of fragile ecosystems and their biodiversity. Those ecosystems have not only animals and plants that we do better to love than to abuse, but they also contain the future cures for many if not most human diseases. We have barely begun to understand the relationship between rare bio-chemicals in this plant or that fungus, and our own diseases.
Good stewardship protects and defends the good and beautiful things which are given to us, as it were, as a gift. Beauty is a central part of the human experience. The absence of it harms our souls and strangles our spirits. We are less without it. As a species, to a great extent, according to our stewardship of a beauty we received but did not create, we play a role in whether beauty remains. It is a gift to be cherished and protected, as good stewards do.
Good stewardship keeps in mind the generation to come after us. What do we want to bequeath to them? Would the virtue of good stewardship not want to give to our children and children’s children an even better and more beautiful world than we have received from our fathers and mothers? I think so.
This is, again, why putting global warming up front as the be all and end all environmental issue concerns me. Eliminate that from your mind and you still have hundreds of reasons to practice an ethic of creation care, or earth care, and hundreds of ways, big and small, to make this world a better place for all who inhabit it.
Photo of the Day - September 5, 2007 - September Along the Chattooga
This picture was taken from the South Carolina side looking across to the Georgia side of the Chattooga River. The tree is a Sourwood - almost always the first tree in the southern woods to turn color - or at least to turn red. We have a few nice sour woods around Greensboro. If you see a tree with reddish leaves in September, taller than a dogwood but still and under story tree, and generally with a sweeping/arcing shape, and a dark alligator-skin type bark, it's a Sourwood. There is one right at the end of Lake Brandt Road where it dead ends into Old Battleground. I will enjoy it until the Urban Loop takes it out.
After Larry Craig: Let's Reconsider Chastity
So, Larry Craig as U.S. Senator is history. Or before today he was. Now he is not sure. I think his resignation is for the best. He needed to go for several reasons – either for soliciting sex in a public bathroom (if that happened), for engaging in the very kinds of acts he speaks so strongly against (if that happened), or for being just a dumb nut pleading guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct (if the two things above are not true, then what is the disorderly conduct about, and why would a man of integrity plead guilty to something he did not do?). As if it wouldn’t come back to haunt him. He was whisked away so quickly by the Senate establishment that it appears he had a history of such conduct, or that there was a history of suspicions of such conduct, which raises its own set of questions and concerns.
He says he isn’t gay. I don’t even know what “gay” means anymore. It does seem that many gay folk want to make gayness a central part of a person’s persona and psyche – either you are fundamentally gay or you’re fundamentally not gay. I am not sure things are so cut and dry. And my guess is that as to this either/or definition that Larry Craig is not gay. What I do think is true is that people, whether through unhealthy sexual development, the influence of pornography, or the experience of periods of life of unbridled sexuality of all kinds, allow a kind of relentless sensuality to take root, and sex with about anyone or anything will work, even if it conflicts with the conscience, one’s sense of the public good, or one’s stated and sincere public or moral views.
The idea of sexual solicitation and sexual acts in public bathrooms makes me want to puke. Ugh, do I even want to go in another public bathroom? Gross, what is that on the seat?
Behind all the well intended and high minded debate about the rights or the non rights of gay people, there is a broader and more significant issue, more moral in nature perhaps than legal, and that is the unbridled sexuality that oozes across our culture at every turn. It’s everywhere – from the Cosmo cleavages in the grocery store line, to the ubiquitous presence of porn on the internet, to the overly advertised “men’s” clubs, to the steamy scenes on TV day in and day out, to the terribly immodest clothes foisted on our young teens and pre teens, to the juvenile and inappropriate sex humor on almost all the morning radio shows, to the Victoria Secret ads and commercials, to the innumerable pages of soft porn in the Rhino Times (now there is an irony), to the incessant ED commercials, I mean – we live in a sex drenched age! It’s getting downright disgusting.
Christians historically have been ridiculed for being uptight about sex, though Christians seem to know how to make kids pretty well according to demographic data. But that’s “procreation,” a different matter, right?
Well maybe it’s time for the historic orthodox Christian teaching regarding sexual chastity to make a comeback. Chastity does not mean abstinence; it means appropriate sexual expression, and it strongly implies modesty as regards our sexuality. I know - the word “chastity” doesn’t get much respect these days. It is thought of, wrongly, as implying a low view of human sexuality, or as sexuality as somehow inherently evil, as some Gnostics understood it. Or chastity is ridiculed or dismissed as “Victorian” (as if Christian views of sexuality began in the Victorian era), or worse still perhaps, as “Catholic.” But in reality the concept of chastity promotes inner wholeness and purity as well as societal stability and order. Yes, it is true, the historic orthodox Christian view of chastity, which I would say is the Biblical view, teaches that the God-intended context or environment for sexual expression is that of heterosexual monogamous marriage. Within this definition, chastity as a moral virtue applies to all people in all situations, married, single, old, young, tending toward gay, tending toward straight. Every person, regardless of his or her situation, is tempted to engage in sexual expression beyond these boundaries one way or another, and the difference in the depth of the temptation (and difficulty) may not be so different between folks of different life situations or inner tendencies as is often thought. Chastity as a calling, and as a challenge, applies to everyone. It is hard for everyone. I realize that this notion may go over like a lead balloon in the year 2007, but seriously, it’s time that we rethink where we are. Our culture reeks, it stinks, it has become grotesque, an outhouse of sexual libertarianism. No wonder other people do not want it exported to their shores.
I am perfectly aware that the historic orthodox Christian definition of sexuality will find many opponents, not the least of whom would be gay people. There may be no neutral ground or possibility of compatibility or agreement on this matter, and of course there is no ultimate way to separate the moral issue from its legal /social ramifications. But I ask, is it not possible for both straight and gay people, even if they cannot agree in every way about the appropriate context for sexual expression, or about the definition of marriage – is it not possible that gay and straight people can agree that the hyper sexually drenched nature of our culture is terrible, and at some level at least a compromise definition of chastity that limits, chastens, and calls to task both the heterosexual and homosexual libertarianism of our day would be in order?
He says he isn’t gay. I don’t even know what “gay” means anymore. It does seem that many gay folk want to make gayness a central part of a person’s persona and psyche – either you are fundamentally gay or you’re fundamentally not gay. I am not sure things are so cut and dry. And my guess is that as to this either/or definition that Larry Craig is not gay. What I do think is true is that people, whether through unhealthy sexual development, the influence of pornography, or the experience of periods of life of unbridled sexuality of all kinds, allow a kind of relentless sensuality to take root, and sex with about anyone or anything will work, even if it conflicts with the conscience, one’s sense of the public good, or one’s stated and sincere public or moral views.
The idea of sexual solicitation and sexual acts in public bathrooms makes me want to puke. Ugh, do I even want to go in another public bathroom? Gross, what is that on the seat?
Behind all the well intended and high minded debate about the rights or the non rights of gay people, there is a broader and more significant issue, more moral in nature perhaps than legal, and that is the unbridled sexuality that oozes across our culture at every turn. It’s everywhere – from the Cosmo cleavages in the grocery store line, to the ubiquitous presence of porn on the internet, to the overly advertised “men’s” clubs, to the steamy scenes on TV day in and day out, to the terribly immodest clothes foisted on our young teens and pre teens, to the juvenile and inappropriate sex humor on almost all the morning radio shows, to the Victoria Secret ads and commercials, to the innumerable pages of soft porn in the Rhino Times (now there is an irony), to the incessant ED commercials, I mean – we live in a sex drenched age! It’s getting downright disgusting.
Christians historically have been ridiculed for being uptight about sex, though Christians seem to know how to make kids pretty well according to demographic data. But that’s “procreation,” a different matter, right?
Well maybe it’s time for the historic orthodox Christian teaching regarding sexual chastity to make a comeback. Chastity does not mean abstinence; it means appropriate sexual expression, and it strongly implies modesty as regards our sexuality. I know - the word “chastity” doesn’t get much respect these days. It is thought of, wrongly, as implying a low view of human sexuality, or as sexuality as somehow inherently evil, as some Gnostics understood it. Or chastity is ridiculed or dismissed as “Victorian” (as if Christian views of sexuality began in the Victorian era), or worse still perhaps, as “Catholic.” But in reality the concept of chastity promotes inner wholeness and purity as well as societal stability and order. Yes, it is true, the historic orthodox Christian view of chastity, which I would say is the Biblical view, teaches that the God-intended context or environment for sexual expression is that of heterosexual monogamous marriage. Within this definition, chastity as a moral virtue applies to all people in all situations, married, single, old, young, tending toward gay, tending toward straight. Every person, regardless of his or her situation, is tempted to engage in sexual expression beyond these boundaries one way or another, and the difference in the depth of the temptation (and difficulty) may not be so different between folks of different life situations or inner tendencies as is often thought. Chastity as a calling, and as a challenge, applies to everyone. It is hard for everyone. I realize that this notion may go over like a lead balloon in the year 2007, but seriously, it’s time that we rethink where we are. Our culture reeks, it stinks, it has become grotesque, an outhouse of sexual libertarianism. No wonder other people do not want it exported to their shores.
