Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Fighting mask mandates. Fighting vaccine mandates. Saying no to public health directives to battle the COVID pandemic. Eighteen months into the global scourge of COVID-19, people are still resisting requests to act in the best interest of themselves, their family, friends and community. And now the science is clear, the results are in: masks, vaccines, distancing, and even isolation work. COVID is waning in its original form; it mutates when given the chance, and spreads exponentially to those unprotected.

Those unprotected. Focus on that.

The protected may get infected, even re-infected, but their symptoms are mild to indistinguishable. They most often need little medical attention, no hospitalization, and few deaths have been recorded.

The unprotected are vulnerable. They continue to contract the disease, get sick, worsen, and wind up in hospital. The hospitalized often worsen and die. 98% of the fatal cases are unvaccinated patients.

What more proof do the deniers need? Want? What is it they are fighting?

If their wish is to not be told to do something they are uncomfortable with, I get it. I don’t like wearing masks. They are uncomfortable. They make my breathing more difficult. But I wear them because knowledgeable people, professional healthcare staff recommend them. So far I have not been infected by the virus. I’m satisfied with the results but still uncomfortable with the method. However, I do it to help myself, others, and my community.

The uncomfortable, however, have been targeted by political ideologs. They are being rounded up and exhorted to fight the healthcare advisories as a political plot. There are entire states who have fallen for this – Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina. Amazing.

The folly of politicizing the pandemic, however, is people die. The very people who are targeted by the politicians and ideologs, are the ones dying. This is becoming an evident self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who fight the advisories end up dying disproportionate to their base numbers. In time the problem will be solved. They will no longer exist.

Now that is some stubbornness. Prophetic and pathetic.

Freedom yes; doom? No.

August 31, 2021

 

 

 

Consequences

Truth and consequences. Action and consequences. Beliefs and consequences.

Do, say, believe anything you want; consequences will follow like night after day.

Start a war? Suffer the death, disability, horror, destruction, and cost. Do not forget ending the war; that is a consequence as well. Most wars end poorly. Check history textbooks. Google the history to make it easier. Someone always loses in a war. In fact, most times both sides in the war lose. How disastrously is the only unknown. Even ‘winners’ pay the price. The price is weirdly like the loser. Especially in modern times. These are complicated eras intersecting other eras with poor prologues but definitive contexts. Just ask the participants. Everyone has an investment in the action and the outcome.

The primary trouble is most do not clearly define desired outcomes. This allows the objective to shift shape, value, and content continually. No outcome is definable in such an environment.

Civil rights are like war. At any given time, someone wants to be treated better than before, or at least equally. When that happens, discrimination is the consequence. Those in power/majority usually seek the benefit; the rest of us suffer the consequence. A better seat on a bus or train? How about a better school, highway, public transportation, or landscape? Spend public money on community improvements and one neighborhood looks better than another, maybe even elite versus slum? Think about it.     

Don’t know anything about gay and lesbian issues? Build a defense against hearing about such things. until someone in the family speaks up and admits to being gay. Then it is personal. Then the struggle to truly understand happens. The consequence of ignorance leads to shock, reality and enlightenment. Often late and tragic in the lives of many families, sexual orientation issues are finally getting their due. The consequence is yet to be known and fully appreciated, but the future beckons brighter.

Terrorism? Future of Afghanistan? Terrorism was not centered in Afghanistan. It is where Al Qaeda was located to train for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Yes, that is a fact. But they dispersed to many regions of the globe, not just the Middle East. Al Qaeda has groups in many countries including Afghanistan, but that is not their central headquarters. Consequences of our ‘war’ in Afghanistan is this: pushed Osama bin Laden out of Afghanistan to Pakistan where we found him and killed him. We also dispersed terrorist cells to many lands. Terror is and always has been a global issue, not America as target, nor Middle East as birthplace. We have learned to take our campaign against terror anywhere it is active – in quiet cells or explosive sites. Afghanistan will be whatever it will be, like Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and others. Their histories are yet to be fully written.

COVID Eviction Aid Program? Congress allocated upwards of $46 billion to help tenants during the pandemic. The objective was to avoid mass evictions for nonpayment of rent. It was also the objective to keep funds moving into the hands of landlords, so they didn’t lose their properties due to tenants not paying their rent. These payments were not loans in need of repayment. But guess what? States did not figure out how to disperse the funds to tenants. So, most of the $46 billion remains in state treasuries unspent. The consequence? Mass evictions, homelessness, poverty, chaos in schools, stores and communities throughout the nation. Everyone has the resources to fix this; they just don’t have the will or smarts to make it happen. Shame on the states!

Consequences are nondiscriminatory. They happen intended or not. Beware.

August 30, 2021

 

Bits and Pieces

Taliban PR

The Taliban needs a better image. They seem to be polishing it up bit by bit. Picture: armed warrior helping a woman regain her footing; ushering children out of harms way; guarding elders from being trampled in the rush to get out of Kabul.

Rhetoric to the contrary, the Taliban needs to help escapees leave the country. Why? Because it will be easier to manage the country once these people are gone: fewer mouths to feed; fewer impoverished souls to nurture and tend; better management of scarce resources of food, water, housing and services.

The Taliban also needs international cooperation to journey towards nationhood and fulfillment of their long term objectives. We can argue over what those objectives are and whether we agree with them or not. Our argument doesn’t matter. Afghanistan now belongs to the Taliban. Let them make it what they will. They have asked for this; let them deal with it.

For our part – America’s and the rest of the global community – we must be alert to peace and its threat of terrorism. That is what we live with. That is what we must guard against. What will we do to ensure that Afghanistan will not become the seat of terrorist attacks on other nations? Rebuilding that nation is not on our options list. We and others have tried that. It did not work. Ever. Move on to other options.

The Taliban has much at stake if it is to be understood and respected. It needs this to get things accomplished. Plain and simple, they now have nothing to complain about. This is their mess to clean up and deal with. Let us see what they do with what we have left for them.

COVID Progress

Booster shots will soon be available for those with suppressed immune systems. Soon thereafter others will be able to increase their defenses against COVID and its variants. This is good news and progress. The FDA has fully approved Pfizer’s vaccines and will soon complete approval for Moderna’s. J&J’s will follow soon enough.

