Ideas and How They Grow or Die

Solomon the King suggested that there is Nothing New Under the Sun. Right or wrong, he’s on to something I think. And the thing that has been around since the beginning is a concept called Ideas. Humans are good at formulating ideas, animals do so as well to a certain extent. In the case of humans, we have many ideas every day. Some are very important and some are not worth mentioning.

The big governing ideas, like Freedom and Law and Order and Government and Liberty became big because in many minds they were solutions to a problem. If we could be more free many have thought, we would be better off. If we had more laws, we would be better off, or more government, or less government, or a good government.

All these big ideas take on very complicated processes and procedures and eventually foster counter ideas. Socialism, Communism, Totalitarianism, Fascism, Republicanism, Democracy, Oligarchy, Monarchism, Theocracy and others are all complex forms of government, whereby men are controlled on a spectrum of behavior according to the governing philosophy. All societies eventually settle into some kind of governance it seems, otherwise they would go out of existence. They all come up with rules, sometimes a lot of rules.

These are all ideas, or coalitions of ideas in order to force men and women to get along or coexist. It would be nice if we didn’t need all these rules and all this force to play nice, but it’s hard to find a lot of evidence for that possibility.

This post is about the Idea, no matter where it came from or where it shows up or how it manifests itself. The Idea itself is what’s all stake for all humans. The idea in one mind that grows in popularity that fills the minds of millions eventually. Some ideas rise to the surface and stay there over the millennia and some end up in the dumpster. Funny thing about the dumpster ideas, they often make appearances when you least expect them, and funny thing about the other ideas, they don’t always last, they may be too lofty or naive for society to carry forward with them.

We have so many movies and tv shows about the future, like Star Trek or Dune or Bladerunner that show just how much we think about these big ideas. They are on our minds, reading lists and watch lists. There is something about an idea that makes it unconquerable. Ideas will live on long after we are gone.

Getting your ideas together and living in a world of ideas that make sense is often like watching a pendulum swing back and forth. For a moment, it is moving left and moments later it is moving right. Ideas take on life as it were, at least movement in clear paths.

My idea here is that each of us could stand some thinking about our ideas, which ones are really important to us and by extension, society and which ones are less consequential. Should we keep our ideas to ourselves or promote them to others? Should we write, speak, preach, podcast and use other forms of Social Media or let others take the lead in the transmission of ideas?

Modern American politics has taken the second approach most of the time. Find a politician you like or a party you like because they seem to sync with your ideas and vote for and support them somehow and then you feel as if your idea has been sufficiently promoted.

I think we can do better. Just an idea, right? Here is another idea from Mr. Nothing Is New Under The Sun, one of his proverbs. There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 16:25. So choose your ideas wisely.

What Does War Solve?

Nothing, I say. Not a thing. It may stop tyranny and barbarity for a time, but it does not root it out. Will there be one final war to end all wars? Not likely.

A strange oppositional effect needs to be acknowledged here. The stronger you are, the less you have to display that strength. A bigger, stronger military can deter agression is the suggested outcome. In our current world, this seems to be true, at least for thousands of years. I can’t stand that I even wrote that sentence. I wish for a completely peaceful world where war has no place. If I could snap my fingers and do away with war, I would do it, even knowing there would be unintended consequences.

But I would also snap my fingers at the same time to cause some way of fostering love for others as the way of living together. In other words, I would not snap my fingers to end war without snapping my fingers to bring love to every heart.

One of my history professors would occasionally push back on my idealistic leanings. One of his tried and true pushbacks was to ask me where I saw my idea in action? Who has been able to excel at living without war? Who was a model for living by love?

This is where he had the edge on me. I might say Costa Rica, or the Swiss, Or Jesus or Gandhi, and he would give me some credit but would go on to instruct me in how they all fell short, even Jesus, of making love the way of life, and ending all war.

I love that professor, one of a handful that I feel that close to. But something is still wrong. His family had seen the horrors of Nazi Germany and WWII. He had far more skin in the game. My respect for him is immense. Still, we must do better.

I refuse to believe that we must settle all our ongoing disputes with war. And I’m talking about all agressions, micro, and all the way to the Middle East as well as Russia and the Ukraine.

We must stop killing people, we simply must. It can be solved only by one courageous and loving act at our level. Micro acts of love. Protect and defend others we must of course. But that responsibility can be met with strong and wise character in each of us. We need to learn how to use peace and prosperity to protect and defend others.

It seems like there is a war going on somewhere just about all the time. I wonder what would happen if we could get a 5 or even 10 year period of relative peace? What would life on this planet be like then? I’m a Christian Humanist with Bible based ideas about life supported by principles found in nature. That makes me hopeful because I am commanded to love.

