Equality, Liberty, Fraternity

These are the words that defined arguably the most important event in the history of society, the French Revolution of 1789. I bring them up now because our modern society could use alot more of all three, as a cure for what ails us and as a guide for getting to where we should be by now in the course of the human narrative.
Equality for starters. Specifically I am thinking of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor in America, and also the gap between the wealthy nations of the West and the poor countries of the developing world. From what I read the wealth gap is the greatest now since the 1920's, and of course we all know what happened following that decade. The pending recession will be the topic of another post, so I'll leave that alone for now.
I'll start with the premise that none of us really deserve anything, no matter how smart we think we are, or how many hours we put in at our jobs, or how much education we have, and on and on. We are fortunate to have whatever we have, although it's easy to forget that as we often get caught up in the constant and ever elusive search for the next best thing, that one more purchase that will give us a better life, whether it be a bigger house, a car that drives itself while you sit in the backseat and watch movies, or the latest status symbol or gadget that promises to make life easier and more fullfilling. Whatever we have in terms of material resources is a blessing, and pales in comparison to the true blessings in life, our health, our ability to love, and most of all the people in our lives.
So since we don't really deserve anything that we have, would it be so bad if we had to give some, or even most of it up so that more people could share in the wealth? Would it kill our society if we all paid more taxes in order that people could live a quality life, even if they had the audacity to be less educated, motivated, or intelligent than we like to think we are? Would it stifle ingenuity and creativity if people actually worked jobs for the sake of the work itself, and not so they could collect a paycheck to pay for a bunch of stuff that's not really needed to begin with? The answer to these questions, in my view of the world, is no. We would all survive and get along just find. Heck, we might even find that life is simpler without all the trappings of modern, post-industrial, consumeristic society.
There are plenty of isms that ail us, racism, sexism, conservatism, (sorry I couldn't help myself) but classism is perhaps the biggest threat of all. It seems to cross racial, gender, and party lines, and serves to divide us even more than whether we live in a blue or red state, or whether we are pro or anti this or the other, or whether the shade of our skin color is light, dark, or somewhere in between. I envision a world in which more equality could lead to greater fraternity, and ultimately, more liberty for all of us to live our lives as we truly desire, not in accordance with how Madison Avenue, Wall Street, or the owners of the Westcor shopping malls would have us live.
To quote one of the great poets of our time, and since I always enjoy pop music references, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. How many of us would be truly happier if we shared more and spent less. If we spent more time at play than at work? If we paid more attention to our personal health and well-being than to our bank statements? If we focused more on what unites us than on what divides us. I know that there are those who will refuse to give up the habits and ways of thinking that have become an accepted way of life in the modern world, but I believe there are many more that would welcome a new paradigm, a new way to look at and interact with the world. I hope someday, you'll join us, and the world will live as one. It's worth considering at least.

Putting the Daily Back in the Grind

Allright, I figured that if it worked for the Sopranos, maybe I could generate some excitement by taking a month or few off in between ramblings and rants. Or maybe life just happened and one day it's Memorial Day and the next thing you know it's Christmas. Funny how that tends to happen, more so as you get older it seems. I am planning on getting active in my writing once again, I've got a few ideas for starters and will take it from there. I just wanted to post something for today in hopes that it will be the kick start I need to get going again. I hope that all of you are having a wonderful Christmas holiday, that you are enjoying what makes this holiday great, family, friends, and food. And the Lakers on the tube isn't such a bad deal either. I look forward to writing again and especially to reading your comments, and to getting the dialouge up and running. Talk to you all very soon. But for now, it's time for family, friends, and feasting, and hopefully a Lakers victory to top it all off.

