Time Travel

I recently heard someone say: "Some people claim that they do not believe in time travel. But right now I am traveling forward in time at the rate of 1 second per second."

Self Revelation

On a recent trip to Peru I experienced what can only be described as an amazing self-revelation.

The temperature was over 100 degrees Farhenheit. We were zipping along the Pan American Highway just outside the city of Lima on our way to the site of some ancient Mayan Ruins. I snapped two interestiing pictures from the window of our "deluxe air-conditioned motor coach" as our tour guide often referred to it. (See the pictures at the right)

The first image shows an entire mountain of sand, compactly covered with hundreds of tiny, pitiable shacks. At first I thought that the place was abandoned but I soon saw that these hovels were literally crammed with people. How could any people live here? How could people live like this? I began to imagine the possible reasons for their poverty. They are probably lazy, uneducated and unskilled, ignorant folk. Perhaps they had been betrayed by their government, over taxed by greedy officials, and left to fend for themselves in this brutal climate. Their only success seemed to be having multiple children, which they could hardly provide for.

The second image shows another mountain of sand. This one had hundreds of trees planted on the steep slopes and was immediately adjacent to the shanty town. These green trees were planted in neat rows all across the mountain but they had not yet grown large enough to provide any valuable shade or fruit. Someone asked our tour guide about these two areas. He smiled and said, "Oh yes, that is a region of great pride to the people of Lima". What? How could this place represent anything but an embarrassment, gloom, and even despair?

It turns out that the people living in this area were recent war refugees. The tour guide frowned and refused to even speak the name of the place where the conflict had occurred. He told us that when these people came here they had nothing. They chose to live on this particular hill because the elevation offered at least a sense of safety. But their personal wealth was zero. Yet they imediately began to gather together and comfort one another. Everyone contributed what they could to help, if not with resources, then with labor or just moral support. Soon "homes" were being built. The new democratically elected leaders laid out a street plan and extablished property boundaries and wrote "rules to live by".

Eventually they applied to the government, not for money, but for materials to build steps, to connect the levels. They constructed a basketball court and a hard surface soccer field to keep predominately young population occupied and happy. Once again the government was petitioned. This time for the trees which were planted for the future benefit of the community as it grew both politically ad economically.

I learned that this area had named itself the "Municipal de Lima Escaleras" a city of stairs, and the government of Lima officially recognized them for their community spirit, social equality and economic growth. They serve as a worthy example and goal for each of us.

What I had first observed as a worthless area of hopeless poverty and urban failure was actually a model loving group of hard working people trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.

We are "Living Stones"

In tents or homes or mansions, Wherever Christians meet
He gathers in the midst of them; We study at his feet.
With joy and love together, To sing and give, and pray
We celebrate the supper, Upon His holy day.

Some day He'll come to take us, Up to the glassy sea
And keep the bride for which he died, From pain and sorrow free.
The Rock is sure and solid, 'Tis faith in God above
Hearts, souls, and minds together, We join our Lord in love.

The body of our Savior: The mystery now revealed
He adds us to the membership; We labor in the field.
We share this gift with others; There's work for all to do.
The church is not the building, The church is me and you.

The church is not the building, It's "stones alive" today.
The deeds we do in love for Him, The things for which we pray.
The kingdom and the vineyard, The love along the way.
The church is not the building, It's "God in us" today.

Mets or Brats?

Tonight, as I was leaving one of my granddaughter's choir concerts, I passed by a food concession stand. The nice lady behind the counter asked if I wanted some free food. They were closing for the night and she was just going to throw it away. Free food always sounds good to me. Two groups of sausages were wrapped in silver foil. She asked if I wanted a Met or a Brat? I asked her, "which is which?" She said she didn't know. I said "then it doesn't matter, I'll take the darker one". I like spicy food. I told my daughter what had happened and she said she was 100% sure that Mets were dark and Brats were white. When I got home I went to my often-used source of information, the internet. To my suprise there are numerous kinds of sausages. White, black, brown, large, small, hard, soft, strong, weak, some for spreading on crackers, and others for eating on buns. Some were spelled Metts, some Mets, some Brats, some Brauts, but most with names I couldn't pronounce. I picked out one labeled Metwurst. It looked sort of white so I showed it to my daughter to "prove" she was wrong. My son later told me that he also was sure that Mets are dark. Maybe if I don't mention it anymore she will just forget it, but I'll bet I know what we will be having for supper tomorrow. Oh well, more free food.

A Dog's Life

I am sometimes envious of dogs who seem to always just "live in the moment". What's past is past and the only thing important is what's happening right now. They can patiently wait for hours alone by themselves, then hop up to joyously run around and go pee, whenever the owner gets home. What do dogs dream about? Big meals, running in the woods, other dogs? When they are in pain, lonely, or sad, how do they just "suffer in silence".

Age

It often suprises me how fast the days, weeks and years go by. Adding an adverb to any age lends some clarification to this observation. For example, am I?: Suprisingly Sixty, Shockingly (or suddenly) Seventy, or Unexpectedly Eighty. My objective now is just to avoid being Decidedly Dead.

Election Thought

The 2010 national election resulted in a Republican wave winning back the House and increasing its gains in the Senate. It reminded me that James Madison, one of our Founding Fathers, wanted our democracy to work just this way. The House of Representatives would be immediately responsive to the will of the people, while the Senate would be more resistent to swift action, taking a more measured, long term course. It is reassuring to know the wisdom of these men is still in play today.

The Job I always wanted:

Philanthropist..........

Touching Obituary

"He died in the arms of his loving wife of 52 years."

Snow Thrower Progress

There is good news regarding the snow thrower. Last week we had an additional 3-4 inches of snow and I got to use my new tool again. This time I raised the "slide plate" and practiced on adjusting the throwing angle as I moved forward and it worked great.

