2021...The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

 

Up until last year, I had been making predictions for the New Year.  Covid turned the world upside down in 2020 and there was no way I could even begin to imagine what 2021 might look like.  Now in late December 2021, it’s still an upside-down crazy world and who knows what 2022 will bring.  Even though I made no predictions about 2021, I thought it might be fun to look back on the year.  What was Good, what was Bad and what was just plain Ugly?  Some of these are personal and some are ripped from the headlines.  It’s not an exhaustive, all-inclusive list and I’m sure there are some major events that just didn’t resonate all that much with me.  So here is my own personal list of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for 2021.  I’ll start with the Ugly and work my way up to the Good. 

 

The Ugly   

 

It doesn’t get much uglier than the January 6 assault on The United States Capitol.  I know, I know…blue state authorities and the main-stream media looked the other way or downplayed dozens of protests that turned into major riots and did far more damage than was done at the Capitol on January 6^th.  But invading the Capitol building crossed the line.  It was a dark day in America’s history and showed that the extremists on the right are just as crazy as those on the left.  Ugly.

 

The battle being fought over what gets taught in our public schools got uglier in 2021.  Some of the ugliest encounters occurred at school board meetings where angry parents protested the way in which Critical Race Theory (CRT) was being presented to their children.  Interestingly, some of the most vocal critics of CRT were parents of color who feared that this ideology of itself was racist and only made things worse.  This debate is far from over and will be a major hot spot in the mid-term elections.

 

Crime, violent crime, is spiraling out of control; especially in cities and states where ultra-progressive leadership has endorsed such things as “defunding” police departments.  The disconnect between many of these communities and law enforcement has only made the urban jungle more dangerous, deadly and ugly.

 

And then there is The Border.  It’s never been uglier and now citizen militias are being called in to help control the invasion.  To be clear, we need immigrants.  We have a serious labor shortage in this country.  I welcome anyone who is willing and able to work.  But, it has to be managed and at this point our government has been an epic fail when it comes to managing the border crisis.

 

And my final big ugly is the Supply Chain.  The global economy has been tiptoeing along the precipice of a supply chain failure for years.  When purchasing, manufacturing, inventories and supply chain channels are all being simultaneously coordinated to minimize costs something was bound to give.  Corporations may say they want to operate better, faster and cheaper.  But what they really mean is good enough, fast enough and at the lowest possible costs.  And this truly is the lane where free markets operate best.  Most of us benefit from the global competition to provide us with the stuff we want, when we want it and at a price we are willing to pay.   But the pressure to do that and still make a profit doesn’t leave much room for error.  Increase demand for goods vs services;  give people more money for doing nothing; have a container ship go sideways in the Suez canal blocking a vital link in the chain; finally reach the tipping point where there are no longer enough truck drivers to move the freight, disrupt the inflow of materials and supplies required to make stuff and then disrupt the outflow of finished products to the marketplace; mix and stir in the shadow of a global pandemic and you pretty much end up with what we have today:  higher prices, shortages and plenty of finger-pointing.

The Bad.

The Great February Freeze in Texas was quite an event and it was bad.  Our family was very fortunate. We never lost power and did not experience the devastation that impacted so many people.  My sense is that our power grid is still not up to handling extreme weather and the ultimate test will come one of these summers when it gets crazy hot for days and weeks on end.  We haven’t had one of those in a long time and there are now a whole lot more people and places in Texas to keep cool than there used to be.

 

And then we have a drought this fall.  After a cool wet Spring and Summer, it warmed up and dried out and has stayed that way for months.  With the forecast for Winter looking warm and dry, Texas and Oklahoma are primed for some major wildfires.  Those are always bad.

 

Another “bad” for yet another year was network television.  The programming on NBC, ABC. CBS and FOX is laughingly bad.  And that’s not even counting the News which is in another category beyond bad.  I don’t see how their business models are sustainable and the programming is a joke, a bad joke.

 

Inflation has gotten bad and may get worse.  Between supply chain issues, labor shortages and some misguided energy policies;  the cost of living has gone up significantly.   And it’s particularly tough on lower and middle income folks.  When energy and food costs go up it takes a bigger bite proportionately out of their incomes.  This will be another key factor in the mid-term elections.

 

And one cannot ignore just how bad the Biden-Harris administration has been.  I am a not a hardcore Trumper, but I did vote for him because the Democrats have gone off the rails.   Nevertheless, after Biden won I thought maybe it would be ok or at least not terrible.  The bar was set pretty low for Biden and he hasn’t come close to getting over it.  And VP Harris is just a train-wreck.  

 

Then there was and is Covid.  Delta, now Omnicron and Delta.  It’s bad and likely to get worse for a while before it turns around.  What’s even worse is that it has become just one more divisive issue in a country that is already way too divided.

 

The Good. (These are certainly more personal and won’t mean as much to most folks.)

 

Rain and cool weather.  We had a wet, cool Spring and early summer.  If you’ve lived in Texas a long time, you realize what a blessing that can be.  We dug a new pond on our place right before the big freeze and for a while it was mostly empty.  And then it rained and rained and rained some more.  The pond filled up, surrounded by green grass and wildflowers.  It was a beautiful thing.

 

It was good that my bees survived the great freeze.  Somehow they hunkered down, ate their honey and lived.  Then we had a huge honey harvest later in the year.  Bees are amazing.

