That is an episode title of one of the most moving episodes of MASH for me.  In the episode, Hawkeye (portrayed by the immortal, Alan Alda), goes ballistic when he finds out that with the Korean conflict trudging on, the Army changes the rules on the number of points required for a soldier to get rotated home.  And it hits him hardest because he’s been there longest of anyone: Potter, Winchester and Hunnicutt show up 3 or 4 seasons in.  Burns gets sent home via season tickets to Section 8, and Blake gets killed.  The only other two characters that have been on since the beginning is Father Mulcahy, but as a man of God, he’s not taken by acts of physical violence (his words), and Margaret Houlihan, who’s less of a hot-head than Pierce (and who’s completely overtaken by another crisis; her impending divorce).  

So after downing a martini and tearing out of the Swamp, playing gas can soccer with Margaret, Hawkeye jumps into a jeep and goes right up to the peace talks to give them a “peace” of his mind.  In the encounter at Panmunjom, where the Korean Peace talks take place, Hawkeye instructs them (in his boiling anger, somewhat abrasive manner) to find common ground, because there’s too much at stake for them to keep stalling.  I felt like this episode was especially poignant this day in age, for a number of reasons.  

There’s no doubt that we’re all tired of the brokenness of our world and our society.  No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, the negativity coming out of Washington, wafting through out our local communities, up and down our Facebook feeds, and just about everywhere else.  There’s bigotry, insensitivity, ignorance, narrow-vision, disrespect, hatred, fear, confusion, ego-centrism, and lots of ideas, and opinions and hot air.  There seems to be a palpable lack of kindness, understanding, listening, conversing, honest dialogue, and agreeing to disagree amicably.  And it seems that common ground is all but gone, because we’ve stopped trying to establish it, or are just wearily ignorant of the common ground that is right in front of our noses.  

And this decline of morality and decency comes at a time when we face a trifecta of catastrophic crises: 1). the worst pandemic in 100 years, and in which there is no end in sight, let alone a lack of acceptable, or viable plans to combat it. 2). The biggest call for social justice reform since the 1970s and 3). The greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.  This has also created a fourth crisis: in which this country is more polarized and divided, with an ever widening chasm between Republican and Democratic, conservative and liberal, and scores of other issues that divide us.  

I always find that the first step to dealing with an issue is knowing its history (i.e. why are we here and how did we get here?).  Let’s start with the social justice issues.  Not to re-quote myself (see my other post, Why is America still Racist?), but racism isn’t something that we just discovered.  Before the pandemic, we had cultural rifts in this country.  Despite things being said to the contrary, the war against racism hasn’t been won.  It’s not even close.  Battles have been won.  Steps have been taken….big steps in fact.  But the journey towards achieving a society where all people are created equal, both in the law and in our hearts, is far from over.  There are those who live in privilege, who claim that things have come far enough, but they are blinded by their privilege.  This is not necessarily their fault; we’re all victims of the limits of our perspective, and imagination.  They can’t imagine what it’s like to live in a society where you appear to have the same rights as anyone else, yet the color of your skin makes you a second-class citizen.  Or depending on where you go on vacation, the color of your skin makes you have to reconsider how late you walk home at night.  I’ve lived that; it’s not a fun feeling.  

Our country’s discriminatory issues have been like a bad bout of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, whereas a slow progressive degradation of the whole, can be masked by with certain short-term solutions that never truly address the underlying cause.  Because of this, and an unwillingness to really address the underlying cause meaningfully, the issue keeps coming up because we haven’t solved it.  There are systemic discriminatory issues all throughout our society.  And they must be addressed.  I abhor violence of any kind, so its hard to stomach violent riots, and people getting hurt, but the reality is that a violent war has already been started.  As long as people of color are proportionally murdered, discriminated against, and kept “down” the shots have already been fired.  So it’s hard to blame the rioters for returning violence with violence.  They’re desperate for change, and so far nothing else has worked.  

