Some Links About Ferguson

We are almost done with Ferguson, Missouri for this time around.  Did we learn anything?  I think we learned that issues surrounding race are no where near settled, and if anything by voting in a man with brown skin as president, we have highlighted the issues even more.  We may be more polarized, and more potentially divided and explosive now than in any time since the 1950s and 1960s.

I have accumulated an impressive pile of interesting opinion articles and I am going to take this post to share some of them with you.  I will also share a link of a recent court settlement.  I would advise not reading it all in one sitting.  It is just too much.  In fact, the coverage of the events in Ferguson began to take on the same sort of life that post 9/11 coverage began to have back in 2001--and there was only email and the telephone back then for "social media." Take the occasional break.  It is good for the soul.

11 Things white people should stop saying..

A mother's white privilege...

Why white moms need to care...

How many unarmed people have to die..

Why we are mad...

I don't know how to talk to white people...

Poll Shows Division...

Explaining white privilege to a poor white...

for the sake of Michael Brown..

White evangelicals listen...

No Time to be polite...

Since we are going to change the tone a little bit, here is some sage advice for dealing with opinion, comment sections and other malarkey on the internet.  Handling the haters....

we want justice, hair extensions..

Man frustrated by Ferguson..

why the Obama administration sees...

Finally, after all the talk above, and all the angst about white bigotry and prejudice and violence, and everything, there needs to be honest talk about black on black violence and black on white violence.

Beaten to death at McDonald's...

Dear reader, feel free to add any links that you have found informative to your outlook on the events of Ferguson and your own views on "Race Matters."





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Race Matters

In the year plus since I have last sat down and written something here there have been plenty of intense news stories to consider.  There have been mass shootings, and foreign policy crises, and all kinds of things that could have been discussed here.  I came close to posting when the street car extension went down in defeat, if nothing else to dance a little victory dance, but even then, no.  Too much other stuff in my life.  Just keeping up on the Facebook is hard enough sometimes.

But then on a Saturday afternoon, a man was shot by a police officer in the town of Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis--and life has been off the hook since. 

Partly it is because I have this amazing Facebook friend.  I've never met her in person, but she is a talented writer and the kind of person who stands up hard for what she believes in.  She even appeared on national television after a certain Facebook post about mommy fitness went viral and she presented an alternative message so well that the media wanted to interview her.  Well, my friend became very intense about what was going on in Ferguson, and posted stuff from non-MSM sources that were more reflective of the black experience.  Most of them I was in agreement with and some I realized were treading in land I could not, as a white person, access.  They aroused emotion and some argument.  Other places on the internet were ablaze with commentary, from national sites like CNN to local sites like Tony's Kansas City.  Of course I could not go just half way with this stuff, but plunged in head long as usual.  None of it has changed my mind about the way I feel about race matters--stuff I have blogged about years ago.  But everything has been brought up afresh with the events in Ferguson.  I find that unfortunate, since we have struggled hard in this country to make progress.

The main thing that I want to say here is that the old narrative that fueled the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is broken and needs revision.  Now, I am not saying that it needs to be thrown out completely.  Slavery was real.  White European people came to see black African people as less than human, something that just boggles my mind (and a stream of thought that is very much alive today, alas), and because of this white people could see their way to treating black people very badly.  The Civil Rights movement swept aside all legal bits of this inhuman treatment, and even put in place some things to force equal treatment. 

So what happened?  Something did, because parts of American society are badly dysfunctional.  Especially black American society. 

Maybe it is not so much that the narrative is broken, but that it is misused.  It is used to deflect responsibility for one's actions.  It is used to jump to conclusions.  It is used to lump everyone in a given group all together in one monolithic stereotype.  It is used to lower expectations and to allow for failure to become acceptable.  It is used to avoid asking hard questions and hearing hard answers.  It is used as an excuse.

Racism, prejudice and bigotry are alive and very well in today's society.  We are not past Race Matters by any means.  There are certain things that as a white person I will never understand, no matter how empathic I can be.  Yet we have to stop and ask, Is this current narrative and what we say to ourselves as a country about race and the history of black and white people in this country working?  I would propose that what we say is not working, not working at all.  The proof is in Ferguson, Missouri, and it is playing out live on your TV, on your computer or smart phone, in comment sections and blog posts, in anger and fear, in destruction and distrust.  

I am pretty hard to scare.  I recognize that the MSM is manipulative with its "if it bleeds it leads" mantra.  I look at crime realistically, rarely allowing news stories to frighten me unduly, taking me past doing common sense crime prevention and simply being aware of my surroundings.  But Ferguson scares me.  The profile of Ferguson is not far off from suburban cities in Kansas City and even south KC itself.  Communities such as Raytown, Grandview, Ruskin and even the older parts of Overland Park and Olathe have experienced White Flight and significant population changes. Have their polity and politics kept up with the change?  Do their police forces relate to the community as it is composed now?  Could a mob come into my neighborhood and destroy what me and my family have worked for in a night of terror?  I look around and see a lot of positive signs:  The Grandview police department is light years ahead of where they were.  KCMO has a black mayor and police chief.  My neighborhood is integrated. I have good neighbors.