I am perfectly aware that the historic orthodox Christian definition of sexuality will find many opponents, not the least of whom would be gay people. There may be no neutral ground or possibility of compatibility or agreement on this matter, and of course there is no ultimate way to separate the moral issue from its legal /social ramifications. But I ask, is it not possible for both straight and gay people, even if they cannot agree in every way about the appropriate context for sexual expression, or about the definition of marriage – is it not possible that gay and straight people can agree that the hyper sexually drenched nature of our culture is terrible, and at some level at least a compromise definition of chastity that limits, chastens, and calls to task both the heterosexual and homosexual libertarianism of our day would be in order?
Friday, August 31, 2007
September
I’ve always loved September.
I even like the name of it, how it rolls off the tongue.
I think I love those first hints of fall even more than fall itself, you know, that breeze that carries a different smell, air that seems a bit drier, and a touch a coolness unexpectedly on a Saturday morning.
I love the pennant races in baseball, and the hoopla surrounding the new football season.
I like the woods in September. There is always so much going on in the world of nature in September as plants and bugs and other creatures start to get ready for the coming winter.
I probably like September more now that I don’t have to “go back to school” as in my early years. That always kind of stunk!
I dig equinoxes, and September has one, the autumnal equinox, when the sun rises true east and sets true west, the first official day of fall.
I like gardens in September, the blooming of the late season flowers, so many plants going to seed, brave butterflies passing through or laying eggs, the beginning of the return to the earth of that season’s growth.
I like the poem “thirty days hath September…”
I like the stubble of fields harvested.
There are some September poems I have collected over the years. Here is the first stanza of Wordsworth’s "September, 1819":
Departing summer hath assumed
aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.
John Updike published a calendar for children, each month with a short poem. Here is the poem for September:
The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.
We’ve had much trouble of late in September – Katrina and 9/11 come to mind, yet September seems to be a quiet month overall, one that sort of passes with little notice. It is sort of an in between month, tucked between its bigger sisters of August and October.
For Iris Dement, September in its quiet unassuming passing reminds her of the quiet passing of her life:
My life, it don't count for nothing.
When I look at this world, I feel so small.
My life, it's only a season:
A passing September that no one will recall.
OK, that’s a bit of a downer.
The change of the season from summer to fall, and from fall to winder, used to make me sad. It doesn’t anymore.
I like September. You won’t need to wake me up when September comes, I’ll be awake already.
I even like the name of it, how it rolls off the tongue.
I think I love those first hints of fall even more than fall itself, you know, that breeze that carries a different smell, air that seems a bit drier, and a touch a coolness unexpectedly on a Saturday morning.
I love the pennant races in baseball, and the hoopla surrounding the new football season.
I like the woods in September. There is always so much going on in the world of nature in September as plants and bugs and other creatures start to get ready for the coming winter.
I probably like September more now that I don’t have to “go back to school” as in my early years. That always kind of stunk!
I dig equinoxes, and September has one, the autumnal equinox, when the sun rises true east and sets true west, the first official day of fall.
I like gardens in September, the blooming of the late season flowers, so many plants going to seed, brave butterflies passing through or laying eggs, the beginning of the return to the earth of that season’s growth.
I like the poem “thirty days hath September…”
I like the stubble of fields harvested.
There are some September poems I have collected over the years. Here is the first stanza of Wordsworth’s "September, 1819":
Departing summer hath assumed
aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.
John Updike published a calendar for children, each month with a short poem. Here is the poem for September:
The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.
We’ve had much trouble of late in September – Katrina and 9/11 come to mind, yet September seems to be a quiet month overall, one that sort of passes with little notice. It is sort of an in between month, tucked between its bigger sisters of August and October.
For Iris Dement, September in its quiet unassuming passing reminds her of the quiet passing of her life:
My life, it don't count for nothing.
When I look at this world, I feel so small.
My life, it's only a season:
A passing September that no one will recall.
OK, that’s a bit of a downer.
The change of the season from summer to fall, and from fall to winder, used to make me sad. It doesn’t anymore.
I like September. You won’t need to wake me up when September comes, I’ll be awake already.
Photo of the Day - Friday, August 31, 2007 - Looking Glass Falls
Ahhh, the thought of water...My daughter Heather (a senior now at Chapel Hill) did a road trip over Spring Break this year, mostly following the Blue Ridge Parkway, but taking detours here and there. The western end of the Parkway was closed so we had to get off, and soon enough found ourselves in my old stomping grounds from my Clemson days. I always loved these falls.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
I Said, She Said
I said: "If I am prone to any consistent error of judgment it is the error of over estimating my ability to pull something off."
She said: "I don't think so."
I reply: "There seems to hover around the edges of my life this sense of promise not realized. This has been there for a along time, going way back. I can’t blame my parents for this – they were very supportive. They may have been overly supportive; I certainly did not get much guidance from them. I’ve tended to make good first impressions in my life, only to disappoint later. I convey a sense that there are deep waters flowing, and people discover there is less to me than first suspected. I know I disappoint myself. I think that I did not get an education in keeping with my ability, and am much more ignorant than my apparent native intelligence suggests (emphasis on "apparent"). But back to the point. There are some who think I don’t do enough, am not adventuresome enough, don’t try enough things. To them, my error is in settling, in underestimating my ability. But I think their suspicions underscore the point I was making. Whether it be lack of discipline, lack of organization, lack of education, lack of energy, or presence of headaches, I really do tend to over commit, to promise more than I can fulfill. I've done this so many times I am wise enough to it at this point.
Often life seems a matter of finding that realistic balance between all the varying duties and responsibilities and interests – and somehow allowing enough margin in life to not be always on the run, and finding a day to day pattern that maximizes the potential that is there, whatever that may be. It's hard to do a good job in every area of life all the time. I used to express the rather cynical view that life was a matter of choosing who would be mad at you at any given point. But I'd rather look at the problem as one of wisdom and balance now.
Speaking of, I think that there is much wisdom in the age old Jewish notion of Sabbath. Sabbath suggests a rhythm of life that we’re made as creatures to follow. Add to that the natural rhythms of night and day, of wake and sleep, and work and rest, and we have patterns emerge with which we can live in sync - or not. That is what I seek for myself, a consistent pattern of daily and weekly life that allows for both productivity and reflection. I’m not there yet, but getting closer I hope.
She said: "I don't think so."
I reply: "There seems to hover around the edges of my life this sense of promise not realized. This has been there for a along time, going way back. I can’t blame my parents for this – they were very supportive. They may have been overly supportive; I certainly did not get much guidance from them. I’ve tended to make good first impressions in my life, only to disappoint later. I convey a sense that there are deep waters flowing, and people discover there is less to me than first suspected. I know I disappoint myself. I think that I did not get an education in keeping with my ability, and am much more ignorant than my apparent native intelligence suggests (emphasis on "apparent"). But back to the point. There are some who think I don’t do enough, am not adventuresome enough, don’t try enough things. To them, my error is in settling, in underestimating my ability. But I think their suspicions underscore the point I was making. Whether it be lack of discipline, lack of organization, lack of education, lack of energy, or presence of headaches, I really do tend to over commit, to promise more than I can fulfill. I've done this so many times I am wise enough to it at this point.
Often life seems a matter of finding that realistic balance between all the varying duties and responsibilities and interests – and somehow allowing enough margin in life to not be always on the run, and finding a day to day pattern that maximizes the potential that is there, whatever that may be. It's hard to do a good job in every area of life all the time. I used to express the rather cynical view that life was a matter of choosing who would be mad at you at any given point. But I'd rather look at the problem as one of wisdom and balance now.
Speaking of, I think that there is much wisdom in the age old Jewish notion of Sabbath. Sabbath suggests a rhythm of life that we’re made as creatures to follow. Add to that the natural rhythms of night and day, of wake and sleep, and work and rest, and we have patterns emerge with which we can live in sync - or not. That is what I seek for myself, a consistent pattern of daily and weekly life that allows for both productivity and reflection. I’m not there yet, but getting closer I hope.
Photo of the Day - August 30, 2007 - Forest and Falls, Outside Vancouver
I love the textures of the tree branches and needles in this picture. Somebody told me it looked like trees peeing!
Reasonable Doubt
Another interesting article about the science and politics of global warming.