 

My  English Springer Spaniel, Barney, was a year old this summer and is finally settling in to being a member of the family.  I need to take some time and train him because he’s really smart.  We walk each other through the fields before sundown and he lays across my lap every night watching television.  Barney is a fan of Masterpiece Theater and most anything on Britbox.   Scenes of the English countryside fascinate him.  And he loves classical music.  He thinks it is his mission in life to turn me into a proper English gentleman.  He will eventually figure out that it’s way too late for that.

 

Business was good.  High Road Partners had a great 2021 and my wife’s real estate business continues to grow.  She had an exceptional year and loves what’s she’s doing.

 

We were both healthy in 2021.  And that’s a very good thing.  We have been vaccinated and recently got the booster shots.  For those who choose not to get vaccinated, that’s their choice.  I expect the vaccine is not 100% safe and we know it’s not 100% effective.  But I’ll take my chances with the vaccine rather than take on Covid unvaccinated.  On balance, the vaccines are a good thing…and so is freedom…up to a point.  I’ll just leave that there.

 

And I’ll wrap this up with the Greatest Good of all, Jesus Christ.  My faith journey has always felt like one step forward, two steps back.  But the older I get, the more I realize that it’s not my steps but His steps that really matter.  By His grace I am starting to see His steps more clearly now.  And I know that I am forgiven for the bad ones I’ve taken on my own.  We never find peace within ourselves or with others until we find peace with God.  

May you find Peace in 2022.

Returning Shoes

 

Christmas is a season for giving, receiving and then returning gifts.  But, before you try to return a gift this season, make sure it’s actually been shipped.  Even if you have it in your possession, it doesn’t count if “the system” says it hasn’t been shipped and received.

Sounds crazy, but my wife just experienced such a conundrum.  I’ll not provide the name of the retailer, but here’s a hint:  they are a major retailer and they used to be known as having the most lenient return policy in the industry.  That changed a few years ago after years of abuse by customers and increasing pressure on profit margins.  But the culture has always been centered around customer service.

 

My wife and I are now at a stage in life where we pretty much tell the other one what we want for Christmas.  There are rarely any surprises.  But in an effort to upgrade my wardrobe to something less Homer Simpson-ish, my wife bought some stylish slacks and shoes for me.  However, she began to second guess her selections.  Since there are no surprises at Christmas anymore, she confessed to purchasing the unrequested gifts and asked me to take a look BEFORE she wrapped them and put them under the tree.  She just didn’t want me to be disappointed and she figured it would be easier to exchange them sooner rather than later.  As if turned out one pair of shoes just didn’t fit right.  They were labeled the right size, but were way too tight.  No problem.  She needed to go into the city the next day and would exchange them for something else. Fair enough.

 

When she arrived at the retailer with the outstanding reputation for customer service, the salesperson politely took the shoes back and proceeded to process the return.  After spending some time and trying to figure out what was going on, the poor sales guy looked up at my wife and apologized, saying that he could not take the shoes back because their system said they had not shipped yet.  Or more accurately, they had not received the shoes yet.  His system didn’t say where they were, but the information he had showed they had not been received by his company.  He speculated that they were probably sitting out in a container off the California coast waiting to be unloaded.

 

This was reminiscent of some Monty Python skit.  My wife reminded him that he had the shoes in hand along with the receipt of purchase.  Unable to deny the reality of that, the poor sales guy called his manager for help.  This is the week before Christmas, the store is short-handed and like everyone else there the manager is tired, over-worked and underpaid.  She pecks on a few keys and says matter-of-factly that there is nothing they can do.  “The System” will not allow them let process the return until the shoes have been shipped and received.

 

My wife is a nice person and having worked in retail, waited tables and assorted other jobs in her youth she has an appreciation for what this manager and salesperson were going through during the Christmas rush.  But if it had been me, I would have probably started talking in loud voice, loud enough so that any customer within 200 feet could hear me.  Saying something along the lines of: “So even though I have given you the receipt and the item I purchased just the other day, you will not give me a refund, exchange it or even give me a store credit of some sort. I just want to understand this and make sure I have this right before I call the local news station.” I am confident that they would have come up a solution of some sort…..or maybe just called security. 

 

But my wife, bless her heart, she just ask them to notify her when the system said they had the product. The next day, she got the notification.  So now it’s OK to take it back.  I may go with her just in case they say there’s been some mistake and they still cannot process the return.  I just want to be there when she starts peeling the paint off the walls.  When her nice goes away, it’s major fireworks.

 

Technology is wonderful thing.  For the most part it has made our lives easier and serves us. But, too often, we end up serving technology, becoming slaves to digital masters that control access, entry and answers. There is the old question about if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?  The answer is, of course, yes. But in today’s world, even if someone is there to hear it, unless they recorded it, the noise question would still be up for debate.

“The real problem is not whether machines think, but whether men do.” – B.F. Skinner

Thanksgiving in the Midst of Brokenness

 

Over the past week I’ve received and issued a lot of wishes for a “Happy Thanksgiving”. It’s just what people do this time of year. If they are connected to the transportation industry as I am, they may wish you a “Safe and Happy Thanksgiving”.   Some who never miss an opportunity to express their faith, or just want to assure you or themselves that they actually have faith, will wish you a Blessed Thanksgiving.  

 

Most of us would gladly sign up for a Blessed Thanksgiving or just a Blessed Day anytime we can get it.  But be careful what you wish for. In Matthew’s Gospel he reports what Jesus said about being blessed.  Jesus says we are blessed when we are poor in spirit, when we mourn, are meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers and when we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

 

But the world equates being blessed with being happy.  And being happy means having our physical and emotional needs and desires satisfied.  So don’t be sad, find your happy place.  Dry your eyes, don’t cry. You be you.  Be loud, be proud.  No justice, no peace.  Follow your heart as long as you are on the right side of the culture war.  And persecution only matters if it’s based on race, ethnicity, gender, physical appearance, political affiliation or socio-economic status.

