An open letter to Starbucks

Dear Starbucks,

It appears that you are gearing up to deliver your coffee to "keep up with the Joneses", so to speak.  What if an eclectic and forwarding-thinking company like yourself stood fast and chose to sidestep the rat race?  

A coffee shop to me is an intimate setting where I can go with friends, or alone, to talk, philosophize, or write the great American novel.  Now you have drive-ups.  Next, door-to-door delivery.  

At the top of "corporate mountain" you will find there is nothing of value—just billions of dollars and gray hairs in its pursuit, and even that does not guarantee longevity.  

Be excellent at what you have started.  Be satisfied with what you've achieved.  End the vicious competition cycle that serves no one, least of all your employees and your customers.  Be different.  Start a new trend.  Change the world—again.

An Alternative to the Islamic State and others like them

The Islamic State now wreaking havoc on the Middle East and the West has chosen one way to change the world.  It is neither an unfamiliar nor particularly new idea. Throughout human history similar ideologies have bloodied their way across the world seeking to establish lasting power through fear.  

To us, looking from the outside in, the Islamic State appears to be the consummate evil amidst a cauldron of like-minded horrific acts.

I propose that the Islamic State simply mirrors a world that has created the "space" for such horror.  Children are allowed to learn to shoot guns.  Clever entrepreneurs call it fun and offer a burger on the side.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is out touting his next Terminator movie.  Does the world really need more violent films?  Is violence really "entertaining"? Does it improve our world, provide our children with good values and respect for life, teach more lasting and humane ways to solve conflict?

I would like to offer an alternative to the Islamic State.  I propose that instead of killing people, they might consider providing schools, hospitals and good paying jobs.  I propose that if they want to leave a lasting mark on the world, they lay down their arms and take up generosity, inclusion, tolerance and compassion. 

Impossible!  Many of you might say.  But I say, why not?  

Our response to the Islamic State to "follow them to the gates of hell" (Joe Biden), is what we've always done—throughout all of human history.  We build a bigger gun, a pilotless plane, a long-range missile, precision strikes, and we believe that eventually we will win the war against terror.

Terror is not new.  It has been around forever.  If we want such groups to disappear, we have to build an alternative for the people who are joining their ranks. 

The leaders of the Islamic State, or any armed band, do not cause the havoc they espouse.  Their Followers do.  Give them a reason NOT to be a part of the carnage.  This is the only way terror will stop. In other words, Osama Bin Laden did not strap on a bomb and blow up anything.  Al Qaeda recruited willing souls to do it for him.

You want a more peaceful world, build it.  Offer an alternative to future suicide bombers that they can’t refuse.  Don’t tie it to money.  Tie it to humanity.  To inclusion of all disenfranchised peoples.  Nobody gets left out.

As long as we always reach for guns to solve our problems, or, as in the case the Ukraine and Vladimir Putin, economic sanctions.  Nothing will change.

Humans are smarter than they know.  They can build weapons that will destroy the world. Such a sad use of our immense talent.

What if we built a world that could annihilate war and spread peace?

Actually we can.  If we want it bad enough.

Pastor Fred Phelps

Baptist Pastor Fred Phelps passed away on March 19, 2014. He was a man of God on a mission of hate.  Beyond that, I know very little about him.  

The question that troubles me is not what he did, but why he did it.  What made him feel so strongly about this one particular issue that he would devote a good portion of his life in its pursuit and hopeful annihilation?

Fred believed that God hated gays.  God hated gays!  Why?  Some childhood encounter?  A hatred passed from parents' to son?  A literal interpretation of the bible?  A mind off kilter with compassion and reality?

We do not know and we may never know.

Now that Fred is gone, his church may or may not continue. For the sake of Fred's family and followers, I hope it does not. I am not worried about gay people; they will survive. They know that prejudice and disenfranchisement are part and parcel of their struggle for equality.  

After death, I believe that we are called to account for our lives, not by a tribunal fixed on punishment and mandatory repentance, but by a group of souls whose single mission it is to help us look at our actions as humans and determine what went wrong and how to do better the next time around. Harmful acts do not go unnoticed on either side of the "veil".

This afterlife review, of course, does nothing for the living left behind—those who followed Fred and those who suffered at his hands.  It does, on the other hand, provide those willing to do so, another way to examine his actions in the hopes of not repeating them again.

We'll leave the Bible and other such religious books out of this for now.  This is ground upon which no one consensus can be found.  We'll set aside the fact that Fred did not make friends by his actions and that most who knew or encountered him, found his words and actions offensive and downright mean.

