Category Archives: Prose

Happy Holidays

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A person that I have a fair amount of respect for recently was expounding on how Christians in America are hegemonized during the holiday season.  Of note to her was the fact that we are not allowed to say Merry Christmas and are instead forced to say Happy Holidays.  Because of my respect for her I will post my thoughts here.

One of my favorite pet peeves is when people assume that they or people like them are the whole of America.  Christians, and I am one, tend to be extremely ethnocentric. “We are the majority of Americans so we should have it our way.” I would liken this argument to one of my favorite debates and that is that the United States is not a Democracy but a Constitutional Republic.  In other words, the majority does not have the power to overturn what is constitutionally afforded.  So, in this case, just because most people are Christians in America that does not mean that we have the right to impose religion on others.

The other part of this rant is that I wonder what the religious leaders in this country are feeding their flocks.  I have never had a problem saying Merry Christmas to anyone.  I am in a leadership position and have never told the people who work for me to refrain from saying Merry Christmas.  Of course if FoxNews gets a hold of a story that WalMart is telling their employees to say Happy Holidays, it is immediately construed as an attack on Christianity.  In all likelihood it is a move to have a more inclusive society.  Now I know that there are wingnuts out there who are so overly politically correct that they would suppress any expression of Christian centrism but I would think that they are few and far between.

My final thought is that if you feel that Christians are being marginalized in this society, can you imagine being Jewish, Muslim, or even atheist.  Every religion and every society has a celebration that falls somewhere around the winter solstice.  So, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, enjoy Eid and Diwali!  Have a joyful Kwanzaa and, if you must, a festive Festivus! And just to be inclusive, Happy Holidays!

As Old as I Feel

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You’re only as old as you feel.  Really? Because all of a sudden I feel damn old. It seems that certain ages are like cliffs.  One day you are still young and the next you’re dragging your rear out of bed.  One day there’s a hop in your step and the next day it’s a little limp.

One of the issues is that I have let myself get out of shape.  I don’t know if that’s a symptom of old age or something else.  I really am not motivated to exercise or eat right.  Part of that I think is my busy life and part of it is the stress of the job.  The funny thing is that both of those things require more exercise to be kept in check.  Not less.

Anyway, I decided the motivation I need is to sign up for a marathon.  Pittsburgh 2012.  I’ll keep you informed on my progress.

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Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates

My wife, daughter and I happened upon these four girls splitting a four pound “Whitman’s Sampler” at the mall.  They were sitting in the food court with the box open, splitting the chocolates.  We asked to take their picture and what the story was.  They simply said, “You can buy one at Sear’s for 20 bucks.  We pooled our money.”  These girls were living.  Of course my wife thought they were having boy troubles or celebrating something but no, they were just living.  How many of us would spend 20 busks to share a 4 pound box of chocolates “just because?”  This was making memories and living it up!  “Do you remember that time we were splitting that monster box of chocolates and that guy asked us to take our picture?

Glorious

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In 1985 and beyond, I was a huge Vision Quest fan.  I guess in a way 40phor is like my vision quest.  Anyway, yesterday my 15 year old daughter had one of the most exhilarating sports accomplishments.  Scoring the “golden goal” in overtime to advance to the championship.  It reminded me of the scene from Vision Quest when the cook, Elmo, is talking about Pele.

Elmo:  I was in the room here one day… watchin’ the Mexican channel on TV. I don’t know nothin’ about Pele. I’m watchin’ what this guy can do with a ball and his feet. Next thing I know, he jumps in the air and flips into a somersault and kicks the ball in – upside down and backwards… Everybody’s screaming in Spanish. I’m here, sitting alone in my room, and I start crying.  That’s right, I start crying. Because another human being, a species that I happen to belong to, could kick a ball, and lift himself, and the rest of us sad-assed human beings, up to a better place to be, if only for a minute… let me tell ya, kid – it was pretty goddamned glorious.

Lifted up indeed!  It lifted up this sad-assed human being. Lifted up by a 15 year old that I had the opportunity to create and the good fortune to help mold.  Tears to my eyes might be an understatement.