 

We live in a broken world turned upside down. We are most thankful for those things which make us feel good and are primarily related to pleasure and comfort. We think more about material blessings than we do about spiritual blessings. We tend to even measure our spiritual well-being in terms of our material blessings. Look how much stuff I possess. I must be doing more things right than wrong, so the Lord is blessing me with lots of good stuff. I better give thanks…and really mean it. This is a great life. And when life is not so great, we petition God to fix it…and maybe even forgive us now and then. We just want to get back to having a great life now.

 

No, that’s not the promise. It’s possible. But it’s not promised and it’s not earned. In the end, it’s really not even all that important. And it may even be a hindrance. It’s not wrong to thank God for material blessings. But these are all temporary. The material world is not only broken but it is dying. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven. And be thankful when you find it.

 

Thanksgiving ought to be a time for reflection and repentance. A time for commitment to use whatever God has given us for his glory and his purposes, not just for our own personal pleasure. But most of us will be more committed to finding the perfect Christmas gift or planning the best party or just enjoying the holiday season. It’s what people are inclined to do in the midst of brokenness.

"And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." - 1 John 2:17

The Hand You Are Dealt

 

Since humans began to think and reason, they have tried to gain more control over their lives.  Whether you believe this came about as a result of an evolutionary process or the actions of a higher power, human beings are unique life forms.  We have the capacity to change ourselves and our environment, at least up to a point. 

 

The big questions are what do we change, how do we change and how much can we change?  Philosophers and theologians have grappled with these questions for millennia.  Since the Enlightenment, scientists and humanists have joined them in the search for answers.  And, indeed they have discovered some answers. Today we know quite a bit about human behavior.  We know that genes and body chemistry greatly determine who we are as well as what, how and how much we can change.  We have more understanding about the impact of our environment in determining who we are and what we are capable of becoming.  

 

Yet there remains significant disagreement with regard to exactly “what” we can change, “how” we can change and “how much” we can change.  How much of our life is determined?  To what extent are we destined to live a certain life?  Do we have free will and, if so, to what extent?  For  theologians the disagreements revolve around God’s sovereignty vs human free will.  For the scientists and humanists it’s a question of physics, biology and environment vs free will.

 

So do we have free will and, if so, to what extent does it matter?  As a Christian, I believe that God is the creator of all that exists and I believe that he is indeed sovereign.  In the end, His Will shall be done.  But, I also believe that he gave human beings a measure of free will.   Certainly enough to make us accountable for where we will spend eternity.  Yet I must admit that my salvation is not of my own doing.  It is by God’s grace, a gift which I do not merit.  But while it may not be of my "doing"; is it of my "choosing"?

 

Still there are those “strings” that pull us forward or hold us back.  Ties that bind and ties that are loose.  Our lives are very much a product of our genes and the choices of our ancestors whose lives were also a product of their genes and those who went before them.  We are shaped not only by who and what we are but also by what we experience.   We don’t pick our parents, where we are born or how we grow up. If as a child you were well-loved and well-fed, that was not of your doing...or choosing. 

If you have a good education, how much credit do you deserve?  You might argue that you studied, you applied yourself, you earned it.  But where did the educational opportunity come from?  Why do you have the ability and the will to study and learn?  Why do some seize the opportunity and others do not?

 

For the Christian who has come to the faith and found salvation, how and why did that happen? And why does it happen for some and not others?  Does God speak to everyone in the same voice? Why do some hear and others do not? Why are some given so many opportunities to respond and others are not?  And why does anyone respond at all? 

 

How much free will do we really have?  It’s a question that remains unanswered and may very well be unanswerable.  We may agree that in this life we must play the cards we are dealt?  But we’ll never fully know why we were dealt a particular hand.   And how we ultimately play those cards is a mystery.  Do we play as we choose or are the plays chosen for us?  

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as I am known." - 1 Corinthians 13:12

Still A Game And More

These days I find myself enjoying high school football much more than pro or college.  The pro game has always been about the money, but when you see the best playing any sport it can be worth watching.  Yet I seldom watch a game in real time anymore, preferring to record and just fast forward through most of it.

 

I started to lose interest in the Cowboys when Jerry Jones kicked Tom Landry to the curb.  It was time for Tom to hang it up, but it should have been handled better.  When Jones decided he could do it all and didn’t need Jimmy Johnson around, that pretty much finished the Cowboys for me.  I’ve always liked Green Bay and Pittsburgh.  Just the fans, the tradition; it feels like it means so much to everyone connected in some way to those teams.  I’ve always liked the Kansas City Chiefs, even going back to the old days when they were the Dallas Texans (yes, I am that old…).  The Hunt family is a class act and now they have Patrick Mahomes at QB.  He’s about the only great thing that’s come out of Texas Tech football since the good ol’ boys ran off Mike Leach.  So I do like watching Mahomes and the Chiefs.  But that’s about it for me and pro football.

 

Big money has ruined the college game.  It’s always been dirty and never really been about student-athletes.  But at least we could pretend it was somehow amateur; played for the love of the sport, one’s school and fellow students; grateful alumni and adoring fans. Traditions, tail-gating, rivalries, memories, beautiful autumn days when your team won and nothing else mattered at that moment. But now, all of that is officially gone.  Drowned beneath multi-million dollar coaching contracts, transfer portals, conference realignment, NIL deals for the players and its own success as reality television entertainment.