Red, White, and Blue, a Liberal and a Patriot Too

Memorial Day 2007 is just about in the books, it is always a day for me to reflect on things, to think about people in my life that have passed on, like my Babbie and Pappap, my friends Terry Williams and Dave Bennett, who died in a plane crash shortly after high school, and my good friend Wade Hashimoto, who was stabbed at a party in San Pedro shortly after high school as well. It is also a time to think about fallen soldiers, those who have lost their lives in service to their country. I don't know any fallen soldiers personally, but I feel that one thing that unites us as a nation, any nation, is the feeling of kinship with people that you've never met, but that you consider as your countrymen. It's why I feel a sense of loss for the victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York and elsewhere, even though I never met any of them. Both 9/11 victims, and the soldiers who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars presumably have something in common with me, namely that we are regular Joe's, hard working honest Americans, who love our country, try to play by the rules, and care about our fellow human beings. I'm fortunate enough to still be alive and kicking, and at times like today it makes me glad to be alive, to have the opportunity to take my daughter and her friend to the local waterpark, as I did yesterday, and to have a nice family barbecue out in the backyard as we did today. I think of all the soldiers over in Iraq and Afghanistan right now that would kill to be able to do what I've done over the last few days, and it makes me appreciate what I have, and what they are doing, even though I don't agree with the Iraq War at all. I respect people that do the job they have to do, and even though I don't buy into the notion that the soldiers in Iraq are somehow protecting our freedom, I appreciate their patriotism and sense of duty.

That's right, I'm an unabashed liberal, anti-war, pacifist by nature, and strongly anti-Bush, but I am also a patriot with a sense of duty and love for my country and what it is supposed to stand for. And I know I'm not the only one. Somewhere along the way, liberals became lumped in with what I call the self-loathers, the people who profess hatred and contempt for America, who protest against anything and everything, and who basically have this smug, holier than thou attitude and a sense of derision towards anyone who isn't lockstep with their agenda. I'm a liberal, I opposed this war before it started, I oppose it now and hope against hope everyday that our leadership, the Congress and the President, will come to their collective senses and pull the plug on this entire misguided and completely botched operation and bring the troops home today. All of them, not tied to any vague benchmarks and not in three months or next year or after the election, but right now. I believe that President Bush is the most dangerous and worst president of my lifetime, and probably in the history of our nation. But I don't believe that he is an evil person, I don't believe that he is indifferent to the suffering he has caused, I don't believe that he allowed 9/11 to happen, and I certainly don't believe that he caused it so that he could take the nation into a series of wars. I don't believe that America is the devil, or imperialist pigs as many of the self-loathers proclaim. We have certainly strayed from our ideals and promise as a nation, but we still stand for freedom, for democracy and capitalism, and for human dignity.

I believe in America, when I see the flag fly it makes me proud, when I hear the National Anthem played before ball games it makes me thankful that I am a citizen of a nation that has brought much more positive to the world than it has negative. We are in a bad spot these days because of the poor decisions of our executive and legislative branches, not to mention the poor decisions made by a majority of our electorate, which did after all elect, and then reelect the man that only about a quarter of the country still approve of. But what makes this nation great has always been, and always will be, its people. Liberals and conservatives, rich and poor, young and old, white, black, brown, red, and Asian (I don't like yellow as a color for Asians), urban, suburban, and rural, east coast or west coast, southerners or midwesterners, Christians, Jews, Muslims, or seculars, recent immigrants and those whose ancestry traces back to colonial times. We are all Americans, and despite our many differences I insist that we have much more in common than we have differences.

If we remember and acknowledge this simple fact, there's nothing we can't accomplish, no hole we can't dig ourselves out of. Think back to how you felt immediately after 9/11. Were you concerned with whether the victims were Democrats or Republicans, what their race or ethnicity was, or their socioeconomic background? Or did you just feel a sense of loss for your fellow Americans and their families? On this Memorial Day, I think we can best honor those who have passed before us by committing to do our part to make this nation, and this world a better place, now, and for those who are coming after us. To me, that's what being a patriot is all about, that's what being an American is all about.

How Many More Times?

The news item that hit home had to do with the fact that one of the missing soldiers recently found in the Euphrates River in Iraq was from my hometown of Torrance, CA. I didn't know the kid, and my hometown is actually the third largest city in LA County, after Los Angeles and Long Beach, so it's not like there's an intimate, small-town connection, but it's still my hometown. I don't know which of the four public high schools he went to, or if he went to the Catholic school. I don't know if he grew up in the same neighborhood as me, or if his beach hang out spot in the summer was Knob Hill or Avenue C or somewhere else along the Esplanade. I don't know if he shopped at the Del Amo Mall or at the Galleria. I don't know if he was upper class, middle class, or working class, whether he was white, brown, black, or Asian. But he's a fellow Tboy, as me and my old school buddies like to refer to ourselves as, and for me that's enough to make me feel sad that he' s not around anymore. I feel sad whenever one of our soldiers is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, no matter where they are from, but it just hits home more in a case like this. That kid was me just a decade and a half ago, with the future ahead of him, and big plans and dreams to achieve. But now he's dead, and no amount of rhetoric or justification or claims about defending freedom or fighting the terrorists where they live can change that simple fact.