Pfizer is already working on improved vaccines for COVID variants, not just booster shots. Meanwhile vaccine testing for young recipients continues on the path toward universal inoculations. This is the answer to school safety regarding COVID. That is when we can rest easy for our kids to be in school with other kids. In the meantime, masks are required to protect themselves and each other.

We are making progress toward a better future. The speed of that progress relies solely on cooperation of all of us. That is our history. It is our future as well.

August 27, 2021

 

 

 

Saying Goodbye

A loved one dies, passes in the night. A friend or family member you have been close to for years is no longer available. No phone call to make and have answered. No return letter, email, or tweet. They are not there to respond. But they remain in our hearts and minds.

Remembering them is key to saying goodbye. Their face lit with a smile long remembered. Her eyes twinkling while saying something you did not want to hear. The joke she uttered when you least expected it. The hug and caress you needed she gave you. Freely and without expectation.

The favorite dinner, dish, appetizer, or dessert seemingly always there when you needed it. The family dinners and birthday gatherings. Holidays, too. She was there when you needed her. She was there to listen to your dark times and doubts.

These personal bits and pieces of the individual are part of our lives, have been for years unknown and unlisted. With her gone, they remain. They are her connection to you in so many ways.

The her here is Marilyn Drozdik, mother of many, friend of more and personality to a wide expanse of colleagues and friends. She died Friday night, August 20, 2021, in her sleep at 79 years of age. Her visitation was Tuesday, August 24 and her funeral mass on August 25. Hundreds attended. She will be missed but also remembered.

Saying goodbye is a two-way street. We tend to forget that. She said goodbye to us as much as we say goodbye to her. Still, she lives on in our hearts and memories.

Add this experience to those you have loved and still do. Your dad, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, grandparents and so many more. We yearn to say goodbye to them when we are thousands of miles apart from them. Yet the distance does not matter. It is the thinking, the knowing and feeling that matters. We say goodbye in our own way. On our own time. In our special places.

The hurt is the void making its presence known. Each of us finds a way to deal with it. It is natural and expected. It is part of life that makes us whole. The reality becomes evident: we cannot have life without death, nor can we have death without life. The two are immutable.

We grow stronger knowing this. We are more because of them even as we say goodbye.

August 26, 2021

 

Core Ideas

For my birthday this year, my kids bought me a subscription to StoryWorth. The recipient, in this case me, receives a question to write about each Monday morning for 52 weeks. The topics reflect on my life as requested. I do not know what the question will be, but I do have the opportunity to replace the question with another one at my choosing.

At the end of the year, a book will be gathered and printed for the family to pore over and ponder. Whether this is folly or not, the slow building of thoughts is actually a focus on ideas that form the core of who I am. That alone is a complex of clashing elements. Just ponder your own thoughts spread over 52 life quality topics!

I am not certain I will like the book. That is a reality yet to be lived. All I can do is follow instructions and let my fingers dance over the keyboard. We shall see what this becomes.

Core ideas are sobering. What is happiness? What was your greatest achievement? Which vacation memories stand out? What did you feel when your first child was born? The second? And of course, what is your happiest memory? There are hundreds of questions to choose from but the choosing is mostly done by the kids. I can substitute my own questions as well.

All of this is challenging. Yet, as a blog writer (daily for nearly 10 years), writing is a joy to me. It is an intellectual challenge. It is a creative process that contains its own rewards.

Accountability for actions and beliefs, relationships and supportive behavior, all mush together. Intentionality is not a given. It often changes in midstream. Values are blurred as ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ enter the picture. What is comfort? What is reward?

The one core thought that comes to mind over and over is this: not one of us is alone. Not one of us acts alone or in a vacuum. We are interdependent souls in need of each other. Our greatest problems occur when we act solo, as though consequences are invisible. They are not, of course; they dog us relentlessly.

This is true in all places and phases of life. Married or single, having children or not, being creative in the arts or not, successful in business or not, building a rewarding career, or not. All of these define who we are, not a single item, but all of them at once, all interacting at the same time because that is what makes life so unique for each of us. Life is similar but different for each of us.

That differentness is difficult to account for but remains the core of who we each are.

Life is complex but rich because of differentness, diversity. Celebrate that in others, but mostly celebrate it in yourself.

August 25, 2021

 

Solutions

Have a problem? What might be a good solution?  How about fixing a problem we did not anticipate? Does that change the solution? What about decisions and actions made that had unintended consequences? What do we do about them? Ignore them, move on without further consideration? Or maybe we learn from the situation and hope to avoid such problems in the future?

We live with so many problems. Here at home and across the seas. Our friends in other nations have problems and they ask for assistance to address them. Most of the time we in America respond with help. Sometimes that help is in the form of money, or active programs where we have people doing services, delivering medical help, providing goods to alleviate suffering. Sometimes we provide military aid where we boost their defenses, provide military goods and equipment, training, too. Our military aid often extends to getting involved in the fight putting our troops and support personnel at risk of death and injury.

Afterward, when we face the consequences of our actions, our help for others, we must analyze what went right and what went wrong. How much did these actions cost? In what terms the price? Lives, disabilities, money, or what?

A problem avoided is a gain of incalculable value. We do not pay much attention to this, however, because we are unaware of the problem avoided. Likewise, we do not know what succeeded in this case and gather learning lessons from it.

We learn much from mistakes, rarely from successes. But then, we learn if only we admit mistakes were made.

This is what we face today in considering the mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq (and Viet Name?). Both nations are connected in our policy world. They offer lessons only if we analyze honestly what, why, where, and who of all the issues involved. The hue and cry from the press and public today after a sloppy withdrawal from Afghanistan proves my point. The hue and cry are not analysis. They are public relation actions formed by many parties to avoid blame for the mess.

My suggestion is to make decisions with clear definitions of desired outcomes. What do we want to be the result of our action? Is it long-term or short-term? If short term, can we evade prolonged involvement? If long term, what must we do to keep the objective firmly in mind while we take the actions that will best make the desired outcomes come about?