One of the more interesting things I have experienced in the last year is the scorn sent my way by fellow environmentalists whenever I express doubts about the science of global warming, particular as to the role of man in whatever warming we may experience, and the exact impact of that warming. I recently read a long article by a leading European climatologist about the role of clouds, and how cloud impact has not been factored into most studies. I also have expressed concern that all the hype about global warming will in the end be bad for the environment, because people will see in time that the the science is not clear, and will be inclined to reject many initiatives that we need to take for the sake of clean air and water, habitat preservation, alternative fuels, and energy and resource conservation. I am passionate about these things and do not wish to see them come to ruin from a backlash to outlandish documentaries.
See also past reflections on this matter here and my response to Laurie at the end of the comment thread here.
One of the more interesting things I have experienced in the last year is the scorn sent my way by fellow environmentalists whenever I express doubts about the science of global warming, particular as to the role of man in whatever warming we may experience, and the exact impact of that warming. I recently read a long article by a leading European climatologist about the role of clouds, and how cloud impact has not been factored into most studies. I also have expressed concern that all the hype about global warming will in the end be bad for the environment, because people will see in time that the the science is not clear, and will be inclined to reject many initiatives that we need to take for the sake of clean air and water, habitat preservation, alternative fuels, and energy and resource conservation. I am passionate about these things and do not wish to see them come to ruin from a backlash to outlandish documentaries.
See also past reflections on this matter here and my response to Laurie at the end of the comment thread here.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Still Hope for Haw River State Park?
I had thought that the issue of the development and golf course next to the Haw River State Park Environmental Center at The Summit was a done deal, so it was with some relief that I read Ed Cone's reference to the matter in his blog today. Ed references an alert put out by Citizens of Haw River Park. Apparently there is further opportunity to make our thoughts and views known to our "never saw a development they didn't like" County Commissioners. I plan to do that, and will be writing the Citizens group to ask how best to do it.
We need another golf course like we need a hole in our head. We have opportunity to have a very real and significant State Park right here in our own county, protecting one of the few remaining undeveloped river and creek basins we have left, a Park which will bring people from all around to our county. The hope and plan was that the state would be able to purchase easements upriver and up creek from The Summit and from the confluence of the Haw River and Mears Fork, eventually having a "Y" shaped park snaking along the river and creek and their bluffs, providing hiking trails and habitat for ever diminishing wildlife, and further protection for the water draining into Mears Fork and the Haw River.
But no, somebody has a burr up his butt about problems with the golf course down the street, and so we have to have yet another affluent exurban development with fancy golf course. And oh how familiar the rationilizations are - these are very nice developers, and they plan to be sensitive to the river front, and provide a buffer, and if don't allow this very nice group of developers to have their golf course we may end up with something much worse. Oh dear!
Well, no. We can avoid ending up with something much worse. The state and the county and supporters of the park can put forth the money to buy either the necessary easements or to buy the land outright, even through eminent domain of necessary. This is a State Park we're talking about, not a mall.
This development will truncate and castrate the Haw River State Park. It ruins it for the most part. The land in question is a large parcel just up stream from the Summit Environmental Center at Haw River State Park, and separates that Center from the confluence of the Haw River and Mears Fork just up river. For the Park to lose opportunity to buy easements or even buy much of that land will ruin the Park site plan, and chop up the whole Park idea.
So here are the options: A State Park or more big houses for rich people? A State Park or yet another golf course?
You can read more about the Haw River State Park here.
John Young hits the nail on the head in his article in todays News and Record.
We need another golf course like we need a hole in our head. We have opportunity to have a very real and significant State Park right here in our own county, protecting one of the few remaining undeveloped river and creek basins we have left, a Park which will bring people from all around to our county. The hope and plan was that the state would be able to purchase easements upriver and up creek from The Summit and from the confluence of the Haw River and Mears Fork, eventually having a "Y" shaped park snaking along the river and creek and their bluffs, providing hiking trails and habitat for ever diminishing wildlife, and further protection for the water draining into Mears Fork and the Haw River.
But no, somebody has a burr up his butt about problems with the golf course down the street, and so we have to have yet another affluent exurban development with fancy golf course. And oh how familiar the rationilizations are - these are very nice developers, and they plan to be sensitive to the river front, and provide a buffer, and if don't allow this very nice group of developers to have their golf course we may end up with something much worse. Oh dear!
Well, no. We can avoid ending up with something much worse. The state and the county and supporters of the park can put forth the money to buy either the necessary easements or to buy the land outright, even through eminent domain of necessary. This is a State Park we're talking about, not a mall.
This development will truncate and castrate the Haw River State Park. It ruins it for the most part. The land in question is a large parcel just up stream from the Summit Environmental Center at Haw River State Park, and separates that Center from the confluence of the Haw River and Mears Fork just up river. For the Park to lose opportunity to buy easements or even buy much of that land will ruin the Park site plan, and chop up the whole Park idea.
So here are the options: A State Park or more big houses for rich people? A State Park or yet another golf course?
You can read more about the Haw River State Park here.
John Young hits the nail on the head in his article in todays News and Record.
An Inconvenient Fact Explored
An interesting take on Leonardo DiCaprio's movie "The Eleventh Hour" and the role of forests and trees in concentrating and sequestering carbon dioxide - in today's Vancouver Sun (I miss Vancouver).
Gay Republicans, A Reprise
I know, I know, Sen. Larry Craig is not gay. He said so, three times. And of course he did NOT do what he plead guilty to have done. Right. I guess we will all be treated to ongoing discussions and reports of what did or did not happen in that airport bathroom.
Which has reminded me of a similar story last year regarding an evangelical leader caught engaging in certain extra marital trysts with young men. It was so much fun watching all the writhing and hand wringing and personal agony over that matter it seems time to do it again.
And so, I remembered something I wrote last October. The situation was different, but I wish to offer a reprise of comments made then regarding men who are either gay and Republican, or participating in some homosexual activities, and Republican.
These men have varied backgrounds. Many are married and thus cheating on their wives. I think that that is an issue of some significance, but what are we doing to “out” cheating heterosexuals, Republican or Democrat, or cheating by ostensibly monogamous gay partners?
It seems that to many people it is just about impossible to be a gay Republican with any integrity. I do not agree, and I am neither gay nor a Republican.
There is a basic principle that many gay men and women themselves are anxious to establish – and that is that gay people are people too. OK, obvious point. But there is nothing inherent to being gay that would lean one away from a conservative political philosophy. Or is there a liberal gene that goes with the gay gene? Thinking of classic conservative principles I see no reason why a gay person could not be persuaded of these as much as a non gay person. Granted, the Republican party is mushy on those principles these days, but why could a gay person not lean toward less government, more state’s rights, protection of unborn children, a stronger military, educational vouchers, etc.
So, what if a gay person finds himself to be for the most part in keeping with a party that is politically conservative. So what? I would think some gay people like Italian food and some like Mexican food.
But what to do given that the Republican Party is opposed to the “gay agenda.” What is a gay Republican to do? I would think that he or she) has several options.
First, he may just take the bad with the good, live with the dilemma, and for the sake of his standing and influence amongst conservatives, just not focus much attention on the issues important to the gay lobby. He may well be open about being gay, work toward the other issues consistent with his conservative values, but just not actively support anti gay rights initiatives.
Second, he may, despite his private predilections, actually oppose gay marriage. It is quite possible that a person would see as not in the public interest things that are true about himself. Rather than being a sign of some deep troubling psychological pathology, this might simply be good sense. I am sure that there are a lot of straight men (let’s say they are not married) who do not think cohabitation laws are in the public interest, yet they may be promiscuous rascals. It does not go without saying that one’s private predilections should form the basis of one’s public policy. I wonder what JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. would have to say about that.
Third, he may, like many other people on a thousand issues, merely be a hypocrite. Well, if we’re outing hypocrites, let’s get busy and clean out the majority of the people who are in office. We could start with environmentalists, who seldom live daily lives consistent with their own public policy positions. We might start with Al Gore and John Edwards and go from there. Hypocrisy stinks, but it is an equal opportunity employer. I would imagine that many avid vocal supporters of gay marriage and gay monogamy are themselves promiscuous. We can throw them out too.
I don’t like hypocrisy, in myself, or in others, but let’s apply the hypocrisy ruler equally across the board. I don’t see that happening.
Fourth, related but slightly different from the first point, a gay Republican may feel that he has no future in the system if he is outed, so he leads a double life. That is, he may be a true conservative, yet may otherwise wish for more liberal marriage laws, but he knows that it won’t get him far in the party and there are so many other things that he is passionate about he just keeps his mouth shut. He is not really allowed by the system to vote his conscience. Well, welcome to politics. Is this not the case time and time again for so many people regarding so many issues? I would wish more politicians were free to buck the party line and vote their conscience on a number of issues.
