Here's Looking At You Babe

I wrote the short paragraph below a few weeks ago. Although a quaint observation, I didn’t think it rose to the level of a post. Then I was presented with a companion piece that when added to the earlier one made the grade. Here they are.

A Peculiar Intimacy

Imagine passing a lifetime mere inches away from something and never seeing it. That is what your eyes and ears do. Of course your ears don’t see anything, near or far. But your eyes go on for decades, mere inches away from your ears and yet they never directly see them. Your teeth too. And a bunch of other stuff that’s out of sight. It just seems odd.

A Peculiar Sight

I sleep naked and when I go to the bathroom in the morning I walk right in front of a full length mirror. As I get in and out of the shower I look at my naked self in another mirror. (There’s some mild disgust with what I see, but it is short of self loathing.) I am used to seeing myself naked. Recently my wife and I passed a few days as house guests in California. The place we stayed had a half bath on the first floor in which the toilet stands at the right side of the sink. Behind the sink is a mirror, presumably to allow for modest grooming before returning to the company of others. The odd thing in this bathroom is that the mirror extends to the right, behind the toilet. This is something I had never seen before. A mirror behind a toilet. I have a hunch that no woman has ever or would ever notice this situation, but for guys it is different. It presents a new view. There you are, standing fully clothed, (Once I was even wearing a coat and tie.) with your dick poking out of your trousers and in your hand as you hose down the toilet bowl. Ladies, I’m telling you, that is an odd sight.

The Debt Crisis

The United States and Greece are similar in that both countries face the possibility of default on their debt obligations in the relatively near term. They are different in that in the case of Greece a default would be caused by non Greeks deciding that future Greek income will not be sufficient to pay their debts, whereas in the case of the U.S. a default looms on Aug 2 entirely due to a choice by the U.S. Congress to default. A decision to not raise the limit on the national debt is a decision to default. At this time there is no threat of default due decisions by anyone else. The reason offered for maintaining the debt limit is that if we go on as we have been we are going to find ourselves in a debt crisis like Greece. In other words by not raising the debt limit we are choosing to be sure to default now in order to avoid the possibility of a default at some later time.

In my view it is only an irony that most of the present debt was created during the administrations of Reagan and Bush II. There were Democrats in control of one or the other legislative branches during these times. What everybody learned in the 20th century was that having government services and paying for them are two different things and given that knowledge we have collectively gone along with providing services while refusing to tax ourselves to pay for them. It may be that democracy does not work, because they can not make themselves be fiscally responsible. Where the Republicans are dangerous in these times is in their economic religion.

What the United States needs in order to balance its budget, is pretty full employment of its resources. It is indisputable that the first effect of cutting government expenditures is that people lose jobs. The Republican faith states that raising taxes results in loss of private sector jobs that would otherwise be created. This is not nearly as certain as the job loss from decreasing government expenditures. But Republican preference for small government dictates that while it is ok to cut expenditures we must not raise taxes. That is a very weird, lop sided and faith based approach to balancing the budget.

The Application

I flew across the country recently and because I used some kind of “miles” the trip from Seattle Washington to Charlottesville Virginia went through Dallas Texas where I had a lay over of about four hours. Time enough. I used the rest room. I found my departure gate on a big screen. I rode the inter-terminal train. I found a seat in the appropriate waiting area and then had to move because someone had left their luggage unattended. I moved three gates away and found a new seat among a bunch of folks about to depart for some place other than Dallas. And it was sitting there that I heard the young man on his cell phone. You know in such a setting you don’t need to listen in order to hear.

It was clear in a moment that he was talking to someone about a job. He was about 30, dressed in clothes that spoke of blue collar work. He spoke well and steadily. He had done some work for his listener and he wanted to make clear that he had enjoyed it and was up for more. He would be willing to hire on for more work even knowing there would not be much to do in November and December. With the holidays and such, a little more family time would be fine. He could take private flying lessons if that would make him more valuable. He was aware there was no specific need for a pilot, but maybe that would just be an extra skill he could bring. The call lasted around ten minutes in my presence and had begun before I arrived. He would stay in touch just in case.

It had sounded pretty good to me and the person on the other end had stayed on the phone for some time apparently not brushing him off, but when he hung up the young man’s body language changed completely. His shoulders sagged and he slouched in his seat as he tucked his phone into his pants. I wondered how deep his despair ran, how much he owes, who else in this world is dependent on him. Soon his flight was called and off he went to face his particular reality, just one in millions.

The Story of Crumpled Anna

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When Crumpled Anna was born her limbs were straight and strong. As soon as she was old enough to walk it was clear that she was blessed with the gifts of speed and grace and the heart of a thoroughbred. She loved equally to run and dance, but her destiny was fulfilled on the day she first saw a bicycle. It was on her bike that all of her physical gifts found their fullest manifestation. She was able to ride at her very first attempt and once she started she never stopped. She rode at every opportunity. The combination of constant practice and natural gifts brought her to ever greater riding prowess until at last she could nearly make her bike fly. She found that she could build her speed to the point where, by jerking up hard on the handle bars, she could cast her bike up into the air and onto the top of a one story building. Once up she could traverse the city just riding the roofs, sailing from house to house to house. And that is what she was doing on the afternoon of her accident. It was a cruel wind that caught her by surprise just as she was about to touch down on the ridgeline of a small bungalow. It blew her off her mark and despite her extraordinary skills she could not recover. In a flash she tumbled down the slope and onto the ground.