In Afghanistan, we were there for Osama Bin Laden. Later we were there for a supply base for our incursion of Iraq. In the first case, we should have removed ourselves when we learned Bin Laden was not in Afghanistan. In the second case, we should not have been in Iraq at all. Connecting the two policy decisions clouded both objectives fatally. Easy to see today; not easy to imagine 20 years ago when the first decisions were made.

Picturing the desired outcomes is a helpful process. We should have asked: “How will we remove ourselves from Afghanistan when it is time to do so? What conditions should be present to make that decision?”

Today is not the time to ask that question. That is now a lost opportunity.

Like poor results from schools, it is not the schools’ fault, rather it is the inevitable result of poverty bone crushingly present in the lives of the students doing poorly. Fix poverty and we may improve educational results. Of course, many other issues are involved here, but it is a good example to start with.

Solutions take disciplined thinking. Wild remarks in the press and by the press take no imagination at all. In fact, it can be successfully argued such handling produces a distraction from solutions. That result only causes more poor outcomes.

The time to invent solutions is long before the problems occur.

August 24, 2021

 

 

Finding Blame

The occupation of Afghanistan was bound to end badly. Twenty years ago our troops entered the country to find Osama bin Laden. We didn’t find him there; rather he had holed up in Pakistan with their full cooperation. That’s another story. Pakistan figures large in the Middle East drama. Has for a very long time and is not an ally really. A player yes; loyalist no.

Anyway, Bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan 10 years or so ago. That’s when we should have left Afghanistan. Hindsight can be focused but is not reliable in determining future actions. So, America remained in country for another 10 years. We used our encampment to supply our meddling in Iraq. The reliance on Afghanistan as a strategic position to support our war in Iraq should have warned us off from Middle Eastern adventures. But political games in Washington rely on foreign entanglements and military showmanship.

Getting into Afghanistan is one thing: getting out quite another. Deep down we knew this was folly. If the solution would land on another’s desk, what did it matter? And that’s the weakness of the Afghanistan involvement in a nutshell.

George W. Bush did not have a clue how we would exit Afghanistan. All he knew was he needed a supply base for his plans for Iraq. The fact that Osama Bin Lama and Al Qaeda launched the 9/11 attack on America from Afghanistan gave reason to our occupation there. The rest of the story unfolded pretty much as anyone could have forecast.

So why is everyone acting surprised at the chaos in Afghanistan today? And why would they place any blame for this outcome on the sitting President? He had nothing to do with the decision to occupy Afghanistan or invade Iraq. He was just the guy behind the desk when the house of cards in Afghanistan fell in a heap.

The death and disability incurred by our military is one heavy price for this folly. The death, disability, and dislocation of millions in Afghanistan is another heavy price paid by locals. American treasure totaling $2 trillion is another ghastly price exacted. But more prices exist: nation building does not work; America the Brave and Big is not all-powerful; meddling in other nations’ lives does not always work well for anyone; enemies gain much from America’s failure to perform; and we can add that allies perceived are not always friends to count on in the end.

The military/industrial complex in America remains intact and highly profitable. Eisenhower warned against this inevitability, but each President has played a losing game with that complex. It owns and plays Congress like a fined-tuned orchestra. Foreign policy, treaties, military adventures, and aggrandizement all come from this game. Generals, Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor Councils, diplomats, and the Office of the President itself are not in charge of America’s visibility on the world stage. That honor belongs solely to the military/industrial complex. And they know who they are.

We who pay the terrible price for their decisions, do not know who they are. They hide from public view. That allows them to rake in more loot for themselves while government forces pretend to be in charge.

If a scape goat for Afghanistan is desired, Biden is not the patsy. Mitch McConnell is a better target for that, but even more are the decision makers in funding the military and its vendors.

We should also learn that congress continues to misplay its role. It is failing the American public and has done so for generations. Shame on them is too soft a sobriquet.

August 23, 2021

 

 

Surviving Inflation

Life has taught me the value of patience. Not that I have adapted to patience well, but that patience has golden moments.

Such as: “Don’t like the weather? Wait a minute.” This adage is common throughout the United States.  I first encountered it in New England, western Massachusetts specifically. There the hills and valleys located between the mountains of upstate New York and the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Boston, trapped moving air and caused weather front disruptions. Often we had days of beautiful sunshine one moment, and a scattered shower the next. Or a warm day today, and snow and chill tomorrow. Just what we displaced southern Californians needed, right?

Later, the weather patience advice popped up in Ohio, New York, Illinois and just about any other state I visited or lived in. This is not a unique statement to any region I learned.

Today, we have another lesson in patience. Inflation and economic turbulence.

When the nation shut down normal routines due to the COVID pandemic, we expected economic repercussions. They arrived almost immediately. Many effects were expected, but most did not appear as we had thought. Housing sales still took place. Work continued from home. Working from home caused economic pain for downtown work areas where bars, restaurants and commuter services thrived in normal times. Now they were dead. Silent. Other segments of the economy were affected as well.

Some affects were good. Family time improved. Meal preparations and grocery sales spiked. Household expenses dropped (laundry, dry cleaning, clothing purchases and tailoring and shoe repair services, etc.) Gasoline costs dropped as did all other commuting costs (public transit, commuter train tickets, etc.). The new car remained new much longer. The old car seemed to work just fine.

Painting and redecorating rose as families lived more intensively in their homes. Businesses related to home improvements and furniture welcomed the increase in business.

Now as the pandemic eases enough for the economy to begin its return to an unfolding normal, supplies and services are suddenly in demand again. Dislocations in supply chains for goods, and staffing changes have caused a slow return to full operations for many businesses. Shortages appear and prices rise. This is true in restaurant services, home prices, used and new car pricing, and a host of other supply and demand situations.

How do we cope with all this? With patience. You knew I would say that!

And patience is the perfect answer. You don’t need a new home immediately. You can wait for a better selection of available properties. You can wait and build your dream home or search a favorite area of old and watch home listings in future months for opportunities. Filling the home purchase need immediately is nonsense unless you are homeless. That is another matter. If a working spouse has transferred to another city or state, he or she can move there for the new job while living in temporary, short-term housing. The family remains behind with the family home and arranges a timely sale, then a move to the new location. Immediate relocation of the family simply doesn’t have to happen. Many generations of Americans survived such changes in the past. Your situation is not unique.