There is a way forward and renouncing war as a way of solving disputes is intrinsic to that way. Lets do what we can and pray what we can pray and stand respectfully for life everywhere.

Trustworthy

What makes a person, group or organization trustworthy? When a friend says they will meet you at the cafe at such and such a time, you show up a few minutes early and they show up right on time, you trust them for the next time you meet. You build a historical memory that what they say they will do is what they actually will do. They gain a reputation in your mind for trustability. They show up when times are tough and they laugh at many of the same things you do. They share some of their deeper feelings, and become part of your circle of best friends.

These are the kind of things that make people trustworthy. There are others, but you get the idea. It might sound a bit simplistic but they gain a personality of trust. This is one of the most coveted and misunderstood roles in society. I say coveted, at one time it was. It may still be highly coveted but it feels like lots of people don’t care if you trust them anymore.

That may be in large part because we are part of a world of distrust. So many things have broken down in the chain of trust today that it is difficult to get the feeling out of your head can I trust this company or this scientist, or politician or just about anyone anymore.

This is going to cause many of us very serious problems, because life itself is based on trust. I have to trust that as I’m driving down a single lane road, that you will stay on your side of the road and not crash into me. I have to trust that when I make go to the store, that my goods and services will be there and of a high quality. I have to trust that my government wants to do good for me and mine. I literally could go on for hours as to how important trust is to all of us every day.

Some places or stores offered money back guarantees for their products. Their word was their bond in other words. You could trust them to make it right, make you whole, provide you with excellent services and products.

Is it too much to say that today, much of that trust is gone. I don’t know. I could be exaggerating it some. Bu ton the whole, I do think it is fair to say that Trust has been losing ground in so many quarters.

This brings me to a very important question, How do you regain trust? Here again are some simple thoughts. Stop being distrustful, stop trying to hurt me or disrespect me, start by showing time and time again that you can be trustworthy again and give guarantees that you will do everything to win back my trust.

This will be the project of a lifetime I suspect. It is one of the foundations of civilized society. Let’s bring back the TRUST.

The level of power never left

The level of power never left

The phrase, Peaceful Transition of Power seems to be very important in certain corners today. Some things about power are clearly not understood by those that use it. They act as if they were in a position of power when they were not able to wield that power. Harris demonstrated over and over again that she knew very little about power at the presidential level. I’m sure in some capacity, she had a level of power that she could use to influence some around her.

Trump never lost the power it seems. He was attacked in numerous ways and his power kept building. He knew how to multiply it, not allowing it to dwindle but to grow. He seems to have taught us a master class in Power and its use. For better or worse as some would imagine, he has power and he uses that power. So there really won’t be a peaceful transfer of power, there is no need to transfer it. He will go through the ceremonies and accept the symbols of the transfer, but he already has it.

Having a title does not equal to having power.  History tells us that it can and history tells us that often it does not. It should be clear that power is largely misunderstood and therefore misapplied or even misappropriated. When Trump got up and pumped his fists into the air and yelled Fight 3 times, he was not accruing power as much as he was exhibiting power, applying it to his people. I don’t like that term, His People much because so many say things that divide us by class or gender or race when they use , well, they are not my people. If they are not Black or Hispanic or female or choose your classification, then they are not my people. On the surface and often deep within, Trump does not do this. He does not differentiate between races, or genders or classes. He treats all those groups as his people.

That is not to say that all people are in his camp or that some people are not his people. Heaven only knows, there are millions it seems that would find it most offensive to be called His People. What they don’t understand is, that he uses that for power as well. Having well defined enemies or opponents is a byproduct of power usage. One of his skills or tricks is to turn those opponents into supporters. Another trick is to be empowered and sharpened by your opponents. And another, is to be strengthened by the battle itself. He didn’t jump up and yell stop, stop, stop, or help, help, help, or get them, get them, or look how bad they are. He yelled Fight.

This is power, both raw and refined. Raw because it is real, instant, reactive. Refined because it is a lifetime of learning to use that power, honing power skills and responding. For most, learning these skills is forbidden because others do not want to transfer power to you or anyone else. They feel they have so little power already that why would they give any away, peacefully or otherwise.

This is more important than many realize. It would take a total perspective change, actually more than one change to see this new way of thinking about power. What is power, where does it come from, can one become more powerful and how, what are the wisest uses of that power, should it be kept in reserve or given away freely, do you have to fight for it and to keep it, what does that fight look like, in your mind and body and those around you, and other questions.

For me, only those that lose all or most of their power will even come close to understanding how to use power. And most will never know how to even talk about this subject of power. They do not even know they are capable of using power, what ever level of power they may sense they have.