But, violence against violence reminds me of one of my favorite of King’s many wonderful quotations:  “Violence for violence darkens a night that is already devoid of stars.”  Which means we need to resume peaceful dialogue.  Or dialogue of any kind.  Where everyone honestly listens, analyzes, and assesses.  Where we are no longer concerned with our own position but the position of someone else.  Because America can be the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Put another way, we can be the country where we can have our cake and eat it too.  We can honor veterans, while calling for changes to our society to make things better for everyone.  We can acknowledge (albeit reluctantly) that our country isn’t perfect, and its degree of perfection has nothing to do with the number of brave soldiers who have given their lives to defend it.  But that the idea of the country, is worth defending even in its imperfection, as we seek to create a “more perfect union.”  If we can create a society where everyone wins, then everyone wins.  And if everyone wins, America wins.  We are stronger if there are more people prospering.  We are a better, more humane country, when everyone has a fair shake.  And we can accomplish it, if we think outside of the box enough and examine both sides of the extreme views of stakeholders in this fight.  

Not caring about each other is also why we’re still in this pandemic.  The rest of the world has figured out how to beat this thing, yet some US states are continuing to have daily infections rival the number of infections in some other countries.  If we all cared about each other (and we had a government that lacked so much dysfunction that it chokes its own productivity), masks would’ve been a necessary mild inconvenience to save another human being.  We must be less selfish.  There are scientists who say we could’ve beaten this is 8 weeks at the beginning of the summer if we’d just stayed locked down longer.  That means we wouldn’t be wondering if it would be safe to go back to school.  

And science….we need to stop the war on science.  Probably the most popular dissent to listening to scientists is that the media and big business has science in their pocket.  Ironically this assertion is usually made by those whose party ideals have been commandeered by big business for far less.  This may be true, but how can we start trusting each other again?  Scientists are some of the most selfless individuals that I’ve ever met….just try starving for your ideals and it shows the mark of those ideals.  I have a colleague who often uses the term “stay in your own lane.”  We have experts amongst us in society who all play a role.  We are experts in some areas, and the last thing we want is someone coming into our lane.  Thou shalt not do it to someone else.  

The most ideal society is made up of those who have talents and experience in various areas who work together for the greater good without bias.  Who trust each other to make the decisions based upon their expertise and good intentions.  Unfortunately, there’s so much corruption these days (and its everywhere) that its hard to trust anyone to be able to do the right thing.  Can we trust the police to fairly uphold law and order, and to use extreme force only when absolutely necessary?  Can we trust politicians to pass laws and make decisions that are truly in our best interests?  Can we trust ministers and priests to lead us to the promised land?  Can we trust teachers to take care of, and educate adequately, our children and the future of our society?

The answer is often placated upon the stipulation that everyone must be good, and that everyone does what they are supposed to do, and evil and human error are non-existent.  I would content that the answer is yes despite there being evil and human error in play.  We can hold each other accountable and instill a sense of restorative justice, that rewards growth and learning, above perfection, while still trusting each other’s intentions.  The minute we lose faith in each other is when the evil wins.  Because evil will always find a way to punch holes in our paradigms, no matter the extreme measures that we take to stop it.  Because in order to beat them, we have to become them, and the price of losing ourselves, our souls, the soul of goodness, is too high a price to pay.  But there’s an old saying that goes “the only thing that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to stay silent.”  We can’t stay silent, but we can hold each other accountable without losing the inherent trust and by establishing a means of learning and growth.  

Stay good, my friends.  That’s the only way to move us forward.  

So since we aren’t able to have most of our sports are off because of the corona virus situation, I thought we should discuss the nature of sports.  Yup, those multi-billionaire industries, where women and men (ok let’s be honest its mostly men..or at least men who have manipulated the system so that women in professional sports make less and get less attention) try to put a ball in various places i.e. Hit it as far as possible, throw it into a hoop, manhandle it to a part of the field, or a puck you try to put through a padded monster between goalpipes. And they get paid millions of dollars to do this.  Now granted, I won’t say that the major sports are easy, but it never felt superhuman to me, especially in the age of cheating and performance enhancing drugs (Yup, screw you Ashtrays!).  And it never felt like those people deserved to get paid such a grossly high amount of money.  

