Back in 2002-2003 I served as a volunteer medical director at a clinic in remote Kenya, East Africa. This was at the time of the AIDS pandemic with suffering beyond the comprehension of most Americans. Needless to say, we generated a large amount of bio-hazard type waste, especially blood and pus and associated needles and scalpels, etc. These all were discarded into a designated pit.
Late one night a pregnant lady came to the clinic with obvious malaria, which actually accounted for most of the morbidity and mortality in our area. There was some debate in the literature about the effects of malaria on pregnancy, but sadly the mother miscarried and the dead child was fully expelled intact from her uterus. The baby was a fully formed girl, perhaps 23 to 25 weeks of gestation, and fully abortable by the standards of the Democrat party. The dilemma I faced was what to do with this dead baby- throw her down the pit, which would be consistent with the Democrat belief that this child possessed no more value than a tumor or basin full of pus, or provide some kind of dignified burial for her. Despite not being a believer in God or any religion, I could not help but to choose the latter.
I would like to ask the luminaries of the Democrat party- Cuomo, Warren, Buttigieg, Schumer, Biden, Northham, Pelosi- what they would choose, the pit or burial. I guess, unfortunately, we know the answer: to choose other than the pit would impart humanity on the baby, and this is contrary to their narrative that such a child is nothing more than medical waste, not just at 12 or 24 weeks of gestation, but right up to full term and even post-birth.
A reference to Bruce Jenner receiving an ESPN "courage award."
by Reid Fitzsimons
We live in a rural and decidedly Republican area of
Northeast, PA- our county went for Trump something like 70/30 in 2016. Down the hill is a little town of perhaps
150 people, and in the 8years we’ve been here a house on Main Street has
distinctly displayed several flags, including the US flag, a “rainbow” flag
that contained the words “Don’t Tread On Me,” and one that stated, “Born This
Way;” the flags have weathered and faded over time and have been replaced. I have never seen the person or persons who
live in this house but I assume he, she, or they are homosexual activists of
some sort. I’ve never heard of any
trouble, such as the flags being stolen or anti-homosexual graffiti, but this
is not surprising as the overall conservative philosophy in such matters is
“whatever you do, though it might not be my cup of tea, is yours to do as long
as it doesn’t interfere with the rights of others.”
The progressive left has certain immutable beliefs that
paradoxically often prove to be quite fluid. The above-mentioned sentiment,
“Born This Way,” implies there is a genetic imperative connected to
homosexuality. While I’m fairly certain
there is no established “homosexual gene,” this concept has been a mainstay of
homosexual activism, which disallows any suggestion that a homosexual can
change, therefore any treatments or therapies (“conversion therapy”) are not
only scorned but in some cases have been made illegal. Curiously this is in direct opposition to
what is called transgenderism, the advocates of which declare that scientific
genetics (xx versus xy) can and should be ignored, because concepts of gender
are merely “social constructs,” specifically those created by oppressive
conservative males of European descent. Also, curiously, conversion therapy in
regards to transgenderism is not only allowed but demanded by activists.
I can’t help but think the displayer(s) of these flags
wouldn’t mind a little “homophobic” action, some vandalism or the like- they
are obviously trying to make a statement and I suspect they would like some
kind of confirmation that they’ve been heard.
Ironically for decades “tolerance,” which is plentiful, has been the
catchword of such activists, their ostensible goal, but it is really approbation
that is being sought, and the problem with affirmation/approbation is that it
is an extrinsic phenomenon that by nature requires the participation of
other people. Tolerance is a passive
live and let live thing; approval, and the associated demands of “embracing”
and “celebrating” is active, and herein lies a political and social
dilemma.
Virginia's enlightened progressive Governor Dr. Northam's medical school yearbook photo
Part 1, Milton
We first knew Milton when he was perhaps 5 or 6 years
old. He was a fairly regular attendee
at our charity children’s program (breakfast, story time, playtime, lunch, arts
and crafts, sports, games, snack, finish up by around 4 pm) near a small
village in rural Honduras. To be honest
he wasn’t the brightest of kids, but he was very cute as he sat on the swing
and said, “Reid, calame (Reid, swing me).”