 

So last Friday night, I went to a local high school football game. Texas high school football is a big deal and produces players for college programs all over the nation.  This game was 5A Div II and that’s a pretty good brand of football, just a step behind 5A Div I and a larger step behind the big 6A schools.  But it’s still top-notch football.  The kids played hard and seemed to genuinely care about their teammates and even their opponents.  The coaches were hands on, encouraging the players, concerned about those who got injured, whether their own or the other team’s.  The fans were enthusiastic but mostly well-behaved.  The players; black, white and brown; all stood at attention when the national anthem was played.  It was a closely contested game and our team won on a late touchdown and then a fourth down stop to end the game.  Winning made it better, but it would have been a great night even if the other team had won.  The players, the coaches, the fans, the bands, the cheerleaders, the drill teams; everyone was involved; and the communities were all made better by what went on that night. 

 

And that sort of thing goes on all across this nation on Friday nights.  Yes, I know that players get hurt, not everyone wins and sometimes it’s just not a good experience for some folks.  Human beings have a way of messing up anything if you give them enough time and the motivation to do so.  Yet still there remains something of value when young people get involved in sports; whether on the field, in the band, on the sidelines or in the stands.  We can only hope and pray (silently, of course) that such events survive the current tides of cultural change.

"I remember in September when the final stumps were drawn

And the shouts of crowds now silent when the boisterous cheer had gone.

Let us O Lord above us remember simple things

When all are dead to love us...Oh, the Captains and the Kings."

- Brendan Behan

 

No Flowers In The Field

 

My dog saw it first.  Barney is an English Springer Spaniel and he doesn’t miss much unless it’s kennel time when he seems to have a hearing problem.  There in the freshly mowed field was a pair of wings, standing upright like flowers.  But it’s August in Texas and, other than sunflowers, there are no flowers in the fields around here.

 

Barney usually sniffs and then chews on most things he finds in the field.  But, this time he just stood there, looking at the tiny wings and then looking back at me for an explanation.  As I got closer, I realized that he had found a butterfly.  An exceptionally beautiful one at that.  It appeared to have only recently nose-dived to earth finding its final resting place in an almost perfect vertical pose, wings fully extended and intact.  Even the butterfly’s body appeared to be unharmed.  I started to pick it up for further examination, but decided such an artful passing need only be memorialized in a photo. 

 

As Barney and I walked on I had to wonder what happened to this butterfly.  They only live for a few weeks. Had its time come?  Did it just run out of fuel and crash?  Or did it fall victim to an angry wasp or some mischievous dragonfly.  Was it the ruthless, deadly herbicide I use to keep weeds and grass out of the fence row?  Or did it just fly to close to the sun?  For some reason it has remained in my thoughts, this dead butterfly suspended at the end of a perfect dive.

 

The next day we walked past the same place and it was still there, but one wing had collapsed giving way to the wind and gravity.  Another day later and the butterfly’s remains appeared to be long gone. But Barney was intent on finding a trace and there some twelve feet away from the crash site was a piece of the wing, soon to become dust, yet still shining in the late evening sun.  

 

Since that day, I have looked in vain for a butterfly as beautiful as that one.  Perhaps next spring there will be flowers in the field and another butterfly even more beautiful will appear….at least for a few days.  

CONFLICT

 

Snarky: 

Critical or mocking in an indirect or sarcastic way. - (Oxford dictionary)

“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”  The Apostle Paul -Galatians 5: 14-15

True confession: I have anger issues.  Not that it is expressed by acts of violence, revenge or retribution.  Thankfully, I was not raised by violent people.  Physically hurting others never seemed right to me and, just as a practical matter, seldom works out very well for either party. And growing up, I was bigger and stronger than most kids, so my parents warned me to not be a bully.  I grew up being more of a teddy bear than a grizzly bear.

But I am a teddy bear with an attitude.  That attitude, combined with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue can do more damage than the best left hook or right cross.  I am at my core a pessimist and very distrustful of others’ actions, intention and motives.  As a result, I tend to be coldly cynical and bitingly sarcastic in dealing with those outside of my circle of trust, a circle which is indeed quite small.   Fortunately, my sense of humor and good ol’ Texas drawl gets me a pass on many comments which if taken at face value would be very offensive if not downright mean-spirited.  

In other words, I was “Snarky” before snarky was even a thing.  But these days being Snarky is how the game is played.  It fuels social media, politics, business, sports, television, movies, music and even Sunday morning sermons.  It has become the zeitgeist, the defining spirit and mood, of our culture.  It is the shedding of blood without the blood as we bite and devour each other.

Why do we, who call ourselves Christians, play this game?  What drives us to say and do those things which defy our Lord’s command to love one another?  It’s easy to say, “Well we aren’t perfect….just poor old sinners, saved by grace, praise God. “  And then go on to act just like everyone else.

But shouldn’t we be better?  Shouldn’t we be different?  Are we just saved, clinging to some shallow faith as our insurance policy against the fires of Hell?  Whatever happened to becoming disciples and going on to make disciples as commanded by the One we claim to believe in and follow? 

As I reflect upon my own behavior, I have come to understand why Anger has earned its place as one of the Seven Deadly Sins.  Perhaps more importantly, I have learned that Anger is always motivated by one of the other six deadly sins: Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Pride and Sloth. 