Same with the car. The old car can last another 10,000 miles. A new car to replace the old is not necessary if a late model used car is readily available. No emergency drives you to purchase the new(er) car right this minute. If such a need exists, pricing can be lessened in a number of ways (lease, older vehicle, etc.).

As a senior citizen living on a fixed income, we avoid buying items with inflated prices. We go without or find a substitute. We are adaptable. We will wait for better pricing and availability. Or continue to go without.

Americans are used to immediate satisfaction. That is an unrealistic expectation. The pandemic helped us break a lot of expectations. Let this be another one of those.

August 20, 2021

Words

Words are useful. They have meaning. They have label properties. They conjure mental images. They communicate between people and within an individual’s brain. Conversation is one form of communication. Written words and reading them – sharing the words with others – are forms of communication. Thinking quietly within the mind is a personal communication of an individual. It is not shared perhaps, but it becomes the basis of shared communication with others later.

The internal communication is thinking, pondering, wondering about meaning, what changes may occur in the meaning with any change, then cataloguing those changes.

Embedded in thinking and external communication, are the very words we use in all contexts. They have weight for the person providing a message of communication, and they have weight for the person who receives the message. Some of those words are critically important in determining meaning of the message.

Fear, and any word related to it, is an example. So, is should or any derivative like could, would, etc.

What we do with those words is important. Even using the words is a decision that affects the message’s meaning.  

Fear is a word that raises tension and foreboding of bad things coming our way. Anything that creates that sense of dread is a fear-word. If it is used, or you suspect a derivative is used to conjure foreboding, you are most likely being targeted for manipulation. It is one thing to say bad winter weather is on its way, and another to claim ‘60 million people are at risk of cold and icy temps and conditions. Beware!’ Beware, indeed. We all live with our local weather threats year in and year out. What makes this storm or condition any better or worse than what we have experienced most of our lives? Stay indoors when it is storming, icing, and snowing. If you must go out, wear proper clothing, shovel your way carefully, and use snow melt or sand to negate slipperiness. If your heating system goes out of service, go somewhere warm – next door, family member’s home, or a public building available for this use.

For hot climates, stay indoors with air conditioning or go somewhere cooling is available. Do not subject yourself to known hazards unless you are confident you can do so well and successfully.

Fear may work if it makes us take precautions we might not otherwise. Other than that, it is a tactic to mold mind and tension. The why this is done is open for discussion. Saying something is bad does not make it so. Take warning is another matter.

Words matter. They hold meaning for me, you, and the stranger. How we use words matters. What we feel about a word may not be the same as another person. Care is advised in communicating with others lest we be the manipulator.

August 19, 2021    

Critical vs Analytical

There is a divide in public discourse, a positive and a negative, a factual and an opinion, critical and analytical.

Critical used to mean the bits and pieces of a discussion, an argument of fact, was detailed enough to see and understand the connections and workings of ideas and events. It was not a given that we knew what things meant as they were unfolding. We had to reason them out. We had to understand context, shape, scope and intent or lack of intent. Such discussions increased knowledge and understanding.

Today, critical has come to mean argumentative, debate, to win or lose a discussion. It is as if we were engaged in a great competition to know all things, to be an expert. With a little effort anyone, we thought, could be the winner of a conversation, discussion, or debate.

But we do not live in debate. Maybe, if you are a lawyer involved in negotiations and court trials, you live in a world of debate where there is a winner and loser. Life, however, is not like that.

We live in an ocean of bits and pieces of facts, happenings, ideas, and possibilities. They exist in a jumble altogether. It is up to us to separate what matters from what doesn’t. like a piece of visual art, much is present to view but not all things matter. All things taken together create a context, of course, and in some degree everything in a context is part of the whole, part of the meaning of that whole. But it is not the whole, nor is it representative of the whole.

We jump to conclusions to make things whole and meaningful. The jump, however, does not take everything else into consideration. We omit those elements at the risk of not fully understanding the situation, the gestalt of the moment.

Analytical is a term that better fits what I think we should be working with. Analytical looks at all the pieces of a situation, problem, circumstance, whatever, and makes sense of them all. Analysis tells us some things simply do not fit and we don’t understand why they are present, or what their effect on the other pieces. With more analysis we can expand our understanding. It takes time and patience. It may involve research on items barely understood or defined. Weighing possibilities is involved. We play with the pieces until we are comfortable, we understand what they all mean together.

Analysis, however, also allows space to be wrong or off the mark. It gives us room to amend our thinking as perspective grows. In time we understand more but even then, more time may alter our understanding of the moment.

Analysis is better than critical. Understanding is better than winning.

Let us be analytical. In today’s social climate we need the space to be wrong and still exploratory.

August 18, 2021

 

Bits & Pieces

Biden and Middle East: A long line of republican White House regimes made Afghanistan’s crisis possible. First cause, however, is Afghanistan itself and its people. They live as though there is no consequence for allowing religious tyranny to run amok in their land. They also live without taking responsibility for their own conditions.

Other nations have entered their land to help. Yes, those nations had ulterior motives, but Afghanistan is an uncontrolled culture that is deadly to itself. Two core reasons defeat the nation before any solution is available. The first is the rampant religious tyranny. Whether Muslim, Christian or any other sect, peaceful co-existence has not been achievable in Afghanistan. Women’s rights truly do not exist. Religious freedom does not exist. Only violence and iron control rule the land.

Second core reason for national defeat: the economic rule of drugs in the land. Afghanistan grows more opium and derivative drugs than most nations. That produce fuels warlords, Taliban military, and corruption throughout the nation. It is why American aid was wasted all this time. Our aid did nothing to eliminate the drug crops. Building a nation along the lines of commerce, manufacturing, education and careers never had a chance in Afghanistan. Drugs. Taliban. Religious poopery. That’s it.

If Afghanis desire a better life, they have much to do for themselves before that can happen.

Healthcare & Anti-Vaxxers: When patients with heart attacks or strokes are pushed away from hospitals because anti-vaxxers need hospital care for an avoidable cause, then something is wrong with public policy. COVID is abatable, avoidable, and manageable through vaccines, masks, social distancing and commonsense. Most of the public are taking steps to avoid the disease doing these things. We still have a way to go before we can declare COVID over.