We would open in the morning, often with 20-30 kids, and by
the afternoon 40 to 50 wasn’t unusual.
They largely had one thing in common in regards to the following: pretty
much none of the parents (mothers) had any idea where their kids were. There is no tradition of, “Hey mom, I’m
heading off to the guarderia, be back around 4:30,” but rather the kids go off
to do whatever they do and all is well if they end up back home by dark. By our “we are right in the latest
incarnation of whatever we do in the US at the moment” standard this might
sound negligent, but it’s more similar to the way my generation was raised than
not, plus our project had a pretty good reputation. For the most part the mothers in the village sincerely care about
their children, fathers typically less so, considering so many of them are
absent from their children’s lives, which is pertinent to Milton.
Briefly, the last full session of the kids’ program was in
2011, for a variety of reasons we did not leave the US in 2012, and beginning
in 2013 I (now with my wife staying at home) began spending about two months a
year in the village, not doing a program for kids per se but more young adult
and adult oriented, especially teaching English, carpentry, and sewing. Not surprisingly on each trip down there I
catch up on the latest, especially asking about how the kids we had gotten to
know quite well in past years are doing.
This past March (2019) upon my arrival I inquired as to Milton’s status
and learned he had recently gone to los Estados Unidos illegally, which was
unexpected. In learning the details I
was told his father had taken him. I
mentioned that to the best of my knowledge his father was never part of his
life, and this was confirmed, i.e. Milton simply became a pasaporte for his
hitherto absent father.
We are funny in America in regards to children, at least the
left is. In any social policy, or political debate, invoking “the children” is
supposed to stifle the other side and assure their acquiescence (which
unfortunately has often proven to be true, at least in pre-Trump times). Though the left gleefully ends the lives of
children by the boatload under the guise of “women’s rights,” they seem to drip
with compassion for non-aborted children as long as it advances their
narrative. This has very much filtered
down to the villages in Honduras in the form of, “if you show up at the border
with a kid you will get in.” This explains Milton’s father’s newly discovered
love for his dear son. It also explains
why 13 year-old Julia’s aunt was planning on returning to the village and drag
her with her to the border (“remember Julia, I’m your mother!”).
We hear a good deal about child/human trafficking these days
and what I’m describing is at the lower end: certainly the parents aren’t
knowingly giving up their children to be sex slaves, and not even selling them
per se. There is simply an implicit understanding that “when you get into the
US using my son or daughter as your passport, I will expect to be spending time
at the Western Union office to receive remittances from you.”
Although I could fill pages talking about immigration, I
merely want to end this section with a few thoughts. First, our progressive
Democrat policy, which is essentially in effect Trump or no Trump, turns
children into commodities, and indeed makes them susceptible to full-blown
exploitation.
Second, our policy ignores the most basic and humane (though
most difficult) solution, which is to improve the situation in the countries of
mass emigration. This should not mean
everyone has to have the American middle-class standard of SUVs, big screen
TVs, streaming video, smart phones, wine coolers, and air conditioning, but
there are basic modern comforts that, if more universally available, would
certainly improve living standard.
Third, a common aspect to the immigration debate is the idea of assimilation, and there seems to be a reluctance to embrace this ideal culturally and linguistically, at least when compared to the widely held narrative pertaining to prior immigrants. The concept of assimilation simply doesn’t exist in the minds of the current wave from Latin America: there are no tired, huddled masses yearning to breath free. They are not refugees with legitimate asylum claims planning to assimilate, but rather have seen plenty of Hollywood movies with all the glitter and materialism and say to themselves, “I want that.” And you can’t really blame them.
Part 2, The Blind Girl
In modern progressive Western culture the most odious
creature is the white male Christian conservative, even worse if they are from the
South, and even worse if they are credentialed as a Baptist pastor- the horror!