When we experienced the first of two miscarriages, my wife and I began turning to the source of power, God himself. We began to turn our lives over to Him. We did not fully know what we were doing, but we knew that He had power to make a difference in our lives. We had little idea how much power or how He would use that power, we simply believed in His power. No living being has the power of God within him or her, and yet God freely shares power with us. He does not make us go to the power bank to transfer todays amount of power out of the bank, he simply says I will supply your needs and you will do well as you stay plugged in.

Victor Frankel had vast power in the Nazi concentration camp as a prisoner. This is so poorly understood. He refused to give up his power within. The power of his mind. No power was handed to him. Much power was stolen from him. And yet, he grew more powerful. He did not have a peaceful transfer of power, but a violent removal of his power. And through it all, he grew more powerful.

When I listen to God, he does not tell me to seek more power. He tells me to seek Him. That’s where power comes from, seeking Him, not power as we tend to know it, but life itself. And the power He does supply is not for me alone, but my family, my friends, my community, dare I say, my people.

Walk and Talk or Hike and Ruck?

Humans Are Different

It’s easy to wake up as a human and forget just how human I am. This morning, I’m wondering what makes a squirrel a rodent and me a human. So here are some thoughts.

I can think beyond my current thoughts and imagine thoughts that cannot be enacted currently. Most squirrels cannot look at a bird and go wow, I would like to fly someday. Now I cannot prove this of course, but my gut tells me I’m correct. Just watch squirrels sometime. They really don’t look up very much. They don’t sit still long enough to think about birds. Birds like Hawks will eat them. Birds don’t know anything about a good Walnut or Hickory nut and where to find them and how to store them in the ground.

No, any self respecting squirrel is not thinking about flying around like a bird, with the possible exception of so called flying squirrels. Now they might poke a bit of a hole in my theory, right? NA, I still don’t think so.

Squirrels of all kinds seem to act like squirrels and will always be squirrels.

Now humans on the other hand have the ability to shift their shape and thinking. Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of flying and as far as I know, never took to the sky. But how he must have thought about it. And look, now we actually fly through the air.

Humans often think of things that are seemingly impossible and then set out to achieve such things. And we talk about them or have conversations that go on and on, sometimes for many years before we enact those ideas.

Every other species seems to exist, quite contentedly it seems. Humans have to go beyond daily existence. There is always something more.

Anyhow, I woke up with this thought this morning. I’ll try to enjoy my human characteristics today by just being a human.

History and its Repetitions.

I am not fond of being told more than once or twice that I am doing something wrong. Tell me once and that should do. Pretty stupid way to live if you ask me. But I like stupid sometimes, gets the naysayers off my back I suppose. It’s a strange thing than that I tend to like history. History goes on and on about the same things. Tell one story and a few years later you can tell the same story with a different cast of characters and a different location. That’s history. We tend to collate the stories according to current issues and then try to use the history or repeated stories to influence our circle in a certain direction.

I tend to think that at the very basic level of existence, we all, including the natural world want to be empowered, energized, capable of living well and hardily. Power, to put it simply. Many things play into how much power one person can have and will they ever have enough to be satisfied. Money, strength, ambition, governement, culture, all this and much more influence how powerful the individual feels.

In the early days of the American west as we know it, many people, native and European sought out the west in order to exercise their self determination. They had as much power as they could train into their bodies and minds. Some became more powerful as they formed into groups or tribes of native peoples, others became more powerful as they fled all society entirely, leaving behind those that could exercise power over them. So you have native tribes and mountain men as it were.

As time and population catch up with us, power becomes shared. And not long after that, power becomes controverted. Laws arise to redistribute power and control and more laws follow. Then other powerful people are sworn in as officials in some manner and they enforce the power distribution grid. Today, we have many people that enforce this grid, lawyers, law makers, police, sheriffs, politicians, and quite a few more.

When the number of power brokers outlpace the number of those that feel less powerful, things seem to grow tense.

One such story in history is Shays Rebellion. It’s simple story. Soldiers fight in war in Massachusetts, Lexington, Bunker Hill and more. They go home after the war, their farms are in debt, the local government is attempting to enforce the collection of that debt and has to form its own militia to put down a rebellion by one of those soldiers, named Shay. Shay was patriotic, hard working, not well educated, but skilled in basic ways and should have been able to keep on farming. But he was not paid in full for his war time service and he was not alone.

Not having enough money to keep his farm going was the equivalent for him of being powerless. One branch of local government was trying to take his livelihood or power away from him and another brach, ineffective as it was was supposed to help him regain some of that power.