Further on in the fifth chapter of Galatians Paul calls such things “the acts of the flesh”.  Then he exhorts us to live by The Spirit, bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

There are times when pushback and conflict are necessary.  But one must always ask, am I doing this out of Envy or Greed or Lust or Pride or any such “act of the flesh”.  Personally, I have found that most of the time, when I am inclined to say or do something in anger, it’s because someone has injured my pride or challenged my power to get what I want.  Well, I’m not perfect…just a poor old sinner…saved by grace…praise God and so it goes on…and goes on.

Since The Fall, the pattern of this world has been one of conflict and chaos.  Honest peacekeepers who truly love others have been few and far between.  Today more than ever, Christians need to be the light that shines in the darkness.  We have bitten and devoured others far too long. 

So the next time you feel anger. or even just some good old-fashioned “righteous indignation” swelling up inside, ask yourself….WHY?  You just might discover that your anger is part of the problem.  The solution will be found in love, that place where all conflicts will be settled in the end.

“I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live my life.” – Dallas Willard

I Can't Imagine

 

I watched a replay of the Olympic Games Opening ceremony.  Near the end of the ceremony they played the old John Lennon classic “Imagine” accompanied by a swelling symphony of Hans Zimmer written music while different singers representing the people of the world sang those famous lyrics:

 

Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today…

 

I am sure millions of people around the world found the singing and the moment to be inspiring. Something that might bring us all together, especially as we battle a global pandemic, social injustice, racism, sexism, violence, climate change and slow service at the fast-food drive thru.  But, I’ve never liked that song or it’s message.  It may a be a feel-good song for those who dream of a man-made earthly Utopia.  But it runs counter to the evidence and human experience, not to mention the truth as written in Holy Scripture.

 

Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace…

 

C’mon, John.  It’s very hard to imagine no countries.  Geography alone would create countries.  Add in climate, natural resources along with the history of human civilization and you end up with countries. How’s the U.N. working out for us?  And how about that World Health Organization?  Even the E.U. can’t seem to make it work with only a few countries trying to operate just as one.  China would be on board as long as we all do it their way and to their benefit.  John, if only you were still around to explain this dream world to Left and Right-Wing extremists.  

 

And no religion?  People may not go to church.  They may not even believe in God or gods.  But human beings are “religious”.   Whether you believe we were created by a higher power for a higher purpose or just evolved to be what we are, humans are “religious”.  We have to believe in something, we must have a reason to be, to exist.  We may try to replace God with Secular Humanism, a Utopian vision, Social Justice, or some other ideology…but we all end up worshipping something.

 

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

 

Sorry John, I can’t even imagine “all the people” generously sharing highways or elevator space, much less their food and possessions.  A brotherhood of man?  Up to a point perhaps.  No need for greed or hunger?  Sign me up, just tell me how that system is going to work.  More specifically, who’s going to DO the work and who’s going to do the most difficult work, the most critical work?  Somehow I don’t really want the person doing my knee replacement to be functioning on the same level as the person washing my car when it comes to talent, skill, education, training, experience and economic reward.  

To be clear, that person washing my car absolutely deserves my total respect and to be fairly compensated for their labor.  But who’s going to determine what’s fair?  Let me give you a hint….it’s all the people…sharing all the world… and it’s called “the marketplace.   Now that’s something I actually can imagine.

Thinning The Herd

 

Back in December I made my predictions for 2021.  Two of those were related to Covid:

Covid-19 related restrictions will ease up a bit by mid-year, but are not going away in 2021.  If you are expecting “normal” to return sometime in 2021, you will be disappointed.

 70% of Americans will have been vaccinated by the end of the year, but there will still be a good deal of uncertainty.  Some will still get sick and some will die.  The fear and the testing will not go away.  Wearing masks and maintaining social distance will be with us at least through the winter of 2021-22.

The one point that stands out as a big miss so far is the % of Americans who have been fully vaccinated.  Right now that number is 50% and I think it’s doubtful that we will get to 70% by the end of the year.  Factor in the spread of Covid virus variants and the winter of 2021-2022 is not looking good.  I don’t see us going back to masks mandates in states like Texas, but I think you’ll start seeing more people wearing masks and keeping their distance as things go downhill later this year.

There is some good news in that 75% of seniors are fully vaccinated.  However, that it’s only 75% is a baffling.  Given the impact that Covid has had on seniors, why would any older person not take the vaccine.  The risk of side-effects from the vaccine is nothing compared to the risk of Covid for an un-vaccinated older person. While there is no guarantee that a vaccinated person won’t get sick, it appears that they are much less likely to; and if they do, the outcomes are likely to be more favorable.

I don’t think Americans will tolerate another full lockdown.  While football stadiums may be packed in September, by November we’ll likely be back to distancing and crowd limits.  The same is likely for restaurants and bars.  People who are working remote now will continue to work remote and some who have gone back to their office, will return to working remote.  The real wild card will be the schools.  Will they close? Will they offer both in-room and virtual classes?  How many parents will opt to keep their kids home?  And will the government subsidize these “home-schooling” parents?

There are a lot of big questions.  Will those who have been vaccinated need a booster shot this fall?  Will that depend on what vaccine they took in the first place?  If we do have a bad Covid winter, will vaccinations become mandatory? 

All of us would like to put the Covid nightmare behind us.  But Covid just keeps on coming.  And most likely, it will eventually become much like the seasonal flu which kills thousands of people every year.  A lot of people get flu shots and many will start getting their annual Covid shot.  And many will not. 