I will call him Leonard, and yes, he is all of these things. Around 15 years ago his fictitious (I am a
non-believer) God called him to Honduras to help children, and eventually he,
along with his Christian Mexican- American wife (I forgot to mention he is also
a dreaded heterosexual), established an orphanage. It wasn’t your typical orphanage, however, with cottages and
hired caregivers, but rather the kids were their kids, and they lived with the
kids. They peaked at perhaps 20-some
children, lost a few for a variety of reasons, and now have about 15. Needless to say, these kids were from the
worst situations of neglect, abuse, and abandonment imaginable, for the most
part have been with them since infancy, and they are “children of color.” More
on this shortly.
About 13 years ago a baby girl was born, named Xiomara who
was obviously blind, and there was some concern she had a “syndrome” that would
make her mentally retarded, deaf, or what have you. During the time the baby was a neonate an American physician
(OB/Gyn, who traveled on a somewhat tortured road that led her to Honduras,
then back to the US) happened to see this baby and declared it would be better
off if she were simply left to die.
This did not happen, and shortly she was taken in by Leonard. She grew and thrived and a couple of years
ago she was adopted by, yes, a despicable Christian, conservative heterosexual
American couple from, Lord help us, Texas.
I’ve known Xiomara since she was a baby and had the chance to see her
this past March (the adoptive parents bring her back to Honduras to visit her
siblings, i.e. the kids she grew up with until her adoption), and she was
everything wonderful in a child- happy, vibrant, engaging, etc.
Not to long ago the Democrat Governor of Virginia became embroiled in some
controversy, especially in terms of a black face/KKK medical school yearbook
photo. Though this has faded away
(together with a sexual assault accusation against the Democrat Lt. Gov. it was
conceivable a Republican could have ascended to the VA executive office, so the
initial progressive outrage had to be quelled), there was a lesser-reported
controversy that reminded me of Xiomara.
The Governor, who graduated medical school and is a soft-spoken
progressive extremist, was prompted to muse about a bill to end any
restrictions on abortion, to include allowing the abortion of baby while the mother
was in natural active labor. In the
event the child survived the abortion and continued unwanted by the mother he
suggested “comfort care,” in other words putting a blanket over the infant and
allowing it to die from dehydration or starvation. He added, “And it's done
in cases where there may be severe deformities.”
My primary career was as a medical provider, Physician Assistant (PA), and I worked or associated with many physicians over the years. I can say some of the finest people I’ve known were physicians, many were of average integrity, and too many were disingenuous reprobates, the kind of people like VA Governor Dr. Northam who couch barbarism- starving and dehydrating babies to death- in feel-good terms such as “comfort care.” Needless to say, under Dr. Northam’s professional and august guidance, Xiomara would have died an agonizing death. It’s ironic to note that it would be less cruel to simply use a pipe or hammer and smash the baby’s skull, but with all the blood, bone fragments, and brain tissue it would be less sophisticated and less quaint, and wouldn’t qualify for the soothing term “comfort care.”
The children under the care of Leonard and his wife, their children (the oldest are now 15) are a true joy to know. They are kids and have all the normal concerns and problems of kids certainly but are pretty well adjusted, enthusiastic, and are also truly fluent in both Spanish and English- and it’s quite a bit of fun to watch them switch back and forth with ease as the situation requires. Less than two years ago Leonard (known as Papa to the kids), was diagnosed with an adult form of muscular dystrophy and can no longer walk or stand, and is losing the use of his arms. As much as the left finds solace and satisfaction in ridiculing Christians, Leonard endures and even thrives because of his Lord and Savior and because he believes in something greater than himself. I doubt very much that those who would call him a racist bigot simply because he’s a Christian could bear riding in his wheelchair: they wouldn’t sacrifice materialistic comfort for a moment to care for “children of color,” no matter how much they claim to love them.