Read up on Shays’ Rebellion for your history lesson and you’ll probably notice that history repeats because we have many people in this large country in the same or similar positions today.

There is a good deal of evidence and scholarship that suggests that we wrote our US Constitution on the coattails of Shays’ Rebellion. The federal government was too weak to make a difference in their living conditons, even too weak to put down the uprising. So Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, Washington and others felt we needed to move more power to the Federation or Federal government, which by many accounts was quite weak and feckless.

It’s the same old story really, about power. Who has it and who wields it. There are times when the word power seems to be a bad word. That is, until you realize you don’t have much of it. The question is, will we learn about these times of power transition or will we slip into something more fragile and feckless. Here is a quote from historian Ricks.

The Shays affair effectively set the table for the Constituional Convention by highlighting the ineffectiveness and fragility of the existing system. “It may, in fact, be difficult to overemphasize the degree to which this rebellion jolted American political reflections,” Writes the historian John Agresto. First Principles, Thomas E. Ricks

History repeats I believe, don’t you? If so, what are we learning today from history that we need to put into current practice? You have my permission to tell me over and over again, just don’t go to far overboard.

United We Stand--Divided We Fall

Patrick Henry used the phrase in his last public speech, given in March 1799, in which he denounced The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Clasping his hands and swaying unsteadily, Henry declaimed, “Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter.

United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.” At the end of his oration, Henry fell into the arms of bystanders and was carried, almost lifeless, into a nearby tavern. Two months afterward, he died.

From United We Stand website

I haven’t figured out much about the website and what they are all about so I am not endorsing it or them. But I did like their thoughts on Patrick Henry’s use of the phrase. Especially in light of the back story of Patrick Henry. We know he was a pretty good speech maker, I mean, Give me liberty or give me death is pretty rousing stuff.

As it turns out, he was not in favor of the US Constitution because he thought it gave too much power to the federal government, a fear that exists till this day. For several years after the Revolutionary War was fought and won, we struggled I think it’s safe to say under what we call the Articles Of Confederation. It actually became our law of the land in 1781 I believe.

But many, including Washington saw it as weak and ineffective to lead us into the future. So they pushed for our current constituion. The main sticking point was power and who would wield it, a federal power that was centralized or states and their already established power bases in each state throughout the colonies.

As it turns out, this fight has continued and led to much controversy including the Civil war and Lincoln’s declaration of martial law. Ongoing fights over states rights as opposed to Federal oversight can be seen in the news media every week if you look for it.

I have felt for some time that most Americans would like to be left alone and the Patrick Henry’s of today would be down at the pub complaining about federal government overreach(back then it was thee kings overreach) and the federal government leaders would be holding meetings in DC arguing about how to get the people in line through the country(back then it was the meddlesome colonists of America).

It’s still about power. Some things never change.

Here are some interesting descriptions of Henry’s Oratory skills.

patrick-henry-facts

I don’t like much of what I know about Henry, but the patriot lawyer and tavern host sure could talk up a storm and convince some of the most set in stone types.

We might be missing that part of Henry right about now, someone that can use words to rouse us to courage and commitment and to remember how united we are and can be. It seems Henry literally spoke his heart out. I like his commitment.

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Marty

Dutch Uncle

Growing up in New York City meant that you were exposed to Dutch culture, but probably didn’t know it. For example, trading, stocks, investments, markets and all things financial and capital were very Dutch ideas. When you took a girl out, maybe you went Dutch, she paid her fair share as well as you did. This holdover from each nation paying its fair share into the capitalist system regardless of size still exists today in our culture. Everyone should pay their fair share, whatever that is.

My point is, New York City is a Dutch history goldmine, or it was when I lived there. In fact, it was New Amsterdam for a long time. Or something like Noya Amsterterdamm. I spelled that badly, almost phonetically. Easier to do than to look it up. Just a lot of Dutch in this part of the New World is all I’m saying.

And one of the coolest things that we either had or have no idea about was this idea of a Dutch Uncle. This was the guy in your life, older, maybe blood relation, maybe not, almost certainly male, and often seen as having been around and had some wisdom and worldly living under his belt. And the most important thing, he wasn’t afraid of telling you his version of the truth.

Now this might seem like an impossible person to find today in this world of a 1,000 truths, maybe a lot more than that since everyone can have their own truth, but let me put it another way. This is the guy that would explain to you why your idea was a bad idea. And he paid a price for knowing the difference between good ideas and bad ones. He often got left out of the best parities and family activities because he could be so contrary. Who wants a negative Nelson around all the time?

