War is ugly

 Many years ago, I got to know Charlie as he invited me to join him on the porch at his farm in Fulton County. He was a few years older than my dad and had served in the Navy in WWII. Charlie loved to tell stories and share his favorite Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. It was not my favorite beer but I never turned him down because I knew he was in that story telling mood.

He talked a little about the war and once told me how his arm had been so badly injured in a truck accident. He drove a dump truck for a local sand and gravel and took great pride in his ability to perfectly spread a driveway controlling the dumping.

His favorite topic was civil war history of the area including the confederate march through McConellsburg toward Gettysburg. He gave great context to the history having known a woman who was 10 years old when they came through the area. Perhaps he sat on her porch just as I was, listening and asking questions, happily soaking it all in. 

So close to the Mason Dixon line, families divided. Charlie explained that they would often change the spelling of their last names to designate their allegiance - North or South. In his own family history, Cutchall's were north and Gutchall's were south. There were Smiths and Smyths. The war pitted brother against brother.

As the confederates marched through Fulton County, they burned and pillaged. The woman he knew said there was just one egg they didn't find on their farm. They took everything they could find. They burned McConnallsburg. In the south, Union troops did the same. War is ugly. 

Those stories follow me anytime I explore the site of a battle. Standing beside the creek at Antietam, my stomach churned to imagine it ran red from the blood of the wounded and dead. People knew one another. Opposing officers often went to West Point together - served together once. They became enemies. War is ugly.

Too often movies and history books romanticize war. The horrors and pain are softened. Those who live through it can barely speak of it. Charlie could talk about the civil war history but not so much his experiences in WWII. His ship was part of battles in the far east but that's about all he would say and he'd get quiet a while. War is ugly.

The south argued and some continue to say, the Civil War was about state's rights. That's a way to hide the ugly truth. It was about state's right to allow slavery. The current calls for insurrection are hiding behind something as well. History will reveal it. Hopefully, before it's too late truth will lead us to a greater way because War is ugly.

 

It's gut check time

 It's gut check time.

If you have lived long enough, you have had times when something triggered a reaction that you later regretted. We all have those places that are so sacred to us that we will do most anything to protect that sacred space and even behave outside of who we believe ourselves to be. 

It's gut check time.

If you have lived long enough to have had that experience - to have acted outside of your acceptable behavior, it's time to reach out to those who are acting outside of what would seem to be acceptable to them.

It's gut check time.

If you have lived long enough, have long enough ties, be ready to take your loved ones and long time friends by the hand in empathy. It's time to reach out and act within the boundaries of acceptable behavior and walk each other to a better place.

It's gut check time.

If you have lived long enough, you have seen the carnage of violence. You have experienced the pain of war. You know the pain of loss. You have seen the power of love. It's time to reach out and act within the boundaries of acceptable behavior and walk each other to a better place.

It's gut check time.

How powerful is your conviction? How deep is your commitment to love and peace? You have seen the power of love. It's time to reach out and act within the boundaries of acceptable behavior and walk each other to a better place.

It's gut check time.

It humbles me

Hildegard Von Bingen has come to my attention these days. She was a remarkable spiritual leader in the Middle Ages at a time when women were rarely held in high regard in any sense. As I begin to explore her teachings and impact, one word emerges: Connection.

This year, that is my word - my mantra - my focus of inspiration - Connection. It's long been my spiritual belief that we are intrinsically connected to all things in all ways. If we want to understand "God" we need to understand connection. Nothing is separate from us and that has always included "God". We are connected to all things in all ways. That includes all that ever was and all that ever will be.

It humbles me. In recent weeks I have been reminded of my connections in many ways. I can inspire others to be their better selves. I can influence others to set aside their better selves. There is an inner voice that guides me but I do not always find it most impactful. What I say and what I do matters in a very connected way. 

When I feel there is danger and fail to act to minimize it, there are connections I have to what then happens. When I am wrong in believing something and cause actions based on my erroneous beliefs, there are connections to what happens. When I see the best in someone and help them to see it, there are connections to what they do with their confidence. Connections matter. My connections matter.