I find myself making comments on articles at FoxNews.com, a seemingly benign if not necessarily wholesome activity. Sometimes, or perhaps most of the time, the level of discourse is little above insults and name-calling, but who knows what is real or trolling, whatever that actually means. My comments undoubtedly raise the level of conversation and provide cutting and sophisticated insight (trying to be humorous here), and generally receive a moderate number of “likes,” the standard by which we judge our existences. Also I often receive replies ranging from thoughtful to pure invective. Recently (Dec. 21st) I found myself in a prolonged discussion with someone using the screen name Julieplsekbrown responding to a comment I made regarding 20-year Democrat Rep. Luis Guitierrez from Chicago. Guitierrez, who supposedly once stated, “I have only one loyalty and that's to the immigrant community,” was in the news for a 6-minute harangue of the Secretary of Homeland Security, following which he departed the hearing room without listening to her response.
My wife and I moved from NY to South Alabama in 2008,primarily for reasons related to operating our small charity project in Honduras. During our almost four years there (about half in Alabama, half in Honduras) I encountered one true died in the wool racist, a relic of about 80 who happened to be our neighbor. Chatting with him for the first time by the mailbox about lawnmowers he spontaneously declared, “I don’t care much for Afro-Americans (actually he used another word).” He continued for a bit, talking about the good times when Afro-Americans (actually he used another word) ‘knew their place,” and so on. To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee: Now That’s a Racist! My wife, who had never met a real racist,wasn’t there at the time so later I introduced her, forewarned. The old guy didn’t disappoint- it was like going to some museum of bigotry and watching a real time exhibition.
Of course that was 2008, a quaint time before countless millions were declared to be racists by progressive fiat. What exactly happened in the past 10 years to make so many millions of previously benign Americans become vile hate-filled bigots? First we need to understand what it means to be a racist in the progressive, post-modern sense, and we can do this metaphorically. Say an overtired kid has a tantrum when he’s told it’s bedtime and, as part of his personal resistance movement, yells to his mother that that she is a“poopy.” Dad also tells him it’s bedtime but, seeing a little humor, asks him exactly what is a poopy. The kid, crying more vigorously now, yells,“You are a poopy too,” but off to bed he goes off and is quickly asleep.
Obviously in this scenario the little tyke couldn’t be expected to explain himself rationally; he was fully controlled by the emotion of the moment. A “poopy” was simply the creation of an immature mind directed at someone who didn’t give him immediate gratification. Fortunately his parents didn’t have to worry that their lives would be damaged by a silly and nonsensical accusation from an upset child. It would be a worrisome world indeed if immature and self-centered beings could hurl insults and accusations they couldn’t actually define and truly injure people with them.
A couple of ideas here should be self-evident. First, if words don’t have agreed upon meanings or those meanings are constantly in flux, then language ceases to be a means of communication. Second, the term “racist” is not particularly difficult to define or understand, at least for a grown-up whose intellect is consistent with their chronological age. However, for people whose age indicates adulthood but emotional functioning is more like our cranky little guy above,then a “racist” simply means a “poopy,” which doesn’t really mean anything at all.
One might ask how did we devolve into this linguistic and emotional chaos? The answer to this is multi-faceted but certainly the absurd wealth we possess plays a major part. Never before have so many people been so totally removed from the requirements of sustenance: kids having to getup and feed the chickens or milk the cows before school, as recent as my generation, is as far away as another universe. Our wealth is such that an endless abundance of food, technology,entertainment, etc is simply “there,” and when something is redundantly ubiquitous one needn’t consider its source.
Picture, for example, our socialist antifa hero who, after an evening of smashing car windows, peels off his sweaty but stylish balaclava and takes a well-deserved Starbucks break, enjoying a $5 Serious Strawberry Frappuccino. With satisfaction of as job well done he uses his I-Phone 10 to log-on to the news and hears kudos from the college president and local progressive mayor for standing up for tolerance-another conservative speaker has been run out of town! Never once does he contemplate the enormous and complex transportation and logistical chain that brought together the components of his tasty beverage and the innovation, built on the back of decades and centuries of prior innovation, that allows for his phone, let alone the auto glass he bravely destroyed. If someone suggested it all happened because of capitalism and hard work, he’d simply yell, “you are like Hitler” and storm off.