I would hate to have the powerful outside forces of racial politics and fear transform good neighbors into people I have to worry about harming our community structure in the name of race.  It is time for all races, tribes, groups and statuses to look realistically at the way we talk to ourselves about Race Matters and to take responsibility for our own sins and bad actions.  That is one way to snuff the fuse of the race bomb. 

The Star Spangled Banner

Ah, the national anthem.  Two recent events have put the national song in the national conversation these past weeks;  singer Beyonce lip synching at the inauguration, and the quite long rendition by Alicia Keys in the just past Super Bowl.  It reminded my of something that happened to me about a year ago, when I traveled back to my home state of Vermont.
I really enjoy basketball, and I enjoy supporting school sports too.  My high school alma mater was playing at a nearby school while I was back in my home state for family matters last year.  So I took the short drive to this rival school to take in the game.  As was typical, the game was a boys/girls doubleheader.
Just like here, and most places in the United States, the national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" proceeded the athletic endeavors of the evening.

Small town high school hoops.

Most places don't have the talent or wherewithal to do a live anthem for every game.  Usually a recording is used of someone singing, or a band playing an instrumental version.  That was what was on tap this chilly clear evening in a small Vermont town.
Except the tape/CD/record didn't work.  And didn't work.  The silence was painful.  Players were ready to play, spectators ready to cheer, but we could not start until "The Star Spangled Banner" was played.  Silence continued.
Until someone started:  "Oh say can you see by the dawn's early light..."  A capella   No accompaniment.  A little uncertain at first, then gaining confidence as other voices joined in.  "What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?  Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,"  The crowd gained momentum, carefully picking around the part of the song that had stumbled many talented singers.  "O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?  And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."  And finishing with the last words, not drawn out, but sung at the same crisp tempo as the start of the song:  "Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"  After the last note fell silent, we all looked around at each other, athletic friend and foe, two small towns that had more in common than different.  Then we cheered, for the game was about to start.

Best. Rendition. Ever.

One Nation Divided...

Boy, it's dusty around here.

It's funny, so many times as the world has gone on, I've thought, "Oh, I wrote about that in my blog."

I was just thinking to myself:  Has the world changed much since August of 2009 when I started this little enterprise?  In some ways, it has.  Some of the faces have changed.  We've had to live with the consequences of our decisions.  We haven't come together at all; if anything people are more divided in many ways.  The latest demonstration of this has been the gun debate that erupted after the shootings in Connecticut.  It's amazing how each side thinks the other side is scheming to cause the downfall of America.

It bugged me no end that the shooting of kids in Connecticut triggered this reaction about guns but no one seemed to turn a hair about the ongoing carnage in the poor sections of cities like Chicago and Kansas City. Midtown Miscreant blew the dust off his own blog and nailed it here.  Yes, it would be great to get some of the guns off the streets of our country, but how, without disarming the law abiding only?

What else has been interesting is how everyone is talking about the second amendment.  The hotness of the topic has revealed all the doublespeak that has been going on over the years, about how it was protecting the rights of hunters and sportsmen, and how it was insuring that people could protect themselves.  Now, people are going with a more literal meaning of the short-but-dense Second Amendment.  (To refresh your memory, the amendment reads as follows:  "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.")  Now, arms for citizens are seen as protection from the government.

Now, if you start unpacking opposition to the current government, especially the POTUS, you run head long into multiple manifestations of every division that has the potential to rend this country into bits:  Class, race and culture.  It is this that most deeply concerns me as a citizen of this nation, that our unity and identity as Americans has been lost.  Now we are Black and White (even more starkly in many ways then the 1960s, since we have lost the ability to talk frankly to one another without having the scarlet letter R [for Racist] applied.), Rich and Poor, Young and Old, Tax Payer and non-Tax Payer (which is a misnomer, since we all pay some type of taxes all the time), Taker and Giver and so on.  It is going to be tough to solve problems with all our divisions.

We are in uncharted waters for our nation, in my opinion.  We have no frontier to expand to, either geographic or technological.  We are trying to compete on a global stage but under unequal rules.  Our decisions to pay fair wages, protect our workers in the workplace, and care for our environment make it hard for us to compete on a world basis with countries that don't spend money on those things.  We've lost our bank of unskilled and semiskilled jobs (manufacturing type jobs mainly)  for those who are not as gifted with intellect and/or education.  At the same time, we struggle to educate our people to the level required by technology.  We are struggling with an economy that is not making jobs at a rate needed to reduce unemployment, plus the jobs being made pay less, and are less stable then the jobs that have been lost.  This cripples our consumer economy, plus stresses low cost rather then quality or supporting local companies when people do have the resources to buy something.