We can do this. We have been doing this. The only reason COVID remains an issue is due to its amazing ability to mutate variants. With unvaccinated populations vulnerable to COVID infection, the disease has free reign to continue spreading.

Here is the thing: if people truly believe vaccines and government policy are the problem, then they need to isolate themselves from the rest of us. Why? Because they continue to prolong the viral spread the rest of us are collaborating to control. We are engaged in the solution to the problem; the others are the problem.

Public health policy is not the problem. Nor is government. The problem is the disease. Focus on that and conquer it. That means all of us. Not just the masses so a ‘self-selected chosen few’ can live their freedom. The rest of us have freedom by living responsibly. That is the root of freedom.

Be the solution or get out of the way. Isolation and quarantine are the only avenues left.

August 17, 2021

 

 

 

Booster Shots

Here are the population segments who should get booster shots:

·         Senior citizens with immune system issues

·         Pregnant women

·         Teachers at all levels of education

·         Healthcare workers; all of them including caregiver households

·         Public transportation workers – Uber, Lyft, bus and cab drivers, all

·         Restaurant workers, all

Booster shots for those who have already received their first and second vaccination shots for COVID. For everyone else, here are my thoughts of who should be vaccinated in the first place:

·         All teachers

·         All students, all levels, K through 12 and college, graduate students

·         All healthcare workers, every last one of them

·         All police, fire, and public service staff with frequent contact with the public

·         All public transportation workers

·         All restaurant workers

Understand that my ‘should’ means mandated. If you wish to work but not be vaccinated, the only exception is on a doctor’s order for exemption for health reasons. Everyone else can elect to be vaccinated or not. If ‘not’ is selected, then those people must be kept separate from all of the vaccinated people.

If you wish to participate in our social order, you must be prepared to pay the price. Vaccinations save lives. Scientists and demographers have the proof of that statement. Are there exceptions? Yes. Life is not perfect. Neither am I. Or you.

Shots and Masks. Required.

August 16, 2021

 

Bits and Pieces

More bits because there are so many topics to track and so little time to do so!

Afghanistan: This is a forgone conclusion: the Taliban will once again control the nation. Afghanis seem to accept this whether they like it or not. Their culture and history has been about religious violence and warlords. Centuries of this. No foreign power has ever changed this no matter how long they have been in-country. I think this will continue unless and until the Afghani people decide enough is enough. China, Russia or any other nation will make no difference unless they take over the rule of the entire nation and make it stick with military power. That is not the American way. Perhaps another nation would like to waste its treasure on this?

Mask Mandates vs Politics: Managing a disease so it does not irrevocably harm a nation, is the responsibility of government in collaboration with healthcare professionals and scientists. It should never be a political matter. Stop fighting government and start fighting the disease. If you choose not to, then isolate yourself to preserve yourself. This will also help protect others. Get it? It is not about an elected official or a form of government. It is all about viruses and their spread to human beings.

Redistricting: Geometry and geography ought to be the determinants of voting district borders. It should not be about the people within those borders. If it makes sense on a map’s surface, then it is the district it is supposed to be. Gerrymandering districts to control which party gets a seat at the power table is pure nonsense. It is obvious this problem needs a solution. Perhaps demographers or courts? Elected officials have a conflict of interest. Courts, too, but....

Voting Rights: The US Constitution did not address voting rights holistically. As a matter of fact, voting rights were reserved to property owners, not people based solely on their being a citizen. Since property owners were most likely to be white, voting was discriminatory against all people of color. From the very beginning of our nation, this has been so.

Subsequent eras have addressed these problems bit by bit, but we are not home by a long shot.

Voter rights need to be opened to include the most people. It is their government, their social order, their birthright. Make it so. Then what we expected the Constitution to do will be that. While we are at this, dump the filibuster, too.

August 13, 2021

 

#MeToo and Politics

Cuomo is gone. Franzen is gone. So too others in the ever present game of sexual politics. Yet is this a game played or a lasting value orientation?

Recall Supreme Court Justice nomination hearings. Kavanaugh’s name come to mind? Clarence’s name emerges from the memory bank? Anyone else? Donald Trump? This is a list that is endless, memory only keeps it trimmed.

Notice anything interesting? Political party, maybe? Political ideology?

Look, liberals and Democrats are guilty of sexual misconduct just like the conservatives and Republicans. But somehow the party label seems to be harsher on one party than the other. Why is that? Or is my memory selective and faulty?

Whether it is missteps with sexual behavior, or illegal activity of other kinds, politicians – public servants, elected or otherwise – are attacked unmercifully. The blame and fault finding drones on and on. When did we become so judgmental? Endlessly judgmental?

Have we helped these people do the job we elected them to? Or were hired to do for a government agency? Or do we simply wait for a misstep of some type or other, then pounce?

It is a wonder anyone wants to run for political office, or accept a job offer from an agency working on behalf of the public’s interest. They are open to blithering scrutiny and judgment. Is some of this necessary? Yes. We entrust these people with heavy responsibilities. We hope they will behave appropriately. If they don't, somehow our form of life, society and values are at risk.

But this is true for everyone else, too. Just because you may work for a private firm or own your own business, does not mean you act without scrutiny from others. Do you want this 'supervision'? Do you want someone peering over your shoulder of ethical and moral character? Always. 24/7/365?

I am not suggesting that sexual peccadilloes be ignored. Far from it. Hold everyone accountable for their behavior. Everyone. In all roles of life. And for all ethical and moral concerns, not just sexual.

If we hold only public officials accountable, what kind of social order do we really have? And who is left to judge it?

August 12, 2021

 

 

Bits and Pieces

Rebuilding Better: Dismantling the federal government began with Reagan. He lowered taxes on the wealthy and corporations. With less money in the federal budget to pay for programs he disliked, he mandated they remain but be the responsibility of states and municipalities. That was when state and local taxes went through the roof. Public services suffered as well while states struggled to determine how to pay for the mandated programs.

Meanwhile, Federal economic statistics looked better while national economic data worsened. Thus, the divide began, and the focus of politicians turned local. Over the years politics became less dems and repubs while conservative versus liberal became the mantra. The manipulation of these discussions, so rampant, reached a fever pitch of destruction culminating in the Trump years.