Imagine you are about to marry someone and everyone around you is lukewarm to the idea of your new mate and what life will turn out to be like with him or her. You feel a bit uneasy because of their non approval approval stance. Where do you to get a better opinion of your decision? You go to your Dutch Uncle that doesn’t hold back and tells you what you probably already knew but just didn’t want to face, that this is a bad match for you and you shouldn’t do it.

The funny thing about Dutch Uncles, they don’t really care what you think about their comments. And that my friend, is what makes them so valuable. And that is also what makes them so hard to find today. I mean, how long would a Dutch Uncle last in our Social Media frenzy before they wrote off the whole enterprise as being anti social and anti media? About five minutes I would say. And true to form, the Dutch Uncle would tell you just that, it’s a bad idea to get your info for living and thinking from Social Media.

No, these types are hard to find and probably don’t want to be found in today’s world. A few of them write books, Jordan Peterson for instance. You can see the Dutch Uncle in him. Everyone says go in this direction and he suggests to go in this direction, often, the very opposite of current thinking.

As always, you are free to take your Dutch Uncle’s advice with a grain of salt or take it, Hook, Line and Sinker. It’s your choice, always has been since I was a kid.

I would think that the better thing to do with a Dutch Uncle is to have him on retainer. Get to know him early on in your life and learn about how he makes his decisions and just how wise he is. Then when the time comes for you to make consequential decisions, you will have a leg up on the rest of your tribe.

I had a few Dutch Uncles in my life, mostly Scouting leaders that had accomplished a lot in life and had no axe to grind one way or another. They were simple in their conclusions and somewhat complex in their methods of coming to those conclusions. But they were some of the grandest people I knew. And they are much harder to find today. The search is well worth it though. Allow me to play Dutch Uncle for a moment. READ. Read widely. Read often. Read Strategically. Read to learn. Read to Remember. READ.

The best Dutch Uncles are actually more available to us today if you read a lot. We live in a world that grows more complex by the hour. Making sense of all the choices is impossible and chaos seems to rule. If you are still looking for a simpler way of living you may find that it is almost gone. I have been trying to simplify my life and reduce it to its core parts for several years now. I’ve had some success I think, but there is a cost to that as well. All that is for another post I suppose.

Go find you a good Dutch Uncle, the sooner, the better.

Military Professional Codes

There are many codes of honor or profession that can be observed in the military. The military is a place of leadership and mentorship and the lessons learned there are often of the highest order, lives being at stake and the fate of nations at stake. Leaders often do not naturally arise to high position until great and calamitous occasions arise. Then a sergeant can go right into being a captain, or a colonel can be moved into general ship, even three or four stars worth.

This rapid movement through the ranks was often a consequence of being in the right place at the right time and being noticed by superiors in a marked way and distinguishing way. Sometimes the rapid move up the ranks was well warranted, sometimes a misadventure. But the times often demand moving leadership into the fight quickly.

This kind of environment demands at a minimum that trust is established as a bedrock principle. You have to trust that your subordinates will follow your orders and you have to trust that your leaders will make wise decisions as they issue those orders. Another word for this is the Chain Of Command, three words to be exact.

This particular code is simple, you don’t go running your mouth off about your leadership, if its that important that you feel compelled to complain, you go through a process, starting with your platoon leadership right through your company and battalion on up the chain, maybe even reaching the division leadership. There is always some grousing or recreational complaining as we called it, but senior leaders had been around too long to let this be forgotten. A colonel that was worth his salt would never complain about his commanding general without going straight to the general with his concerns. It was completely unprofessional and could put the whole command in jeopardy.

This, one of many other codes kept some order in the ranks. It was unusually burdensome for sure, and prevented many complaints from ever being lodged. But it was the duty of the patriotic solder to open his mouth and explain his point of view for leadership to know what was going on at all levels of the command. You might get in some hot water from saying it, but this duty was more important than that, almost sacred in fact.

This lesson or principle of talking to leaders with respect is hardly understood in civilian life. It just doesn’t compute. We have so many ways and words and actions to undermine leaders today that we don’t even think about how our words might help them and make for better outcomes. So many of us wouldn’t even know how to communicate our ideas in a productive manner.

This is tragic. It is the consequence of being told that you are not needed, not effective in today’s world. Marginalized, relegated to the edges, pushed out of the decision process, we can forget that we are in this world together and more needful of earth other than we realize.

The decision rests with the individual of course. We can each choose our own identity, who we stand with, what we stand for but do we want to make those choices and decisions on how we have been treated or what our community needs from us now?