But I’ll address the economics of sports later (believe me I’ve got plenty of say on that subject), the question is what is a sport and what constitutes one?  The dictionary says that a sport is something athletic that requires skill and physical prowess that often has a competitive nature.  It’s interesting that it doesn’t say that those two aspects should be equal, because its often true that those two are almost never equal.  Baseball might be the closest exception.  It takes a great deal of skill to hit and throw a baseball, have it go where you want it, and have that lead to a successful result.  It also takes physical prowess, so possess the endurance to run, to make ridiculous grabs in midair, and to generate the strength to hit or throw the ball.  It’s probably equal parts skill and physical needs. Hockey is far more of a physical sport, but it does take great skills with the stick on the puck.  It takes a great deal of physical endurance to skate up and down the ice, to endure hits, and the skills to get such a small projectile against such a small target. Football requires a great deal more physical prowess than skill.  It takes skills to run the plays, but only a certain number of people involved the game really do that, and most of the brains behind the plays are off the field on headphones.  It takes a great deal of physical presence to make the catches, and push through other players.  Basketball is more skills than physical presence, because it takes a great deal of skill to make the basket, and given just how long a shift is, you end up running up and down in spurts but you spend a lot of time on the sidelines too.  

One of the major sad things about sports in popular culture in this country is it clearly leaves out some of the most interesting sports because they are more popular in other countries.  Take soccer for instance (or futbol to the rest of the world).  This sport is equal parts physical prowess and endurance, and skills. You have to spend a great deal of time on the move, especially as a midfielder that runs all over the field.  You have to have skills with the soccer ball and your head.  There’s also lacrosse, where the ball and stick need to be manipulate (plus you can run a significant distance behind the goal and score from there which has always fascinated me.  

Then there’s something like golf.  Is golf really a sport?  The skills are undeniable (especially since my shots on the course usually end up in traffic or underwater, in a hazard that is not even on the same hole that I’m on), but is there a physical portion? Other than walking the course, which even then, many golfers elect for the cart.  Can a sport really have that great of a discrepancy between physical prowess and skill set?  How about racing, where the car does most of the work, and the driver just has to have the skills to navigate turns at high velocities.  How about horse racing…where it feels like the ardent abuse of the horse determines success.  And my favorite is cheerleading.  A sport?  I’m not so sure. Dancing requires some physical prowess and skills but spelling can often be a challenge, at least in my experience.  

I guess its really in the eye of the beholder.  One thing I think we can agree on is that the money in sports and their celebrity status is ridiculous.  This is exemplified no greater than during this pandemic.  Who are the heroes?  Is it the steroid ridden athletes who cheat with garbage cans, and hit balls far or is it the teachers who have never stopped caring for our kids, and have moved heaven and earth to continue teaching at home and overcome so many challenges on the behalf of families who have a variety of technological needs? Are these athletes on the front lines taking care of people, or is that the health community that endures the tremendous responsibility of caring for people in life and death situations, while all the while dealing with an ignorant mass of people?  Granted, that many athletes are taking care of the workers at stadiums and helping out in the community, but I think the difference is staggering.  The heroes are the teachers, healthcare workers, and other essentials.  So why then is the economic reality so starkly reversed?

A lot of it comes from societal and cultural stereotypes and norms.  Athletes must’ve sacrificed everything to be a star athlete and since the industry is so big, they can get paid in truckloads. Have you ever heard that teachers didn’t get into the profession for the money? Teachers are viewed as less worthy than athletes because they are self-less and frequently put up with less than ideal circumstances because they do care about the kids, so much that they allow that fact to be their Achilles.  How about musicians? Since what they do is considered a hobby to so many, and many do not understand how it works, its undervalued. I would contend that they are as responsibility for moving forward the spirit of humanity as captains of industry.  

So get out there and root for your favorite sport…whenever it comes back!

While music was long known to be the area that I would devote my professional life to, history was always a close second.  I was almost a college history major….ok, it wasn’t really that close, but when your dad works for a college that you could get free tuition to, but that college doesn’t offer your top area of focus, you have to humor him, right?  Plus, my grades and portfolio were plenty to get in to the program as a back-up…  What always fascinated me about history wasn’t the dates, or the wars, but the social development of cultures based upon learning from their history (or in many cases their lack of learning and their cyclic repetitions).  History can teach us a great deal of where we’ve been as a society, and how to avoid making the same mistakes, as well as offering ways to do things differently.  After all, those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.  

