Some call it Sacrifice

I had arrived at work about 15 minutes early as usual hoping to to make a pot of coffee and get settled in before the work day ahead. Usually the bookkeeper, now owner, was there to unlock the door for us. Today however, she was late. Sometimes this happens because she had to do a deposit and it takes time. Though it was a miner annoyance, we thought nothing of it until she was about ten minutes late. Now we were getting a little annoyed, my kitchen manager and I. Not only was our caffeine intake being inhibited, but minutes were being sacrificed to her tardiness.

Finally we got a call. It was Ellen telling us that she was gonna be a bit late. Dean said she was late because our country was under attack and every one close to a T.V. was glued to it.

We finally got into the kitchen and started our routine, but Dean went someplace and found a T.V. for us to monitor the news cast. I remember watching the first tower going down and after a little while seeing the same thing from a different angle, only it was the second tower imploding.

Dobbins Air Base was within site of Doc's and we had gotten used to the thunder of jets flying over head, but today, and many days after, the sky was silent. Lunch that day of tragedy was subdued, though there were lots of people in the bar talking about what had happened.

Of course we made lunch for lots of people, but I think they needed to be around each other more than stuffing their faces with food and booze.

Every year we hear about this time, we talk about the sacrifice made by those who were murdered by insane terrorists.

I will argue this is not the correct term to use here. Sacrifice implies knowledge of the deed by the victim and their trusted  confidants. When a virgin was slaughtered, she may have been terrified, her family may have rebelled against it, but they knew, or thought they knew, that it was best for their community. In war, a general may offer up some troops to sacrifice for the greater good. Even when pagans sacrificed a lamb, offering it to the gods, the people knew why it was being done. In all cases those being killed were offered not taken.

On September 11th, 2001, no one offered to be killed for the greater good they were MURDERED for. Murdered by zealots. I understand how some need to feel that all of those deaths served a purpose. They want all those deaths to have a meaning; one which some how meant the deaths of those innocents  served a cause that was engineered  to make our country, our way of life---better, more meaningful. I wish it were true.

The truth, in my humble opinion; those plaines were sent out to end our society as we know it to create one that, in their delusional view, fit into an extremists vision.

We may be talking about perspective here, but remember---we did not start this war. So maybe we need to look at it from their point of view and attack their logic, their ideology, with ours---one with a more equal outlook, one which uses our  Constitution, not  ideology, as a guide post to a moral and fulfilling way of life.

Those unfortunate souls who were murdered on September  11th, 2001, were not a sacrifice. There was nothing noble in their death. They were victims of extremists trying to make a religious point.

(Do you see any parallel here? (election 2016))

So now we get down to  an interesting point. Should we allow religion to govern our lives? Maybe we need to understand basic human morals and fight for them using our Constitution as a guide post.

olc

Those on the side of the road and food

Someone with whom I have an immense respect for once told me that he never gave money to beggars on the street. Yet, when someone would come around to the back of his restaurant he would find a away for them to earn it.

This left a question in my echoing brain...If he really did not need the work done, why make a bum work for it, why not just give them the money? The restaurant owner went on and on about making them earn the money and how it would teach them responsibility.

It came down to never give anyone a free lunch.

Today I was in a funk, depressed about the way everything is going and totally unsure what I could do about it. I'd had a shitty day yesterday and was basically in a blue haze. While I was driving to my next delivery I got off the highway and saw a guy with a sign asking for any contribution. "Anything Helps," was what his placard said.

Usually, I ignore these guys, I think there is some kind of organization in the area that sends people out to beg for money and then pool it all together. Somehow this seems dishonest to me. At any rate, I thought that maybe I needed to do a random act of kindness to help elevate my fowl mood. But the words of my mentor echoed in my brain.

So, I pulled my hand away from my wallet and decided to give him my lunch. After all, I had some money to buy lunch later, right? Yeah, I know, "Never give a free lunch." I thought, what if this guy really is in need, maybe this food would help more than cash?  At least he could not use the food to buy booze just to get drunk.

Usually when I do this, give my lunch to someone, I feel like I have done something good. But my suspicions about some kind of organization working the streets for money spoiled that gratification. Also the knowing that the only reason I did this was to make me feel better helped to spoil my euphoria.

So, why do we give to charities? There are a number of reasons, or symptoms for this behavior: Philanthropic, the desire to help the down-trodden, some people have an excess of cash, some just want the look of gratitude they get.

I guess I am of the latter category. I don't have that much to give, nor do I have a whole lot of happiness. One of the few times I know that I have done something good is when I give something to someone who has less than me.

In a way this is a very selfish thing I do. By giving, or helping someone in need, I am giving happiness to me. Now this can create an inner conflict, like the one we talked about above: should I give to someone knowing that the REAL reason I am doing it is to ease my inner turmoil? Or should I keep my lunch and let others feel the bliss of giving?

This is compounded by the knowledge, or feeling that there is some kind of scam going on, thus negating any good I may be giving the individual.

When I got through the light I had given the guy my lunch, yet felt no euphoria. Later in the day, I bought lunch at Hardy's or someplace and realized that in effect I had given the guy $10.00 and had gotten no real emotional boost.

olc

A Question of Racism

I deliver things, that is what I do. A few years ago, I cooked for people, but that was a lifetime in the past. Now I deliver things.

Here is a little anecdote for your perusal and moral valuation.