It humbles me. I feel a great responsibility to seek truth, to speak truth and to act on the truths revealed to me. I always need to seek to be better and to remain focused on truth because it is what connects to "God". 

I place "God" in quotes because it (He) (She) is actually that ultimate connection to all things in all ways. "God" is everything that ever was and ever will be. If we are or ever were disconnected, we failed to see that truth. All people are part of God. All things are part of God. Our actions show our understanding of connections (God in all people and all things) or not.

It humbles me.  

The Giant Gifts

 Growing up, I thought of Aunt Dorothy as a movie star because she lived in California. As a little girl, while mommy wrote her letters, I would draw her pictures. The year after mommy died, Dad drove us to California and I met her for the first time, at nine years old. The first words out my mouth were, 'You look just like mommy.' And she did!

Over the years, Grandma always made sure I knew where Aunt Dorothy was because she and her husband moved a lot. After Grandma died, I learned that Aunt Dorothy had moved back to the area and was living in an assisted living facility not far from home. Seeing her for the first time in so many years, she asked, "Who do I look like now?" 'You look just like Grandma!' And she did!

We had a few precious years filled with memories. She told stories and filled in family history. She told of an early Christmas memory going to her Grandma's big house in Pittsburgh. She described a giant tree, 2 stories tall, around which the children sat waiting for their special gift. They each got one present and she was delighted with a mickey mouse watch - all the rage that year.

Growing up, Aunt Dorothy always sent us a box of dates for Christmas so I began making a little treat package for her including dates. But her favorite part was a bag of fortune cookies that she would save for New Years eve. She would gather her friends and they would open them then.

And so, every year I have dates at Christmas and find fortune cookies if I can. I'll hear her infectious laugh, see her and mommy and Grandma too. I'll thank them for all the gifts they gave me that are far bigger than even that giant Christmas tree.

Pandemic of ill will

There seems to be a pandemic of ill will in this country. It's an illness attacking our values.

Historically, America has been a country that led the world in attacking disease. Our approach to tackling tuberculoses, polio, chicken pox, measles and many other community spread diseases have been generally accepted and successful. We have historically shown value for human life. 

Herd immunity as a goal for the end of this pandemic is a shared goal; left, right and in the middle. How we get there is the huge divide. These opposing views are making it impossible to get a handle on this virus.

On one end, herd immunity and survival of the fittest are the same thing. These people tend to see themselves as fit enough to survive, of course. With this approach there should be no mitigation efforts. Everyone is on their own to handle the virus and there seems to be a certainty that the vast majority of people can survive it. Those who don't were going to die of something anyway.

Survival of the fittest discounts or dismisses the impact on the health care system. They are blind to the number of hospitals across the country that are overwhelmed, EMT workers overstressed, morgues overflowing in some regions. Or perhaps they feel this is an acceptable cost. Perhaps they feel mitigation efforts are too costly and are willing to let the cost be paid on this end of our society.

On the other end, herd immunity means a vaccine. A vaccine provides immunity in a controlled way, mitigating the level of illness and death. The problem here is that the vaccine is slow in coming and in actually creating herd immunity on a mass scale. AND many of the survival of the fittest folks will have nothing to do with it.

In between, mitigation efforts are painful and costly. Business shutdowns with no relief are devastating, especially for small businesses. School shut downs spiral families into chaos and financial hardship. Wearing a mask everywhere is a pain in the ass. Fighting one another over all of it is exhausting. 

What has been missing is leadership that is focused on an approach that brings us closer together in an approach to dealing with this pandemic. We all want to get back to some semblance of normal. We all want to survive this thing physically, emotionally and financially.

Number ONE - We cannot overwhelm our health care systems. PERIOD! We use contact tracing to accurately identify the greatest risk of spread and we shut it down. 

Number TWO - We accurately identify the financial impact of number one and provide funding to those who need it to survive. Screw the deficit. If we can go to war with blind cost and cut taxes willy nilly, we can spend money on mitigating a pandemic.

Number THREE - STOP fighting each other. Fight the virus. Act like we care about each other. Be a community.