While excessive wealth and its associated elitism is perhaps a foundational basis for the proliferation outrage, hate, and name calling,there are other significant factors as well. Broken families underlie much of our societal dysfunction but this applies largely to the non-elite, keeping in mind that feminist dogma has long rejected the necessity of fathers; feminism is an elitist phenomenon and those that can afford the nannies and parent substitutes can get by just fine.
I propose it’s the intact progressive minded families and the supporting institutions (i.e.schools and universities, celebritydom of all stripes) that have shifted the paradigm from setting limits for kids, meaningful discipline, and a sense of respect to child- centered, self-esteem driven self-absorption. Here is a blatant example- I once witnessed (for real) a boy of perhaps10 hit another child of 12 or so in the chest with a branch. The mother’s response was, “What a good boy,you could have hit him in head but you only hit him in the chest.” The mother’s overriding concern was that her child “like” her and, of course, once a parent abrogates their obligation to be a parent as compared to a friend, the chances of the kid growing up to be a respectful and successful adult greatly diminish.
When wealth is so great it ceases being primarily a means of reasonable comfort and security and becomes frivolous, and frivolity is inconsistent with a deeper or more meaningful significance to life. In this void we find guilt and indolence, a sense that there must be something more, but to find this would take actual effort, perhaps at the unacceptable expense of our material comfort. Hence we have found a work-around: Yes,there unfairness, inequality, and suffering in the world and at some level I would like to help, but doing something actually useful would take me out of my comfort zone, and perhaps cost me money, time and effort. Therefore I can assuage my own inadequacies by feeling, or at least feigning, outrage, and by projecting it at people who don’t possess the enormous compassion and empathy I know is within me. I am a wonderful and righteous person, and you are a racist, Nazi, bigot, homophobe, transgenderphobe, Islamophobe, misogynist, or Fascist. By hating you I am absolved of my guilt, now off to the wine-tasting fund raiser for Planned Parenthood, where I know everyone will be wonderful, just like me!
Calling people “racists” is so common these days that it has become meaningless, which is actually a problem because there are true racists who can cause misery for others, but the reality of their malicious beliefs becomes diluted- putting someone who doesn’t embrace illegal immigration at the same level as a Cross-burning Klan member may be satisfying on a transitory basis but at the same time it diminishes the vileness of the Klan.Whatever the reason(s) progressive leftists cannot control their self-righteous anger and angst, the recipients of their vitriol,which presently includes conservatives, Republicans, believing Christians,white males, and white females who aren’t progressive leftists (and, curiously,sometimes non-white people who reject progressivism), can take solace in the knowledge that the social justice activists, whether college students, “antifa”morons, or wealthy Ivy League professors, are simply calling you a “poopy,”which has no significance beyond the emotions of an overtired child. Unfortunately, while the four year-old kid will wake up happy and refreshed, the “woke” activist will wake up angry and offended, ready to hurl insults at people who don’t agree with them on all matters of life, politics, culture, and philosophy.
Note: The below is an (edited) e-mail I sent to a very accomplished young man (early 30s) who is successful in the higher levels of academia but also in the “real” world, including the military. As I’m writing this the “migrant caravan, largely from Honduras, is a hot topic. I think the e-mail is fairly self-explanatory:
I have a semi-serious question about academics and Dr. XXX, EdD. He and I had a happy and meaningful time together without too much emphasis on politics. While I think it’s bad form to discuss politics in general social settings, I realize leftists especially have a difficult time constraining themselves, and I generally accept this. Hence I’m disinclined to respond to references to “that mad man in the White House” or derogatory references to Trump overall. I see a number of similarities between the most obnoxious of Christians and progressive leftists. Have you ever know someone who constantly says “praise the Lord,” or “thank you Jesus (not including XXX when winning at a casino!)?” If I’m attending the XXX Baptist Church it’s to be expected, but outside such a venue it’s impolite and inappropriate, especially if you don’t know the beliefs of the people you are with or know them to not be Christians.