I am one of those who did take the vaccine. So did my wife.  Most people I know have gotten vaccinated, or at least say they have.  But there are plenty here in Grayson County Texas who have not.  That’s their choice.  It may put all of us, including the vaccinated, at greater risk.  It most certainly puts the unvaccinated at greater risk. Which means until we develop enough natural herd immunity, Covid will continue its march around the world…thinning the herd. 

“Throughout the pandemic, the nation lacked a uniform policy about gathering places, and there was no central authority with the power to make and enforce rules that everyone had to obey. Each community acted on its own, doing as its elected officials thought best.”
― Albert Marrin, Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

Birds Of A Feather

On this Fourth of July we find ourselves a nation divided.  Not since the years leading up to the Civil War have Americans been so polarized.  I hesitate to use that comparison considering that some still feel that many Americans are essentially enslaved by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference or just their physical appearance. 

 

Indeed, these days we find ourselves divided along the lines of group identity.  There are groups who believe they are oppressed and groups who are seen as the oppressors.  Postmodern theorists make the case that those who are marginalized and oppressed own the high moral ground from which Truth may be spoken.  Therefore, they get to define the groups, who gets membership, how those groups rank in terms of being oppressed and which groups most clearly intersect with other oppressed groups.   Likewise, they have defined the oppressors who are, for the most part, those who have attained the most power and privilege in Western Civilization.

 

That groups exist is a fact.  How they interact, how we ended up where we are in the 21^st Century and what we are going to do about it are issues that must be resolved.   And history tells us that there will be resolution at some point…peaceful or otherwise.

 

History also tells us that human beings are inclined toward grouping.  So groups are never going to go away.  We are tribal.  We form groups on purpose and usually for more than one purpose.   Essentially groups form for protection, production and power.  Groups must evolve to provide all of these, otherwise they fall apart and new groups emerge. 

 

And this formation always begins simply enough: Birds of a feather flock together.  As much as we may try to deny it, this is part of our survival instinct.  The challenge for us today is to decide which feathers matter the most or do any of the feathers matter all that much.  Will we continue to define ourselves by the color or shape or function of our feathers?   Or will we look beyond the feathers and accept one another as individuals?  As a group, as Americans, as citizens of planet earth; we all seek protection from harm, productive lives and the power to choose and control our lives.

 

So maybe the Fourth of July might be a good time to un-ruffle your feathers, look each other in the eye and stop fighting.  Ain’t none of us getting out of this thing alive, so we might as well learn how to get along.

"Once you're in the circus you're all in the circus, and of course it turns out that they are real people too." - Eric Idle, former member of the Monty Python comedy group

 

 

Watering Holes

 

Somewhere in Central Texas, where the state divides between East Texas and West Texas, man-made watering holes become either Tanks or Ponds.  Growing up west of that divide my folks always called them Tanks.   The first time I heard Ponds was when I moved to Paris....the one in Northeast Texas not the other one.  I went dove-hunting with some locals and they said we were going out to a pond.  I thought a pond was a natural watering hole, fed by an underground spring or even just a natural hole in the ground that caught the rain from a creek or something.  When we got to this pond, I saw a big man- made dam that encircled about two-thirds of it.  I commented that this looked like a tank to me...not a pond. 

 

After a few beers,  (Yes, I must admit that we used to drink beer and handle loaded shotguns at the same time.); the locals explained to me the difference between a pond and a tank and why it was an East Texas vs. West Texas distinction.  Their explanation went something like this:

 

“Here’s the deal.  We get enough rain that our ponds don’t dry up.  You get a little ways west of here (little ways in Texas could be 100 feet or 100 miles), and they don’t get the rain like we do.  Their ponds dry up.  Ponds don’t dry up.  Tanks dry up.  So they can’t call them ponds out there.”

 

This logic prevailing, I began calling their tanks ponds.  But whenever I went out to my family’s land in Hood County, those were tanks.  And sometime, the smaller ones were indeed dry.

 

As a boy I spent a lot of time down there in Hood County and some of the best times were at a big tank on my Papaw’s farm.  It was big enough and deep enough that it always had water.  It also had perch, sunfish and bluegills.  That was sport enough for a kid.  My cousins and I would even swim in that old tank, dodging floating cow patties and the occasional cottonmouth.  Today, adults would go to jail if they allowed kids to get in that water.  But we had fun, didn’t get snake-bit or sick, and it probably made us immune to most things that seem to infect people these days.

 

So, of course, now that I live on a little piece of land up here in Grayson County, I had to have a tank...or is it pond?  Grayson County is in that transition zone between East and West Texas.  It’s north of I-20 and east of I-35, so it cannot by any means be called West Texas.  That’s a rule.  Most of the time we avoid the issue by just calling it The Texoma Area, Texoma being the big lake on the Red River dividing Texas and Oklahoma.  But, the real clue to our location is what the Graysonians call their man-made watering holes....Ponds. 

 

So after spending time and money digging up a chunk of land, I do not have a tank...I have a pond.  It’s a nice pond, but it doesn’t feel right.  Ponds are for people who always have water.  Their grass stays green and the cows are always fat.  White fluffy clouds hang in the sky.  Cranes come to ponds for their fish.  Deer drink water from ponds.  Ponds are clean and picturesque.  Ponds always have water.  Tanks go dry sometimes.  Old beer cans and the remnants of shotgun shells litter the ground around tanks.   Artists paint ponds.  Real Estate agents photograph tanks and then touch them up to make them look like ponds. 