But Fred did do one thing that we cannot deny.  He put hate right in your face! He shouted it at every opportunity!  Fred wasn't weak in his beliefs.  He didn't back down in the face of overwhelming opinion against him.  Fred had a goal and he pursued it without flinching!

So, you must be asking, where am I going with all this?

It's very simple, really: If we had the same drive that Fred did, but turned that conscientious resistance against hate and exclusionism.  If we taught our children that it is wrong to hate another person because they are different from us.  That to judge is to assume what we cannot know unless we have walked in the shoes of the one we judge.

If we taught our children that one person's actions do not speak for all persons' actions.  That the color of one’s skin, the country of one's origin, and the beliefs of one's heart are what make our world rich, creative, and hopeful.

Yes, there are people who do awful things, but the majority of people do not do awful things.  Yes, Fred spread a lot of negative energy around.  If we do not want other Fred's to appear at our doorstep, then at our doorstep, before we set one foot outside our house, we must determine that we will be kinder, more thoughtful. That we will get the facts before voicing concern and dissent.  

Fred showed us one way.  Sadly, there are many groups who follow in his stead, individuals who believe that they have the formula for the perfect world or society. 

You want a world without hate?  Start with yourself.  Not one of us alive is without fault.  It is the height of hubris to believe otherwise.  

When religious belief runs counter to "do not judge, do no harm" - February 25, 2014

Arizona has passed a law that allows ones' religious belief to override fairness, tolerance and basic humanity.  I.e., based upon your religious belief, you may refuse to serve gay people. 

Now it is up to the Governor to sign or veto this legislation. Meanwhile, a growing number of groups and individuals are standing in opposition to the law. Ten years ago few would have batted an eye or raised a finger in opposition. We have come a long way, and by the response seen in Arizona, people of conscience are finally saying "enough".

The central focus of this particular issue is homosexuality.  But the foundation of the argument is ones' personal belief system and how far its influence can extend to disenfranchise those human beings it deems unworthy of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Again and again I am troubled by religious organizations that ostracize those groups or individuals who do not meet their idea of "normal" or "pure".   I am also troubled by the aforementioned's "hate the sin, love the sinner" pronouncements, which, if they are taken at face value, would de facto rule out the Arizona law.  

But all of this analysis aside.  The real issue here is the Why?  The Deep Seated Why?!  What is it about homosexuality that bothers people?  Sex between members of the same gender?  Marriage between members of the same gender?  Fear of the unnamed unknown?

In the end, no one has the right to discriminate against another person.  No one.  Short of criminal behavior, no one has the right to decide what behavior is good and what is bad.  No one has the right to name whom we can love, marry or, sleep with.  

Civil rights and gay rights are not separate rights; they are enumerations of a compendium of inclusive “Human Rights”.  Men and women of every creed are suffering and dying for these same rights throughout the globe, while we, America, the supposed bastion of tolerance and equality, seem uncertain of what the term “Human Rights” really means.

In the mind of this writer, it means equal rights for All Human Beings.  (I would not exclude our animals and our environment in this statement either, lest we get the impression that equal treatment and material provision has a beginning and an end point.)

If Human Rights are denied to one person or group, all of us are jeopardized.  We cannot, and must not, allow our world to discard those we do not like, love, or whom we consider damaged.  If our laws do not protect all Human Rights, they cannot in truth say that they protects any human rights.  For Human Rights, once compromised by enlightened nations, become no more than lifeless pieces on a chess board, where, in the end, we are left with only winners and losers.  

In the Extreme

Over the past few days, guns have brought terror and death to Norway, Texas and Washington State.

The reasons for these acts of violence are varied and complex, but all have been meted out at the hands of a fellow human being and not one can be recalled, nor their dead and wounded made whole again.

I believe that there is more good than evil in the world.  I believe that this singular truth is what keeps us from the Biblical Armageddon so many predict is our ultimate destiny.  Most of all, I believe that our civilization still has time to rise from its darkness to embrace the light.

In this vain, I also believe that evil will continue to ravage us for some time to come. I believe this because profound acts of violence, while singular in their horror and timing, are symptoms of a deeper darkness that we encounter each day, but never stop to name.

We only need look to Washington DC, the seat of one of the most powerful governments ever known to humankind.  Witness the grandstanding, finger-pointing, half-truths and perpetual division. Consider our political campaigns where real issues always take a back seat to mudslinging and one-upmanship.  