Two issues lately, have grabbed my attention with regards to history.  One is the legacy of Christopher Columbus (or lack thereof), and the treatment of Civil War heroes statues.  Let’s start with Columbus.  Or really, any of the so called “discover’s” of the new world.  First off, Columbus was about as good a navigator as I am an engineer.  He set out to find India…and missed it by like 8 thousand miles.  But what he lacked in navigation skills, he made up for as a bullshit artist.  Because he managed to claim that he had found India…and got away with it because no one had really ever made it there (especially going west).  Thus, we can attribute the fact that the Caribbean islands are sometimes known as the “West Indies” to Columbus’ terrible navigation skills.  

Second, the whole point of celebrating Columbus is that he discovered the new world.  Well discovery implies that he was….shall we say the first to the party?  Columbus was hardly the first to discover the American continents.  You can look back at Amerigo Vespucci (where we actually get the name America) who very likely beat Columbus to the Americas, but there is debate amongst historians.  Or you can look even further back (like hundreds of years back) to the ancient Vikings who settled in present day north eastern Canada.  Or you can go even further back to the time when the original indigenous people (Native Americans) likely travelled to the America via the land bridge from Russia around the end of the last Ice Age.  So to say Columbus discovered the continent, is wrong in many accounts.  

Then, there’s the atrocities committed.  There’s the genocide.  You can point to any conquistador, any hero of exploration, and death and disease followed them.  Hernan Cortes?  He stole from the ancient Aztecs, and introduced European diseases to the population which all but wiped them out.  Columbus?  He wiped out communities that inhabited modern-day Hispaniola.  Pizzaro? Did immeasurable damage to the ancient Incas.  And so many others can be painted in these terms.  

So why do we continue to devote an entire weekend in October to celebrate this rosy picture of a genocidal con-artist who’s also likely a giant fraud?  Well, for one thing, our society does love the idea of the European discovery (*cough* white man’s) of America, because we also casually speak of how these “heroes” brought civility to the masses.  And its easy for us to brush away how incredibly horrifying that nature is.  Think about Pocahontas (the Disney movie).  Bravo to Disney to romanticize “Their savages…savages, barely even human… now we start the drums of war (or rather the Europeans started the process of wiping out the Natives, because let’s face it, the Natives really didn’t stand much of a chance)” And a crazy, representative of King George (voiced by the immortal David Ogden Stiers, rest in peace), wants to rape the land to make…what’s the word again? Right Little Mermaid…MONEY!  Its all about money and wealth.  But damn its also a good movie….

I really figure that what we have to learn from Christopher Columbus, is that we need to open our eyes and embrace all the viewpoints on things.  We can’t be manipulated by the media (because history can be manipulated depending on who is telling the history…imagine the game of telephone, but done deliberately), we must do the research and not leave any viewpoint of the story out.  It seems far too easy to ignore the suffering of a people we don’t know or can’t relate to.  And for me, that leaves Signore Fraudulumbus a bit out in the cold.  

Now the other issue these days, is how we remember the big-name players and events of the antebellum south before and during the Civil War.  I find that these symbols carry a bit of a double-edged sword.  We can’t ignore history just because we don’t like it.  There are so many reasons why the Civil War was fought (slavery was only one of the reasons, although you can make a valid argument it was the root and therefore intertwined with other economic and social issues), and there are many who still feel the vibe of the antebellum south, and many that are disgusted by everything it stands for.  It was a rebellion after all.  And in any other country, a rebellion isn’t so celebrated, allowed to exist, as the symbols of the Confederacy have been in this country.  In any other country, the defeated would have eventually just faded away (that’s without taking a step into Reconstruction which for more info check out my post: Why Is America Still Racist).  But not in America…which is both a beautiful thing because we are the nation that accepts anyone, even those who disagree with us, but also damaging and dangerous. 