Fifth and finally, the man may be cheating on a wife, advocating anti gay marriage in public meetings, and holding himself up as a standard bearer of traditional values, yet practice a gay lifestyle. This is a higher level of hypocrisy, because it both involves cheating on a vow and making oneself out to be what one certainly is not.
But I ask, do we really care about cheating and high level hypocrisy per se, across the board? Do gay rights advocates care about these same issues as perhaps may involve themselves in other respects, or may involve other more liberal politicians on other issues? Do heterosexual partisan conservatives not delight to dig up dirt on their Democratic opponents?
I'd like to see the hypocrisy standard applied evenly across the board if it is to be applied, and less attention given to people's private sex lives generally, whether day or straight, Democrat or Republican.
Which has reminded me of a similar story last year regarding an evangelical leader caught engaging in certain extra marital trysts with young men. It was so much fun watching all the writhing and hand wringing and personal agony over that matter it seems time to do it again.
And so, I remembered something I wrote last October. The situation was different, but I wish to offer a reprise of comments made then regarding men who are either gay and Republican, or participating in some homosexual activities, and Republican.
These men have varied backgrounds. Many are married and thus cheating on their wives. I think that that is an issue of some significance, but what are we doing to “out” cheating heterosexuals, Republican or Democrat, or cheating by ostensibly monogamous gay partners?
It seems that to many people it is just about impossible to be a gay Republican with any integrity. I do not agree, and I am neither gay nor a Republican.
There is a basic principle that many gay men and women themselves are anxious to establish – and that is that gay people are people too. OK, obvious point. But there is nothing inherent to being gay that would lean one away from a conservative political philosophy. Or is there a liberal gene that goes with the gay gene? Thinking of classic conservative principles I see no reason why a gay person could not be persuaded of these as much as a non gay person. Granted, the Republican party is mushy on those principles these days, but why could a gay person not lean toward less government, more state’s rights, protection of unborn children, a stronger military, educational vouchers, etc.
So, what if a gay person finds himself to be for the most part in keeping with a party that is politically conservative. So what? I would think some gay people like Italian food and some like Mexican food.
But what to do given that the Republican Party is opposed to the “gay agenda.” What is a gay Republican to do? I would think that he or she) has several options.
First, he may just take the bad with the good, live with the dilemma, and for the sake of his standing and influence amongst conservatives, just not focus much attention on the issues important to the gay lobby. He may well be open about being gay, work toward the other issues consistent with his conservative values, but just not actively support anti gay rights initiatives.
Second, he may, despite his private predilections, actually oppose gay marriage. It is quite possible that a person would see as not in the public interest things that are true about himself. Rather than being a sign of some deep troubling psychological pathology, this might simply be good sense. I am sure that there are a lot of straight men (let’s say they are not married) who do not think cohabitation laws are in the public interest, yet they may be promiscuous rascals. It does not go without saying that one’s private predilections should form the basis of one’s public policy. I wonder what JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. would have to say about that.
Third, he may, like many other people on a thousand issues, merely be a hypocrite. Well, if we’re outing hypocrites, let’s get busy and clean out the majority of the people who are in office. We could start with environmentalists, who seldom live daily lives consistent with their own public policy positions. We might start with Al Gore and John Edwards and go from there. Hypocrisy stinks, but it is an equal opportunity employer. I would imagine that many avid vocal supporters of gay marriage and gay monogamy are themselves promiscuous. We can throw them out too.
I don’t like hypocrisy, in myself, or in others, but let’s apply the hypocrisy ruler equally across the board. I don’t see that happening.
Fourth, related but slightly different from the first point, a gay Republican may feel that he has no future in the system if he is outed, so he leads a double life. That is, he may be a true conservative, yet may otherwise wish for more liberal marriage laws, but he knows that it won’t get him far in the party and there are so many other things that he is passionate about he just keeps his mouth shut. He is not really allowed by the system to vote his conscience. Well, welcome to politics. Is this not the case time and time again for so many people regarding so many issues? I would wish more politicians were free to buck the party line and vote their conscience on a number of issues.
Fifth and finally, the man may be cheating on a wife, advocating anti gay marriage in public meetings, and holding himself up as a standard bearer of traditional values, yet practice a gay lifestyle. This is a higher level of hypocrisy, because it both involves cheating on a vow and making oneself out to be what one certainly is not.
But I ask, do we really care about cheating and high level hypocrisy per se, across the board? Do gay rights advocates care about these same issues as perhaps may involve themselves in other respects, or may involve other more liberal politicians on other issues? Do heterosexual partisan conservatives not delight to dig up dirt on their Democratic opponents?
I'd like to see the hypocrisy standard applied evenly across the board if it is to be applied, and less attention given to people's private sex lives generally, whether day or straight, Democrat or Republican.
Photo of the Day - August 29, 2007 - Today's Fifty Year Olds in 1963
Here are today's 50 year olds as five or six year olds, myself included, at Saint Michael's Episcopal Church Kindergarten (or pre-school), Bridgewood Road, Columbia, SC, 1963. I love the clothes, the hairdo's, and the general goofiness of this picture. It's a great slice of life from a bygone era. I was fortunate that my Kindergarten class was only a couple of hundred yards away. My street was windy and hilly, and round the turn and up the hill was St. Michael's Episcopal Church. I thought I was really big stuff because I rode my bike to kindergarten! The same church also had several acres of "woods" that are still not developed, and which had a significant impact on my childhood - digging foxholes, climbing trees, hammering in two-by-four steps way up to the first limbs of very tall pines, digging tunnels, holding bike races, having various games of hide and seek and war, constructing paths for sledding, and so forth. The church also had a large field for baseball and tackle football games, and by the time I was in about middle school, had put in a full court slab of concrete and two sturdy basketball goals. I was really very fortunate. And of course there was the play ground, always open to the neighborhood kids.
Pierre Neuffer, bottom left, was probably my best friend in first and second grade. Most folks called him "Pete" but I always called him "Pierre." He died during high school while attending Cardinal Newman High School. He was a great guy and good athlete. We played on the same pony league baseball team. Win Williams is next to him and I think Lyn Floyd behind him. I see Ed Salters and David Dupree (I think) on the back row. Bob Moore is front row second from right. That's me third row back, third from right. Maybe the last time I buttoned the top button of a shirt!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Photo of the Day - August 28, 2007 - Black Eyed Susans, from Below
Took this a few weeks ago in my backyard. Should have used flash I think to draw out the flower petals, but I like the perspective.
Back in Town, Egg on Face
Sometimes you do or try out what seems to be a good thing, but it’s really not the right time for it, or the right place.
After my big announcement of my plans to take the two classes at NC State, and then starting, it seems that one thing after another has been poking at me to suggest that maybe I had miscalculated. If I am prone to any consistent error of judgment it is the error of over estimating my ability to pull something off. And I have been under a dark cloud for almost a week that I was making a mistake, and today going to Raleigh I just had this overwhelming sense that it wasn’t the right thing for now, or not the right place for the right thing perhaps. I was already feeling an adverse effect on my ability to be the kind of pastor I am called to be, there being various scheduling pressures or conflicts here brought on by the class schedule there. I am not good at being in two places so to speak; I tend to prefer being wholly invested in one place, and if I do pursue classes of some sort at some time I should do that where I live and pastor. But even my shorter term goals of getting in shape and the goal of starting to put together plans for the Creation Care association, not to mention being able to see and meet with people when needed, and really putting my heart into the ministry of the Word and Prayer – all that seemed, in practice, once I jumped in a little, to be actually hindered by my plan more than I had thought it would be. And it was weird last Thursday walking round I kept thinking, all these young people and I would love to get to know them, and then I kept thinking of UNCG and wishing I were there so relationships could develop perhaps. But I will have to say, the folks at State were very very kind and helpful.
Anyway, I have withdrawn. I get my money back, and no great harm but the time spent and the embarrassment I feel. But coming back to town today I had such a sense of relief, and when I saw the signs for Greensboro, and UNCG, and A&T, etc., I felt like George Bailey at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life, wanting to kiss the signs and familiar everyday things.
I feel a bit like an idiot. The broader goals are the same; the particulars will have to be different. As someone said, quoting their father, “Sometimes the best advance is a hasty retreat.” I guess that applies to me right now. I am looking forward very much to preaching through Luke, to time with my congregation, to having fun with you blogger folks, finding a daily pattern that is healthy and whole. and a single minded life here.