Humans have always been comfortable lounging in their own complaints, repeating, commenting on and multiplying the bad acts of others. But leaders, real leaders, simply put, rise above it and find themselves promoted in such turbulent times. Times that call for candor and courage, communication skills and trust building. Leadership that actively unites us, in word and deed. I’m thankful I had a military experience that honored this code of talking to your superiors with confidence and strength. We need it again.

When the war, if you could call it that was going badly, General Washington was dressed down by General Green, a high ranking commander but still under Washington. Washington took the words of his subordinate to heart and reflected on them, followed up with a major change of strategy for the Revolutionary Army. I suspect that Greenes advice saved the day and Washington owed Greene a great debt. Instead of revenge, Washington rewarded Greene with his deepest trust and support. America owes the same to leaders that take responsibility for the actions of the entire chain of command, above and below them and calls them to account. We, each singular one of us can be this courageous, the times call for it.

Re--Writing Re--Wording

Re—Wording is often fun, at least interesting. It’s a bit like re—writing history. You take something old and full of meaning and rearrange something to come up with a new idea.

Try this triple reword.

You aint squat. Well, we all knows that means you aint worth a darn.

You ain’t squat until you are taught. You aren’t worth a darn until you have some education.

You aint squat till your taught to be squat. Now, what could that mean you ask? Whatever it means, it must be something to be squat. Whatever that means.

I was surprised by the word Awful sometime ago when I realized how it used to be used in the 18th century. That Cathedral is Awful, meaning Awesome, Incredible, Inspiring, full of awe. If we call a building Awful today, well we are insulting the builder, aren’t we? But they would love it back then.

Word meanings change and word usage changes. And how we put them into a phrase or a sentence changes. That’s my squat for the day.

One Hit Wonder

In 1968 Nebraskans Denny Zager and Rick Evans, recorded In the Year 2525. Man, I used to listen to that when I was a wet behind the ears teenager and I knew all the words as if I wrote them myself. On the other side of the record was a song called Little Kids, about young love and mini skirts and puppy dog love.

The two songs could not be more different. One went on to warn of technological nightmares and the other was more of a dreamy love song. The record is as two sided as they come, one side dark and one side more light.

But the dark side won out in that record, Woodstock, Vietnam, a moon landing were all happening about then and it seemed like we might go on living a long time, in music and drugs and fantasy and medical technology, as long as we didn’t all die in war.

Sometimes I think we feel like the dark side is closing in on us today as well. This bias toward fear and trepidation seems to be with us for all time. I’m reading a lot about our founding fathers and the documents they wrote, specifically the Constituion. John Adams for instance seemed to think that we were unable to handle the new power that the people were about to be given, namely self government. “The people will have unbounded Power. And the People are extremely addicted to Corruption and Venality, as well as the Great.—I am not without Apprehensions from this Quarter.” Like most of us husbands, he shared this with his wife. She was a prime counselor and confident to him.

Here’s a little something she contributed to our founding philospohies. “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

She might well have been the primary rabble rouser in that family. I am married to someone like Abigail I think, at least some of the time. They both held fears in their heart. That America would be a One Hit wonder, it wouldn’t last. They really lacked confidence in their own laws and principles set forth in that dynamic and lofty document, the Constitution.

Jefferson did not have much to do with the document, not being at the convention. His thoughts were in there of course, but not his handwriting. No, he reserved his one hit wonder for the Declaration of Independence written pretty much by himself. It was basically an explanation of complaints against the king and Jefferson put the world on notice that the 13 colonies were no longer part of the empire.

These very documents could have been written in many countries many centuries before the 1770s. And then again, history never did come together to form these documents in such a unique matter to the American continent. It’s not so much the paper or ink that is sacred, but the ideas therein. And the effort to bring them into the world. Most of the signers of these documents, especially the Declaration, expected to be hunted down and likely hung from the gallows. But they went ahead with their One Hit Wonders anyhow. Jefferson, I’m coming to realize, never really did write anything close to the work he did in the Declaration.

These documents are the best music they had to offer. Thereafter, they would march to the beat of their own making. And we have been druming along with it ever since. As is so often the case, new band members come along and replace the old ones that have died off. They have to learn the old songs, in this case, Freedom, Justice, Virtue and Happeniess.

Are you in the band? You probably are because these are similar values for you as well. We are all making music it seems. I want more than a one hit wonder though and I hope you do too. I want more gold and platinum records for sometime to come, the year 2525 awaits us, even if we lose the mini squirts and puppy dog innocense.

Is There a Good Word?

First , a long quote from the Shipping News.

