04/30/12

 “It’s never the doctors or the scientists at the gate.

It’s always the barbarians.”

I stole this one. From a guy who sells a book and some other stuff he claims will help folks survive the coming end of western civilization, as exemplified by the crumble of the good ole US of A. I guess this guy figures that once we fold, what passes for civilization in Europe and those few other hangers on out there will join us in our death rattle. And then we all slide back into the abyss.

Historically, most successful civilizations of any merit outdistanced themselves from the barbarians of their time. They did it by overachieving, and they simply out-competed their, ah, competition. They worked harder, built more and better, originated and excelled. The folks living in these civilizations benefited mightily from this situation.

And then eventually, each advanced civilization succumbed to its own success, and the barbarians returned and pounded on the gates until the civilization fell, and mankind backslid for a while.

Ah…Western civilization. It was pretty cool while it lasted. I liked it. And I’m not alone. There are actually millions of people out there who benefited from and enjoyed that thing we call civilization. And if folks are to be judged by the power of the enemies they overcame, good ole Western civilization beat down some pretty fierce and nasty folks to put us on top for a while.

Of course it never lasts. Not once in the history of mankind has one civilization held onto number one for more than a blink of an eye. One by one they all fell. And the barbarians, who while they may change names to protect the innocent, never really change, were always there waiting at the gate for their chance to overcome once again. Like rust, barbarians never sleep. And like the inexorable gravity, the force downward eventually overcomes whatever good tries to flutter ever upward.

You can now watch a TV program, what they like to call reality TV, wherein some company builds survival shelters so incredibly wealthy folks can wait out the apocalypse, with armored walls and air cleaners and the necessities of wine cellars and a large screen TV. Apparently, somebody thinks that one of the more important achievements of western civilization is that which one can view on a large screen TV. And that it is worth saving.

You’ll notice I keep talking about the barbarians at the gate, fierce enemies just waiting for their moment to attack. But what really happens when civilizations crumble isn’t so much the barbarians who lay siege and by weight of force and ingenuity destroy any civilization at its best, but instead consider an enemy which simply has to lay the straw upon the camel’s back. The reality is that the only way the barbarians can catch up is when the civilization slows down, or in our case, drops into reverse. Civilization dies from within, not from without (?). We teeter, and the barbarians simply give that last little shove, and down comes humpty dumpty, and that’s generally messy. And when folks finally realize where they screwed up, it’s too late to put the egg together again.

And what, you might wonder, is the sign that we have slowed down to the point of regression that will inevitably lead to our collapse? Consider the American Revolution. Remember the saying, “Let George do it”? Those folks who didn’t show up when needed to fight for their own freedom, for they either preferred living under the oppression of a despot thousands of miles away, or they simply didn’t care if they lived under the oppression of a despot, regardless, they used to say that. Freedom meant little to these people if it also meant duty to others who live for freedom and responsibility for one’s own life. They didn’t chose to accept discomfort, or some risk. Let George fight the British. Let somebody else do the work. Freedom wasn’t worth the effort to these folks. Fortunately, George didn’t need one hundred percent participation, for had that been necessary the king’s face would still be on our coins. But he did need a fair number to show up. When that fair number dwindles, and the sit on their hands folks predominate, the egg is already cracked.

When freedom isn’t worth the effort, the barbarians win.

When you teach generations of children that the things that elevated their civilization to greatness, and the things that netted them their wonderful lives, were in fact the things that our predecessors did wrong, and that we should be ashamed of our success, then we stop trying. 

And then the barbarians win. 

When short term profit or the acquisition of power sells out your own civilization, the barbarians win.

When the notion that our civilization thrived and surpassed its competition because it offered opportunity to anyone willing to try becomes instead complacency and entitlement, the barbarians win.

The famous intellectual and philosopher Ann Landers once noted, “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” 

And when politicians promise to give folks this or that so they won’t need to work, they are not only lying, but they are asking the citizens to surrender their civilization and their freedom to a culture of dependency. 

Then the barbarians win.

Now you might wonder if we will shortly surrender to the Chinese or to the twelve century religious fanatics.  Heck, it don’t matter. There’s lots of rabble at the gates. Don’t ask who will take over; ask instead why we slowed down, why we stopped trying. 

The politicians sold you easy street. The short term profit cheaters sold you out. The barbarians didn’t win. We let them win, because we let those politicians and short term profiteers run our lives and give away our freedom.  Wouldn’t ya think people would wanna wake up to this now, not later when it is too late? Just askin’.

4/12/12

Wandering through the sludge of humanity.

“Ah…Grasshopper. You look troubled. What heavy load weighs upon your head to bring such a pained look to your face?”