In fact I cleaned off my drive and three of the neighbors drives as well. I was so happy. That evening, one of the neighbors brought me a bananna bread cake she had made as a thank you gift. Aint life grand?

Snow Removal

For Christmas I received a wonderful gift, a snow blower. After reading the instructions I learned that it is actually a snow "thrower". I got it out of the box and all set up, read the operating and maintenance literature and waited for snow. The first snow of the winter covered the yard, but nothing accumulated on the driveway. The second snow was today. I would estimate one inch on the driveway. Perfect, not enough to be a burden, but enough to try out my new device.
The first pass went well the snow came right up and was blown, oops thrown, to the grass. The second pass was not so great. I realized that I was throwing the snow right where I had just cleaned off. I will have to watch my pattern. Then the wind kicked up and begin to blow the powdery snow back into my face. Wow, was that cold.
Fortunately it only took a few minutes to finish the drive but I did not stop to dry off the thrower, back into the house to warm up.
I didn't think there would be a learning curve for cleaning snow off the driveway.

Jogging Observation

I was jogging on the treadmill the other day when I noticed my shadow was bouncing up and down as I ran. I thought, "well that's odd", because I thought I was running smoothly. So then I intentionally tried to run without bouncing. No good, still the shadow was going up and down with every step. Finally I tried to offset the ups with downs and the downs with ups. I was amazed, the shadow bouncing was worse. I can only surmise that God has made a wonderful sense of balance within my head.

Lessons from my old age

1. I don’t remember becoming absent minded.
2. I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart.
3. It’s hard to make a comeback, when you haven’t been anywhere.
4. If all is not lost, where is it?
5. It is easier to get old than it is to get wiser.
6. Aging isn’t for wimps.
7. It’s not hard to meet expenses, they’re everywhere.
8. My idea of a balance diet is a cookie in each hand.
9. It has come to my attention that too much comes to my attention.

Beautiful Art

The Musee d'Orsay in Paris is a wonderful place of beauty. It is home to some of the finest pieces of art ever painted. Not being a student of art, I was personally astonished at how many of the works on display there I actually recognized. And I was a little overwhelmed that the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Paul Cezanne were all hanging in the same museum.

But the greatest personal surprise, and source of great joy, was a painting by Theo Van Rysselberghe entitled Man at the Tiller, 1892. Catching the blue and white hues and reflections of light and sea, the painting of a sea captain guiding his ship through stormy water is magnificent even when viewed from a distance. And yet when you are within a few feet of the work, you realize that the artist had painted literally thousands of tiny "dots" to compose the scene. It's hard to imagine the amount of time and effort it took to produce such a work. What amazing gifts God has given to men.

Three Mistakes of Barack Obama

President Obama's election victory, and the Democratic Party's majority gained in both the House and the Senate, must have given him great confidence that his political positions were in complete harmony with the wishes of the majority of America.

It seems to me that President Obama has made three (at least) significant miscalculations.

First, that his personal charisma, and speech making abilities, would allow him to push through unwise and unpopular legislation.

Second, that his victory gave him a mandate to press a socialist agenda.

and Thirdly, that the appointment of "czars", would greatly expand his cabinet membership, without requiring congressional approval, and make it easier to manage a larger radical administration.

Freedom of Speech

As an ham radio operator, I often volunteer to work events to practive my emergency radio response skills. A couple of weeks ago we were asked to work the "New Richmond Riverdays". Our task was to set up a radio communication headquarters and then have ham radio operators walk through the crowd and observe for any unusual activities which should be reported to authorities. We looked for alcohol abuse, vandalism, persons with medical emergencies etc. Our radios serving as additional eyes and ears of the police, EMTs and event staff expanding their effectiveness during the event.

All was fairly quiet until a preacher was observed brandishing a bullhorn and large sign. This fellow was yelling into the microphone, waving his Bible, and condemning the crowd for their wickedness, telling them that they were going to hell if they did not repent.

The reason he was there was because of the crowd. Lots of people were able to hear his message. One older lady yelled back at him, "You don't even know me, How can you say I am going to hell". A larger crowd began to form, fifty or more. A couple of teenagers also took offence to the accusations and began laughing and mocking him. Several others also began yelling and condemning the preacher. Our radio group notified our communication center of the situation and three police officers responded.

I was impressed with how they handled the situation. Each officer stood between the preacher and each of the most vocal teenagers. They did not yell or issue orders. They softly told the boys that their actions was attracting more attention to the preacher and that is just what he wanted. The best way to oppose him is to walk away and ignore his efforts. The crowd eventually dispursed and the preacher left.

I generally agree with the message of the preacher, certainly his right to speech. But I also believe that his approach and tactics were doing more harm than good. There is a time, place, and method for everything. Nevertheless, it is wonderful that we live in a country were both sides of an argument can enjoy the benefits of free speech.

Influence of one man

I was saddened last Sunday to hear of the death of Dr. Ray Bauer. He served as the Principal at the Milford Sr. High School. I did not know him well, but I saw him rather frequently. He was involved in nearly every activity at the school. He often introduced the band performances, came to the Winter Guard competitions, and always had a cheerful word for students, parents and volunteers. He will be missed.

In Theory

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
Yogi Berra

Pencil Production

I read an interesting comment the other day. It said that not one single person in the whole wide world knows everything needed to produce a single, simple pencil.

Think about it, growing the wood, molding the metal, processing the graphite and the eraser. Not to mention assemply, sales, marketing, financing and distribution.

The morale is that we all need to share the knowledge we have to the benefit of all of us.

What I have learned about Contentment

Contentment is personal
It cannot be given to you
It cannot be taken from you