Let me start by saying that I try to be open minded and do indeed attempt to overcome my shortfalls. We all have our prejudices and how we deal with them shows something of the character of the person.

Yesterday Nelson Mandela past away and his passing is on the minds of every one. He was a great man who helped to shape more than his country. Our world is a better place because of what he stood for. Frankly, our government could learn a lesson or two from that esteemed man.

Now for my little yarn:

I had been making deliveries all day long and finally made it to my last one, yey! I got to the house and waited for the gate to open. Yes, it was a place that had a gate and lots of money behind it to protect. As I was pulling up to the garage the owner came out to greet me. This is normal in many cases, the owner has been waiting for their package and wants to finally see it.

Usually I go over the steps of the delivery and begin to think about what the conversation will be like. Usually the conversation is only the mechanics of the delivery, where to put the box, where to sign on the forms, and have a nice day. Sometimes though, the customer and I will talk about things little more then the banal basics and I like to be ready for this.

As I was backing up to the garage, I saw the guy was black. This is nothing unusual, but the first thing I thought of was the death of Mandela and what this man thought of the ramifications of it.

Then I remembered that I had not felt the urge to have this conversation with any one else all day long. I thought about this for a moment and wondered if I was being a little hypocritical. Yet I was curious to know what he thought about the subject. 

I decided to wait and see if the man would open the subject and if he did, then I could query him about it. Yet it still bothered me that I felt the need to even ask the question of this man in the first place.

The subject never came up and all we talked about was where he wanted the package put. And that was that. He got his stuff and I left.

I like to think I am a progressive thinker and open minded, yet I run into this kind of thing once in a while and I wonder if I am the person I want to be, or am I merely acting that way.

What do you think?

olc 

Lament

I have had delusions of grandeur for the last few years. Truth is I really don’t want to work for someone else, I want to write for a living. I think I have interesting ideas and I have deluded myself into thinking that others may be interested in them.

Seems I am wrong in that assumption.

When I post on any of my blogs; A Daddy Grows Up: A Chronicle of Our Journey, Rants and Brain Echoes, My Rantings (a journal of thoughts), or even just update my status on Facebook, I get a smattering of views and almost no comments. Much less any follows.

I spend a good amount of time writing these posts and most of the them are pertinent to something going on outside of this electronic box. I always want to have feed back from my readers and most of the time ask for it in the post. Yet I get very little. I want feed back on the content and style, yet all I get is encouragement with no editorial rebuttal.

I’ll keep on trudging along writing here and working on my fictional writing too, but it sure would be nice to get some followers and comments, so please read and let me know what you think. I even want to know if you, the reader, will never look at a posting of mine again. Just let me know and maybe an indication on better writing, or more interesting topics, anything that could help me in rise to journalistic sufficiency. 

Thanks, olc 

IMHO

So I have been giving this whole situation some thought lately. It is  a really frustrating and confusing one. The question is how can otherwise intelligent and well adjusted people be deluded into following, adhering to and even propagating the salacious lies that are being pumped out by the extreme right wing?

I listen to lots of talk radio, mostly left leaning, but I also dip my ear into more conservative talk shows. Most of my credible news comes from NPR. Though many conservatives may consider NPR to be left leaning, it does attempt to keep as neutral as possible; when a reporter/journalist expresses their own opinion, the listener knows. I also listen to the right a little. Rush Limbaugh is an entertaining entertainer who is a loud mouth piece for the right wing.

I feel that if I am to make well informed decisions on important topics, I need to be informed on BOTH sides of an issue.

There seem to be two formats coming out of talk radio, when listening to the extreme left or right media. The left, or more liberal will give information as they see it. Sometimes, a talking head will give his or her opinion, shoving it down the listeners’ throat, if you will. They Talk, talk and talk about the subject, giving suggestions on how to consider the subject, they will even explain the logic of their reasoning. Yet rarely will they tell their listeners WHAT to think. The listener is supposed to think and come to their own opinion.

On the other hand, the conservative spectrum has its own way of disseminating its opinion. The talking head will define the issue and explain it several times in as many different ways as possible and in doing so will explain why theirs is the only opinion that matters. Then he will use the most extreme consequence, sometimes the most outrageous outcome to make his point, usually a mere hypothisis. After he, or she, has pounded into the heads of their listeners the problem, telling every one how dire the situation is, the talking head will then TELL his listeners how to think and what to do about the issue.

Now I am not saying one party is more smarter than the other. Honestly, I think it has to do with ones outlook. One party presents the information and lets the consumer digest it and come to their own conclusions, while the other smashes info into their listeners heads and demands they think as they should.

So which is the smarter party, the liberals for letting its constituents think for themselves, yet allowing them to have varied opinions? Perhaps the conservatives for lording over their constituents telling them what and how to think?

Unfortunately, right the now the conservatives seem to be winning the race for popular opinion. It seems to me that the vast majority of people want to be told what to think and how to react to the many important issues assailing us.

What do you think about what I have said here? Please let me know.

olc

Seriously

I just don’t get it. How does what people do in the privacy of their own lives effect others? I just do not understand how the love of two homosexual men or lesbian women effect the lives of heterosexual people?

I know there are some who think that homosexuality is a choice, but there is proof stating otherwise. Even if same sex relationships were a choice, how does that choice make a difference to a heterosexual couple?

Let’s get a discussion going on this. Please leave a comment here and we can try to “flesh” this thing out.

olc