We are in a tough spot for sure.  And I don't have answers, nor am I convinced that anyone else has a clue either.  I think it is that frustration that stands behind some of the bluster from both the left and the right, from both Keynesian economists and Supply Side economists. The extremes of both sides are totally convinced of their rightness.

I frankly think no one has a real clue what will really set this nation back on a positive course.

I think that this discouragement is what has kept me from blogging very much lately.  Where is the answer and can we stop screaming at each other and name calling long enough to find it?

Really, I Like This Place!

After reading the comments to the last post, I want to say something and that something is that this blogger does not hate all things Kansas City!  I love the fact that there are some world class amenities here, and some things that our city does very well.  I like our sports teams, our Plaza, our boulevards.  I like what comes here because of what we have here.
As one of the comments alluded to, it is a balancing act between insuring that essentials are taken care of and investing in things that look forward.  Anything that looks forward is by its nature risky, since we can't tell the future.  As anyone who has run a small business, or been close to a small business, knows you must look forward, as well as maintaining the quality of the work you do now.  If you don't, you run the risk of falling behind.
I do think that if we underestimate the risk we are at right now, we could end up in a bad spot.  Maybe not East St. Louis bad, or Detroit bad, but still in a place we don't wish to be as a city.
I have long felt that a prolonged diet of bad news, as provided by the "if it bleeds, it leads" media, is bad for one's personal outlook.  The news programming feeds fear.  I have long maintained that the decay of the Bannister Mall area was accelerated by the news coverage given to each and every incident.  This was compounded by the mall's poor PR efforts.  The enclosed mall might have eventually died anyway, as many have in the metro, but from the more natural causes of changes in consumers' habits.  The death would have been slower; thus easier to prepare for and less damaging to the self esteem and unity of the community.  When the movie theater opened at Red Bridge not long ago, I remarked to a friend that I hoped that folks from Johnson County would come over to enjoy the art films and smaller venue offered by the cinema.  My friend didn't think JoCo people would come over.  This startled me, and when  I said something, my friend said they were scared to come over.
Part of our quandary is trying to figure out our identity.  There was a period in the 1970s and early 1980s--paradoxically when eastern cities were really struggling--where it looked like Kansas City would become more then just a pleasant medium large city.  Along the way, sometime in the late 1980s or 1990s, something changed.  I am not sure what is was, but something changed in this city, and in the economic conditions surrounding it.  Kansas City stopped looking so go-go.  I think those go-go times are past--and that is not a slam on the city.  We are what we are.  We are not New York, Chicago, or LA.  Some of the things we've done may have been too big for our britches.  We need to learn from that, and settle on our identity, and glory in that.
What is happening on the East Side of town does impact all the city.  People don't take in the fact that that is just a small part of the city, and lump the whole town in to the East Side.  It requires our attention.  Furthermore, the trust issue with City Hall needs to be resolved.  City Hall needs to prove that it really is good with the money.  The grifters need to be stuffed, sent away empty handed.
So no, I don't have a grim view of the city's future. I have a cautious view of the city's future.  I have an investment of time and treasure here.  I have investments in the people here.  I want to see success, not failure.  I just think we need to be careful, and not reckless in the risks we take.
(A little choppy, but written in reaction to other stuff. )

Man-Up

I found this flyer on a table in a south Kansas City McDonald's...looks interesting...

Click on the image to embiggen

It is not just the Black community that can stand for its men to step up and take responsibility and show the way for the younger generations.  Our society has suffered for not having men be strong and involved in family and community--men for too long have allowed their attention to be diverted by work and leisure.  There is more to life then pleasuring oneself, material gain and pursuing the grail of "respect."  Life includes some deeper aspects that are important too.

Why the Dry Spell?

I think I have figured out why I have been a bit dry on the blog as of late.

I can't debate any more.

It is not just because of the mean spirited nature of discourse these days, although that is part of it. It is not that I don't enjoy a good back and forth on issues and interesting topics. It is not that I have no training in forensics and sometimes feel undermanned in debate.

There are several reasons why debate action does not excite me. First, I often hold nuanced positions that are not easily rendered into a slogan or three points and a poem. For example, on gay marriage: I struggle with the idea of making the marriage of two people of the same sex the equivalent of a marriage between two people of opposite sex. Yet, I also know that the judging of others' worthiness is not in my job description--my job as a person of faith is to show the love of God to everyone. I can annoy both sides with my position, and they can annoy me by trying to push me further towards their positions. Being pushed is no fun!