 

Money is Time

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The new movie Time has a pretty interesting concept.  I haven’t seen the movie so I’m making some assumptions from what I can glean from the trailer.  Anyway, it sounds like you spend minutes for whatever you want to buy.  Minutes off of your life.  “8 minutes for a cup of coffee!”  But apparently if you are rich you can somehow buy more minutes.

This brings up some interesting thoughts. For example, if everything that we did and everything we bought cost us minutes, would we choose more wisely?  Would we treat our time more like a commodity? Would I be sitting here watching a movie I’ve seen 4 times?  Maybe we would all be better off if we thought this way.  How many people would buy a snuggie for 30 minutes of our life or better yet a gun for 96 hours?  How many of us would sit around and spend 30 minutes watching Jersey Shore if it cost the same as a case of beer?  I think decisions would be a lot harder to make. That is until our minutes became as meaningless to us as our money has.

Consider this:  How much more upset would we be if we were paying 350 minutes for a gallon of gas and ExxonMobil was earning billions of minutes every quarter – virtually ensuring themselves near eternal life?  How many more people would be Occupying Wall Street if our government bailed out the banks to the tune of a couple thousand years – the very banks who manipulated our minutes to their own benefit?

Hope this post was worth the Starbucks Mochachino that it cost you to read it!

Google+

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You can now follow me on Google+ at this link.  Basically I thought it was a better forum for photography and several photography friends are using it.  Facebook has jumped the shark in my opinion or possibly boned the fish.  Anyway, hopefully the Google+ site will help motivate me to post more pictures.  Whatever I post there I will also post here and vice versa.

Progress Report

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Obviously an F.  Did anyone else happen through the time warp that went straight from October 2nd to today?  Life has got to slow down or else I’m going to have to start living in the moment more!

 

Who is the George Washington of 2011?

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As the Occupy Wall Street Movement continues, the local paper included a very interesting article about the Movement coming to Harrisburg, PA.  For those of you unaware of Occupy Wall Street, they are a loosely affiliated group whose one general principal is that  “We are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.” The gist is that the money controls the politicians and the politicians control the money. And about 99% of us are forgotten about.  I’m with you brother.  It is time for a revolution.  Actually, in my opinion, a total revolution is the only thing that could possibly change the current situation.  Didn’t anyone see “Wall Street:  Money Talks”?  Not a great movie but scarier than Amityville Horror.  An account for those of us who don’t read the Wall Street Journal about how the banks failed.  How rich people got richer by leveraging the welfare of the 99% and how the government probably knew and assisted.  I know its fiction but I don’t think it is far off the mark.

The biggest issue for the proliferation of this movement appears to be that they have no leader.  This isn’t were I am looking for a George Washington.  This is where I am looking for a Sam Adams. No, not a cold beer but a grassroots guy to topple the applecart.  For those of you who aren’t history buffs (and I count myself among you).  Sam Adams at times was maligned for his tactics prior to the Revolutionary War.  He was more apt to spread propaganda and promote mob violence – remember the real Tea Party – than negotiate with his adversaries. I read part of that in the paper and did a little more research.  A funny connection here is that Sam Adams’ original hatred of the English came because of the power of English banks.

Anyway, Adams and some of his Colonial buddies, in order to further the movement, solicited the assistance of George Washington.  What this movement needs is a George Washington.  Someone with stature; someone who can consolidate the ideas and make a statement.  Anarchy will get peoples minds working but it won’t get us to the next step. As Seth Godin has said, we have to Ship It.  If we ship from 75 different places, the final product is going to need put together.  What this movement needs is a single shipment.  Maybe a Continental Congress of sorts.  Everyone bring their ideas together and allow them to coalesce into one list of demands.  And then a shipper.  A George Washington!

If this is going to be the United States’ version of the Arab Spring or the Spanish 15-M movement or maybe the 21st Century version of the “real” Tea Party, it needs a George Washington. Who?  I don’t know but I am sure that if the pressure on Wall Street is kept up, the right leader will arise.