With Biden’s presidency aggressive attempts to rebuild the American Democracy (not political party) have been in full swing. Fighting this are the republicans who wage their war against ‘leftists’ while lining their pockets with unimaginable greed for gold. Who will win this struggle? The people or politicians?

Slow Pace of Legislation: Mitch McConnell continues in his adopted role of despoiler. If it is bad for democrats, it must be good for republicans. Regardless of the issue involved, a win for Mitch is automatically labeled a defeat for liberalism.

Labels are funny things. They rarely mean what is real. Mitch knows this; he is a master at manipulation and misdirection. That is core to his power. Pity his focus is not what is good for the American people. Nor of principle. His eyes are only on power and personal greed. How else does a public servant amass a pot of wealth more than $30 million?

Public Health & Safety: The role of government – state, local and federal – is public safety. Health is part of safety. The Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes for Health are the outgrowth of the federal role. Based on research and hard sciences, the CDC and NIH are committed to preserving the health and safety of the American people. They cannot do that with opinion alone. They must be able to create edicts and policy that make health and safety standards possible.

The pandemic is not all on the backs of the President or governors of each state. The pandemic taught us that science and research have power to create effective treatment and safeguards for the people. Now is the time to adopt stringent new policies and procedures to defeat the latest mutation of the COVID virus. And future ones.

Mask mandates and vaccine requirements should be required protocols today until the threat of widespread infection is subdued. Medical exceptions are allowed but those patients will need to be quarantined from others to protect them and others. Proof of vaccinations and wearing a mask in public and enclosed spaces should now be the norm.

This is not tyranny of state. It is tyranny of virus and disease. That is what we are protecting the people from. Not power misplaced or otherwise.

Be safe. Vaccinate. Mask up.

August 11, 2021

Another Dead Cop

Read a post lamenting the death of a policewoman in Chicago. The writer claimed the Mayor and the City’s Attorney Kim Foxx should resign immediately. As though the cop’s death was the full blame of these two women.

I’m here to say ‘baloney.’ I wonder if the writer is a white male accusing two black women?  I don’t know. Just wondering. I also wonder why:

-Guns flood streets of Chicago with little effect of gun laws

-Guns flood America while white America insists on 2^nd Amendment rights to gun ownership

-Guns kill more people than auto accidents but have less regulation than auto ownership

-Guns kill more cops than any other weapon; cops are armed, all of them. Why are they dying by guns? I hear owning and carrying a gun makes you safe?

The Mayor of Chicago and its City Attorney are both committed public servants to leading the city to a better future. However, they are having to do this at a time when gun violence has swept the city for years. This did not start on their watch, but they are left to manage it. With what tools will they do that when gun ownership is at an all-time high, gun laws are at their weakest effectiveness (by design?), and cops are blamed for violence throughout the nation.

Might the most common cause of violence be unregulated gun ownership and trafficking? Might the second most common cause of violence be our society’s loss of decency and justice? There is a malaise overtaking our consciousness as though someone specifically must be to blame for our problems. Why don’t we look squarely in the mirror each morning and wonder if I can do more about solving the problems? How much blame is on all of us for allowing these problems to be manipulated and covered up by political hacks, favored industries and pure greed?

When will we learn that our community, our nation, our society is what we make it and allow it to become? In the end we are the keepers of our national soul. Don’t like it? Then focus on the problems and their true cause. Then put our minds together and find solutions to those problems.

We are more than our problems. We are the sum of our hopes and dreams pursued.

Let’s make great things happen for the common good.

August 10, 2021

 

 

Disappointment

Remember when Michelle Obama uttered, “I feel proud to be an American now?” She had expressed relief that voters gave her husband a vote of confidence in winning the Presidency a second time.

But her comment was taken by the press and Obama’s enemies to be an admission that Michelle was not pleased to be an American most times. That was not the truth, but it was how it was taken by many.

I know the feeling. Bitter disappointment in my nation of birth. Disillusionment with our values we say we support but do not match with action. Rhetoric yes, action no.

This is true in so many instances:

-Equality: we say ‘all people are created equal’ but promptly claim other races are smarter, brighter, and more favored than others. White supremacy is totally about this. Meanwhile, equality takes a back seat, in fact far back in the rear seat of the bus.

-Justice: we claim ‘justice for all’ yet allow police to walk all over people of color, pressing their own discriminatory beliefs on them and then raising the death rate at the hands of police. The data is clear. Why have we not yet fixed this problem?

-Investment in People: we lay claim to massive investment in educating our people, yet the outcomes do not reflect that. People of color are left in poverty and unequal access to the very resources they need to exit poverty and find their potential to excel for their own good and that of our society.

-Abortion: we claim religious principle in saving the lives of the unborn and yet allow the babies of poverty to live lives of desperation and abuse. Fix that and then support anti-abortion laws.

-Religion vs Politics: separation of church and state is a principle most of us truly believe, yet we allow freedom of speech and freedom in general to allow religion a space at the table of politics. This is clearly wrong. Yet we allow it. Champion it as proof of our ethical purity? Absurd claim. Fix it.

-Politics vs History: we allow election campaigns to coin terms and slogans that distort historical fact and misrepresent history for their own gain. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from fact. Freedom of press does not mean freedom to misrepresent. The voice of freedom should be true and honest. Until this is fact, we live in a world that mocks truth.

-Freedom warped: as long as it is my freedom or yours with our own definitions of protection and preference, it is OK. When it belongs to others with which we do not agree, it is another proposition entirely. This is not freedom. It is freedom warped and thus fraudulent.

I feel what Michelle Obama felt. I feel it today. My pride in America is in its hope, not in its current status. I am not a socialist. I am not a communist. I am a believer in the American Dream of justice, equality and freedom. This is a work in progress.

It is a shame the progress is so slow and backsliding.

Let us pull together for the greater outcomes we believe in. Let us not fall for short term distortion in place of long term principle.

August 9, 2021

  

Religion vs Spirituality

Heavy topic today. Are the terms ‘religion and spirituality’ synonymous? I have had it explained to me both ways over the years and I still have questions.

