Friday, May 28, 2010

To End All Wars...



So I started an interesting discussion on Senator McCaskill's Facebook wall.

ONE Campaign brought to my attention that this past Tuesday, the Kerry-Lugar bill was up for signing. This bill would provide "non military aid granted to Pakistan by the U.S in view of its precarious economic condition due to its indulgence in the war on terror as a front line allied state."

Senator McCaskill signed a letter to the President, so ONE wanted to make sure her constituents held her accountable and signed the bill.

I wrote this on her Facebook wall, as well as her twitter page. This is the discussion that followed. The names that are not mine have been changed, but I did add some emphasis.

Aaron:

Sen. McCaskill, please sign the Kerry-Luger bill to support poverty relief in developing nations. Please make good on the letter you signed to the President supporting these matters. Thank you!


Pete: America has no more money to support other nations. We are broke. China is rich, let China help developing nations.
Better yet, let developing nations help themselves like America once did. Let them carry their own weight.

Jan: I agree.
Aaron: Poverty, hunger, oppression, injustice, slavery, etc. are not right or left issues, they are human issues, and all of humanity suffers due to these preventable tragedies.
According to ONE 50,000 people, that's one every three seconds, die due to preventable diseases and extreme poverty.

Nearly 11,500 people die every day from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Nearly two-thirds of these people are living in sub-Saharan Africa.


72 million children are out of school around the world, a figure equivalent to the entire primary school-aged population in Europe and North America

8.8 Million children under the age of five die each year from preventable diseases and treatable causes.

550,000 mothers die in childbirth each year. 80% of these deaths can be prevented if women had access to basic maternal and health services.

2.5 Billion people around the world do not have access to adequate sanitation.

27 Million are enslaved this includes child soldiers, forced prostitutes, and other victims of human trafficking.
Jan: And middle-class Americans are supposed to fix all this? We are the most charitable nation in the world, but we are now broke. We have enough problems here that need to be addressed. Americans will be included in these statistics if we don't change course.
Pete: hat is very unfortunate, except for the HIV/AIDS epidemic which is 100% preventable.
Over 400,000 Americans die each year due to smoking related causes. Why does the government not do something about that? Oh, the tax money is more important than people's lives and obama is stinking up our White House with his own smoking.

I didn't say they were right or left issues.

The United States of America is broke, and the countries and the people suffering these misfortunes sit back and wait for someone else to come to help them and do little or nothing to help themselves.

Many of the people suffering these misfortunes would take money we do not have and kill us in a heartbeat given the chance. Many of them just hate us, except for our money which we have none of anymore. We need to take care of our fellow Americans who cannot, not those who will not, take care of themselves.

We cannot save the world.

Aaron: We saved the world 3 times last century from Imperialism, Fascism, and Communism. The evil empires of our day are injustice, poverty, oppression, ignorance etc. We will win not by the force of arms but through education, advocacy, and compassion.

The more good we do now, the more secure we will be in the future.
The honorable Senator Bond said, "the U.S. needs to help other nations build stronger governments because these deeds will help avoid conflict and acts of terrorism. If we put more sandals and sneakers on the ground, I think we can avoid having to put more combat boots on the ground in the future,"
Pete: Those wearing sandals and sneakers burn our flag and want to kill us. Good luck with that.
Aaron: Nations don't go to war with other nations who have fed their children and served their people.
Again, Senator Bond said, "Smart power, will protect the U.S. and its allies and prevent harm. But for sustainable long term success we have to use economic development, educational exchange, business interchanges, investment and trade and diplomatic strategies in areas that are neutral or sometimes hostile toward the U.S.

Helping other countries become more stable makes America a safer place and building nations up and helping them feed their citizens will in turn help America. There is the need for humanitarian assistance."
I welcome your thoughts.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Life at Warp Five



It's been a year since I started this blog, and I feel I have one of the more interesting blogs, but I'm very biased. This time last year, I wrote about the little ones turning three and 1/2 a year respectively, and one of my guys getting married.

Now, one year later, the little ones have turned 4 and 1.5 respectively. It's nothing short of providential that they are in the family.


And one of my other guys got married.

I remember last year saying to the guys, "It doesn't feel like one of us just got married." This time, we were all seasoned veterans at this whole wedding thing and it was as if we went right from Nick's wedding to Mark's wedding the next weekend, rather than the next year.

I have to wonder which one of us is next.


I remember saying to Mark, this year's groom, "It will be interesting to see
where we all are this time a year from now."

Well, here we are. Only this time it seems it got here faster than it did last year. I think one of the few constants in life is the pace at which it moves us along. I've heard it gets faster as you grow older.

Perhaps we're all experiencing Hubble's Law, that is: "v = H0D."
Meaning, the universe is expanding, and the further out we go, the faster it is moving.
So the galaxies shown here are moving away from us now faster than they were when
this picture was taken.

So I'm moving faster now that I was this time last year. And as I look back at what
I've learned this past year, I can see that. Tom Jackson, Dave Ramsey and myself, all
have different ways of saying the same thing. Tom Jackson says, "Don't wait for the
opportunity to prepare. As you prepare, you will create your opportunities." Dave Ramsey
says, "Live like no one else so later, you can live like no one else." And I often tell my
students to take care of what they need to care of what they need to when they need to
so when the time comes, they can do what they are free to want to do.
Then there are the things I'm unwilling to admit to myself, though I know they're true.

I've also learned I have unique perspective on almost everything. I can make a street
light look like the sun.


Aside from this showing in my photography, music, and writing, it's shown up in
my work. Almost everyone I work with, has been given up on by their school system,
family, or whoever, and have been told they're insignificant. I've learnedI can make them
realize they're capable of great things. A little bit of time spent, and care given will do that.

Funny thing how something small can alter our perspectives. When what we see gets
interrupted and becomes an imperfect reflection, when we get close we can see the beauty
in the distortion. We can see the traces of what is to be. A little spur of wind blown across
the surface of still waters creates a beautiful impression.

A small rock sends ripples that can be seen across the entire body of water.


And here I am learning to see past the imperfections, the disturbances, the distortions, knowing there is beauty.