:: Just trying to make sense of it all..... ::

:: Saturday, April 19, 2003 ::

OK. I am gonna preach at you people. It had to happen sometime. I swear to God [whichever one you want to use] that religions are the most divisive thing ever invented by human beings. I am getting so sick of this stuff. Christians think Jesus Christ is the truth, the way and the light [something like that, maybe it was "life"], Muslims think everybody but them is an infidel [I am presuming that negative connotations]. I am not so sure Jews are so full of themselves like the Christians and the Muslims. And I hardly every hear about the Hindus, and the other near Eastern religions.
So who do you suppose is "right?" Do you people have absolutely no perspective on this situation at all? Haven't you read any history at all? Do you really believe that the rest of humanity is condemned to hell [I am presuming that is a negative place...] for not believing that Jesus Christ is the truth, the way, and the life? What about all those millions that existed before Christ was born? What about all those children who die before they can make sense of anything? Do you Muslims really believe that the rest of humanity has no redeeming value? Do you see how this just doesn't make any sense, AT ALL! There I go, trying to make sense of it all....... Maybe all these people just don't care about making sense of anything. There must be a gene for this.
So I can hear you saying, "so what makes YOU right?" Well, I don't claim to be right, I only claim that all you people can't be right at the same time, which means none of you are right. I believe that there is no one way to live this life, and there is no one correct way to believe. All those people who believe different than you are not bad people.
I know this is hard to take, but TAKE IT!
But I know that the real die hard believers cannot TAKE IT, because it contradicts their beliefs. How is that for a catch 22? If you believe that Jesus Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, how can you believe that Muslim, or that Jew over there are anything but condemned to hell? You people and your religion really set yourself up for a killing, you know. No wonder the world is in such deep doodoo with all this religious rivalry going on. Nobody has any perspective on this thing.
Now that is not quite true. There are many people in this world who have this sort of perspective, even many of the people within the major religious faiths. I meet them every day, and I am grateful to them. We should all get together and form our own "religion." I know, I know, there are religions that are much more tolerant than the others. I know there are people who are tolerant, but why do all the intolerant ones make the news, and make the world absolutely intolerable for the rest of us.
There is absoutely nothing worse than seeing the smug smiles on some of these religious bigots in this country, Jerry Falwell comes to mind, and now Franklin Graham. That smile just says "look at me, I have it all figured out, pity you, you sinner, I'll really try to help you..."
I get very depressed sometimes, because I just don't see any way past this. But then I remember that we are all allowed to express our opinion, and yes, practice our religion. Thank God we live in a country where we can all practice our own version of religion. That is where the Islamic countries do have a real problem. The countries are so overwhelmingly Muslim, that they think the country has to endorse their religion. There is nothing wrong with the Islamic religion [well, nothing more wrong than with all the other religions], but they really need some diversity in their countries.
Jeez, how the hell do we get out of this trap? I really believe this whole next century will be dealing with this stuff.
OK, I give up. You people can go to bed now.

:: John Saturday, April 19, 2003 [+] ::
...

Gotta add another note. I bought a Scientific American special report magazine on the new theories in quantum mechanics. You are not gonna believe the things they are conjuring up now. My B.S. is in Physics, and I have followed some of these developments over the years, not having claimed to understand all of them. But at least I have read them with interest. I was always interested in fundamental particles and black holes and quasars, that kind of stuff. I can remember sitting in a Nucler physics course in college and having a discussion on those "one third mass" particles, or what looked like particles. Of course that was the early indications of the quarks, the up, down, strange, charm, truth and beauty (changed to top and bottom however - I liked truth and beauty].
This stuff just blows your mind. It sounds more like philosophy except they do actual experiments to validate some of this stuff.
More later...

:: John Thursday, April 17, 2003 [+] ::
...