This is not an unsolvable problem. We can do this. Let's do it!

My Flag in honor of Veteran's Day

 It's Veteran's Day. The country salutes the service of millions of men and women who chose to serve this great country we call home.

It's Veteran's Day. Our presidential election was over a week ago. If you chose to vote, your vote was cast more than a week ago. It's time for the signs to come down. We no longer need to see a show of who you voted for or who you wanted to win. It's done. Election Day was more than a week ago. Your sign is irrelevant now. It doesn't matter who you voted for. Take the signs down. Take the flags down. Take your candidate's name off the side of your buildings and off the billboards. 

If you are a true patriot, your allegiance is not to a NAME, it is to this country. Replace that campaign sign, that campaign flag and that name on your building with the flag of the United States of American. Pledge allegiance to that value of "indivisible with liberty and justice for all." 

If you are a true patriot, fly the flag that represents that country to which you are aligned. Is that the flag of the confederacy? Is that what you believe in? Is that where you want to go? A nation divided and focused on rights of subjugation of certain people.

It's time to take a good hard look at our values. It's time to take down signs and replace them with a flag that represents the aspiration of a much higher purpose. We have much work to do. We have failed to reach those higher aspirations but we really should be united in our desire to keep working toward that end. Take down the signs, the flags, the names on buildings and billboards that spark feelings of division. Get behind a united flag.

My new flag and spotlight go up now! I'm a veteran and approve this message. 

 

Broaden Your News Sources

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a news junky. Seeking a variety of news sources is very important. While they all have bias, I focus on ones that are most reliable and specific journalists with the best reputations. It takes a bit of effort. Just google media bias and you can see where your news sources fall. 

How do I fit it in? First, in the morning I scan the local paper and the Washington Post. Then, while I get ready for work, I listen to NPR morning edition. During the day, I don't pay much attention to news but at the end of the day, I'll watch a variety of news stations. It rotates between PBS news and BBC, CBS and ABC. Then I rarely miss Rachel Maddow as she dives deep into stories with statistics, summaries of local reporting on topics and in depth interviews. Finally, I usually turn on Sky News from the UK to get a world view.

Over the weekend, I try to catch Washington Week on PBS, CBS Sunday Morning and at least one of the weekly news interview programs.

Many sources tend to follow the same story for a few days, so rotating provides a broader view of what is happening. They cannot report on everything. And sometimes one source hits on a story that others are not talking about. My inclination when I hear, "noone else is reporting this" is to ask if they just haven't caught it yet, the story cannot be corroborated, or it isn't fully true. If it interests me, I'll dig into it as best I can. If it seems big, I wait to see if other sources validate it. If not, I just view it with skepticism.

It's a lot of news to take in and I've been criticized for it. And recently when I told someone about the variety of sources I take in, he didn't believe me. So, above, I am explaining how it is possible. I'm not an expert. I can't read every story, every day. Sometimes I don't understand what I am reading or hearing. I'm simply trying to be broadly informed with reliable information. And sometimes, I'll take an hour or two to dig deeper - look for statistics to verify a story or look for local sources that may be better and understand more.

I also listen to real people and their experiences with things that are being reported. This is where real news starts. Ask questions and listen. Think about it - process the information and fact check.

It frustrates me to see people spread misinformation often just repeating someone's talking points or re-posting a conspiracy theory. I wish people would take time to think and do a little home work. Get a broader perspective. Be better informed and when you are making an argument, use reliable statistics, facts and sources.

Yes, all media is somewhat biased. We all are and journalists are human like us. But many among us try very hard to be honest and truthful. We try to be factual. Journalists have been an important part of our democracy for centuries. It's our responsibility to seek information that is reliable. Dismissing them all and relying on a single source is irresponsible citizenship in a democracy. Not everyone will be a news junky as I am hoping people will be a lot more careful about what and whom they believe. 

There are bad actors who are motivated to derail our democracy. Their first step is to have us not believe one another and question facts. We cannot solve problems, our leaders cannot govern, if we cannot even identify facts. It's going to crush us. Please turn off the shock jocks and learn to do some fact checking.