Explain our hostility toward illegal aliens, while we selectively forget that the vast majority of us are descendants of the very same moniker.

Why are gay men and women still denied the full benefits of our Constitution? 

The murders that have bloodied our communities and bowed our heads are not isolated events.  They have grown from seeds so faint and so non-descript that we have lost sight of their relationship to the brutal harvests they bear.

When you degrade another person and do it in front of your children, you set the stage for hatred to live one more generation. 

When you name yourself and your culture superior to another, you perpetuate the idea that equality and tolerance are only for those who meet your standards.  When you believe that your way is the only way, you exclude, disenfranshise and create enemies instead of allies.

The end to violence and terror begins where you live, work, play and dream.  It begins with you and me.  What we sow, we reap.  Sow hate, you will reap hate.  Sow fear, you will reap fear.  Sow intolerance and you will reap intolerance.  Acts of violence are the end result…they may erupt out of nowhere, but they were sown in “fertile soil” long before they saw the light of day.

Love, peace, tolerance, compassion and humanity cannot be preached.  They must be lived!

2011 is Begun

I have not posted for some time. The holiday has come and gone; a new year and new decade begun. A 113 year old woman passed away and a U.S. Congresswoman was gunned down in Arizona. People, who days before were threatening each other in the halls of Congress, have taken a step back to take a look at themselves and the words they speak.

We have cultivated a respectable hindsight as a nation and as a world. In tragedy, we most often step up to the line and do the fair and compassionate thing.

However, it is time for the world to step into the future, not in the sense of knowing what it will bring, but in the sense of fostering foresight. Explorers and inventors have foresight. They imagine the unknown and make the decision to step into it.

The future I speak of cannot be bought with coin or power. It cannot be bought at all; it must be chosen, one person at a time, until more, not less, have made their choice.

What happened in Arizona propelled us forward to say things like, "words carry outcomes." "Free speech carries outcomes". We all bear responsibility for the world in which we live. We all bear responsibility for the good and the not so good things that happen. Individually, we must each decide what is meant by this responsibility and the answer will define our future.

We cannot afford to be faint of heart, even if we are afraid and uncertain. For us to create a world where less, not more, violence occurs, we as individuals must look first within ourselves and then decide how we have and do play a part in the heritage of war that still besieges so much of our planet.

Do not believe that anger and blame only affect the place where you stand and the person or persons you are targeting. Anger and blame spread a mindset and an energy. They provide a spark that is ignited by others of like mind. If you want a different world, then you--You--must take the first step. I must take the first step. It is not up to our leaders. It has never been up to others. It has always been up to us.

Begin, not by throwing barbs at those you disagree with, regardless of how you feel.  Begin with a moment of silence in which you look at your own words and actions.  Until you have made peace with these, universal peace remains an act of hindsight and, my dear friends, peace must be a forward motion.

The Profound

I find that for the first time in my life, I have nothing profound to say.  I will turn 66 on Friday.  I am closer to an ending than a beginning.  Yet I believe age is only a number.  Sixty-six is not a high number in the scheme of things.  Sixty-six dollars will not buy two weeks worth of groceries.  It will not fill a cavity, repair a car, pay a health care deductible, or even come close to a house payment. It will not cover the cost of a college text book or credit hour.  Sixty-six is an even number with no real value except that it falls along the line between one (1) and infinity.

In my mind, I do not feel older.  I feel young.  The irony of aging is that the body zooms along towards decrepitude while the mind that is active, remains at its peak.  Many would disagree with the latter part of that statement, but it is true for me.  I am still unendingly curious.  I bike, I write, I dream.  I continue to believe in the ability of human beings to be compassionate, loving and visionary.  I believe that most of us care for the greater good of our world, but that we too often allow ourselves to get bogged down with survival.  I believe that when one tire goes flat in life, we pump it up or replace it.  We go on.  Humans go on.  We trip, we fall, we forget, we remember.  We learn, we cry, we laugh, we blame, we forgive.

On this the eve of my 66th year, I wish all others who share November 19th as their birth date, a happy, happy day!   Happiness is a state of mind.  It is not a possession, nor can it be found somewhere outside ourselves or purchased online.  If you can read this, you are alive.  If you are alive, celebrate!  You made it to this day.  You scrambled over boulders ten-times your size, you braved life's blizzards and hurricanes (real and imaginary), you picked yourself up and got on with it.  You did it!  Awesome!

It is a pleasure to share this day with you, whoever you are, wherever you are.  Thank you!