Secondly, I dislike the division and polarization that has happened. For example, it is automatically assumed that because I profess Christian faith I cannot possibly be for women, or in favor of equal rights for women. I am automatically lumped in with people I really disagree with. To put it the other way, being Atheist becomes a requirement for being pro woman. The third factor is that I am not quite prepared to think that in our difficult times that any of the sides actually know what will actually work to solve our problems. Both left and right are convinced that they have the ideas that will help our country solve its problems and start growing again--I am not so convinced that either group has the formula that will help us start healing and growing our nation.

This does not mean that I have any shortage of opinion, but it does mean that I may not always have the stomach for rancorous and pointed debate. I am more interested in solving problems and making our city/state/nation/world the best place it can be.

Stereotypes and et cetera

First, some important definitions:

Prejudice:

a: (1). preconceived judgment or opinion (2): an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge.

b: an instance of such judgment or opinion.

c: an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics.

Racism:

1: A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

2: racial prejudice or discrimination.

Race:

2. a: a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock.

b: a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits or characteristics

3. a: an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species; also: a taxonomic category (as a subspecies) representing such a group

b: breed

c: a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits

Stereotype (noun):

something conforming to a fixed or general pattern; especially : a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment

The other day I was out at a fast food restaurant. Just as I was coming to a table, a family was leaving. It was a big multigenerational group--a toddler, a teen, two 25-40 adults and a 65+ gentleman. As usual, I forgot my napkins, and I went to get them. I passed by the table that this group had been sitting at. They had left everything on the table, all their leftover food, wrappers and cups they didn't take with them. It was a mess. I wish now I had taken a picture before I cleaned it up.

It was the sort of incident that could cause a person to become prejudiced, to decide that rude and self entitled behavior is part of belonging to people who look like this group. There really is no excuse for not busing your table at a fast food joint--there is no question that you are supposed to toss your papers and leftovers after you are done. People form judgments based partly on what they experience from people--yes, prejudice is taught by outside forces as well--but reinforced by seeing bad behavior.

The reason I started out with the definitions is that prejudice and racism are often confused, partly because they overlap and partly because the one can lead to the other. You see enough bad behavior by a certain group, and a person can decide that a certain group is not as smart or capable as another.---

This is not where I wanted this post to go: Here is where I really wanted this post to go, and I am going to be blunt and not dance around the point. If you want people to lessen prejudice and "pre-judging" your group, you are going to have to behave in such a way as to prove them wrong. I am sorry but that is unfortunately the way it is. Human nature and the way the human brain works makes us tend towards generalizations and assumptions so when we see a group behaving a certain way, especially if it seems to happen over and over, we start assuming that that behavior is standard issue. It is not necessarily about race. I grew up in a state with a tiny percentage of population of persons of color and there were still groups and classes of people who were subjects of prejudice. Members of those classes of people had to prove that they were not like the stereotype of the group that existed in the larger population.

So, what does all this have to do with the behavior of the family in the restaurant? Well, it is this: every time a person with an identifiable ethnic heritage, or "race" (race is a specious concept but that is for another day...) does something that can be called bad or wrong, it is another brick in the wall of prejudice and stereotyping. I was shaking my head thinking to myself, "Yet another brick for use in building walls of prejudice. Some may decide automatically that a group like yours is a bunch of inconsiderate boobs, who are too lazy, entitled and self centered to clean up after yourselves. People, if you want opinions to change about your ethnic group, you have to step up your game. You have to behave better, even when it isn't easy, or you want to rebel."

Every wrong act is ammunition for those who want to keep you down. Every wrong act is something someone can point to and say that your group is inferior, intellectually, ethically, or any other way. Performing as well, or better, while the tougher road, is the right road to take. Indulging in a victim mentality, rebelling or giving up will just reinforce the bad stereotype about the group.

Author's note: I started this well before (March 15) the current Martin/Zimmerman mess. There is not a word I would change. I could add some, but that will be later. Pay attention to the definitions. They are important.

Definitions from Webster's on line dictionary....

Where's the Reset Button?

I have been trying to figure out what to blog about these past few days, and as I noted on the Facebook, it is just epically depressing to look at the news these days. Crime and money problems for our city, an indifferent collection of potential opponents to the current occupant of the White House, more issues with divisions, racism, and uncivil discourse, class warfare, add your own to the list...

I keep thinking of how people in past ages have thought the world was completely unraveling before their eyes. We certainly have seen empires fall apart, political upheaval, technological revolution, and other sorts of change occur throughout the course of history. I think what makes these times at least seem different is that the changes are more rapid and are more known throughout all the world. There are rare corners of the world that move at the rates of the 18th, 19th or early 20th centuries any more. Even the rate of information flow that occurred in 1968 seems slow compared to our hyper communicating super fast world of today.

For that reason, it is hard to see if it is really "worse than it has ever been." I have Christian friends who are convinced that this is the end times and that Jesus is coming back any time. I always remind those people that Jesus was quite specific about predicting his return--mainly for people to avoid trying it.