Anyway, can an uneducated ignoramus such as me have a reasonable expectation that a highly credentialed academic possess the ability to view things dispassionately and objectively? Poor Dr. XXX, EdD, in considering Honduras, seems unable to discuss the topic without mentioning the Standard Fruit Company with great angst. I’m not sure what you know about this but it was an absolutely proto-typical scenario of a capitalist international corporation lining the pockets of willing petty dictators in exchange for favors, sometimes to the detriment of the “masses.” I said to him, “It’s been 120 years, you’ve got to get over it!” So the question is, can a PhD/EdD historian look at the record, however distasteful, and not be overwhelmed with anger and emotion. If not, can the scholarship be trusted?
You probably know some 13 years ago he received a $100,000 grant from the US Dept. of Interior to investigate the feasibility of processing coffee in an environmentally friendly manner in Central America. Ultimately nothing came of it and the money was for naught, but it did finance a two-week trip for him to Honduras and Costa Rica. I think this brief experience profoundly affected him, somehow legitimizing his already established leftist inclinations in his own mind. He said something like, “I did go to a non-tourist village, and they were really welcoming,” as this was of great significance. Despite his being a truly decent and caring person, I see such a strange contrast between him, the academic leftist whose outrage at the injustice of Central America (for example) suffices for action, and the uneducated ignoramus (i.e. conservative) that I am who has spent years, quite a bit of personal effort, and 10s of thousands of dollars down there in hopes of bettering the lives of the impoverished. I fear in the elite worlds of academia and wealth, a sense of righteous indignation offers much greater prestige than actually doing something!
I’m pretty sure I’m not a “Gun Nut,” unless progressive lexicologists have recently redefined it to include anyone supportive of the second amendment to any degree. I was certainly not a member of the NRA when, in 2004, I heard a speech by Wayne Lapierre, a major player in the NRA. I assumed it would be similar to Arlo Guthrie’s lyrics in Alice’s Restaurant, when he was talking to the draft board psychiatrist and repeatedly declaring “I want to kill!” Disappointingly, however, it was a low-keyed and well-reasoned talk. Several years ago I did join the NRA and, though my membership has lapsed, the motivating reason was more philosophical/sympathetic than practical (no desire for a hat, t shirt, pocket knife, etc).
In June 2013 Christopher Swindell, a journalism professor at Marshall University in Huntington, W.V., posted a somewhat fanciful op-ed in the Charleston Gazette which included an assertion that “The NRA advocates armed rebellion against the duly elected government of the United States of America. That’s treason, and it’s worthy of the firing squad,” and several other similar pearls. Having been fairly confident the NRA didn’t “advocate armed rebellion” I felt it appropriate to join the NRA; what the heck, if the conservative Heritage Foundation suggested summary executions of ACLU members I might be motivated to sign up with the ACLU.
Earlier this summer I heard a Public Service Announcement type radio ad (noted to be paid for with Pennsylvania tax dollars) pertaining to the current concern/issue of addiction. One of the themes was that an addict should not be troubled by a sense of shame. “Shame” is very much a subjective concept and I wonder if this assertion is based upon any science, such as “double-blind studies conclusively demonstrate a 35-40% better recovery rate among addicts who don’t feel shame versus those who do.” More likely I suspect it’s something that is more comfortable and marketable to believe, or perhaps one of those precepts that has become embedded in our social psychology without any known or factual basis, such as one should drink 6-8 glasses of water a day or that Public television is commercial free. I can hear too well a refrain from the 1960s, “Don’t lay a guilt trip on me, man!” underlying the shame-free mind-set
A brief amount of research suggests the following (anti-shame) paradigm: addicts are ashamed of their addictions so they therefore continue or increase their drug intake to attenuate their sense of shame. Perhaps there is a certain amount of emotional logic (somewhat incongruous words) here, but shame (and its sibling guilt) can be an enormously powerful factor to inspire people to do the right thing, and this applies to almost all aspects of human interaction. Noting a person without a conscience cannot, by definition, feel shame, active addiction reeks terrible havoc on families and society at large. Addiction cannot and should not be viewed without compassion, but it is unquestionably selfish and deserving of some degree of shame.