After my big announcement of my plans to take the two classes at NC State, and then starting, it seems that one thing after another has been poking at me to suggest that maybe I had miscalculated. If I am prone to any consistent error of judgment it is the error of over estimating my ability to pull something off. And I have been under a dark cloud for almost a week that I was making a mistake, and today going to Raleigh I just had this overwhelming sense that it wasn’t the right thing for now, or not the right place for the right thing perhaps. I was already feeling an adverse effect on my ability to be the kind of pastor I am called to be, there being various scheduling pressures or conflicts here brought on by the class schedule there. I am not good at being in two places so to speak; I tend to prefer being wholly invested in one place, and if I do pursue classes of some sort at some time I should do that where I live and pastor. But even my shorter term goals of getting in shape and the goal of starting to put together plans for the Creation Care association, not to mention being able to see and meet with people when needed, and really putting my heart into the ministry of the Word and Prayer – all that seemed, in practice, once I jumped in a little, to be actually hindered by my plan more than I had thought it would be. And it was weird last Thursday walking round I kept thinking, all these young people and I would love to get to know them, and then I kept thinking of UNCG and wishing I were there so relationships could develop perhaps. But I will have to say, the folks at State were very very kind and helpful.
Anyway, I have withdrawn. I get my money back, and no great harm but the time spent and the embarrassment I feel. But coming back to town today I had such a sense of relief, and when I saw the signs for Greensboro, and UNCG, and A&T, etc., I felt like George Bailey at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life, wanting to kiss the signs and familiar everyday things.
I feel a bit like an idiot. The broader goals are the same; the particulars will have to be different. As someone said, quoting their father, “Sometimes the best advance is a hasty retreat.” I guess that applies to me right now. I am looking forward very much to preaching through Luke, to time with my congregation, to having fun with you blogger folks, finding a daily pattern that is healthy and whole. and a single minded life here.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Are Journalists Journalists?
The controversy regarding Professor Skube and his comments about blogging made it into our own local paper today. I think Skube is both right and wrong. I mean, most bloggers, such as myself are not journalists. And many bloggers are set in opinions from which they deviate very little. There is much rancor ill will and petty swiping of insults. But the question I have is not so much whether bloggers are journalists, but whether journalists are journalists.
The sentence above, “many bloggers are set in opinions from which they deviate very little” could just as well be applied to most journalists I read. Adding weeks and weeks of “research” and “fact checking” and whatever else are the standards of mainstream journalism to an immoveable position may actually make the result more and not less devoid of truth, and more dangerous, in that it simply lends an appearance of credibility to the deeply held bias.
The vast majority of journalists vote democratic and are on the left side of the political spectrum here in the US. Within their own inner ring I am sure they feel very objective. And the fact that there is always somebody more liberal than a given journalist does not help really. It lends a false sense of balance. Just because someone is to the left of you doesn’t mean you’re in the middle.
For me, journalism should be about a passion for truth, whether that truth fits with preconceived positions or not. Perhaps amidst the cacophony of talk radio, blogging, Fox News and the like, all of which exist and thrive to some degree due to the bias of traditional journalism, maybe people are finding something more like a real balance. But maybe not. They may just be getting hardened in their preset positions, whether right or left leaning, and whatever truth is may be receding at an even faster clip.
But in the end I don’t think so. This chaotic mess of voices from all sides probably gets us closer to a balanced understanding of things, well, if we can just listen.
The sentence above, “many bloggers are set in opinions from which they deviate very little” could just as well be applied to most journalists I read. Adding weeks and weeks of “research” and “fact checking” and whatever else are the standards of mainstream journalism to an immoveable position may actually make the result more and not less devoid of truth, and more dangerous, in that it simply lends an appearance of credibility to the deeply held bias.
The vast majority of journalists vote democratic and are on the left side of the political spectrum here in the US. Within their own inner ring I am sure they feel very objective. And the fact that there is always somebody more liberal than a given journalist does not help really. It lends a false sense of balance. Just because someone is to the left of you doesn’t mean you’re in the middle.
For me, journalism should be about a passion for truth, whether that truth fits with preconceived positions or not. Perhaps amidst the cacophony of talk radio, blogging, Fox News and the like, all of which exist and thrive to some degree due to the bias of traditional journalism, maybe people are finding something more like a real balance. But maybe not. They may just be getting hardened in their preset positions, whether right or left leaning, and whatever truth is may be receding at an even faster clip.
But in the end I don’t think so. This chaotic mess of voices from all sides probably gets us closer to a balanced understanding of things, well, if we can just listen.
Photo of the Day - August 24, 2007 - An Old Baseball Picture
Maurice Sanders, my Grandfather (my mother's father), on Left app. 1907,
View my Flickr photostream here.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Going Back to School
I don’t know if it was getting all the mailers from AARP (in anticipation of my 50th birthday I presume), reading the article in Time Magazine about people working into their 100’s, reading “The Earth is Flat” by Thomas Friedman, or just listening to the clock ticking inside me, but I have been moved to think about some unfinished business of late, and preparing myself for a calling I sense upon me, and for employment for, you know, when I get old!
So, I am taking a couple of classes this term in Plant Science – at NC State – starting tomorrow.
There are several strands of motivation…
First, I have a crummy BS degree in Biology with so many obvious holes I wouldn’t give myself a second look if I were looking at my transcript. I have been wanting to fill in those holes for 30 years. And, well, I’m just out of date.
Second, as I have written before, I have sense of calling upon my life to tend to the care God’s creation. There are some folks in the community motivated to start a non profit local Christian environmental association. We’re working on the details – the vision and mission – though that may take a little while. Upgrading my credentials will give me more credibility in that area as well as more exposure to people involved in these things from State, Chapel Hill, and Duke
Third, filling up some of the holes in my knowledge will help me as I seek to frame better some of the writing projects that have been rattling around in my head for years. I still want to write that “Natural History of Guilford County”!
Fourth, as I begin moving into second half of my century :), I want to be ready to supplement my income, or do a different thing down the road when I’m, you know, older. Building upon what I started doing a long time ago seemed to be the best approach.
Why NC State? Because of all the universities anywhere near they have been the most receptive and they have the program that best fits my background and goals.
Basically I will leave about 7:30 or 7:45 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays and get back about the same time PM. I’ve tested the route – I’ll be taking 421 to 64 to I-440 right into the heart of the campus. I have two classes – one from 10AM to 1PM and the other from 4:30AM to 5:45PM.
It is interesting…I can already feel the cobwebs starting to come off my brain as I get ready. Yes, I think intellectually and physically I have been in a rut for a while, just due to following the same pattern day to day for 14 years. It’s amazing how turning on another part of the brain gives light to the rest! I already feel more creative and mentally energetic.
As a Christian pastor working for the most part with professing Christian people in a Christian church setting, the truth is, I can lose touch with what life looks like and feels like for people who are not professing Christians – whether they are simply not religious or whether they are of different faiths. I’m kind of looking forward to rubbing shoulders with a broader diversity of people again. Just might make me a better person, and better Christian.
Yes, this means I will be working later on the other days and more on Saturdays and in the evenings. I watch too much TV anyway. But I plan to be there with my “24” compatriots in January!
This is kind of an experiment. We’ll see how it goes. If it does not seem to work out well for me or for the church I pastor I won’t do it again. It’s a one term experiment.
I think it will be fun, and definitely fun-gal (one of the courses is The Kingdom of the Fungi!)
For those that got this far, thank you for reading this post and bearing with my verbosity. Maybe jumping back into the world of scientifically concise descriptions will cure me of that problem a little!
Joel
So, I am taking a couple of classes this term in Plant Science – at NC State – starting tomorrow.
There are several strands of motivation…
First, I have a crummy BS degree in Biology with so many obvious holes I wouldn’t give myself a second look if I were looking at my transcript. I have been wanting to fill in those holes for 30 years. And, well, I’m just out of date.
Second, as I have written before, I have sense of calling upon my life to tend to the care God’s creation. There are some folks in the community motivated to start a non profit local Christian environmental association. We’re working on the details – the vision and mission – though that may take a little while. Upgrading my credentials will give me more credibility in that area as well as more exposure to people involved in these things from State, Chapel Hill, and Duke
Third, filling up some of the holes in my knowledge will help me as I seek to frame better some of the writing projects that have been rattling around in my head for years. I still want to write that “Natural History of Guilford County”!
Fourth, as I begin moving into second half of my century :), I want to be ready to supplement my income, or do a different thing down the road when I’m, you know, older. Building upon what I started doing a long time ago seemed to be the best approach.
Why NC State? Because of all the universities anywhere near they have been the most receptive and they have the program that best fits my background and goals.
Basically I will leave about 7:30 or 7:45 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays and get back about the same time PM. I’ve tested the route – I’ll be taking 421 to 64 to I-440 right into the heart of the campus. I have two classes – one from 10AM to 1PM and the other from 4:30AM to 5:45PM.
It is interesting…I can already feel the cobwebs starting to come off my brain as I get ready. Yes, I think intellectually and physically I have been in a rut for a while, just due to following the same pattern day to day for 14 years. It’s amazing how turning on another part of the brain gives light to the rest! I already feel more creative and mentally energetic.