Another thing that hits home is when I see that a soldier around my age, mid 30's to early 40's is killed. I can't help but imagine that he has a wife and kids at home who are counting on him to make it home safely, to come home and resume the life they knew before this war started. They were counting on him to come home and be at next season's little league games, and school plays and dance recitals. They were probably counting on him to come home and clean out the garage or fix something that needed fixing, to be the reassuring father figure, the guy that made the rest of the family feel like everything was going to be allright. But now he's dead, and he's never coming home, and his wife will never be able to have those late night conversations where they plan their kids futures and discuss the next vacation and stress about how to pay the bills and whether they can afford to get a new flat screen TV or if they should keep the outdated one they've got. His kids won't see him at the ballgame or performance, and they won't ever get the reassurance from knowing that dad is home, sitting in his favorite chair, watching a ballgame or taking a well-deserved Saturday afternoon nap.

But what about the soldiers who will make it home alive, without even so much as a physical scratch? The author of one of the all-time anti-war novels, "All Quiet on the Western Front", which is about the original pointless war of this century, the Great War, aka WWI, has a line that is fitting. "Those who escaped the shells, were nonetheless destroyed by the war." Remarque, the author, was referring to what was known as the Lost Generation, those who served in the Great War and spent the ensuing decade of the 1920's confused, disillusioned, and angry. He could just as well have been describing the current generation of soldiers that are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. When these soldiers start coming home to stay, and really have time to reflect on everything, I fear what's going to happen. One of the soldiers who was looking for, and found the missing soldier from Torrance, said, "It just angers me that it's just another friend I've got to lose and deal with, because I've already lost 13 friends since I've been here and I don't know if I can take any more of this."

Our society can't ever let this happen again, we can't let our guard down against terrorist groups, and we also can't let our guard down against overzealous, warmongering politicians that exacerbate the dangerous times we live in. Remember that the majority of Americans supported this war back in the spring of 2003, back when we still felt that we could solve international problems with the policy of bombing and helping. Bomb the offenders into submission, live with the collateral damage, and then help them rebuild their countries. Remeber too that a majority of American voters also reelected President Bush in 2004, despite the fact that the Bush Doctrine of preemption was being exposed as a failed policy and the main slogan coming out of the Bush camp at the time was to stay the course. How many more times will we be fooled? We were supposed to have learned our lesson from Vietnam and from Watergate. Will we learn from this fiasco, or will someone who's just being born today at Torrance Memorial Hospital be the missing soldier in some future war of choice in another twenty years from now?

The Kids Are Allright

Much is said about the decline of civilization, how kids these days are less respectful, less industrious, less intelligent, you name it. I have always been amused with these proclamations, because they have been said about pretty much every generation of society at various times in our history. I suppose you could argue that each generation gets progressively worse, and that is why these claims repeatedly get made. And once in awhile I even buy into them myself, such as the other week upon returning home from my weekly trip to the grocery store. I always neatly line up all of my items in my cart, then line them up in an orderly fashion on the conveyor belt, in hopes that when I get home they will all be ordered properly, thus reducing the time and trouble of unloading the groceries into the cupboard and cabinets. It's the same principle I use when loading silverware in the dishwasher, spend a little time on the front end organizing the big spoons, little spoons, forks, etc, and it saves time on the back end while unloading. So imagine my displeasure when, while unloading groceries, I found my powerbars distributed in no less than four different bags. It was like the teenager bagging my groceries purposely took my neatly arranged powerbars and haphazardly threw them into as many bags as he could. Kids these days, what's the matter with them anyways? The answer however, is not much. In fact, my unorganized grocery bagger notwithstanding, kids today are a pretty impressive lot. I'd even go so far as to say that they are allright in my book.

