Snowden

Edward Snowden knew things that he couldn't leave unaddressed.  He weighed the consequences and made his choice.  Like him, we each make decisions about our culture, our country, our acceptance of the norms.

It appears that he wasn't after fame and fortune.  If fact, he sacrificed everything because he couldn't live with what he knew unless he did something about it. He forfeited career and perhaps much more.

With no wife or kids, he could risk it all. He carefully unveiled what he knew, not risking lives, but he clearly laid out his protest against government actions.

Those of us who remember the upheaval of Vietnam and the anti-war era understand all too well.  There were so many lies and misrepresentations to justify that war.  Those who saw it tried to tell us, to warn us while hundreds of thousands were sent off as cannon fodder in the government's power play.

58,000 U.S. servicemen died.
50,000-65,000 North Vietnamese civilians died in the war.
155,000 refugees were killed or abducted on the Tuy Hoa road, fleeing the NVA Spring Offensive in 1975.
165,000 South Vietnamese died in the re-education camps out of 1-2.5 million sent.
195,000-430,000 South Vietnamese civilians died in the war.
153,000 U.S. servicemen were sent home wounded.

Here at home, we did our best to understand, and we tried to be OK about what was happening.  Those who couldn't ... joined the protest.  Or not.

For decades, we've lived with having sent our servicemen off to do what cannot be justified.  It shouldn't have happened that way.  It was done to us without our informed consent.  It warps your thinking until you face it.  Neither our country nor our government can be proud of those years.  While most of our servicemen who served did so with honor and noble purpose, all came home wounded.

One cannot be part of that which leads to the slaughter of innocents without being scarred, even those who stayed at home and trusted their government to do the right thing.

This year, Snowden faced what only a few knew about.  It was well past the limits of law and the rights of citizens.  He struggled until conscience and clarity of thought prevailed.  He launched his own protest.

He could have let it pass.  As we often do with actions by government, by financial institutions, by influencers and decision makers; he could have said, "Somebody else's problem."

He might have thought of all the people in authority above him and just let it go, but he didn't.  For the rest of his life, he'll live with the consequences of his choice, but at least he won't have to live with the wounds of having turned a blind eye to what was just wrong.

To some degree, such things hammer us all in an imperfect world.  The hope we have is in a good conscience and clear thinking.  And the choices we make.

Snowden's Christmas message this morning, “Together we can find a better balance. End mass surveillance. Remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel asking is always cheaper than spying.”

... for the people.
Merry Christmas

Politics is Puppet Theater

We're all persuaded or at least influenced by those voices that speak powerfully.  Well financed, well polished voices.

Unfortunately there are fully valid arguments on both sides of most issues, but the powerful voice is often the winner in the battle for agreement and cooperation.  It's a rare person who is wise enough to withhold concurrence until all sides are considered.

I hate it when I listen and agree only to discover soon afterward that the presentation had been one-sided and, as it turned out, just wrong.  Motivated by the 'win' mentality, the presenter had offered all the good they could muster and deliberately ignored all the bad.

Welcome to the lobbyist's world.  Polished, primed, and well paid,  the powerful voices of industry.

There are less than 150 corporations that control more than 40% of the world's economy.  They're tightly interconnected and interrelated; each owns a significant portion of many of the others.  They breathe in sync.  And they campaign (lobby) in the world's governments for regulatory favor.

It's not a conspiracy, at least not formally.  They don't collectively intend to rule the world; perhaps just the world's economy.

What they've persuaded our legislators to do in the last couple of decades has given us a degree of 'globalization' that was unforeseen.  The U.S. economy and others are intimately interconnected.  A hiccup in the the U.S. or the EU can affect the developing world catastrophically.  It did, and it will again.

In Belize City, local Rotarians labor to build a fair marketplace, 

a fair and helpful business world for their country.

Wandering the edge of  Belize city, I see that Rotary International has put up the 4-way test questions on signs along the way.  These have been the Rotary's endorsed and adopted standard for business ethics for almost a century.

Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Curious how many of the worlds financial behemoths are led by Rotarians? Or better yet, how many would pass the four way test?  Zero and zero, of course. Since the 80's, we've raised a breed of business folks whose only goal is winning, regardless of the cost to others. Millions have suffered as a result. The market crash of 07/08 killed more than a half million in eastern Africa alone, we're told.  AIG and JP Morgan did that along with a few others.  

Zip, zero, not a one would pass the Rotary's four way test or any other reasonable test of ethics.

Despite being within the boundaries of the law, these banking barons have passed from the realm of 'participant' in the human saga to 'predator'. Relatively new on the historical scene, they are considered invasive and detrimental to all the world and to all the people.