“Master…I am confused. We are taught honor and caring. We are taught to step aside so an innocent stranger can pass uninjured. We learn to aid the poor and the lame. We honor sacrifice over personal glory.”

“This is true, Grasshopper. All very true. And do you feel that you have failed in some way to live up to this goal?”

“I fail every day, Master. But I never stop striving to always do my very best for those I encounter in my travels. Often however, I cross paths with people who find pleasure in the injury of others, even in the injury of their own family. This confuses me, for are not these people also taught the value of honor and caring about others?”

“Grasshopper, I was chosen to teach, to impart such values to young people like you, and through many decades I have tried my very best. But like all teachers I too sometimes fail. Some people choose not to learn, and they leave in their wakes evidence of the harm they have brought to others. Many teachers fail, even when they strive their hardest. Perhaps this is the teacher’s fault. Perhaps it is the fault of the student. Perhaps some people simply are not ready for such lessons.”

My routine takes me from our home in one town to my clinic in another each Sunday morning. Officially, I go there to feed the three-legged cat. She appreciates this. In fact, she insists upon it. 

During those years when I submitted my column to the newspaper, I got into the habit of sending out my e-mail version of the column while I was at the clinic on Sunday mornings.  If you have ever wondered how I came up with the name of my Sunday Column, it’s really no more complicated than that.

Most Sundays I drive past a couple of churches along the way. Some might wonder why I drive past, rather than stop in to visit. But as I often try to explain to those folks who insist upon convincing me that there is value in the time spent inside those certain buildings, as opposed to all those other buildings, I deliver the same answer. It’s the answer I gave to those two nicely dressed, very polite young men who came to my door with the smiles on their faces and the pamphlets in hand. I don’t go into those buildings because they are full of people. And too often I find people lacking.

Yesterday was Easter, so as I drove by the usual churches on Easter Sunday, the parking lots were quite full. This phenomenon occurs again around Christmas. Twice a year the regular attendees see faces they haven’t seen in months as those a bit less committed show up hoping something will rub off on them as they pass by. They pack the parking lots to capacity, and then when things are over inside the building, a few race to their cars and try to run each other down in their rush to get out of the parking lot. 

This phenomenon was common way back in the day when I did attend a church, and some made comment about it. And nothing has changed over the years. Now, probably most of the people who do such touch and go visits are decent people. And there is absolutely no guarantee that the regular attenders are even passable humans. Such is the unpredictability of the folks with whom we share this planet.  And if one of the chores of the folks driving churches is to impact the decency of the people they strive to teach, they fail as often as everybody else.

I made a promise once to be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” Occasionally I live up to this pledge. Most times at least, I try. I know many who similarly do a pretty good job at this, and a handful of others who seem to have missed the message, and for them there is an un or dis on the front of many of those words.

I’ve seen the promise of “Semper Fidelis”  (always faithful) lived on a daily basis. And I’ve seen that other version, the semper assholis, as the latins used to say, running roughshod over anyone in their way.

The news each day is largely filled with the misadventures of the people who never got the memo. They don’t go out of their way to be nice to each other. Instead, they lie cheat steal at the expense of the rest of us. They thrive on causing harm. They are the murderers, thieves, child molesters, politicians, and various other low lives that clog the news and plague the planet. And there are others who live very close to us, and find ways to constantly cause harm.

Some are strangers until they harm us. Others live in our own families, and we know them all too well. Perhaps it is worse when the people who set out to harm us are members of our own families. Certainly this pains us more.

I don’t know any answer to the challenge presented by nasty people. I certainly prefer the nice ones. I would suggest that we all place mirrors where we can see them, so we will tend more to the nice side of things. And I caution all to watch out for the nasty ones. 

At least on TV the character Grasshopper was given the opportunity to kick some of the nasty folks in the chin. That was fiction. In real life we mostly are left to suffer at their hands. The truly bad ones have no conscience, and they will never change. And when they are in your family, that does disappoint.

4/01/12

This has been a time of random observations for me. I’ve bumped into an assortment of head scratchers lately, and I’ve tried to imagine a world with more order, a world that can fix that which appears so broken. My head vomits out ideas but…None have presented any instant or reasonable solutions. 

Mostly this is a series of questions, for which some may claim easy answers, but which likely don’t have any easy answers. Now, I wish I had some of those easy answers, but the world seldom does what I command. So this is a ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ piece. It’s what I’d like to see in what I hope would be a rational world. And let’s face it…this ain’t no rational world.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the people who are so grievously injured by the “Reverends” Jesse and Al would finally recognize that these two are perpetuating racism to enrich and empower Jesse and Al. (Hint…This wouldn’t be all those other folks on this bus.) These two con men are not trying to fix anything. They profit from a country torn asunder. They are holding back the very people who flock around them. (and no, I don’t mean the media and the politicians.)