 

Ponds are for the right brain.  Tanks are for the left brain.  Now when you look at the Texas map it makes sense.  East Texas, with its ponds is on the right.  The tanks of West Texas on the left.  I’m still going to call my watering hole a tank…but my wife calls it a pond.  As usual, she is right.

 

But I am a tank guy.  If my pond has water in it today, it will go dry tomorrow.  Skunks and feral hogs will end up drinking the water, not deer.  Fish will die and mosquitoes will thrive.  Someday the dam will probably break.  My tank will never be a pond.

Social Justice Blinders

 

I write less than I used to.  It’s not that I don’t have something to say.  It’s that sometimes speaking the truth just isn’t worth it.  If something I write has even the slightest variation or divergence from “The Progressive Agenda”, the Cancel Police will come after me.  In some cases, I am not even allowed to agree with their positions, because I’m an old, privileged white guy and anything I say would be disingenuous and patronizing.  I cannot possibly understand the systemic  rottenness of racism in America nor do I realize that I am the problem….therefore justifiably cancellable.

 

Inevitably, this one lane, one note, one truth assessment of our nation’s problems blinds us to other things that are also true and may, in fact, be even more relevant.  As an example, the Dallas Independent School District has been challenged to ban the practice of suspending trouble-making students from school.  Social justice activists point to the disproportionate number of black students who are suspended.  This has now become a Black Lives Matter issue.  Black students are 21% of the DISD student population and 1 out of 7 are getting suspended for misbehavior.  Comparatively 70% of DISD students are Hispanic and only 1 out of 28 are suspended.  Only 5% of DISD students are White (let that soak in)…and just 1 out of 37 are suspended. 

 

So clearly, looking at the numbers, Black students are being treated unfairly.  This is a problem with such grave consequences, that suspensions have been labeled “The Pipeline to Prison”.    Black leaders are demanding that schools offer other, more constructive alternatives such as:

“providing teachers and staff with the skills and tools necessary to support students’ social and emotional development, restore relationships within the school community and ultimately affirm each child’s humanity and right to learn”.

Well, there’s the answer.  Schools must stop suspending students for bad behavior and find ways to replace bad behavior with good behavior.  Social and emotional development, that’s the ticket. This is how we shut off the “pipeline to prison”.

 

Let me be clear, I agree that suspending kids from school is a bad idea.  It may provide some relief for other students and certainly for their teachers.  But it does more harm than good to the suspended students.  Keeping the students on campus, counseling, educating, even punishing (make them clean toilets and mop floors); is better than turning them out on the streets.  But it’s not going to solve the problem.

 

 The real question we must ask is who is most responsible for a child’s “social and emotional development”?  Perhaps we should be calling out parents and guardians as the ones most responsible for the “pipeline to prison” problem.  When black students are 4 times more likely to be suspended than other students, this is not just a matter of teachers targeting black students for suspension.  Oh by the way, the DISD has a HIGHER percentage of Black teachers than Black students.  And, I am just guessing that Black teachers may well be suspending black students more often than White or Hispanic teachers.  (If it were otherwise, I am confident it would be in the news).  

 

We need to look beyond the school suspension dilemma and get to the root of the problem.  One of the core tools of Six Sigma methodology is DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control).  Using this approach we Define the problem and the objectives.  Then we determine what needs to improve and  how should we Measure it.  Next, we Analyze the problem, defining the factors of influence.  Then, we Identify and implement Improvements.  Lastly, we establish Controls to assure that the improvements are sustainable.

 

Suspending students is a symptom, it’s not the problem.  Suspending black students may indeed have racial overtones. Maybe it really is about four hundred years of slavery and Jim Crow laws and segregation and lack of opportunity.  Fair enough.  But this is now.  What are we going to do about it now? Leave it to the schools to keep the trouble-makers off the streets and re-program them?  Perhaps magically transform these little devils into angels with a few extra hours of what amounts to “special education” (not that we would ever call it that.)

 

The real problems run deep and are complicated.  The solutions are neither quick nor are they easy.  Economic development and opportunity must be a priority.  Families, single parent or otherwise, must have the opportunity to succeed.  Better early-age child care and development is worthy of investment.  You can’t wait until a kid is 6 or 7 or 12, to start working on their “social and emotional development”. 

 

Why are Hispanic students so much less likely to get suspended?   Are teachers just looking the other way or is there something else going on here?  Analyze the problem and define the factors of influence.  There’s more going on here with these Black children than just the fact they are Black. 

 

What needs to change and how does it happen?  Not suspending kids from school is a good start. But just “locking” them up on campus and giving them a bit of extra attention, isn’t going to be enough for most of them.  If it saves a few, praise the Lord.  But let’s not kid ourselves.  The problems go much deeper.  We just choose not to see them.

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored”- Aldous Huxley

Bubbles and Blue Northers

 

I grew up in North Texas.  I can remember the old folks talking about blue northers.  Back then they didn’t have as much advanced notice as we enjoy (and mostly ignore) these days.  But, they were prepared.   In the middle of winter, they understood that a big freeze was always possible.  Maybe it would just be in the 20’s for a couple of days or it might get into single digits and stay below freezing for a week or more.  Animals had to be protected.  Pipes to be covered and faucets left dripping.  Well-houses kept warm by whatever means including buckets of hot coals.  People hunkered down, had candles and kerosene lanterns for light and wood in the stove to keep warm.  Food down in the cellar and meat in the smokehouse.  Extreme weather was just part of life.  Cold and heat, wet and dry, wind and hail, birth and death…seasons and the circle of life.