Religion to me is a system of belief supported by historical and faith systems. Some history is alleged as fact while most admit the facts are hard to prove. That is where faith comes in. Faith is acceptance of the unseen, unexperienced, yet essential ‘facts’ that make religion dynamic, believable. The faithful know who they are yet question beliefs from time to time. Are there blind faithful? Yes; they are usually dogmatic and assertive in their beliefs and want others to experience faith in the same way they do.

Modern society is like society at any given time in the past. Each budding generation asks similar questions about religion and belief. They wonder what is true. They ponder questions of hope and happiness. They seek peace and calm in a chaotic world. Their questions lead to heartfelt discussions. These may yield faith but more likely arrive at comfort positions the younger folk can carry with them for a while. Not convinced of the truth, not convinced yet to accept the unprovable as fact, they are hopeful but not faithful.

How does ‘church’ communicate with these people? They are always present. Every year of existence in the life of the church these questions remain the same and in multitude. What language is used to communicate with them? What is the message communicated? What outcomes does the church struggle for? Indeed, what outcomes do the people asking the questions want, yearn for?

Does this call for new styles of ministry? New ways to worship on Sundays, or Wednesdays, in the morning or in the evening? What changes in church make different outcomes?

Generations of church leaders have struggled with this forever. They have tried contemporary worship services, service projects, Bible studies, Koran studies, Torah studies, and individual counseling. They have invented modern ministries that take comfortable people into uncomfortable places to help the afflicted. They serve suppers to the homeless at midnight. They host homeless shelters in their church buildings on alternate weeks, alternate days, alternate months. They find jobs for the unemployed. They find healthcare for the indigent and elderly.

All of these things are good. The effort is real. The passion is well meant. But the outcomes? Does this work change minds and lives? Of the doers or the recipients? Helping others in need is the call universal. It is done out of compassion, but it also is done to teach the doer something difficult to grasp.

Is the church worship? Is the church service? Is the church study? Is the church brick and mortar, place?

Spirituality on the other hand is the individual seeking peace and motivation to value and appreciate life as it is encountered daily. When young kids, drug addicts all, were asked what is spiritual for them, almost always the answer was visits to nature, forests, canyons, calm lakes in wild places, rushing rivers in mountainous hideaways. The smell of fresh air. The silence of being alone in a forest or desert. Those moments when an individual feels reality around him/her. Hears the heart beating. Feels air moving over the skin. The birdsong now heard when little else sounds.

The self feels real at those moments while at the same time sensing how little they are in the universe around them. That is profound feeling. Seeking depth and breadth, the person somehow knows that there is something much larger than they. That is spiritual dynamic known by the person. It is found by the person alone. The journey is theirs alone. It need not be the product of group activity or of church.

Discovery is part of journey. Spiritual is part of faith. What people do with this in their lives is up to them. The process continues year after decade after century. The millennia accumulate. It is not over.

August 6, 2021

 

Eviction Horror Coming?

Possession of a home is nine-tenths of the law, or so ‘they’ say. That means, stay put in your domicile and maintain possession. Whether it is a house, apartment, condo or tent, home is where you are and your family.

During the pandemic people lost their income, livelihood, means of paying for housing, food, clothing, transportation, and everything else. That doesn’t mean people stopped paying for things, they continued to spend what they had available. The problem is housing is the number one cost of American life.

Rent or mortgage, housing costs are a quarter to over half of a family’s income. That’s the statistic. If you spend less, count yourself lucky. Housing costs include rent or mortgage, property taxes payable, utilities, maintenance and in some cases homeowner association monthly fees. Altogether these costs amount to a hefty amount of ‘disposable income.’ Not much is left over for health care, food, clothing, supplies, transportation, and anything else. In such circumstances, any expense is a luxury even though it truly is a necessity.

So, in a pandemic. Government bodies stepped up and placed a moratorium on evictions, that is, legally enforceable removal from homes for lack of payment of rent and mortgage payments. Some funds were appropriated to pay some of this expense for the resident, but the funds have been tied up in bureaucratic red tape for the most part.

Of course, this meant the recipients of rent and mortgage payments, were left holding the bag. Their expenses continued regardless of tenant or mortgage holder inability to pay. With each month of eviction moratoriums adding up, the pressure on banks, landlords, homeowners and tenants multiplied. What a mess was brewing.

In the beginning, most of us expected the pandemic to be short lived. We were wrong. It lasted a year and a half and continues as we read this post. Some families were able to maintain employment and work from home. They received uninterrupted income and were able to pay rent and mortgage payments. Elders on social security and retirement benefits were also able to keep up housing payments. Many households, however, have not paid one dollar for housing during most of this time.

Now what? I suggested near the beginning of the pandemic that a bank holiday be declared for both mortgage payees and payors so banks would not foreclose, and they would not be penalized either. Complicated I know, but something enormous like this needs to be done.

Congress is once again dithering over what to do. President Biden has recommended a continuation of the moratorium until a comprehensive solution is found.

One thing we cannot afford at this time – for anyone – is a vast increase in homelessness just as a housing shortage matures into crisis mode. Let us put our heads together and find a workable solution that benefits everyone.

These are our own families and friends being affected. Surely we can find a way to help them.

August 5, 2021

 

 

Bored

It is a new month. I have something to do today, one client appointment and hosting a roundtable session with nonprofits. Other than that, nothing on the schedule. Not much for the rest of the week either, oh, some client appointments and one dental cleaning. This past week wasn’t much busier: one coaching appointment, two client slots and sitting in on a client board meeting to observe dynamics. That’s it.

I awakened this morning to make two cups of coffee, post my blog written a few days ago, and slog through accumulated emails, messages, and Facebook. That’s it. Nothing else. Guess I’ll read a book and finish it. Then what?  I do not know.

The pandemic taught me how to handle much of my client obligations electronically. That gave me the time to focus on writing, thinking, and researching. Did that. All of that. Still have time left over. Sorted through my library, donated many books to the building’s lending library in the lobby (another pandemic project), read other books for the third time and donated them or tossed them. The bookshelves are thinning. Soon I can donate them and continue downsizing.

Still have time to cull through clothing not worn for over two years. They don’t fit anymore and it is time for them to find a new home. Still have time and empty trash bags to fill with useless things. Yet the apartment seems filled with stuff. Does it germinate new old things overnight when I’m not looking? Where did all of this stuff come from?