Increasingly our cultural dictums have become based on a self-esteem model- everything you do is good and deserving of a trophy. Of course there are some vivid exceptions so this, for example, no amount of shame is too much in regards to cigarettes, and the paradox that expressing an opinion that shame is justified, especially in matters of sexual behavior, is to be viewed as shameful. Excessive exuberance for shame and guilt are likely counterproductive, but the choice need not be between the Scarlet Letter and “everything you do is wonderful.” In general things done in moderation are more successful than things done in extremes, and a moderate amount of shame experienced by an addict is probably more therapeutically effective than none. Perhaps the officials that decide to spend tax money on PSAs should differentiate between what makes people feel good as compared to what is efficacious.
“Jerry, just remember. It's not a lie... if you believe it.” George Costanza
by Reid Fitzsimons
Sometimes it’s good fun to listen to politicians lying. The idea that, “They all do it,” really does have some basis and certainly isn’t anything new. Does our current President lie? Of course! Anytime he proposes a new program and talks about the many wonderful benefits to be reaped, with never any downside, he’s lying. Did our immediate past President, Obama, lie? Probably even more so than Trump. We know they are lying, of course, and usually they know it too, at least we hope so because if not we’ve elected people who are delusional. Kind of a paradox.
Back in 2008 the voters of California were presented with and approved a proposition for a high-speed rail system between San Diego and San Francisco with an extension to Sacramento- transportation and environmental nirvana for the masses. Promises were made in terms of speed, safety, completion dates, costs, passenger numbers, yada, yada. Of course all he benchmarks have proven elusive- the original 33 billion for the major LA to San Francisco portion has been revised repeatedly and now sits somewhere between 65 billion and 100 billion and completion dates keep slipping, slipping into the future. Did Gov. Jerry Brown and the high-speed rail cheerleaders believe the lies? They are so emotionally and economically vested in this project there is likely no way out, so their only option is to keep consciously lying and perhaps start believing their own BS.
I have no recollection who spoke at my high school graduation (1976) but I do recall that a former Vice- President, Hubert Humphrey, spoke at my oldest brother’s ceremony (’71) and, if nothing else, I learned that famous and influential people can be exceptionally long-winded and boring.
With that said…have you read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men? It’s meaningful if not great, though it is made better because it’s relatively short. To me the most poignant scene was not the climactic one, where George shot Lenny in the back of the head so that he would be spared the turmoil he was about to endure, but the scene involving the used-up old guy who had nothing left in his life but his equally old dog. Some of the young ranch hands, with nothing better to do at the moment, began telling the old guy he should put the dog out of his misery, that the dog was smelly and in pain and they would be doing something merciful, notwithstanding that there was really nothing wrong with the dog except being old. In reality the young guys were just trying to find a moment of cruel entertainment and, having coerced assent from the old man, they walked the dog out of the bunkhouse and the now grieving old man, in tears, heard the shot ring in the distance.
I suggest there are three characteristics most worth aspiring to in life, though I’m not entirely sure how I came up with these. The first is kindness, of which one requirement, I suppose, is the absence of cruelty. Though I’m pretty sure I’ve witnessed more suffering than the vast majority of Americans, most of what I know of horrible cruelty people do to others comes from reading and studying- part of a true education is to learn about things you might never experience but nevertheless are able to interpret correctly. Hence, a truly educated and enlightened person will not, for example, throw out the accusation of “Nazi” every time they encounter someone who disagrees with them, which seems to be a fad these days.