Jeez,
Can't seem to get anything done anymore. Can't seem to find time to get over here and do my blogging. Retirement really was a lot more fun, although this work isn't exactly sheer terror. I am making some money finally, although it may take the rest of the year to figure out how to pay myself. Because you see, I have incorporated as PCCitizen, and I have accountants, bankers and God help us I hope it is not true, lawyers. Oh my God, did I really say that? I was called for jury duty earlier this year, and I was asked some questions, the case was about some insurance claim, and I said I had managed to avoid lawyers and accountants for most of my life, much to my benefit. They all laughed. Well, that looks like that may be changing big time. BTW, they didn't select me for the jury.
I have to start getting ready for my trip to France - I leave Monday. I get to experience another culture. I have been pretty isolated my whole life, not having travelled a great deal. I am a homebody, I come home in the evenings and I love to be with my wife and son, and putter around my house fixing things up, working on my web site, doing some blogging, fixing this and fixing that. My God, I mean I leave home every day, and I worry that the house will burn down because I have forgotten to do something. I am a worrier.
Well, I am staring at the terminal trying to figure out what to write, so that means my mind must be going blank. It must not be as focused as it was when we were deep into the war and its worries, I have much more common everyday things to worry about now, which are much less interesting, but much more sane. I think the chances for the middle east changing course are much greater than at any time in the past 20 or 30 years. There is a chance, a chance that Iraq can come out of this and excel in the middle east. That would be good for them, good for us, and bad for the terrorists who seem to want nothing but bad things to come about, even for their own people. I am not sure how all those people brought up to hate and swear violence to the United States will make the transition, but maybe they can, or maybe they can't and it will take another generation. But at least it looks like there is hope.
I can't believe that threatening and invading Syria is going to help this cause much though. I know we have our forces over there, and it would be a relatively easy thing to invade Syria, and "liberate" it, but we need to sit tight and let Iraq develop. I am glad to see Powell going to Syria and talk to Assad the younger. I was frankly a little amazed to see Powell himself rattling sabers at Syria.
I really believe Powell can be president - he has the respect of a lot of people, and he sure is getting the experience. And he is doing well, in my mind. I can't believe that blacks wouldn't vote for him. Of course they still decry Judge Thomas, but maybe this is different. Powell is not a flamboyant person. But I think he has high principles and that is what you need to be President. Bush has shown high principles, but he is maybe not the smartest president there ever was. Clinton may not have had the highest principles, but he may have been the smartest president in a while.
OK, OK, gotta go.
On to Friday..

:: John Thursday, April 17, 2003 [+] ::
...

Another weekend, another weekend. They sure roll around fast. But they sure are nice. After an entire week of rain, it finally cleared up into a beautiful day this orning. Even got to play tennis, but played really crummy - so mixed blessing there.
Not much going on today, real tired. Kevin works again tonight. Called Glor in Paris. Can't wait to get over there with her.
The war in Iraq seems to have entered a nasty phase. Hard to imagine all those people just looting away. I even see they decimated the antiquities museum. That is a real disaster, there. We better be careful, we are going to get blamed for everything that goes wrong. Nobody will remember that the brutal dictator is gone, only that people are not getting rations of food and water. I know, I know, that is not so great. Gotta hold on. I have to believe they can recover pretty quickly. Iraq will have a good income, unlike Afghanistan, so they should be good for all kind of investment in rebuilding. And there is a professional and middle class already in place.
Sounds like Syria is sounding a little stubborn, doesn't it? America should not go out of their way to threathen and destabilize Syria. They should work with Egypt or Saudi Arabia to solve this problem, the same way that we are working with China and Japan and South Koreas to solve the North Korean problem. This is the way for all the strong countries in the region to exert their influence and influence stability.
Syria just needs to understand that the US holds no grudges against them, unless they start flaunting their terrorism. They do support some of the terrorists in Palestine I guess. I hope all of them went to Iraq and were mowed down by the M1A1 tanks! We may never get a better opportunity to flush them out into the open. If they have inherited some of Saddam's WMD or the expertise or leadership, they better be careful.
Great to see Jessica Lynch come home. Can't wait to hear her story. Real sad to hear about soldiers continue to keep getting picked off, one or two at a time.
On to Sunday....

:: John Saturday, April 12, 2003 [+] ::
...

Jeez.... birthday tomorrow. How am I supposed to make sense of it all at this rate. 58 years old. It is just getting more complicated. The world is accelerating minute by minute. Will it ever slow down? I don't think so. What is this doing to our genes...? I used to worry about not understanding some things. I had to understand absolutely everything about how the world worked. My wife never had this problem. She never felt pressured to try to understand. Why do I feel this pressure to understand? Where does it come from? Why do I have to make sense of everything?
I can remember all the times people have tried to convert me to the Christian faith. I have had so many people praying for me over the years it is kinda silly. I could never "just accept." I had to understand. I burn with the curiosity to see further into space. I can't wait until they get that next telescope into space and see even further to the edge of space and time. Do you suppose I will still be like this when I am 87 years old?
In just a few generations, our horizons have been completely unchained. From sailing around the world in 1600 something to seeing to the edge of the universe in 400 years. Would that we could sail it. I am sure we will someday, but the "we" probably won't look anything like the "we" of today. We will reach so much more understanding in the future. More things will begin to make sense. I am just terribly jealous. I am going to miss out on the "final" making sense of it all. .....or maybe I won't. Maybe that is what death is all about. On to the next stage of consciousness. My own religious beliefs here, only updated for the 21st century.
I really have no problem believing in (a) God, because you see, we have no way of distinguishing him (her, it) from some super advanced extra terrestrial civilization. Absolutely no way at all. That was the essential message of the movie 2001 I believe - at least the one I got out of it. It "made sense" out of religion to me, out of believing in a God.
Well, there you go. Pretty far out stuff, huh? But it is my birthday. You have to forgive me for being so introspective, and for boring you with such nonsense. But hey, nobody said you had to read this stuff. It is simply a postcard sent to cyberspace, to the furthest reaches of the Internet if so be it. But it is a postcard to myself as well.