These days we do our best to avoid the effects of weather.  And we do it pretty well most of the time.  Climate controlled homes, water at your finger tips, hot in an instant if you choose and it will stay hot as long as you wish.  Ice with the push of a button, crushed or cubed as you like it.  Freezers and refrigerators full of food.  Microwaves, air-fryers, convection ovens and cook tops standing by.  And when our bodies are done with whatever we consume, we don’t even have to go outside to relieve ourselves.  Even those bodily functions have been made convenient and comfortable.

Life is easy for us, until it’s not.  And when that rare extreme weather event occurs we are exposed.  When the power goes off, our bubbles burst.  And we realize that we are weak and vulnerable.  Not only vulnerable to the forces of nature, but to the decisions of those whom we have paid to maintain our bubbles.   We find that we are not prepared because we have not made them prepare.  We discover that cheaper is not always better and managing risk is not just a matter of probabilities and cost-benefit analysis.

We Texans love to tout our independent spirit, forged on the frontier, blood and soil, a whole other country, come and take it…and so on.  But, in fact, we are just citizens of the modern world.  A world that keeps us fat, dumb and happy most of the time.  When it fails us and our bubbles burst, we look for someone to blame.  There is no one there to blame but ourselves.  This is the life we have chosen.  And we are not prepared nor can we afford to give it up, even for a short period of time.  So we will spend billions and restore our bubbles.  Then we will spend some more to repay insurance companies and upgrade our bubble maintenance systems.  And we will forget about all of it…until the next time our bubbles break.

“But it was alright, everything was alright, the struggle was finished.  He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”  George Orwell, 1984

74 Million

 

“Power does not corrupt.  Fear corrupts…perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”- John Steinbeck

I learned a long time ago that if you try to take something away from a person, something they truly value, you better be prepared to give them something as good or better in return.  Otherwise, be prepared to face negative consequences. 

 

If you really want to understand what’s going on in our country right now, you must realize that millions of Americans truly believe they are losing “their country”.  In no way is this justification for the right-wing mob attack on Congress.  But it is something that we must admit to and understand if we are ever going to find our way back to being “united”. 

 

A  considerable amount of legislative effort has been put forth to level the playing field for Americans who in the past were not allowed to fully share in the American Dream.  And that would be pretty much everyone who was not white, male and straight.  I mean let’s face it.  For most of this nation’s history white people have had a huge advantage, men even more so than women.  Thus, women have had to fight for equality including the right to vote.  People of color have faced even more discrimination and things much worse.  The LGBT community has suffered far too much for way too long.  And one can list all sorts of disadvantages and biases that many people face for reasons that are far beyond their control.  All of these factors intersect to create a multitude of identity groups who may legitimately claim to be “oppressed” or “marginalized”.  And, these days just about anyone who is not a member of the “privileged class” can claim membership in some victim group.  

 

So why are the people who have enjoyed advantage and privilege so angry?  What do they have to bitch about?  Are they just racists?  Homophobes?  Religious fanatics?  Fortunate sons who are just unwilling to share the bounty of this good land?  What’s wrong with these people?  Admittedly, some are indeed racists.  And there are homophobes and religious fanatics among them as well.  Might as well add in a few tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists.  And there are the 2^nd amendment zealots who resist any limits to the firepower they might rightfully possess.  All in perhaps there are a several million on the far right who are prepared to storm the castle walls.  But not nearly enough to elect Donald Trump as President four years ago… and then almost elect him again.  

 

How does one account for the majority of these angry people?  It’s actually pretty simple. They are just fed-up… and they are afraid.   Angry about what they have lost and fearful about what is left to lose.  And I’m not talking about the recent election.  It goes deeper and much farther back.  The truth of the matter is that millions of Americans believe that they have been asked to give up too much, for too long in order to appease those who are forever demanding fairness, equity and inclusion.  Decades ago, many  who may have actually supported the Civil Rights Movement went on to suffer the consequences of forced busing, white-flight and the subsequent decline and decay of their neighborhoods and cities.  They have witnessed the failure of the Welfare State’s War on Poverty…not just in black communities, not just in urban areas; but across all races and regions.  

 

Many have experienced job loss as a result of their work being shipped off to lower cost operations elsewhere in the world.  They see their public schools failing to educate their children.  Increasingly they see government as the problem, not the solution.  Professional politicians on both sides of the aisle catering to special interests groups while ignoring the needs of “average” Americans.  

 

More than a few have experienced or witnessed the consequences of an out-of-control “woke” movement that can cost people jobs and ruin careers.  They connect the rising costs of health insurance to the Affordable Care Act, as once again they end up paying the price for a government program that hurts them more than it helps.  They see a mainstream media that bashes bad behavior or even alleged bad behavior on The Right, while downplaying or ignoring the same or worse on The Left.  They are tired of being force-fed progressive ideas in movies, television and music.  And even more so, they are tired of being told they are deplorable human beings because they refuse to go along with the narrative.  

 

You want to know how angry they are?  74 million of them voted for Donald Trump, even after watching him flail around for four years.  And were it not for Covid-19, my guess is that Trump would have actually won another term in office.  Let that soak in.  People are so angry that they were willing to once again hand the keys to an unqualified, real estate investor/celebrity with all sorts of personal baggage and craziness….simply because they believed that he was on their side.   

 

In 2021 we have the opportunity to hit the reset button and pull this country together.  But if we continue to ignore. cancel or demonize half of the population, this nation is headed for disaster.