As a Christian pastor working for the most part with professing Christian people in a Christian church setting, the truth is, I can lose touch with what life looks like and feels like for people who are not professing Christians – whether they are simply not religious or whether they are of different faiths. I’m kind of looking forward to rubbing shoulders with a broader diversity of people again. Just might make me a better person, and better Christian.
Yes, this means I will be working later on the other days and more on Saturdays and in the evenings. I watch too much TV anyway. But I plan to be there with my “24” compatriots in January!
This is kind of an experiment. We’ll see how it goes. If it does not seem to work out well for me or for the church I pastor I won’t do it again. It’s a one term experiment.
I think it will be fun, and definitely fun-gal (one of the courses is The Kingdom of the Fungi!)
For those that got this far, thank you for reading this post and bearing with my verbosity. Maybe jumping back into the world of scientifically concise descriptions will cure me of that problem a little!
Joel
Photo of the Day - August 22, 2007 - Two Zinnias
I am feeling nostalgic for wetter summers when my garden looked better. This year's zinnia's got a late start and have struggled with the heat and dryness. So, I thought I'd post a photo from our butterfly garden from two summers ago. This is a fresh scan of a picture from the summer of 2005.
When I was a kid my grandmother "Nanny" got me interested in gardening. You can see very early photos of her amazing garden here. I started collecting and planting seeds from Nanny's plants, grafting camellias, and rooting azaleas from a young age. I think the first seeds I bought for myself were four o'clocks, which started a life long love of those flowers. They seemed to do better in Columbia than they do here. I think the next flower seeds I planted as a kid were zinnias. It was fun to collect seeds of both four o'clocks and zinnias and save them to the next season. I stored them in those little baby Dixie cups! Now I let the birds, mostly the goldfinches, eat the zinnia seeds, and the four o'clock seeds just fall as they may.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Michael Vick Is Getting Off Way Too Easily
I don’t know what I think of the notion of animal rights. The word “rights” s generally used is full of legal ramifications and implies acknowledgment of personhood. “Rights” are those freedoms and privileges granted to persons in a legal document, such as a constitution.
In this sense animals don’t have rights, per se, nor should they. Nevertheless I believe that animals are given a certain rightful status in the created order. They have a dignity by virtue of being made by God, and by virtue to the place they are given in the web of interdependent life. For that matter so do plants. Each thing is to be treated in keeping with the dignity it is given by its Creator.
By all accounts the Creator has a special place for his creatures. They are celebrated over and over in the Bible. As he looked upon the world teeming with his fruitful creatures he said that it was good.
Human beings have a unique place being created in the image of God. There is a dignity associated with that image bearing that does not devolve onto the other creatures.
Nevertheless human beings are given the special task of caring for creation, and for its creatures. The idea of dominion must be stripped of all human greed, perversion, violence, selfishness, and exploitation before we can arrive at its real meaning biblically speaking. We get a glimpse of what this unspoiled dominion looks like in Genesis two as God brings the various beasts before Adam and he names them. Naming is an aspect of dominion. The creatures in Genesis 2 are treated with the utmost honor and respect and dignity.
According to the biblical portrayal, it was only after the fall of man that both man and beasts were given “permission” to take of animal life for food, for the sake of survival in a broken and difficult world. I don’t mention that to bring up arguments about sin and fall, or about the biblical flood – only to affirm that it was only after the fall that dominion came to include the possibility of killing, and that for the sake of survival; (and perhaps sacrifice in worship, ala Abel). Killing for food and the temporally temporary killing for sacrifice resulted from sin and fall. Christians believe that the sacrificial role of killing of animals has been superseded by the sacrifice of Christ.
Even given the fall there is no place within dominion for wanton violence against animals. Indeed, human beings were made to be the protectors of the animal world. In time our superior intellectual capacities (combined sadly with our deep sinfulness) would give us the edge over the beasts, and the opportunity to exploit them as we choose. But such exploitation, out of greed, perversion, or love of violence, is simply not compatible with our calling to exercise dominion over God’s good creation, including its creatures.
There is something especially perverse about the mistreatment of that which is weaker, that which we were supposed to protect and care for, whether we are talking about children, human beings in a weakened and exploitable state, or animals. This is why we rightly react so viscerally to the use of animals such as dogs in "sports" like dogfighting, whereby we, ostensibly their protectors, kill the weaker, injured, or non competitive ones. It is simply a gross and obscene offense against creation, against God, against the rightful place these creatures are to have in our hearts, and against our basic calling as human beings.
For that reason I am somewhat dismayed that Michael Vick is going to get a break due to cutting a deal with prosecutors. For once I find myself agreeing more or less with PETA. He is getting off way too easily.
To the extent that dog fighting, cock fighting, or other forms of abuse of animals is pervasive in our culture, it reveals how sick and messed up and broken we truly are, and how bankrupt segments of our culture have become.
Just because the abuse of human beings is worse still does not make this offense against nature, good, and God any less horrible. Michael Vick ought to go away for a very long time, or be sentenced to years and years of reparations and community service aimed at the improvement of the life of those creatures he has so violently and viciously abused.
He is getting off way too easily if you ask me.
In this sense animals don’t have rights, per se, nor should they. Nevertheless I believe that animals are given a certain rightful status in the created order. They have a dignity by virtue of being made by God, and by virtue to the place they are given in the web of interdependent life. For that matter so do plants. Each thing is to be treated in keeping with the dignity it is given by its Creator.
By all accounts the Creator has a special place for his creatures. They are celebrated over and over in the Bible. As he looked upon the world teeming with his fruitful creatures he said that it was good.
Human beings have a unique place being created in the image of God. There is a dignity associated with that image bearing that does not devolve onto the other creatures.
Nevertheless human beings are given the special task of caring for creation, and for its creatures. The idea of dominion must be stripped of all human greed, perversion, violence, selfishness, and exploitation before we can arrive at its real meaning biblically speaking. We get a glimpse of what this unspoiled dominion looks like in Genesis two as God brings the various beasts before Adam and he names them. Naming is an aspect of dominion. The creatures in Genesis 2 are treated with the utmost honor and respect and dignity.
According to the biblical portrayal, it was only after the fall of man that both man and beasts were given “permission” to take of animal life for food, for the sake of survival in a broken and difficult world. I don’t mention that to bring up arguments about sin and fall, or about the biblical flood – only to affirm that it was only after the fall that dominion came to include the possibility of killing, and that for the sake of survival; (and perhaps sacrifice in worship, ala Abel). Killing for food and the temporally temporary killing for sacrifice resulted from sin and fall. Christians believe that the sacrificial role of killing of animals has been superseded by the sacrifice of Christ.
Even given the fall there is no place within dominion for wanton violence against animals. Indeed, human beings were made to be the protectors of the animal world. In time our superior intellectual capacities (combined sadly with our deep sinfulness) would give us the edge over the beasts, and the opportunity to exploit them as we choose. But such exploitation, out of greed, perversion, or love of violence, is simply not compatible with our calling to exercise dominion over God’s good creation, including its creatures.
There is something especially perverse about the mistreatment of that which is weaker, that which we were supposed to protect and care for, whether we are talking about children, human beings in a weakened and exploitable state, or animals. This is why we rightly react so viscerally to the use of animals such as dogs in "sports" like dogfighting, whereby we, ostensibly their protectors, kill the weaker, injured, or non competitive ones. It is simply a gross and obscene offense against creation, against God, against the rightful place these creatures are to have in our hearts, and against our basic calling as human beings.
For that reason I am somewhat dismayed that Michael Vick is going to get a break due to cutting a deal with prosecutors. For once I find myself agreeing more or less with PETA. He is getting off way too easily.
To the extent that dog fighting, cock fighting, or other forms of abuse of animals is pervasive in our culture, it reveals how sick and messed up and broken we truly are, and how bankrupt segments of our culture have become.
Just because the abuse of human beings is worse still does not make this offense against nature, good, and God any less horrible. Michael Vick ought to go away for a very long time, or be sentenced to years and years of reparations and community service aimed at the improvement of the life of those creatures he has so violently and viciously abused.
He is getting off way too easily if you ask me.
Health Care Blues
I read today in a post from the News and Record blog, from a Mr. Stephen van Vuuren, the following about the health care issue. I think it is very instructive.
“There is no greater issue of security in America then the health of our people. Creating a system where every person is guaranteed complete health and well-being, free and accessible, is the most important issue facing our nation today.”
I would like to respond in some detail to the particulars, but before I do I would like to address the assumption that lies behind this and many other statements about health care.
Human beings live in a fallen world. Part of this fallenness is the experience and reality of the natural decay and degeneration of all biological organisms. Our bodies fail in so many ways, from breakdowns within and assaults from without. This decay always and inevitably results in senescence, or death. Usually this process involves pain and great difficulty. Plus, death results, for the survivors, in deep and profound loss. It is the biggest enemy we have as persons.