So what are we to do with symbols like the statues of Civil War generals, or even the flag of the confederacy itself that still to this day is in the Mississippi state flag (although just today, they might’ve passed a resolution through the MS state government to get rid of it)?  I find myself trying to balance two things:  1). These symbols are celebrated in the south.  They don’t just exist, they are celebrated.  The Confederate flag and Nazi Swastika are almost synonymous with each other in terms of being symbols of hate and oppression.  It is a rallying point for gatherings of white supremacists, and associated with violence and oppression of people of color.  2). We cannot simply eliminate these things because we are ashamed (rightfully so) of what they represent.  Because history is about learning.  And burying our heads in the sand, and pretending these things didn’t happen isn’t an effective way to learn…its only an effective way to forget.  And forgetting they ever happened is the most dangerous thing we can ever do, because it does nothing to keep them from happening again.  I fear a society that has become ignorant of these events ever taking place…our children never learning…because the stench and sentiment of racist isn’t going away.  Its being cultivated in the minds of the young and impressionable right now.  In the North, we might think its far, far away in the evil Deep South where it can’t effect us, but that’s so far from true.  Its on the street where you live.  Its your next-door neighbor.  Hell, at times, its even you (even when you don’t intend it to be).  If we take away the history that can teach us to be a better society by reminding us where we’ve been, we’re leave ourselves defenseless to the pervasive poison of racism that will eventually consume us and knock us back a few hundred years.  

So what are we to do?  Knocking down a couple statues might be a symbolic move now, but statues can’t be racist to anyone.  It’s what we choose to do with those ideas that matters.  Think about a line that’s practically the credo of the NRA:  Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  We must evaluate whether the destruction of these statues is to bury our heads, or to extinguish dangerous ideologies that are inhumane and have no place in a civilized 21st Century American society.  If its the latter, destroy the statue.  But if its the former (and even if its the majority the former) be extremely careful.  Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.  

It’s really been a tumultuous few weeks. The bad news from the pandemic doesn’t seem to go away and the ugly nature of our racist society has also surfaced for the umpteenth millionth time.  If you haven’t read my post: “Why is America Still Racist?” You should read that one before this one because I will cite some of the historical assertions made there, in this one.  

I still assert that the root of discrimination in any form in our society lies in great majority in stereotyping.  Stereotyping is defined as the fixed or oversimplified idea or image that is widely held about a person, place, thing or idea.  Usually, stereotypes are based in, and therefore originate from, some small component of truth, but that truth is then warped by generalization, and compounded by ignorance and lack of perspective.  Here are two stereotypes that are at the center of the racial issues we are facing:  All black people are thugs.  All cops are mindless, murderous racists.  

Let’s analyze these examples.  All black people are thugs.  There are two reasons such a stereotype could continue to be purported and in the saddest situations, actually believed.  1). Some black people are criminals.  2). And the socioeconomic realities stemming from a racist system, with its genesis all the way back in slave times when black people were viewed as inferior (and their lives didn’t matter as long as they were cheap labor that could easily be replaced).  Black communities have a tendency to be poorer than white communities. Colored communities in general tend to be poorer.  The origin of the term “the hood” has its roots in describing a community that has mostly non-white inhabitants and is ravaged by crime, gangs and poverty. 

But here’s why these things, while being partially true, are warped so ridiculously by perspective.  Ever heard of the term white trash? This is another stereotype to describe poor white communities, sometimes living in trailers.  Have you ever heard of criminals who are white? Of course you have.  That’s because skin color has nothing to do with whether you are poor, or have criminal tendencies.  Our racist system has caused the circumstances that have led to colored communities being the way they are.  You’ve heard the phrase “being kept down by the man?” White people usually refer to the man as government; black people refer to the man as the white man, literally keeping them down on the plantation.  That’s why we heard poverty referred to as a cycle; because generations of people (black, white, orange, green whatever) haven’t had the ability to break through. Guess what? Wealthy people have a cycle too…they stay rich.  But that’s not seen so negatively.  But in order for the rich to stay rich, they’ve often, throughout history, done so at the expense of the middle and lower class. Those who are in power, do everything they can to stay in power.  

And thus came the system.  Folks with “black sounding” name are less likely to be accepted into college, get hired for a job, get approved for a loan and more.  I read an article once that stated that a study found that not only do those names carry a significantly less chance of being selected to those that sound “white,” the trend is so pervasive, that sometimes folks who have those more “black sounding” names change their names to have a better chance.  Shakespeare once wrote: “What’s in a name”. Apparently, there’s a great deal.  And its stupid.  A name has no bearing on the person except to identify them and give their identity personal meaning. And that only scrapes the surface on the ways the system has been discriminating. 

Now let’s analyze the second stereotype: All cops are mindless murdering racists.  Well unfortunately this one also has some basis in truth.  Since there are racist people in the world, it would stand to reason that some of them would make it in the police force. And unfortunately, they are armed and do have the law on their side.  