He believed he was a newspaper reporter, yet read no paper except The Mockingburg Record, and so managed to ignore terrorism, climatological change, collapsing governments, chemical spills, plagues, recession and failing banks, floating debris, the disintegrating ozone layer. Volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes, religious frauds, defective vehicles and scientific charlatans, mass murderers and serial killers, tidal waves of cancer, AIDS, deforestation, and exploding aircraft were as remote to him as braid catches, canions and rosette-embroidered garters. Scientific journals spewed reports of mutant viruses, of machines pumping life through the near-dead, of the discovery that the galaxies were streaming apocalyptically toward an invisible Great Attractor like flies into a vacuum cleaner nozzle. That was the stuff of others' lives. He was waiting for his to begin.

E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News

I almost had to rip this page out of the book to isolate it for this quote. I am not using it in context at all and I’m happy to tell you that. It is more useful to me as an adjunct to my thought.

And my thought is simple, in todays world, one can be quite satisfied to not read anything like what is described above, lest they not wait for their beginning, but fall on the floor and crumple into the fetal position and wait fearfully for death to come. I don’t know which I wish to be spared from more, but both seem like hell to me.

The best place for a good word or Good News is in the Bible. It too has its hell, but I can find no place that lifts one up while highlighting how far men and women have fallen. It too, lists enumerated disasters that have and are about to befall mankind. And along the way, it offers a fair bit of good news. Much of the Biblical record leads us to question it. But the climax is the best of the Good News, a God like us, who loves us and sent His Son into the world to enjoy us and live with us and to show us the way to the truly Good life.

Smart......

Smart people or smart policies, what about smart people with smart policies? What about smart followers with smart policies? How do we know the difference?

There is only and maybe at least one very important thing missing. Smart Argument. America is an ongoing argument. I like smart people that can have a smart argument over smart policies. I wish I was good at all three. I’d like to get better in these areas. But I can still be atracted to the smart or the wise or the courageous if not oppositional types in our world. That free speech and free listening is recognized as one of our core rights. I recognize hate speech as free speech but honestly dumb speech as well. And I’m quick to classify hate speech to the trash, I quickly turn it off. But what I think one must look for and support is smart speech, wise speech, courageous speech with well thought out and understood approaches to living in complex and tough times.

I would enjoy arguments along those lines. Not arguments to see which one can gotcha the other, or destroy or crush, but those who argue to bring out the best in others and make their very arguments a pathway to empowerment as well as the smart policies they advocate. Smart Arguments, I’d vote for that.

Y2K to Today

As we rolled over into the year 2000 we had the nagging feeling of doom that computer programs were going to shut down the circuit of computer driven life all around us. It didn't happen. But something else happened that year and we did not notice it. We imagined a disaster and we made it through our own imaginations by toughing it out and hunkering down I guess. We went through a worldwide period of crisis, imaginary of course, and we came out of it, relatively unscathed.

Some 20 years later, we had another crisis. We did not prepare for it really and we simply waited for it to show up. Not unscathed this time, right? What have we learned? Two decades to learn about ourselves. What have we learned? Will we have two decades to the next alarming event?

You Can Always Say You KNOW

My weather apps do a great job of telling me the weather. They are not always right but I have made allowances for that. Yesterday, one of them said at my location that it was raining. I went outside and it was not, I repeat, not raining.

If you take things literally as I often do, you will either make accommodations, some would say excuses, or you will forever expect every word someone or some app to be true. They said it, so it must be true.

What changed?

When flying around Fort Hood in central Texas we had a radio channel where we could call in and talk with live weather forecasters. Fort Hood is a massive chunk of land, 340 square miles I believe, so the weather from north to south, east to west could be radically different across the area.

Sometimes on rare occasions your life and that of your crew and passengers depended on accurate weather info. More than once we entered storms where you couldn’t see more than a 100 feet in any direction. I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to be in that position. But we were. And it would get pretty hairy. You had to make a safety decision about continuing the mission and a call to the Air Force weather guys was just the help you needed. They never let me down.

The trust I had then has never been repeated. Granted, they were only telling you about the weather in your area for the next 2 or 3 hours but I look at apps that tell you incorrectly the weather for the next 5 minutes to ten or more days.

I still like weather people, I just don’t plan my outdoor day by their words. That is one of those accommodations I mentioned. In fact, I often believe that if they say it’s going to be partly cloudy, it will turn out to be mostly sunny. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one.

Until you are actually witness to the weather, saying you Know what it is like out there isn’t a true witness. You say it’s snowing because the app says it’s snowing and you can go outside and witness no snow. Something is amiss with claiming that you Know something when you are not a first hand witness. We have taken secondary witnesses and tertiary witnesses as first hand witnesses, or even AI witnesses. We are losing the check it out for myself idea of scientific inquiry.

This I Know.