Because advances in modern medicine involving both tests, procedures, and medication, we have been able, thankfully, to forestall this process for many, and alleviate the physical pain of it for others. But we have also developed certain expectations and hopes. The expectation and hope is that we will not be brought low by this process. We hate pain and loss. We want out of that bargain.
But so many of the tests, procedures, and medications that can help us are horribly expensive. We want to blame someone for this – blame the greed of pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, equipment manufacturers, and doctors. But the truth is that this stuff IS expensive. And the terrible and difficult truth is that we cannot make good health for everyone affordable and accessible. It is simply impossible. We can either resign ourselves to a common lot of mediocre health care for all, or to inequalities in health care between some people and others.
The basic longing expressed in Mr. van Vuuren’s letter is a phantasm, a dream, perhaps one we understand and relate to, but a dream nonetheless. It is beyond utopian.
This itself becomes a problem - that what we want is impossible – individually and societally. Until that sinks in there will be no real progress in health care discussions.
Above and beyond what I have said already, I would take issue with several assumptions or comments in Mr. van Vuuren’s short letter.
First, there are issues of security greater than the health of the American people. Nuclear holocaust might be one. Protection against massive terrorism attacks might be another. I would venture to say that a rigorous education of a semi healthy population may also be a greater security risk. American people, even in days when they died much younger and knew much more pain, knew also that there were greater security issues than health. And they gave their lives accordingly.
Second, there is no system that can guarantee complete health and well being. OK, let me assume that this statement is hyberbolic. Complete health is beyond our reach no matter what we do, but even almost-complete health is impossibly non affordable. And of course, true health and well being is a matter that goes way beyond our physical circumstances.
Third, the idea that any such system is free is just a fantasy. I assume by "free" that this is an allusion to universal and governmentally provided health care. Well, that is certainly not free. The total increase in taxes required to provide such a guarantee would be massively expensive for everyone, not just “the rich.” And if the government is running it it would likely be much more expensive than what we have now.
I agree that this issue is crucial. It is crucial for several reasons. It is crucial because health is indeed important. It is crucial because utopian dreams cannot provide the basis of our governance of ourselves. It is crucial because we have to decide whether we want equally mediocre health care for all or inequality in health care based on income. The problem with the latter “choice” is that those people with means will always have access to immediate health care not available to everyone else. Just go to Canada for a while and you will see that. The wealthy will not wait months and months for an important procedure: they will just head down to the United States and get it done here. So equal mediocre health care is also an impossibility. Such socialist notions of equality are a phantom – there will always be those “more equal than others.”
But inequalities are hard to swallow, especially when what we need to be better and to feel better may be closed off to us yet available to another. This inequality itself breeds much discouragement and disillusionment and envy and hatred, and drives much political debate.
So I agree that the issue is very significant. It is significant in my personal life. It is significant for us as neighbors. It is significant for us as a culture. It is hugely complex and to a great extent intractable. But we must continue to seek ways to make more health care accessible to more people at less cost. We are looking at a gradual process, working toward a goal which itself is not attainable. Sort of like how I look at my life as a Christian.
Somehow it seems to me that we need to step back and recognize the impossibility of the goal and the anxieties, fears, and even unrealistic expectations we carry as human persons into this debate. For really this issue cuts to the core of our predicament as human beings. This debate is not just about health care; it is about death itself; the dark specter that hovers ruthlessly over our lives.
Somehow we have to simultaneously strive with much earnestness together toward greater equality and accessibility, while at the same time reminding ourselves that that which we most desire is not to be had. And we do this not in some detached philosophical way, but in a way whereby we let ourselves be truly touched by the human pain around us; desiring and seeking to alleviate it; not exploiting it for the sake of our political goals. And I think we ought to demonize others less. Less demagoguery would help a lot in this debate.
At the core of it “complete health and well-being” is much more than a health care issue, or a political issue. It is, in the end, a religious issue. It is the goal of most all the great religions; and certainly mine. How it comes to be attained, well, we discuss and debate that at a religious level too.
Let us each and all pray for incremental steps in the right direction, improvements that will touch the lives of many people, while also pray for that great idea that we have not thought of yet, that idea that can help us reach a semblance of the goal in this life expressed by Mr. van Vuuren.
I appreciate his letter.
Joel Gillespie
“There is no greater issue of security in America then the health of our people. Creating a system where every person is guaranteed complete health and well-being, free and accessible, is the most important issue facing our nation today.”
I would like to respond in some detail to the particulars, but before I do I would like to address the assumption that lies behind this and many other statements about health care.
Human beings live in a fallen world. Part of this fallenness is the experience and reality of the natural decay and degeneration of all biological organisms. Our bodies fail in so many ways, from breakdowns within and assaults from without. This decay always and inevitably results in senescence, or death. Usually this process involves pain and great difficulty. Plus, death results, for the survivors, in deep and profound loss. It is the biggest enemy we have as persons.
Because advances in modern medicine involving both tests, procedures, and medication, we have been able, thankfully, to forestall this process for many, and alleviate the physical pain of it for others. But we have also developed certain expectations and hopes. The expectation and hope is that we will not be brought low by this process. We hate pain and loss. We want out of that bargain.
But so many of the tests, procedures, and medications that can help us are horribly expensive. We want to blame someone for this – blame the greed of pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, equipment manufacturers, and doctors. But the truth is that this stuff IS expensive. And the terrible and difficult truth is that we cannot make good health for everyone affordable and accessible. It is simply impossible. We can either resign ourselves to a common lot of mediocre health care for all, or to inequalities in health care between some people and others.
The basic longing expressed in Mr. van Vuuren’s letter is a phantasm, a dream, perhaps one we understand and relate to, but a dream nonetheless. It is beyond utopian.
This itself becomes a problem - that what we want is impossible – individually and societally. Until that sinks in there will be no real progress in health care discussions.
Above and beyond what I have said already, I would take issue with several assumptions or comments in Mr. van Vuuren’s short letter.
First, there are issues of security greater than the health of the American people. Nuclear holocaust might be one. Protection against massive terrorism attacks might be another. I would venture to say that a rigorous education of a semi healthy population may also be a greater security risk. American people, even in days when they died much younger and knew much more pain, knew also that there were greater security issues than health. And they gave their lives accordingly.
Second, there is no system that can guarantee complete health and well being. OK, let me assume that this statement is hyberbolic. Complete health is beyond our reach no matter what we do, but even almost-complete health is impossibly non affordable. And of course, true health and well being is a matter that goes way beyond our physical circumstances.
Third, the idea that any such system is free is just a fantasy. I assume by "free" that this is an allusion to universal and governmentally provided health care. Well, that is certainly not free. The total increase in taxes required to provide such a guarantee would be massively expensive for everyone, not just “the rich.” And if the government is running it it would likely be much more expensive than what we have now.
I agree that this issue is crucial. It is crucial for several reasons. It is crucial because health is indeed important. It is crucial because utopian dreams cannot provide the basis of our governance of ourselves. It is crucial because we have to decide whether we want equally mediocre health care for all or inequality in health care based on income. The problem with the latter “choice” is that those people with means will always have access to immediate health care not available to everyone else. Just go to Canada for a while and you will see that. The wealthy will not wait months and months for an important procedure: they will just head down to the United States and get it done here. So equal mediocre health care is also an impossibility. Such socialist notions of equality are a phantom – there will always be those “more equal than others.”
But inequalities are hard to swallow, especially when what we need to be better and to feel better may be closed off to us yet available to another. This inequality itself breeds much discouragement and disillusionment and envy and hatred, and drives much political debate.
So I agree that the issue is very significant. It is significant in my personal life. It is significant for us as neighbors. It is significant for us as a culture. It is hugely complex and to a great extent intractable. But we must continue to seek ways to make more health care accessible to more people at less cost. We are looking at a gradual process, working toward a goal which itself is not attainable. Sort of like how I look at my life as a Christian.
Somehow it seems to me that we need to step back and recognize the impossibility of the goal and the anxieties, fears, and even unrealistic expectations we carry as human persons into this debate. For really this issue cuts to the core of our predicament as human beings. This debate is not just about health care; it is about death itself; the dark specter that hovers ruthlessly over our lives.
Somehow we have to simultaneously strive with much earnestness together toward greater equality and accessibility, while at the same time reminding ourselves that that which we most desire is not to be had. And we do this not in some detached philosophical way, but in a way whereby we let ourselves be truly touched by the human pain around us; desiring and seeking to alleviate it; not exploiting it for the sake of our political goals. And I think we ought to demonize others less. Less demagoguery would help a lot in this debate.