There are moments when humanity shines--they occasionally even show up in the news--but it is usually small groups and individuals, not our ruling class. Our ruling class seems to be selfish, narcissistic, out for themselves, and not very bright; they rarely provide us bright spots in the news broadcast.

We need "Control-Alt-Delete"....

Managing $500,000

Of course, the main point of this story (link) is that the winner of a $1 million dollar lottery prize in Michigan was still taking food stamps after she had won the prize and taken delivery of the $500,000 check. The outrage was palpable. Of course, the state should have known it, but also the failure of honor on the part of the winner was notable. Some people were upset that lottery tickets were purchased in the first place by someone who was on public assistance.

But we are not going there today. One of the themes that has recurred over and over in commentary concerning this story is that the lottery winner, Amanda Clayton, will run through her money and be broke again, and back on assistance in a year or less. That made me wonder: how would I personally handle a windfall of $500,000?

I know for me, I would spend some money, and some of it on similar things to Ms. Clayton. My car, which I like a lot, has 130K miles on it. I would be buying a new one. Something modest mind you--I would not spend more then about $20-25 K on a car max. Then I would probably drop at least $30K on my house, taking care of deferred maintenance and making improvements. Nothing fancy--no granite countertops or any of that junk. New roof and windows, a revision of a preexisting remodel that wasn't done correctly, redone electrical system, new gas range, tree and landscaping work. The only indulgences might be the back up generator and the wood stove that I would love to have. I would also use the money to help with the cleaning up and thinning process I have been doing for a while, to rent a portable storage bin and a dumpster. After improving my house and car, I would improve myself. I would invest in some education to make myself more employable, and I would continue to work and earn a living, even if it was part time in this economy. There's something about having a skill, practicing it, and getting a bit of money on a steady basis that has a lot of appeal. I could go entrepreneurial too, if I find I have a good idea that others would want--and would pay for.

Say, after all that I have spent $100,000. There is still $400,000 left. Plenty to invest, save and use in many ways if you are willing to live modestly, not show off, and say no to the inevitable grifters, related and otherwise, that will come your way. But unfortunately for Ms. Clayton I think those saying she'll be broke are correct. At the end, she will only have left those things she paid cash for, and if she hasn't figured out that she needs a skill (she's only 24 so plenty of time to train for something--now that would be a good use for her winnings!) she will lose those things as she tries to figure out how to support herself. After that? It's hello, dole.

The irony of all this is that most people, such as myself, who have a clue about money rarely play the state lottery games. We know how long the odds are of winning.

On Rush's Misstep

Warning: Not Politically Correct Content within.

"Rush is mired in an era when sex, especially outside of marriage, indicates some kind of avante-garde, hippie lifestyle. He misses the fact that the timing of childbirth is a discussion nearly all couples engage in, or wish they had."--Kansas City Star editorial

This is it-- why everyone's knickers are in a knot--sex. You see, before contraception was available every time you had sex there was a risk of a baby. There wasn't just a moral imperative to remaining sexually continent there was a practical aspect too. Actions had consequences. Once reliable and easy contraception became available the consequence was unattached from the action. Only the moral imperative stood in the way. In the end, for many, it was not nearly enough and with each succeeding generation the acceptance of the "rightness" of being chaste has been less and less until we come to today, where today's sexually loose lifestyle is regarded as normal by the majority. Those who think otherwise are regarded as odd at best or weird or, amazingly, just WRONG.

Taking a pill is not the only choice for avoiding having a child outside of marriage. There is that old reliable-- choosing not to be sexually active. Not only will the risk of an unwanted pregnancy be removed, so will risks of AIDS, syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea and cancer of the reproductive organs and genitalia. Not to mention skipping all the heart- break that happens by uniting in sex with someone who is not deeply committed to the relationship; when people, especially women, get their hearts broken when they are set aside like dirty socks...

The idea of remaining chaste outside of marriage should not be invalidated just because contraception is available. Finding disagreement with an active sex life is not an opinion just to be mocked or laughed at--being sexually under control is an option that should be considered, even in this day and age of contraception.

Really.

Rush Limbaugh was crude when he called Sandra Fluke names. He was wrong to do that. Contraception needs to be available to those who have real medical needs as well as being available for those who want it in this day and age. To me, however, some of the towering outrage is from the question standing behind Rush's objection: the questioning of just how good and right an indiscriminately active sex life is for both the individual and for our society. Some of those who heard that question were outraged that the rightness of their lifestyle choice was under even a little scrutiny.

You throw a stone at a pack of dogs--how can you tell which one got hit? The dog that yelps the loudest.

Why Write?

One day I had a very brief (thankfully) moment of self pity because no one had "liked"any of my posts in a closed Facebook group I am a part of. It stopped when I asked why I posted on the forum. I did not post to get applause, or likes--I posted hoping that my resource would provide some kind of uplift for the potential readers. It would educate them, or encourage them or remind them of an important truth. However, this entire train of thought got me thinking as to why any of us display our creations in a public forum. Why do we sing songs and play musical instruments in front of others? Why do we invite others to read our writing? Look at our drawings? View our photos? Do we sing, dance, write, paint, photograph for ourselves or for others?