Research Your Life

For years, I used to think about three things. Cars, Computers and Health. I thought about them because they were either expensive to buy or expensive to maintain or both. They still are for the most part. Now computers maybe not as much and you get a lot more out of a similar priced computer today than say the Tandy Radio Shack model I paid $1500.00 for. I still think they are overly expensive but you could try to persuade me otherwise and I might agree with you some.

Cars on the other hand, no, I would not move in that direction because, I mean, have you tried to buy a new car lately? Or anytime in the last 30 years or so for that matter. I’m not sure, but I think I have bought maybe 4 or 5 new cars in my whole life, and all of that 30 years ago or more. Why? you might ask. Because I did research into the difference between new car costs and used car costs and how quickly a new car depreciates, and how much money you spend on maintenance for a used car and how you might save money if you fix the car yourself.

This was also the pattern I learned from my father. Fix what you can fix and then turn it over to the repair shop. So we changed radiators, alternators, tires and brakes and minor repairs like that. If the engine went bad, it was probably time for a new to us used car to replace it.

He did his research and learned how to fix things.

In order to be like this, you have to take responsibility for your own knowledge and for the source of that knowledge. And you have to know your limitations. You can’t fix everything on the car, especially these days. And if you have lots of money, you might not care to get your hands dirty at all, even changing something as simple as a windshield wiper. But having lots of money doesn’t help you to learn more about your life in this case, it just means you don’t have to do something that you can pay someone else to do. That’s a nice bit of luxury that we all can enjoy today, as long as we have money to cover it. But what have you learned?

The downside of having that money is that we never really learn to research for ourself what is going on, with Cars or Computers or Health, or now I would like to complicate it, just about anything else that is important in our lives like family or economics or political leadership or our future welfare or how late will I have to retire in life because I have very little in my retirement fund? And one of the big questions about retirement goes back to health, will I have enough to retire on to pay my cost of housing and food and health care?

To many of us, most of the above doesn’t seem to matter much. That is, until you wake up one day and it really does matter. Then a crisis of health or economy hits us head on and we have not done the research to get though the crisis with a high quality of life on the back side.

When my wife got cancer, the whole trajectory of her life changed, in ways I could write a book about. But research was the foundation of that change. She dug into her type of cancer and the treatment for that cancer and what kind of success she could attain from following different kinds of advice about treating that cancer. Research is what distinguishes the successful from the average life or even inadequate life.

Search, research and source your research. All this is another way of saying, fall in love and become an expert in Learning again, no matter your age. Your life will thank you for it.

Applying Yourself In Old Age

I gave quite a bit of thought to how I might apply myself to life after I retired. Mind you, I didn’t die on that retirement day, only moved into a new phase. If not death then, a passing of sorts took place. A door closed and a new one opened.

I had a business card made up many years ago with a red barn on the plains. Added to this serene picture were a phone number, an email, and two words, Pastor/Writer.

I had no idea many years ago when I designed that card that I actually retire one day and still do what I did for so many years; write messages of encouragement and encourage people in their day to day living pastorally. The beat goes on it seems.

I don’t know when I realized I was a writer but it had a lot to do with studying and writing a weekly sermon. There were other writing activities as well, but my most important writing was that of the pulpit sermon. As you can tell, I’ve continued that is this social media form somehat, allthough I quote scripture less and offer more gentle direction than I often did in the sermon.

And to continue the pastoral work I simply decided to turn over my daily rountines to trying to let Jesus have His way with me and by extension, those I come across each day. Practicing His Presence you could say.

So my business card still works to identify me missionally and purposefully. I apply it every day. I do not worry as to the quality or quantity of the application because that is in His hands. He orders my steps and prepares me to take them. As always, I wish I could have done better or done more, but I finish almost every day feeling well applied.

What will your business card look like at 65 or 75? I suggest you give it some thought.

Pain Avoidance

"The art of life is the art of avoiding pain."

Thomas Jefferson

I'm not sure what kind of pain Jefferson was writing about when he wrote this parting letter to his lover Maria Cosway but I'd venture to say it was more than physical pain. It appears that Jefferson was becoming more of an Epicurean by this time and less Stoical. The stoics would take issue with the idea of avoiding pain and suggest you learn how to master it I suspect. Jefferson seems to have gone soft in the head as it were over time, not really as much of an adventurer or rugged as some of the other political elites. Nonetheless, there is something to be said for avoiding pain, wouldn't you say.

What's Government Good For?

“If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself.”

―James Madison

If we take Madison at his word, government is to control its citizens. Then he goes on to say that government is to control itself. That’s a lot of control I would say. And the more important question, is it working to the benefit of all. Another important question, Why aren’t we angels? Or at least angel like.