Case in point is a group of young people that I have had the pleasure to be around for the last year, cast members of a youth theatre group called Vaudeville in North Phoenix. The kids range in age from 7-18, and in the interest of self-disclosure my 10-year old daughter is one of them. But I am really referring to the teenagers, and these particular teenagers are some of the best and brightest our society has to offer. They are not only incredibly talented, passionate, and hard-working, but they are genuinely good people, kind to each other, helpful and supportive of the younger kids, and very respectful and polite to the parents that help out and hang around. When I think of these young people joining my generation in a few more short years in running this country and making decisions, it gives me confidence in where we are headed and what is possible.

Another example would be the high school students that I have the pleasure of working with on a daily basis. Lest anyone think that this phenomenom applies only to suburban kids with a wholesome upbringing, the students I teach are urban, and while many have great families and parents and grandparents that give them proper training and guidance, many have, let's say less than ideal circumstances with which to deal and overcome. Yet these kids, and I use the term kids here loosely and endearingly, are talented, sweet, energetic, kind, compassionate, and generally a joy to be around. What they lack in formal educational training and exposure, they more than make up for with a desire to succeed, an openness to learn and consider new ideas and ways of doing things, and a willingness to work hard to achieve their goals. Again, all qualities that make me positive about our future as a nation and as a society.

I find today's youth to be open-minded and less judgemental than previous generations. They don't seem to be nearly as hung up on race, ethnicity, gender stereotypes, and even sexual preference as previous generations, even including my own, one which I consider to be relatively enlightened. They are sharp and clever, they are quick to learn and incorporate new technologies and ways of doing things, just look at all the substantial changes society has undergone in the last decade or so, today's young genearation is at the forefront of much of these changes.

The kids are allright indeed, far from perfect, but unlike the pessimistic view that believes each generation is getting progressively worse, and that society is headed to hell in a handbasket, I think that, despite the mess our government and our own acquiescience has gotten us into in the last few years, that we are getting better as a society, that we are growing more united and tolerant and understanding of our world and how we can positively shape it. I have a great deal of hope and optimism for the future, and everytime I watch the Vaudeville players rehearse and perform, or my inner city students learn from me and teach to me, and when I encounter young people in the public square in a variety of settings, I feel that we are headed in the right direction, and that guided by the principles laid down by my parent's generation, the beliefs and values of my own generation and the hope and inspiration provided by the young generation today, we will get ourselves back to the garden, and maybe, just maybe we can live up to the promise that our founders hoped for when they envisioned our society as a city upon a hill.

Common Sense 2.0

Practical wisdom or judgement. That's the Oxford American Dictionary definition of common sense. These are also known in my classroom simply as the blue dictionaries, which are used quite often by my history students. I believe that it's common sense that if you want to teach kids how to be better and functional members of society, you need to expose them to terms and phrases that they need to get along in life, which is why I do alot of vocabulary work in my classes. The state standards don't necessarily mention using vocabulary to teach students, but then the state standards were developed by government bureaucrats, and when was the last time anyone in the direct employ of the government used practical wisdom or judgement?

Common Sense was also the title of a highly influential pamphlet produced by Thomas Paine in January of 1776, at the height of the American Revolution, and only months before the Declaration of Independence was produced. Basically, it argued that the American people should declare themselves independent from the British and their imperial rule, and it called out things like hereditary kingship and taxation levied from 3000 miles away as lacking in common sense. The arguement could be made that we still have plenty of both at work today, namely the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton (potentially) era, and the fact that Washington, D.C. is nearly 3000 miles away from Phoenix, yet continues to collect most of my tax dollars. But that is not the point of this rambling, the point is, or as Kevin Nealy would have said, what I'm really trying to say, is this. We need more common sense in our society today, in our politics and policy, in our relations with each other and with the rest of the world.

Let's start with the Iraq war. Forget the issue of whether we should have gone in in the first place, or how the war has been managed, those are both questions that most practitioners of common sense have long since agreed upon. Does it make sense to gradually withdraw troops while leaving those left behind in the lurch? It's already incredibily dangerous for the troops we have patrolling the streets everyday, so what's the solution of the newly minted Democratic Congress? To make it even more dangerous by removing a large percentage of our troops. Not to mention what happens to the spirit and morale of those left behind. Common sense dictates that we either pull all of our troops out immediately, my personal choice, or that we commit to the troops that are there by sending in an overwhelming level of reinforcements. Neither the gradual withdrawl strategy of the Reid-Pelosi camp, nor the troop surge strategy of the Bush-McCain camp passes the common sense test in this case, yet those are the options that seem to be realistically on the table at this point in time.