Curious what comes next?  Yup, me too.

Tunnel Vision!

These are not stars!

If you looked through a soda straw 8 foot long, this is the tiny part of the sky you could see, and these are galaxies there; about 10,000 of them.

Tunnel vision, like looking through a soda straw  ... looking at such a tiny part of what is.  You could spend a lifetime focused on this 1/1000000000000th of the available view.

We do that.  It's a semi-survival mechanism.  We can't keep it all in view all the time.

In a small town where we lived, folk's lives were often filled with local concerns.  Some perhaps had a larger view, but the time spent talking about the traffic accident involving a garbage truck and a college employee wasn't as profitably spent as it might have been.  There are more important things than that about which one might be concerned.

For natural reasons we focus on our own lives, and rather narrowly.  What we have and what we want to have occupy most of our time.  Our narrow view excludes most of what is available to see and know and experience.

Mayan tunnel window at
Altun Ha ruins.

Tunnel Vision and the Narrow View: can it be set aside?

Our humanity gives us opportunity to see more than just our own wants, of course.  Do we?  Do we care about those outside of our own circle?  Would we sacrifice a bit for someone we didn't know?  Would we take action for the disenfranchised, the castoffs, the poor?

Mayan window is a t-shaped tunnel ...  not much of a view;
perhaps a bit like ours as we focus on just ourselves?

Can we choose?  Can we move into caring broadly and deeply?  It is a stunning life changer, we're told.  There is nothing that compares to love given without expecting anything in return.  And in being loved.  Interestingly, such a choice changes everything, up to and including our understanding of God himself.



Religion can focus us narrowly on small issues, just one small aspect of something which is immeasurably larger and grander than the greatest expanse of space.  Walking the ridge above the Grand Canyon or standing beside Victoria Falls can be breath-taking, but just skirting the presence of the God Who Is can be ... reconstructive!  All good.  I want to see it all.

Teach the children well ...

Children should obey. ... but is there more?  More than we teach by rules and penalties?

Do this!  Don't do that!  You'll get in trouble, you'll get grounded, you'll lose your privileges  . . .

and later,

Do this!  Don't do that!  They'll put you in jail, you'll lose your job, your property . . .

Do, or . . .  It's fear-based, of course.  If there's a loophole or a chance of escape, the threatened penalty is no longer a deterrent.  Street gangs, Wall Street gangs, a gang of thieves or a gang of congressmen and their lobbyists, if they can get away with it, they'll likely do as they please.  When the standard is a rule (law), it can dull and weaken.

The way of rules is lamented among all civilizations, generation after generation.  Rules reach for that which they cannot embody; right thinking and a good conscience.  Those who walk the path of rules fall short of even the least laudable of goals.

Children learn most by our example.
The exasperated father spanks his complaining child.  ...
The fearful mother shakes her rambunctious toddler.  ...
The teen's exhausted parent shouts down the offered answer.  ...   What did they teach?

Conflict and violence, the power play, the heavy hand ... fear!  And escalation in response to resistance.

But our great hope is to raise up our children to be men and women of courage and strength, nobility and clarity, with hearts for truth and compassion, justice and mercy.  None of those qualities are engendered by the 'rules and punishments' way, are they.

What can we do? 

He's a gracious father, uncle, and grandfather.
I watched as he worked through difficult
issues with his family, and was instructed
 by his calm and thoughtful manner.
It's the far side of the world in a culture where
family is perhaps more important than is
common in western culture.

Encourage them every day.  Tell them in practical ways that you love them unconditionally. Notice everything they do well, from table manners to helping to homework, and speak appreciatively.  Compliment them for their choices that reflect good character.

When they misbehave, try grieving instead of getting angry.  Or anything instead of anger.  Anything.

When they complain at the top of their lungs that, "You said 'no' just because you don't want me to have any fun," try responding tenderly to their frustration, and perhaps walk them through the decision they've asked you to make.  Let them inquire, listen honestly to their thoughts about this and that.  It may or may not change your decision, but it won't teach them fear.  It won't leave them unloved and alone.

A conflict with your child is not for the moment only.  How you respond will determine if there are more head-on conflicts in the future or fewer.

There's a great gulf between discipline and punishment, isn't there.  One shapes character, the other may cripple it, especially if you're angry.  Never conclude an occasion of reproof without genuine love and understanding between you.  In the years to come, they'll remember little of what you said compared to their memories of how you loved them. 

Sheep or Goat? Is that fair?