:: John Tuesday, April 08, 2003 [+] ::
...

My goodness, my goodness. The war effort is starting to sound a lot better. Sounds like some of the Iraqis are starting to come out of their shells as the Saddam local thugs are gradually rooted out. I wonder if this is getting any press in the rest of the world. I doubt it. America can't be shown to be successful. That is OK, let's just persevere to the end of this game.
I did remember one very vivid scene which just tugs at my heart and reminds me just how horrible this war can be on children. On one of the cable channels [can't remember which one, they are all starting to look the same to me now....] they were showing the British soldiers going door to door in Basra and interrogating the populace, trying to root out the local thugs holding the populace hostage. And of course the cameraman was recording this. They came to this Iraqi's door, looked like a plain civilian with a family - he held his hands up and motioned to his wife to come out. She came out with her hands up, followed by what looked like their teenage son, followed by a smaller son, and finally followed by a little girl, she looked maybe 9 or 10, holding her hands up of course! What a sight! But what struck me was the absolute look of terror on her face - it was quivering almost uncontrollably as she walked out to join her family. My heart just went out to her, as it did I am sure with the British troops who saw this. And it must have been repeated numerous times as they went door to door! And to all the Iraqi innocent people who have had to endure this nightmare I felt a definite pang of anguish. I can still see that little girl's expression. Of course the war and the liberation has been a presumed nightmare for many people, especially the thugs, but compared to what most of them have been expoerienceing over the past 20 some years, this has got to be a real liberation. I am sure the peace mongers would say there is nothing that would justify doing this to this small child. It will be hard to forget this, but the brighter future that lies ahead I am hoping will make it worthwhile for her.
I am just so proud of the way in which these American soldiers have apparently carried themselves in this war. This has got to be as high a time for the military as it was back after the gulf war. Maybe even the Arabs as a whole can see through the invasion and occupation into the liberation. Well, maybe that will take a generation or two. I am sure the terrorists won't unlearn their lifetime of learning to hate America overnight. They will have to take pause though. Maybe their wives and mothers can talk some sense into them. But of course in the Arab world, women count for very little in general. For a while there, I was hoping they would all emigrate to Iraq and take up their rifles and pickup trucks and do battle with the M1A1 Abrams. Doesn't sound like there is time now, for they would have to join what looks like an obvious losing cause.
I just pray to God there enough intelligent Iraqi men (and women) who can now take the reins and bring their country out of the depths of tyranny. From what I have seen, Iraq is a pretty advanced country, so maybe there is a chance. There are all kinds of intelligent men and women and bureaucrats available.
Oh well, we can hope can't we. Be optimistic. That is a definite lesson in life. Even if the world sucks big time, you have to be optimistic. What else is there. That is what the Christian's faith is all about. We really have no choice but to be optimistic. That was the lesson I learned from Ernest Becker's book "The Denial of Death." That is what we do everyday, deny death.
That is also the lesson of the yin and the yang as well. The world may suck really really really bad, but at the same exact moment there is incomparable beauty and joy. Our duty is to seek it out, not out of blind ignorance to the other, but in full frontal denial of it, the "denial of death!"
Tomorrow is another, beautiful day, and I am determined to find some joy in it....!

:: John Monday, April 07, 2003 [+] ::
...