I think the answer is truly the "Yes" we all joke about. We do create for ourselves--it is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to cause something to come into being that wasn't there before. A work of art did not exist until the artist came along and created it--and it is unique to that artist--our visions are unique to our selves. Yet, there is something in us that wants to show it to others. Sometimes it is for altruistic reasons: we think it will add to the community new ideas and serve to build up everyone. Sometimes it is because we like to hear the praise of others. Sometimes we actually benefit materially from the fruits of our creative labors. Sometimes we do it because we like the challenge of our work going out into the world meeting the opinions of others.

Anyone who creates and puts their work out in public has to recognize all the motives, pure and not so pure, that stand behind the action of putting their creation out there before the world.

Some Existential Thoughts Provoked by Whitney Houston

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world

--Jesus Christ, as quoted by John (John 16:33b NIV)

Unless you have hidden under a rock, you are aware that singer Whitney Houston was found dead in a hotel room in California Saturday afternoon. The Observer is around Ms. Houston's age--you could say we grew up together. I remember attempting to sing along with her in my first car after I graduated college--a Ford Escort. However, this post is not specifically about Ms. Houston's premature and somewhat unexpected death--it is about how it is that the landscape around you keeps changing as you get older.

Your relationship with technology changes--you've seen the changes both good and bad. You took your professional boards over 2 days with a pencil. You wrote your papers on a typewriter. You remember that if you were not home, tough luck reaching you on the phone. You remember music on large thin plastic discs. To a greater or lesser degree you've accepted the changes--even found them to be a substantial improvement. I am thankful every day for computers to write things on--so much easier for me!

The celebrities and sport stars you grew up with--the athletes, actors and singers you enjoyed over the years change--they retire, change their work, and die. You find yourself having to explain who someone is, or what they did to be famous or what their area of excellence was. You also make references that require explanation--we call them "memes" now--"Round up the usual suspects." "Make him an offer he can't refuse." "Go ahead, make my day."

To live is to change. It is almost literally "change or die." If you stop looking around you at the world and fully living in it and taking hold of the new, you will stagnate. You will stop growing a legacy. The relationship with the past is a tricky one: too much looking back, and a person can get stuck in many ways from wistful memory to regrets to roots of bitterness. Blundering on without consideration of the past also hurts; mistakes are repeated, the joys are neglected and passed over, and important content is destroyed. It is a little like a city and its old buildings: some must come down to allow for vibrancy and growth going forward, yet a city that does not treasure its physical history is not as rich as one that respects the structures of the past.

I have become more conscious lately of the fact that I may die. I am asking questions about my life--what will last, what will be of benefit to the world. As I watch the world around me change the questions become even more pointed. It is not about stuff, it is about what you do for others ongoing that will last. I pray that I have done some good for others during my life so far, and I pray that I can continue to build others up and teach others in a way that is positive.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.

--John Wesley, Christian evangelist, Anglican priest and founder of the Methodist Church.

Simple Thoughts on Complex Economics

How much can a government help to promote an economic recovery? There are two different schools of thought on the subject. Now, please note that these are simplified ways of summing up this complex topic as well as notes from one who majored in neither economics or political science. So I might be making things too simple. However, even in my limited understanding I can understand that we live in difficult, hard to fathom times.

One is that the government can provoke a recovery by spending money on different things. Unemployment payments, highway projects, government jobs--all take government money and attempt to inject it into the economy, hoping it will provoke growth. Austerity is seen as something that retards growth, making everyone reluctant to spend money on anything.

The other school of thought is that the government can't grow anything--that any spending that the government does is a net negative--at best it's neutral. It is a moving of money from one place to another and creates no new wealth, no new innovation and does not promote recovery. Government can best promote recovery by getting out of the way of the private sector as it works.

Last night's SOTU speech and the reply were just the latest salvos in this ongoing war of ideas. From the differing views of how things are now to the views of how capable the United States still is, the differences noted above were on display from President Obama and Governor Daniels. We also see this right here in our little cowtown on the river: we have the projects downtown, Power and Light, the Sprint Center for example, with heavy government investment.

We are always going to have a certain amount of the government pushing and pulling the private sector. Because humans are the way they are, a certain amount of regulation will always be needed, especially as corporations get bigger and lose their individual human identity (despite the Supremes' decision, corporations are not people) and fail to take heed of the price of being part of the society that surrounds and supports them. Yet we also know that the private sector, the person or group working on their own behalf, with their own goals and missions creates the most breakthroughs and new wealth--and is entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Government can not bring that creative energy and desire--just love at the sad state of the Soviet Union when it fell--first world weapons and third world infrastructure.