He wasn't talking about sheep and goats, you know.  He was just using the shepherd's illustration because it would be familiar.  Everybody had the visual to go with it; the end of a dusty day, a crowd of tired animals, and the shepherd sorting them out for their pens.

I was hungry and you fed me . . .

No religion here; just illustration. Individual by individual, some to the right, some to the left, and it's not about membership. He explains that it's about how we lived; was it for ourselves alone, or did we include others. Maybe it's whether we cared or not, too.

He himself was well-off and comfortable, comparatively speaking, when he set it all aside and came to us. All of us were the needy ones. He could have just sent everybody money, I suppose, but he gave himself. We needed something, a different heart maybe, and he made a way for us. He gave everything, until he had nothing left.

About the giving thing; I doubt he means the $20 here or there to make a sad feeling go away. He probably has a larger context in mind; caring deeply, to the point where we'll forgo some comfort, maybe.

Pretty straightforward, isn't it. We care; we cover the cost, we do what it takes to make a difference. When we do those things, we do it to him, he says. Or, we don't.

So if we learn, and we share his heart, that suggests perhaps we've become a bit like him. And if we didn't learn and we didn't live it out, it's because we didn't know his heart. Or him. At least that's what it sounds like. Like we never knew him at all.

It's maybe too familiar; we've heard it so many times, but didn't know what to do with it. Perhaps now?

... and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Welcome, you who are blessed by my Father! Take your place in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why-

You saw me when I was hungry; you stopped and fed me,
You saw that I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
You saw that I was homeless and you gave me a room,
You saw I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
You saw when I was sick and you stopped to visit,
You saw me in prison; you made time and came to me.’

They'll exclaim wonderingly, ‘But sir, what are you saying? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will answer, ‘I'll tell you; when you did these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me - you did it to me. You didn't pass me by.’

Then he will turn to the ones on his left and say, ‘Get out, cursed ones! Your place is with those rebels who tore themselves away from my father's house. And why? Because -

You saw me hungry and turned away; you gave me no meal,
You saw when I was thirsty and turned away; you gave me no drink,
You saw that I was homeless and passed me by; you gave me no bed,
You saw me shivering and went on to your own affairs; you gave me no clothes,
You saw me when I was sick and in prison, and you were busy; you never visited.’

Then those on the left will say, ‘But sir! When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and not help?’

He will answer them, ‘I'm telling the truth; when you failed to do those things for someone like that, that was me - you failed to do it for me. You turned away.’"

Don't look at me; I'm not the one that said all that.  He says kingdom, but does that mean heaven?  Or something in this life?  Or what?  Is the kingdom he referred to here and now and inside us?  He had a lot more to say than just this, of course, but I get the idea that we're supposed to be changed, somehow, and the change will redefine the way we live. And perhaps the reason as well.

S.E.P. - Someone Elese's Problem

Someone Else's Problem or SEP is a mental process where individuals or populations choose to dissociate themselves from an issue that may be in critical need of attention.

Not my problem, man!

We're besieged by pictures of children in need, famine, drought, and poverty. The only sane response is to push it all aside. If you don't, you'll be overwhelmed by the needs of others. You'll be sad, depressed, and helpless. NOT!

It's not hard to connect with organizations that really help. World Vision is at the top of the list of dozens of worthy programs. The hard task is choosing to actually care, perhaps.

Marilyn with a couple of our scholars ...

If you go and see for yourself, you'll probably be undone. My wife was pretty much shattered when I took her to meet my friends in Africa. It took her about a year to recover enough to see things clearly. Now, when we get a call or a text from friends in Africa, it's a pleasure. Helping out, keeping kids in school, helping a family through difficult times, stuff like that is a real joy.

They own their family home now.

My daughter helped a family buy their house. She used her tax refund to make up the difference they needed; both she and they are tickled by the event. When I last visited them, they were so proud of the progress they'd made in the previous year, and they named me as godfather for their new baby! Dad's a fisherman, mom raises rabbits, and the kids are all in school, working hard and doing well. They've got pictures of us in their main room, and we have pictures of them on the wall, too.

Making a difference can cost as little as a lunch at Ruby Tuesday's.

My buddy Anderson is six this month; his mom and I were on the phone
just a few minutes ago singing happy birthday together.  He struggles a bit
with reoccurring malaria, but it's controlled for now.

We're connected to efforts in east and west Africa, if you'd like a recommendation for where to start. Lots of friends have chipped in. Tuition and such for more than a hundred children now, salary for three teachers, assistance for a church group serving community orphans, building a community center/preschool, and several family projects. If you want to go and see for yourself, I'll introduce you. It's more fun than any vacation you've ever had.