The last thing these two want is peace and understanding between the folks with two sets of skin color, who really have a vested interest in not getting into a squabble over every little difference. If these two would simply stfu, maybe some rational thought and dialogue could take place, and a common ground approached.

Wouldn’t it be nice if folks would actually wait until SOME of the facts are verified before they head to the streets shrieking about the why of the shooting, when (not if, cause I’m a realist) one guy shoots another guy, and the only thing that raises anyone’s attention is the differing races of the two? None of the folks making all that noise out there knew anything about the unfortunate circumstance of the Trayvon Martin shooting, and yet so many jumped to the OBVIOUS conclusions. The most outrageous thinkers on either side led the outrage and insanity in the streets. Yep, both sides of the shouting.

We are not even close to knowing the truth about this tragedy, yet so many have already made up their minds, onnacountof they already had made up their minds before they knew anything. They won’t believe the truth when it hits them in the gut. This is prejudice, pure and simple, on both sides of what is a ridiculous argument, until the facts are known.

Wouldn’t it be nice if our president had withheld his comments regarding this tragedy in Florida until SOME of the facts were known, rather than chiming in on this one crime. Imagine how badly the families of those two other young men murdered in that same state of Florida must feel, considering how they sent him five letters in the wake of the clearly racially motivated murders of their children, and Obama and his staff couldn’t be bothered to even acknowledge them. 

In case you missed the paltry media coverage of that other crime, do a search on Shawn Tyson, James Cooper, James Kouzaris. You can find this information on the net even if you missed it on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN etc. And wouldn’t it be nice…

Sure, this other crime was none of the business of our president, and he likely hasn’t the time for such niceties. But why did he find the time for poor young Trayvon when he had no time for that either, and it was clearly only a politically expedient? Does he really want to be considered in the same class of opportunist as Jesse and Al?

I’ve been enjoying the March Madness of college basketball. It is youthful enthusiasm and incredible talent caught in the tremendous pressure of time and place. One prominent sports commentator suggests that the college tournament is boring, because all the young talent is already in the NBA. And I find the NBA to be resoundingly forgettable. Whatever might be wrong with me?

Wouldn’t it be nice if they held an NBA game, and the easiest thing those gifted athletes do on the court, the dunk, would not be rewarded with cheers, and instead something worth watching happened instead? I’ve yet to see a dunk do more than insult the defender, which of course is the point where most of the stars rose to fame on inner city asphalt courts. But why would I pay for that? And why would I pay to watch wealthy petulant athletes who cannot even shoot a free throw, a fundamental aspect of the game, but not part of the show?

Watching paint dry. Can’t imagine anything more boring than an NBA game, unless you bring the NHL into the discussion. College hockey is exciting and interesting. NHL games could be played in August, and the ice wouldn’t melt, for it is that uninteresting.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Islamist fanatic, the religious man who shot up the US army base killing so many innocent Americans so long ago, went to trial before the crazed American soldier who so recently shot up that bunch of innocent Afghani civilians. This was clearly a tragedy, and totally reprehensible behavior on the part of the American, but precisely what the Taliban have done to their own people on a weekly basis for years, But we Americans are held to a higher, even unreachable standard, by our critics. So this man will be quickly, publicly, and mercilessly punished so America won’t look so bad. Won’t help, but we will do it anyway. For our harshest critics are in the mirror.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the upcoming presidential election wasn’t caught in the vice-like grip of the most extreme in our society. I like the notion of the sliding scale, with one extreme on one end and the other extreme on the other end of a line. On one end you have the more conservative folks, and on the other end you have the opposite folks. You can put the various candidates somewhere along the line depending upon their stated positions. The two guys who will eventually square off against each other are set somewhere along the line, and the others scattered on either side of them. Where they are exactly doesn’t factor into this discussion. One is leaning to the left side and the other the other. But I won’t be placing these men on any particular part of the scale.

What interests me is not the actual positions occupied along the line, but rather the observation of these positions by the folks out there. To put this simply, if the observer thinks that one guy is to the left of him on the line, then that makes the observer more conservative, and on the other end, if the candidate is to the right of the observer, the observer is more liberal. And we will be soon deciding between one or the other candidates while they will both be kissing up to the folks standing on their outside shoulders, and not that bunch of us standing between them on this tightrope. So the arguments will be nothing but extreme, and any suggested changes in how we should run this country will also be too extreme.

When walking a tightrope, stacking too much weight on one shoulder yields only one eventual outcome. Whichever guy wins this time, we get to enjoy the fall.