That was Anna’s last ride. Now, as you see, she is twisted and bent. She passes her time near the entrance of a Garden of Faux Art where she greets each visitor as he or she arrives. Visitors should not be dismayed by Anna’s story. She now concentrates on dancing with the same constancy that she once rode. Despite what happened she still loves the wind. She pirouettes in the gentle breezes and grows quite animated when the stronger winds find her at her place in the garden.

She once was asked if she regretted the exciting way she lived before with the high risks that it entailed and if she didn’t hate the wind. “Oh no”, she said quietly, “The wind and I both, were merely acting according to our natures. It is far better for me if I forgive her. And besides we all decline over the course of our journey to the final worm bin. My decline was just a bit more sudden than most. I was given a gift. I used it as best I could. Now I am here, still in the company of the wind, the rain and even some occasional sun. It is enough. I am grateful.”

33 Flavors - Ha!

Late next month I will be 73.  My grampa lived to 93.  My aunt to 94 and my dad to 96.  I'm feeling like I can match my grampa.  Suppose I do and that I have a bowl of ice cream every other day.  That means I have only about 3,650 bowls left.  With so few remaining I can't afford to waste any time on butter brickle.  If it ain't chocolate, vanilla or chocolate chip mint, I'm afraid I have to pass.

In life it is important to keep your eye on the bowl.

Here's An Idea - (Continued) Read the previous post first

6,000 US and more than 1,000 from allied countries.  That, according to a web site called icasualties.com is the number killed in Iraq and Afghanistan - so far.  So we have we have now done approximately twice as much harm to ourselves in our reaction to 9/11 as was done to us on that day.  Hmmmmm.  What if we forgot about countries of origin and just counted all innocent people including Iraqis and Afghans who have been killed or maimed?  Do you think we are at 100,000 yet?  We are responsible for this suffering in the sense that it would not have happened had we not chosen to respond with a military invasion.  Although our actions were not a sufficient condition, they were a necessary condition.  We could have unilaterally avoided these casualties.

Of course we have to consider the counter factual hypothesis, that is, what would have happened had we not done what we did.  Al Qaeda operatives or affiliates have had successes in Spain, London and Indonesia.  I don't think there is any way of knowing how many, if any, attacks were frustrated by our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it seems to me that it has been our defensive response, TSA etc, that has limited other attacks.  I do think it is a little naive to believe that we are going to frighten suicide bombers by successfully killing folks from their side as many pundits have opined this past week.  They are suicide bombers!!!!  Think about it.

And we did lose two tall buildings as well.  I read that they  approximately equaled the vacant office space in Manhattan on that day.  I made no attempt to look up the figures, but I have a hunch we could have built several replacement buildings with the money we have burned up fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In what way has this been an intelligent response?  Oh yeah.  It has made us feel tough, not like a bunch of pansy whimps.  Well, that's worth something I guess.

Here's An Idea

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“Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19) Maybe there’s a reason for that.

Sometimes the smart thing to do is not the satisfying thing. Galling though it may have been, bailing out the large U.S. financial institutions in 2008 surely reduced the severity of the hard times we have faced since then. To have treated the bankers as they deserved, by letting them live by the market, would have crushed many many more innocent people, even more severely and for far longer than has already happened. We face a similar unpleasant choice in the so called war on terror. Viscerally satisfying as it may be to execute those who have killed and maimed innocent people, before doing so we should always ask the question, will this increase or decrease future terrorism? We have recently killed one famous terrorist to our apparent great satisfaction, but how many new terrorists will be created by our action? Perhaps the big fish who is gone was more of a threat to us than the many minnows who will now come forward to replace him, but that is certainly not clear. Satisfying though it may have been to wreak our vengeance, it might not have been so smart.


Is there another way? I wonder how much it would impair the recruitment of terrorists if the U.S. were to act like the Christian nation that so many of our citizens fancy us to be. As I understand the New Testament we are implored by word and deed to “forgive those who trespass against us”. It is there in Jesus’ most famous prayer. We are told that on the cross he said, “Forgive them Father. They know not what they do.” He healed the severed ear of one of his Roman guards at the time of his arrest. When asked directly how to respond to offense, did he not say, “Turn the other cheek.” How about, “Let he who is without fault cast the first stone.” And then I think it was probably Paul who said, “Judge not that ye be not judged.” It seems to me that forgiveness is pretty much the central doctrine of Christianity.


Be assured that I am not recommending that we become a Christian nation and follow these precepts because God wants us to. I am doubtful of the existence of a caring god and I certainly don’t think we should establish any national religion. I am suggesting that if we want to minimize the harm done to us by terrorists, the smartest way to do that might be to forgive those who trespass against us, do our best to forestall attacks with passive measures and never strike back. Or else we can continue to try to beat a billion or so Muslims into submission.