Friday. Amazing. Great great story about the rescued 19 year old Jessica Lynch. Just the kind of story we need to lift our spirits. Sounds like she is quite a kid! And just a kid! Joining the Army to get ahead in life, wound up driving a 5 ton supply truck in the quartermaster core. Wound up a POW in Iraq. Wow. Will be fascinating as the details of her capture and internment come out. And can you believe her family! older brother in the Army, younger sister joining up. Great American story. From Palestine, W.V. I wonder where they got their name. A lot of Union counties down here in the South. They must have been union people who congregated and changed the county name to show their sympathies. Almost sounds like a Paletinian immigrant emigrated and started a new town in W.V.
These are free people in the military. Maybe this will eventually get across to the people over there. Hey, I can be optimistic, can't I? I need some optimism after these past few weeks. Looks like this has a ...chance... of coming out OK. We still have to win the battle after we have won the war though. This is the scary part. This really could change the course of history though if we could pull this off. Will put an entirely new face on the mideast, give those people [and us....] over there some hope.
And just think what it will do for Bush and Company. The democrats could just become extinct! Of course I realize Churchill was dumped right after WWII, Bush senior went down in flames after Gulf War I. Probably pretty good actually - wouldn't want these people to get too big a head. It is America that came out on top, NOT the Republicans or the Democrats. Watch out North Korea, Iran. You now know that there is a power in the world which will stand up to your tyrannical nonsense. Maybe the UN will get some legs after this. nah........ the French would never permit it. Maybe the Germans and Russians would come around, but the French never. Do you think I should wear my American flag ping when I am traipsing around France later this month?? I should take a poll....
Tennis again last night, too busy to be blogging. Work seems to be getting in the way as well! Three setter, 7-5, 6-7, 5-7 - we lost but it was a great battle. I am just so grateful I can still run around out there on that court at 58 years old. It is sad to think that it takes us our whole lives sometimes to learn to enjoy it, and treasure it, and by that time, we are practically in wheelchairs. Of course those youngsters who do burn out young typically can't enjoy old age. So I don't know what is better. Which again says there is no single way to do things in this life, or no single thing to believe.

Gotta go for now.

:: John Friday, April 04, 2003 [+] ::
...

Tuesday night. Dentist today, wife to France yesterday. [Me to France at end of the month. Should be some interesting "blogging." :-)] Son to orthodontist tomorrow. Lots of driving around Atlanta. Wouldn't have it any other way. Free in America. The news on the war front sure seems a little better last few days. Maybe we are getting some of the propoganda out front, to counter the Iraqi propoganda. That is pretty wacky, isn't it? That propoganda seems to control the perceptions like they do. Some people think it was Rumsfeld's comment about "old Europe" that alienated the French. What do they say about loose lips sinking ships? Maybe there is still hope in the world. As impressive as Bush is in his moral clarity and straightforwardness and perserverence, it would help if he were a better public speaker. Like Clinton. Ah....... Did I actually say that! Yes, Bill Clinton was a great communicator. Sounds like Tony Blair can help hold him up on that one. Bush definitely has some good speechwriters, but he needs one of them in his ear at all times. Some of his comments are prime candidates for my "They should have said this" column. Gotta get started on that.... This is the definitely the time for some "Churchillian" phrase making and speech making! "Never in the course of human history has so much been owed by so many to so few" - kind of talk! This can do so much to uplift the spirits and set the tone for the future. Come on Bush, I know you [well, your speechwriters] can do this! We need it to press home....
I am very impressed by the professionalism of the troops in the field. They all seem to be highly educated in their craft and quite motivated to do their job. I think each and every one of them knows what is on the line. This is because they are free people, I suspect! [Now I know they are not exactly ....free... within the military]. Now I also know this is not all this simple. I was in the Army at one time, but of course that was in times when people didn't really want to be in the Army - Vietnam. I have always thought that a draftee Army would be more representative, but I must admit I am impressed with this volunteer Army. I have often tried to talk my older son into getting into the military, since he has gone through some "lost" periods in his life recently. It sure looks like it is a great time to be in the military. God bless them.
On another note, It looks like Centcom has turned the job of spokesman over to somebody who has a better public profile than General Tommy Franks. Gen Franks may be the most loved person on earth, but he comes across a little too unnerving in those press conferences [this is of course IMHO]. A little "too" professional. General Brooks puts up a better public face from what I have seen of him. He does not seem any less serious, just less unnerving. Unfortunately image seems to be almost everything these days. The person who came up with their "shock and awe" public PR should be taken out to the woodshed and given a spanking, however. That came across as blatantly arrogant to my mind, especially with the early trouble our forces had. The apparent PR coup by the special forces in the North, along with the Kurds was quite impessive. Wonder what the Turks think of that!? I hope they find a few smoking guns in that Al Qaeda hornet's nest.

:: John Tuesday, April 01, 2003 [+] ::
...