Still bored. Netflix has been consulted. What is binge-worthy, and what is not? Find something. Watch it. Sheepishly turn off the TV after 3 or 4 hours of time spent. Boredom continues. Is it a mealtime yet?

No? Check for new emails and messages, breaking news or anything on the internet. Still not much. Still bored.

I’d like to travel but Rocky is not up to it. It is questionable that I am up for it. Interested, yes, but energy? Most likely not. Still the view-scapes of yesteryears beckon. The Rockies. The New Mexico desserts and mountains. Arizona canyons, mountains, and deserts. The cloudless blue skies. The whiff of spiced flora. The mystery of unseen fauna (mostly snakes!). Wide open spaces and heat. Shimmering road views and miles of contemplation. The dream remains to visit small towns scattered throughout the country, sit in their cafes and diners, interview some of those folks, and write about the towns and villages encountered on our journey. Perhaps not of interest to most, but I think it fascinating and of potential value.

Well now, the boredom ebbs. Perhaps the keyboard begs for attention? Yep. It does. And here I am.

Journeys are not always by car. Many are by mind.

Happy travels!

August 4, 2021

 

Innovation

When I was a young child, I remember daily life and the ‘technology’ surrounding our household then. Some of those products and services are still with us – pencils with erasers, cars, trucks, even planes, although in my early days those were rare. Home appliances were common in stoves, refrigerators, washing machines and vacuums. Radio was common. Movies were attractive pastimes and technicolor movies were terrific.

TV was not yet invented. Nor were computers, cell phones and lightning fast communications. Those advancements came over time.

I recall the family gathering around the radio – the big one in the living room, listening to Lux Radio Theater. Those programs were commonly a half hour, sometimes an hour long. Dramas, rich descriptions of settings with sound effects aiding our imaginations. We were thrilled with such performances. The gathering of the family was a good thing, too; warm, accepting, loving.

We read books in those days. Magazines, too, but they were expensive and so we had Life and Post come regularly to our house on a weekly basis. Of course, The National Geographic magazine was a fixture in our home. We even stacked saved copies in the basement and garage. They were ‘research’ havens for our studies for school. Similarly, Encyclopedia Americana was a fixture in our home. We looked forward to the annual yearbooks that updated our set of books. The latest information, don’t you know!?

Today, we don’t have encyclopedias. Instead, we have the internet, connections with libraries and data bases on unlimited topics. We have word processing software on our computers to replace typewriters. Yes, my peers experienced the gradual shift from desk top typewriters to portables, to early computers, finally to desktop computers with sophisticated word processing software. Even that software morphed continually. We learned at least three major software packages to successfully type a document on the computer. In the early days, even in college, a lot of students did not know how to type and thus did not own a typewriter. I earned as much as $5 per page to type papers for my colleagues.

Of course, we now have cellphones. In college we called home on a pay phone in the dorm stairway (one for three floors). Calls were short because they were costly. Home was in New York for me while college was in Illinois. $5 calls added up quickly.

When cell phones began to be more common, those of us doing business often in the field were granted car phones wired into the electrical system of the car. Later, portable battery powered phones were assigned to us for each trip. Eventually we had our own phones. We even bought ‘bag phones’ with heavy batteries for our spouses so they had communications in the car should they encounter an emergency. Most likely they were used to call home saying they were on the commute home and please take something out of the freezer for dinner.

Today most people own a cellphone, each of us. We don’t share the phone. It is part of our identity and immediate communication connection. If I trip and fall, the phone is there to call for help. If I have a flat tire or mechanical breakdown with the car, I can call for a tow truck and backup transportation from friends and family. Those calls were not possible before cell phones.

Even better, modern autos have Bluetooth technology that automatically connects our phones with our car computers and sound systems. We can voice call people, voice answer calls, and transact such business hands free. We are never alone if we want company. Of course, we can be alone if we remember to push the ‘off’ button on the phone.

Too few of us don’t turnoff our phones. Turning them back on is complicated and scary. Some of us still have much to learn about modern technology!

I think most of us take technology for granted. It is such a part of our life we are unaware of the invisible infrastructure that makes it all possible. And available.

Another reason it needs to be championed by government!

August 3, 2021

 

Bits and Pieces

Mask Mandates: Our county has seen a spike in COVID infections. Masks are now mandated for indoor use, even for those who have been vaccinated. This is reasonable and smart public policy. Those of us who are vaccinated simply do not know who have not been vaccinated. Because the political climate rewards anti-vaxxers and non-mask wearers, it is supposedly a mark of honor to go without both mask and vaccine. Therefore, the rest of us must take precautions. Wearing the mask with strangers in public makes good sense. We are protecting ourselves. We also protect others from themselves.

Vaccine Mandates: If COVID is to be eradicated all people must be vaccinated to stop the spread of the virus. This is especially true if the virus is expanding via variants. If the virus were stopped completely, it could not mutate. It would have no basis to mutate. However, we do not have total vaccination of the population, nor are we likely to.

To protect the largest number of people, therefore, vaccines must be encouraged AND mandated in many circumstances. The first circumstance is public mingling. Concerts, shopping malls, grocery shopping and other enclosed areas where many people gather are prime virus sharing sites. To have access to these activities and sites, vaccines should be mandated. Proof of vaccination is a no-brainer.

Another circumstance, school rooms. Most young students are not yet vaccinated because the vaccinations have not yet been approved for the youngest among us. Thus, masks should be required in all schools all the time until vaccines are available to these students. When available, proof of vaccination should be required and masks worn as long as there is one unvaccinated person present.

Vaccination should be waived for those people with health conditions doctors feel are in danger from the vaccine. That is not a political determination; it is a medical one. That patient should be mandated to wear a mask at all times to protect themselves and others.

Commonsense: Protecting the public is a duty of government and institutions that serve the broader public. No patron should be subjected to a known health threat without precautions. This is commonsense and the basis of most public policy. The test for this is simple: if a public official or executive of a public accommodation is blamed for a patron’s infection, then it is their job to protect the public. Doing nothing in the face of this threat is not an allowable response.

August 2, 2021