Friday, October 21, 2005
HONOR? We used to speak of “honor among thieves” with some confidence that we knew such a thing was unlikely because thieves, by their very nature,would lie, cheat, steal and show show little concern for the feelings and property of others. We seldom spoke of a kindred relationship which seems, now to have been in existence for some time, wherein “birds of a feather” - let us say -just for example, mind you several congress persons, officials, political leaders, and so forth,and we tempered our thoughts thinking that they, as our servants in a way, would not, knowingly,do us any harm. The word “indicted” has a more serous meaning to the average one of us live our lives without ever knowing the actual experience of using such legalese terms. Notice the reaction when people hear of an indictment. In common usage it so most often taken to mean he or she has been “arrested” without having to go to jail. It can,however,however be seen as being ”bad” but to “too bad”. Some few, so designated individuals even claim to welcome the indictment because “it gives me a chance to show wherein the accusations are false, an show how honest I've been all the while!” To me, the indictment, hurts! The individual who have been indicted for something - almost anything – is automatically guilty of having excited doubts and suspicions; raised some far-out and unanswerable questions, and provided a legal foundation upon which anyone can construct both real or imaginary barricades of demerits. All of this often can be - and is – exploited by our communications media eager to enhance the very nature of such conflict. They respond, often and at times with creative and quite original ingenuity, to the interests of their readers far and wide. I have disturbing feelings that labels we have used for many years - such words as “honor”,“veracity” - even “truth” have changed quite a bit from Victorian times in which we are, oddly enough, often considered to be “living in” at the moment. “Upon my honor” does not mean what it used to just a short time ago. The various honor codes have been diluted many times over and not honored as they once might have been in your own social circles. Think,for instance, of the many fine points which you took a stand when you joined the Boy or Girl Scouts, your social club or church related group. Does a Code of Honor hover in the background every time you sing our national anthem or see our flag floating freely and forcefully in the winds of both good and bad times. A.L.M. October 21, 2005 [c453wds]
Thursday, October 20, 2005
POVERTY POWER Poverty has, long ago, become a political power. The term which now has little to do with the segment we used to call “poor” people. It is, today, used as a term which is bandied about when we seek federal largess or when we seek to make a candidate appear in a good or bad light. The candidates actions or stated opinions are applied against a template prepared ahead of time containing diagrams, charts, graphs, list of statistics and attractive artwork depicting the blessings of “pie in the sky” promises. It can be used to sooth a populace or keep it feeling insecure. There was a time when we considered the word “poverty” to be a term we used to describe the economic levels of a person or of a social or racial group. Mainly we thought of “poverty” in that way - short of money, lacking in luxuries. Much of that has been changed since the Federal government felt compelled to chart and diagram the language used in describing poverty. Oddly enough, the criteria by which the new rating placement were based on, so often, on other charts which showed what that poor person might have earned had he or she not been poor. In recent years we have come to depend on terms such as “Cost of Living.” It and “Studies show... have pretty well veneered our usual poverty terms. The term “poor” has actually become a mark of special distinction in the mind of many. It is interesting to me that some of these people are actually third and fourth generations of welfare recipients which casts some distrubing shadows over our past attempts to help the downtrodden. We have had a special opportunity to learn how all of us can live better lives after witnessing the events which have taken place in recent weeks. New Orleans, in particular, and many other cikties and town alon g the Gulf Coast have suffered trememdous losses in lives and property. It is easy for us to sit back and potificate on “what went wrong” both in the planning for such disasters and actions taken or not taken under stress. Even as I type these lines another tremendous hurricane is building in the Gulf of Mexico and it will hit the mainland -somewhere – Saturday morning. What can we do - now – to help the people in those areas to be ready to face such a threatening storm? A.L.M. October 19 , 2005 [c421wds]
Monday, October 17, 2005
NO END IN SIGHT? The long endured troubles in both Ireland and in the Middle East, as well as hot-spots around the world suggests it may be time for basis change in some such each area. If the factions concerned have not decided to call a halt to their disruptive tactics is up to this time, then, it seems highly unlikely they will ever achieve any lasting peace any time. Drastic changes are needed. It is true, of course, that these are not new problems and that the underlying causes are mixed into a complicated series of historical occurrences far removed from the realities of our own day. It is very difficult to re-do history whatever degree to the concerned persons. That holds especially when when persons involved are relatives. In recent weeks our attention has been diverted by the hurricanes and resulting flood condiions along our coastal ports. This has been - is - and will continue to be a major event in the life of our nation. It is far more serious than most Americans realize a the present time. Times now are often not what they are said, to be. Right now - today - here in the Commonwealth of Virginia and efforts of men running for Attorney-General opposing a growing tendency or prisoners to enter suits against the state for the most friviolous reasons. The truth has its verity only in the mind of the teller...who is telling the tale and from what perspective. The truth is often left untold, as we trust in factional accounts. Certain such questions as this may be brought before a world court of some type for a "ruling" on the subject which might help the cause of peaceful co-existence. Is such world bodies as the United Nations organizations can not be used in such cases of what value are they to us? I agree that this sounds too much like our own "Special Prosecutors" setups to be practical if might prove valuable in bringing such problems before a world wide audience who are concerned in some way. Holme front happenings very often indicate the path our future might follow. A.L.M. October 15, 2005 [c399wds]
Sunday, October 16, 2005
DISSENT If it appeared that we were about to start arguing about the manner in which Mankind has handled his affairs since the time of Creation, I would, I'm sure, choose to side with Mankind and argue that he has done an exceptionally good job of improve his social order - despite a veritable catalog of obvious wrongs he is doing, has always done and will, there seems to an eight-tracked miss-guidance system, he will continue to follow his own methods of improving his social environment. And, the records of the projects he undertakes, because he has not yet come to term concerning "who" and "what" his place was meant to be in this complex world of ours. Hand a man a blank sheet of paper and a sharp pencil - maybe a short ruler and a simple compass for creating circles we can run around in - and he can give you a picture of what he wants our world to come. Give him a computer and he will give you a spittin'-image model of what his way-out ideas jell into something which just might be economically chewable. Creative advances cannot be hurried. We have been at it for some time, but we have never been ready to admit, we have been so strangely blessed. When all this which we call "the Universe" was a made The Power causing it all decreed his work to be "good". At some point along that line, authority decreed that, henceforth, this World would be under the "dominion" of Mankind. You know the terms of the agreement. Man was given... dominion over life in the far-flung seas... the endless sky above... dominion over the natural resources of the the salt, gas, oil, coal, diamond, silver, gold! We have been slow in undertaken our share of the blessed burden of our ownership. We must work toward such a goal by exercising our right to rule, and by basic acts of care and maintainenace required to maintain the great wealth we hold in trust with the Creator. A.L.M. October 15, 2005 [c 358wds]
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