At the core of it “complete health and well-being” is much more than a health care issue, or a political issue. It is, in the end, a religious issue. It is the goal of most all the great religions; and certainly mine. How it comes to be attained, well, we discuss and debate that at a religious level too.
Let us each and all pray for incremental steps in the right direction, improvements that will touch the lives of many people, while also pray for that great idea that we have not thought of yet, that idea that can help us reach a semblance of the goal in this life expressed by Mr. van Vuuren.
I appreciate his letter.
Joel Gillespie
Photo of the Day - August 20, 2007 - "Nanny" as a Young Lady - Mid 1920's
My grandmother, "Nanny," as a fashionable young lady in the early to mid 1920's. She was then still "Mary Sue Andrews" of La Grange, Georgia, soon to be "Mary Sue Gillespie." I love the 1920's flapper style dress!
A Prayer/Blessing for the New School Year
Well, we have sent two daughters back to college, another starts 12th grade at Northwest next week, and we have just ordered curriculum for my 5th grade homeschooled daughter. Every school year I am reminded how time flies. The new school year is like, as Wikipedia says of Pink Floyd's "Time," "a memento mori describing the phenomenon in which time seems to pass more quickly as one ages."
It's always hard.
But here is my blessing for the new school year – it’s a prayer in the form of a blessing or benediction:
O Father…
May you keep our children safe from harm as they get to and from school each day by bus and by car
May you energize and excite our teachers for a new year of teaching, and give them a renewed love for their subjects, a love for their students, patience with central office edicts and low pay, and a renewed sense of their great calling
May you give the students a true love of learning new things in each of the areas they are called to study this year
May you moderate their homework so our students can get enough sleep
May you give wisdom and courage to the school board as it oversees the central office staff
May you give principles and assistant principals wisdom, strength, and energy to maintain order, motivate students and teachers, intervene rightly in crises, and address difficult issues each day
May you suppress gossip in the classroom and teacher’s lounges, and may you give our students respect for their teachers, and teachers for their principals
May you provide help for the overworked and underpaid throughout the system, particularly the support staff, and cause both students and teachers to show their appreciation for hard work done
May you protect each and every school from violence
May you suppress bullies of all kinds
May you give each student a growing and exciting sense of how you may use them and their gifts in serving others in this broken and fallen world
May you give those you are faltering, failing, and dropping out, new strength and vision to see a better future
May you cause students to reject drugs, sex, violence, and meanness and give help to those who are trapped in any of the above
May you help our guidance counselors, overwhelmed by so many students, have wisdom and strength to see and know and understand each person under their charge
May you give our superintendent every blessing of life, renewed purpose and vision, and primary concern for the students of Guilford County
May you call many new and talented young men and women into the great calling of teaching
Into Your hands I commit the school year, 2007/2008.
Amen
It's always hard.
But here is my blessing for the new school year – it’s a prayer in the form of a blessing or benediction:
O Father…
May you keep our children safe from harm as they get to and from school each day by bus and by car
May you energize and excite our teachers for a new year of teaching, and give them a renewed love for their subjects, a love for their students, patience with central office edicts and low pay, and a renewed sense of their great calling
May you give the students a true love of learning new things in each of the areas they are called to study this year
May you moderate their homework so our students can get enough sleep
May you give wisdom and courage to the school board as it oversees the central office staff
May you give principles and assistant principals wisdom, strength, and energy to maintain order, motivate students and teachers, intervene rightly in crises, and address difficult issues each day
May you suppress gossip in the classroom and teacher’s lounges, and may you give our students respect for their teachers, and teachers for their principals
May you provide help for the overworked and underpaid throughout the system, particularly the support staff, and cause both students and teachers to show their appreciation for hard work done
May you protect each and every school from violence
May you suppress bullies of all kinds
May you give each student a growing and exciting sense of how you may use them and their gifts in serving others in this broken and fallen world
May you give those you are faltering, failing, and dropping out, new strength and vision to see a better future
May you cause students to reject drugs, sex, violence, and meanness and give help to those who are trapped in any of the above
May you help our guidance counselors, overwhelmed by so many students, have wisdom and strength to see and know and understand each person under their charge
May you give our superintendent every blessing of life, renewed purpose and vision, and primary concern for the students of Guilford County
May you call many new and talented young men and women into the great calling of teaching
Into Your hands I commit the school year, 2007/2008.
Amen
Friday, August 17, 2007
Cone Versus Blue Cross
OK, so I saw the full page ad today that the Cone Hospital Health System bought from the Rhino Times asking readers to call, e-mail, or send a “coupon” to the president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC. They want us to tell Blue Cross President and CEO Bob Greczyn to “negotiate a fair agreement with Moses Cone Health System." But I have to confess. I’m just not feeling sorry for Cone Hospital right now. And I feel like the Cone system is kind of blackmailing Blue Cross covered folk. Seems they are saying, “look, you help us charge you more or we will make life very inconvenient for you.” I never did like this city wide monopoly of health care. High Point Regional is looking better every day to me (well, except that I am covered by Blue Cross of South Carolina so I don’t even know if this spat applies to me). For me the consumer this situation seems like Wal-Mart telling me that I need to pressure HP to charge Wal-Mart less, or Wal-Mart will stop selling HP computers. Except that in this hypothetical case I can buy maybe a Dell or an E-Machine. When it comes to Greensboro hospitals there are no longer any options. Cone has a monopoly. So it seems to me that in this little spat between Blue Cross and Cone I should be pulling for Blue Cross. I mean, folks are always complaining about the cost of health care, and Blue Cross, by limiting the amount Cone can charge them (and us) for a procedure, is not only looking after their own interests, but looking after ours as well. Cone has always struck me as a little too money hungry. I mean, the few times we’ve really had to use the system it seemed the bill collectors were calling me before I even got home, and certainly before the bill had cleared the insurance company! And word is from my friends that getting money from Cone for services rendered to them is like pulling teeth, if I may use a medical metaphor, or maybe like extracting an appendix, or whatever. Help me out here people. Why should I be pulling for Cone? What am I missing?
Photo of the Day - August 17, 2007 - Five Amigos in New Hampshire
A bunch of college age friends on a summer New England camping/hiking trip.- me in the middle. Matt, the one on the left, died of a stroke about five years ago. Calvin, second from left, is living with his wife and kids in Asheville NC. Me, the one in the middle, am here in Greensboro NC. Skip, second to right - I don't know where Skip is. Bill, far right, Calvin's brother, is living with his wife and family in the Columbia SC area.This was taken somewhere in New Hampshire, summer 1977.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Photo of the Day - August 15, 2007 - Lake Garibaldi from The Black Tusk
This picture is taken from the top of a volcanic core called The Black Tusk in British Columbia, looking almost straight south toward Lake Garibaldi, Mount Garibaldi, and "The Lions," two twin peaks in the small range on the north side of Vancouver, in the far distance. The trail head to The Tusk is about two hours north of Vancouver. You can see a picture of The Black Tusk from the trail here. You can see a picture of me atop The Black Tusk here. You can see a great view back toward Vancouver here. This trail is nine miles each way, with a 6000 foot elevation change. You can see the trail running along the knife-edge ridge in the picture above. To the left is a steep drop off to a glacier field. The last couple of hundred feet elevation-wise goes straight up through a kind of vertical tunnel in the core called "the chimney." You have to sort of shimmy up using leg pressure on the walls. It's really fun. To be honest, the last mile or so of this trail was very very hard. I was not in great shape and was not used to oxygen levels at 8000 feet, especially after walking eight miles already along with a mile elevation change. In the final ascent to The Tusk I thought my heart to was going to blow out of my chest. I contemplated stopping, but then decided I'd rather die right there than turn around (OK, stupid, I know), so I kept going, slowly. Once I got to the top I took a nap. After that I was so full of energy and adrenaline I ran most of the way down - laughing. It was fun running down the large field of volcanic rock - kind of more like a controlled slide or fall! I did the hike with the brother of a friend of mine - he was in better shape then I was! Oh, one other thing. On the way up a black bear with two cubs crossed the trail about 75 feet in front of us. At first just the adult bear appeared, and stood there staring at us, us staring back, and then I saw the cubs. It was way cool, but then I thought, "Oh my..." Thankfully Mrs. Bear decided we weren't a threat or worth her trouble and the three of them moved along. Whew!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Photo of the Day - August 13, 2007 - Clancey
Clancey 1971-1981My Buddy
Taken in my front yard, Columbia SC, about 1979. Clancey and I had all kinds of chase and capture games we played (with "rules" - for an Irish Setter he was pretty sharp!), and I would often collapse onto the ground and just hang out with him. He liked gnawing on pine cones - I love the "don't mess with my pine cone" expression!! This is a scan from a print. He was a great great pet, a great friend, and I will always miss him
See Flickr photostream here.
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