How about the important issue of immigration reform? Does it make sense to put all of our focus on securing our borders, thereby ignoring the plight of the millions of undocumented migrants that are, and have been living in our society, mostly as productive and law abiding members, for years if not generations? Does it make sense to grant blanket forgiveness to those who did enter our country illegally, thereby sending the message to the countless millions that are contemplating following in their footsteps that there really are no consequences for breaking the laws? Does it make sense to focus on the poor workers standing on the street corner, or in front of Home Depot looking for work, while turning a blind eye to the rich corporations and individuals that continue to employ, and often exploit the most vulnerable, and often hardest working members of our society? What does make sense is for true comprehensive reform, that would address all of the issues immediately, allowing those in the country a realistic chance to become citizens and full members of their society, while taking steps to prevent those not yet here from entering illegally, and going after the employers that benefit from the whole broken system.

And in the interest of keeping this at five paragraphs or less, I'll finish with this. Does it make sense to continue to support a two party system of democracy that is based on division and disunity, and supported by two failed philosophies, conservatism and liberalism? Does it make sense to continue with an electoral system where the ideas take a backseat to the amount of money raised? Does it make sense to continue to support a federal government that has proven time and again that it is incompetent at best, and corrupt and immoral at worst? What would Thomas Paine say about all of this? That's all I've got for today, in the words of the immortal, and make-believe, Frank Bartels and Ed Jaymes, thank you for your support. And as always, I'll try to do better the next time.

The First Step

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is just getting started. I have been wanting to start writing in the blogosphere for quite some time, I have even compiled numerous lists of ideas for blogs, that have been lost in the shuffle of my little notebooks, only to resurface, often further along in the original notebook when another set of ideas surfaced. Instead of waiting for the perfect time, which never comes, or the perfect topic, which probably doesn't exist, I made the decision that today I will just simply start writing. What will come next I do not know, it may be profound or it may be mundane, or like most of life, it will probably be a little of both.

My idea is to write a daily journal of my thoughts and ideas on a number of subjects that interest me, and I hope may interest anyone who at any point actually reads what I write here. Some of the anticipated topics will deal with politics, sports, culture, society, religion, philosophy, the economy, family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, strange acquaintances, and random thoughts and ideas that pop into my head from time to time. My main rule for this blog, what I am calling The Daily Grind, is that I won't really plan out what I am going to write about. No research or fact checking, other than some quick visits to Wikipedia when appropriate, no real agenda or intent to persuade. Some days the tone will be serious, other days it will be lighter, even an occasional attempt at humor may crop up in my daily ramblings. I will try to introduce the reader to who I am and what makes me tick over time, so as not to devote an entire blog to a biographical diatribe. Besides, who I am and what makes me tick is constantly evolving so it seems to make more sense to reveal myself in real time. I will post pics as soon as I can figure out how to get them off of my cell phone and work computer hard drive onto this site. I may very well start other, more topical or theme-oriented blogs, on this or other sites if the urge strikes, but for now I am going to try to commit to one daily grind it out per workday.

Currently, my workdays consist of teaching what are generally labeled as disadvantaged youth at what is generally labeled an underperforming public charter high school in South Phoenix. I have been an educator for nearly 10 years now, and while I am undecided as to my immediate future with my current school, I am certainly in teaching for the long haul. There's my self-disclosure for the day.

I don't have any set limits or goals as to the amount that I write, often that will be dictated by how busy my teaching day is, how early I get into work in the morning and whether or not I feel like staying much past the final bell of the afternoon. I am open to suggestions for topics, and to any critiques, and especially praise for my writing style. I welcome comments on topics that I write about, both from those who agree and disagree, especially from those who disagree as I love a good old-fashioned, rousing debate. So that's my introduction to the world of blogging, and even if not another soul ever reads this posting, it feels good to finally get started. It brings to mind the old saying about how even a thousand mile journey begins with a single step. Here's to that first step and to the many more which are sure to follow. Until tomorrow, and to borrow a line from the co-host of one of my two favorite TV shows, Tony Kornheiser, I'll try to better the next time.