We are in difficult times--we have to stop demonizing each other. It just doesn't help the cause. We need to take some difficult medicine and we have to start working towards the next breakthrough, the next frontier. Otherwise, we will suffer both here and in the world at large.

Under Inspired

The five of you who read this blog don't come here to read about how frustrated I get trying to write posts sometimes. But it has been especially hard of late. Partly because I have had trouble clearing time for internet fun and partly because the issues before us are so uninspiring.

Uninspiring is what I would call the Republican field for president. This deficient group has started the long primary voting season with the caucus in Iowa last week. Mitt Romney won that in a squeaker. The first three were Romney, Santorum and Paul. While there are aspects of each of these men that have some appeal, they each have potent defects as well. I keep looking at the Republican field and at Barack Obama and ask myself, "Really? Is this the best we got?"

Uninspiring is what I would call the leadership of Kansas City, Missouri, which seems more determined to make big splashes then solid workaday plans. It's more fun to challenge the state over the school district and make plans for buildings and trains then it is to work daily on the crime issue, patch the streets and keep water flowing to residents.

Uninspiring also is so many people who do not want to take responsibility for anything, whether it be a discreet action or a general decay. We look for someone to blame for our failures. This is natural, and a very easy trap to fall into. However, true change, the kind of change that really "takes" cannot start until we step up and tell ourselves the truth. That is the start of true reformation and revival, the start of true change.

And it is what we need now. These are special times, and they are going to need some new and special thinking.

New Year?

Were you sad to see the end of 2011? Or completely ecstatic to finally see it end?

I have to say that I don't get all wrapped up in the end of the year. It is more of interest to me when the seasons of the year start and end. Christmas is a holiday with its own intrinsic value and part of a different cycle of seasons. New Year's is embedded in the first part of winter, when the days are still short and the temperatures are getting lower. Ask me how happy I am as the temperature warms in late February and March and days get longer--I am very happy at that transition.

2011 was stressful for our nation, as many became unsatisfied with our national leadership, both presidential and congressional. The economy continued to stagnate, not producing jobs, exhibiting all the signs of painful structural change ahead. Locally, we watched our homicide rate go up, rapidly outpacing most metropolitan areas. We watched as a new administration took up residence at 11th and Oak, and did not seem much better than the old one. Water pipes continued to burst. Power plays and players came and went, and it seemed that the basic services that hold a city together were being neglected. It was more fun to cut ribbons and spawn real estate development ideas.

2012? It will be dominated by the national presidential circus. As I type this, CNN is playing speechifying by Republican candidates in Iowa. The caucus there is the opening salvo in an ongoing drama of nominating an opponent for the weakened incumbent and we will hear this stuff endlessly until November. Many regard the November election as one of the most important in our nation's history. It certainly will be one of the longest campaigns leading up to that election.

Meantime, some believe that the world will end apocalyptically in 2012. We tried that road in 2011, and funny, we are still here. I suspect that we will be here in 2013. A little bruised maybe, but still here.

Happy New Year. Whoopee...

Jeff Smith, KCFD

Some of you might remember an accident on Red Bridge Road, not far from KCFD station 42 involving a pumper truck on the way to a medical call. Chauffeur Jeff Smith of pumper 1, which had moved to cover 42's area, turned east from the fire station and found himself in a situation with an oncoming car. In trying to avoid a collision with the car, FF Smith attempted to go far to the right. As he did so, the pumper hit a tree, destroying its passenger compartment. FF Smith's left leg was severely injured in the impact and he eventually had to have it amputated.
Kansas City's Ingram's magazine recently honored Jeff Smith and others in their December 2011 issue. It was good to read how FF Smith is fairing. His choice was a difficult one, one he should not have had to make, but was forced to make by another person's foolish choices. Because he chose a path that increased risk for himself, lives were saved that day.

Here is the essay from Ingram's on Jeff Smith:

In 22 years with the Kansas City Fire Department, most of them as a driver, Jeff Smith had been behind the wheel of a fire truck too many times to count. Another shortage-of-breath call at a senior-living center last February had all the earmarks of another milk run—right up until a Grand Prix pulled in front of his pumper as it gathered speed on Red Bridge Road.

Smith had a choice to make, and a microsecond to make it: A head-on collision, risking certain death for driver of that car, or swerve and take his chances. He swerved. The rear wheels of his truck scaled the engine compartment of the car, causing him to lose control. The truck careened over an embankment, hit a utility pole and slammed into a tree.

A common misconception is that a loaded pumper truck is as impervious to damage as a tank. Far from it, Smith says. “If you hit something head-on, the front of the truck just breaks apart.”

And in this case, it did. What had been the interior of his cab became a collection of jagged metal and glass shards, all moving at a high speed. Smith doesn’t remember much about the impact, only the frantic cries of other crew members urging him not to try getting up.

