I am Just One

We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.    Carl Sagan

Imagine that each of us truly is a part of a very very large array of physical, mental, and spiritual observatories.  Each on of us contributes to the image we can perceive of reality.  Each one focusing on what is around us contributes to a sharper view of the universe and ourselves.  I want to be apart of that vast human array.

Yesterday I drove to Layton, Utah to visit my Dad.  As I drove there and back, I listened to NPR... news and commentary all day long.  (I don't feel like turning on the news this morning...)  Listening to the experts, I realized that the world's problems are extremely big and complex, and no one really knows what to do to solve them.  I tend to cut to some simple, principled answer, because I am a simple man.  I notice that I am not really too different from anyone else.  Even though I listen to analysis, discussion, and debate that demonstrates the complexity of today's issues: Syria, ISIS, the fleeing refugees and migrants, Planned Parenthood, abortion, fetal tissue research, global climate change, etc., the solutions and reactions of experts, state leaders, and political parties are simple, principled actions.

I am just me... I am just one pair of eyes looking at the world and the universe.  What I have to say, what I think is just my thoughts, my words.  I do not claim to be right, for I know that I do not know everything, I do not see everything.  I speak up to share my perspective, just as I need everyone else's view to enhance what I can see.  We need each other.  We need to listen and to hear each other.

I am just one...  I need you all.

A Confession...

OK... I must confess that I am at least mildly xenophobic, specifically islamophobic, homophobic, racist, and misogynistic.  In short, I have a hard time understanding or totally accepting anyone who is not like me.  I believe that my attitudes toward "others" grew with me in my culture, and I am trying to progress in knowledge and understanding as my culture also progresses.  I hope one day to truly accept others and celebrate our differences, but I also believe that there will always be and should always be differences.  As it is I do not believe I am a bigot, because I tolerate all those differences and believe everyone should be treated with respect and kindness.

I confess that I am a part of the social injustices of the world.  I possess more than I need, I eat more than I need, I spend more than I need, while others are hungry and homeless.  I try to do something to help, but I don't know that I am doing enough.

I confess that I am a part of the degradation of the global environment.  My carbon footprint is far too large, and I have not yet attempted to significantly reduce it.  I still have to work on that.

I further confess that my lifestyle contributes to the "American Way of Life" used as an excuse to entangle our great nation in costly conflicts in the oil-rich Middle East.  I must bear my portion of the blame for these wars.

I confess to being politically conflicted, and maybe hypocritical.  How can I be anything but a socialist having grown up as a military dependent (with free medical care), and then working in public education, a unionized, government institution, for 30 years, and now drawing a pension from the state.  This certainly seems socialist in practice, but I try to deny it.

I could go on.  I could confess to a lot more things but, I guess I am confessing to being human... a flawed, part-of-problem, human.

I recognize that the burden of guilt I carry with me is a "first world problem," and it is nothing compared to the real deprivation and dangers faced by so many in the world today.  I feel I have the moral duty to find better ways to be part of the solution to the problems of the world.  The saying seems appropriate: if not me, who?  If not now, when?  If not here, where?

I confess that I have a long way t go...

 

I Felt It!

Yesterday at about 5:00 PM MDT my head shook involuntarily about three times.  I asked Jean if she felt anything... she didn't.  Later, I looked up seismic activity and there was a 3.3 earthquake near Grand Canyon Village, AZ, 148 miles away... at 5:14 PM!  I felt it!  That is one benefit of resting still in bed
all day!

(And no, I don't believe it is a sign of the coming "Mormon Apocalypse.")

I am looking forward to the rising moon tonight... full, supermoon, and lunar eclipse!  A "Blood Moon."

(And, again, no, I don't believe this is a sign of the Apocalypse either.  But Jean and I do have our food storage just in case...)

no post today

menieres...

(I took the day off...)

I Am Wrong... again.

You will remember that one of my philosophical tenets is that I am wrong.  I have had that made clear to me again this week.

First, when the story of Ahmed Mohammed, the 14 year old who was arrested for bringing a clock to school hit he media, I was one who "stood with Ahmed."  I stated on Facebook that this was an example of xenophobia and technophobia.  Since then there have more to the story revealed.  Ahmed really didn't do much "inventing" other than take an alarm clock apart and put it in a pencil case.  Then it is interesting that he showed it to his science/engineering teacher who told him not to show it around the school because others might think it was a bomb.  He ended up showing it to his English teacher and ended up getting arrested and suspended for bringing it to school.  Under Texas statutes he did create a hoax bomb because people could mistake it for bomb.  The interesting part of the story is that he explained his device to the science teacher but wouldn't really talk to the school administration or the police.  He didn't start talking again until the TV cameras were on him.  Then we find out that his father is an Muslim activist fight discrimination in the country.  There was more to the story than we were first told.

I jumped to a conclusion.  The fact is that I really don't know what the truth is in this story.

Tuesday evening we attend a public viewing of "Hotel Impossible" starring Anthony Melchiorri and Cedar City's Stratford Court Inn.  We watched the episode and then the owners and the manager told us about the behind the scenes events.  What we saw on TV was not real.  It was a dramatic story told for the viewing public's enjoyment.  It was not entirely real.  The real part was the actual volunteers that showed up to help the owners, and the actual renovation done to the hotel.  That was real.

The humble point I am trying to make is that I am duped as much as anyone.  I was (and am) wrong.

  

Welcome Pope Francis

Pope Francis has referred to this Earth as our "common home" as he calls for action on global warming (aka: climate change).  But of course the issues are broader than than that.  We are using up the earth, damaging our common source of air, water, soil, food.

The Pope has already, before he got here, provoked criticism from the right.  I don't understand how "conservatives" can be against the conservative management of our natural resources?  It's not all about money...

Welcome Your Holiness... thank you for saying what you say.