Not until after the doctors had informed him that they couldn’t save his left leg did he learn that someone else was in that car, a 3-year-old girl. Two lives saved. One leg lost at mid-calf. Smith runs the math on that, and says it adds up.

“For a long time, I questioned whether I had enough time, and always asked myself if there was a chance to do something different,” he says. “But if I had gone even a foot to the left, there were four or five cars there, and the captain said that almost certainly there would have been a fatality. He said what happened was the best possible outcome, and I think that’s right.”

But at a price. Smith has spent nearly a year in recovery, and endures 90-minute sessions of physical therapy twice a week. He isn’t back to work yet, and isn’t entirely sure what future roles he might have at the department. Biking is probably out, softball almost assuredly, he says.

Even now, after the acclaim as a hero for his sacrifice, Smith isn’t claiming that mantle for his own.

“I don’t feel like a hero,” he says. “I did my job like I was supposed to. I can wish I had my leg back, but two people are alive because of what I did. Everyone survived, and that’s the best thing in the world.”

Links: Ingram's Magazine on line.

Accounts of the accident, linked and summarized by fire service bloggers:

STATter911 and FireTruckBlog. Take a look for the pictures alone.

Images above: Ingram's cover featuring Jeff Smith and five other heroes, Jeff Smith in Ingram's photo. Observer photo of the area of impact--note the new utility pole and damaged tree--taken a couple days after the crash. The damage is still visible today, 10 months later.

We give the fire department--and the politics that surround its administration--a lot of crap around here. We still think the whole EMS thing is a disaster. That being said, however, this is a pretty neat group of people overall and many of them are exceptional.

The Biggest Story?

Topically challenged right now.

It's a lot more fun to talk about the holidays, the Chiefs, the weather or just about anything else then the current set of news headlines while hanging around the kitchen table these days.

The news media is this weird mix of holiday feel -good stories, horrid crime stories and sports headlines.

Just wondering here--what is the biggest and most important thing that is before us?

Do the folks at City Hall think the same things are important that we, the citizens, think are important?

How much does the media have to do with our priorities--that what they report is what comes to our attention--makes the most noise--and provokes us to call for action? Is what creates the noise really the most important thing?

Just wondering.

The Right to Know

Just a few short weeks ago I found myself being called "judgmental" in a comment forum because I stated that as much as some of us would like to know more about the particulars of the recent suicide of channel 4 weatherman Don Harman, we really do not have any right to know anything more about his death than the family decides to release. It is coming up again in the Aisha Khan case, as many feel that due to the work done to find someone that was thought to be missing and possibly in danger, the public has the right to know exactly why things happened the way they did. Again in this case, both family and authorities are being closed mouthed about the details. You might have a bit more of a case here due to the publicity given to a missing person case, but at bottom, especially since neither the family nor Aisha made the initial 911 call. There is no "right" to information here.

Let me give you an example: it's a personal one, but it makes the point. In 2004, my father passed away of sudden death. I was going to say sudden cardiac death, but truly I cannot say even that, because my mother, as his first and most immediate kin, and a competent person, refused an autopsy. (Side note: Apparently in Vermont, there is no requirement to do post mortem examination of outside of hospital, unattended or unexpected deaths. I must admit this surprised me. I believe it would have been required here in Missouri.) Now, I wanted to know, but my mother says she did not want it, and besides "dead is dead." I cannot assert any right to make that decision and obtain knowledge over my mother's wishes not to know. I do not have that right. I didn't have it then, and I don't have it now.

So anyone thinking that I judge those who want more information about the death of a public figure or about the details of an event that is not judged a crime, I do not judge. I understand your frustration. Your frustration however, does not entitle you to the information you desire.

A Loss

The Observer household has lost a member: Our wonderful LadyCat passed away a week ago today. She was 16 years old. She came to me as a stray, a momma cat who had had a litter of kittens. Everyone loved the adorable little kittens and they were all given homes by various residents and neighbors of the apartment complex in Grandview that I lived in at the time. No one wanted to adopt the mostly grown adolescent mom cat. So she came to live with me and the other cats I had at the time.

She turned out to be sweet, kind and flexible. Never one to put up much of a fuss, she accepted a move and another cat being brought into the household. More kitty personality started showing up after the move as our quarters were bigger. She shined despite health problems, presenting herself for medicine when needed without needing to be chased. She was the last of the first group of cats I owned, comforting as cat losses to age and illness came and accepting of newcomers.

My only regret is that her final acute illness came when I was away. I could not hold her, stroke her fur or talk in her ears as she slipped away.

You become one who cares for animals knowing that almost all animals do not have as long a life span as humans. You know that the day will come when your animal's life will come to an end and you will have to say good bye. Yet you accept this as part of the deal, because of all the richness you receive by having animals in your life.

Peace, my LadyCat, peace.