But there is a lack of perspective here too. I’ve heard the phrase: “one bad apple ruins the entire basket” to describe the overwhelming negative feeling towards all police departments.  First off, let’s not forget that the analog in itself is a bit flawed. Sure, there are biological reasons that extend exposure to a bad apple could have an effect on the others however even my picky eater syndrome has often been neutralized by cutting off the bad parts of the apple.  It’s also true that the tree from which the apple comes from has a great deal of influence on the health of the fruit it bears. 

I believe that that is also true of many of our institutions including the police. Like any profession, there are the good ones and the bad ones.  But the entire infrastructure is governed by a flawed, racist system. That same flawed system creates a poison at the central organ of the institution that affects everyone. The good cops are getting flak for not standing up to the corrupt system, but it’s true that there exists a fair amount of situations where speaking up could lead unpleasant repercussions and consequences. And not everyone is in a situation to risk everything, and their families’ everything. It’s unthinkable to be in a situation where there’s literal life and death, but I don’t envy them that choice.  

That brings me back to the apple tree. Since the tree largely influences the health of the fruit, the issue is not the apples themselves, but the tree from which they spawn.  So while one apple may not be indicative of a larger systemic problem, lots of bad apples, means that there’s something wrong with the tree. So the logical course of action is to cut down the tree and plant a new one.  Of course just because there’s one bad tree, doesn’t mean you cut down every apple tree. Hell, even if there’s a bunch of trees in one area, you can cut an area down, but you don’t eradicate every apple tree everywhere. 

The same can be said for social institutions that are inbued with, and some presently openly exhibiting systemic discrimination and racism.  For the police, the system needs to be assessed everywhere, and in some places completely redesigned. But just because it doesn’t work in Minneapolis and that that police department has lost the faith of the community doesn’t mean that all police departments should shut down and be defunded.  The stereotype doesn’t describe everyone.  

And that brings me to point of this whole post: Purporting stereotypes doesn’t fix the problem.  You can’t condemn all cops for the poor decisions anymore than you can condemn all priests because some of them abuse children, all teachers because some of them end being poor communicators, or downright criminal, all anyone because there are unprofessional, evil people out there who are amongst the good people.  Purporting stereotypes, doesn’t fix the problem.  Awareness, sensitivity, meaningful dialogue…that will lead to changes that could actually make changes.  And remember what your mother always said:  Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. 

It strikes me as a great contradiction that the country that is founded on equality and justice for all, falls so tragically short of meeting those ideals in 2020.  Aren’t we the country where all people are created equal?  Don’t we make that bold claim right in our Declaration where we told King George to stuff his wig somewhere….unpleasant?  Actually, if you read the text more closely you might notice that is says “all men are created equal.”  And in another document, the great Constitution, there are directives for the census to count the number of free persons, and 3/5 of every other person.  Which means that African slaves were only counted as 3/5 of a person, and had no rights whatsoever.   African slaves, and even some of the indigenous tribes were promised benefits including freedom if they fought in the Revolution…either for the colonists or the British…and that promise was broken.   And in 2020, nearly 250 years later, America is still breaking its promises.  

George Floyd was nothing terribly surprising.  It is tragic….it is maddening…..and it is sad…..but the most insidious thing is that, like school shootings, its almost so commonplace that it doesn’t surprise us anymore.  And like most other times, it seems that America is again going down the same responsive cycle, everyone gets mad, protests occur, things get destroyed, and it seems like this time things are going to change and then once it all calms down, we go right back to the same system that allowed it to happen, with little meaningful change.  And even when changes do occur, and progress is made, it isn’t meaningful enough to solve the real problem.  So why can’t America seem to solve its racism problem?  To explain that, we need to consider weeds and roots.  Yeah, here comes a magic garden analogy.  

This summer, my wife and I have been tackling what we have dubbed “the jungle.”…..the long-neglected weed infested ravine behind our house.  For the first couple years, we tried to deal with the problem by pecking away at it, tossing some weed killer down, and eventually waiting too long to get into it, before the weeds, vines, and other fauna paraphernalia had taken over to the degree that it was impossible and way too disheartening to get things done.  Plus the dead bird was just gross…seriously.  But this year was different.  The quarantine allowed us more time, and we started tackling the jungle big by bit before it got really out of control.  The most annoying part? The roots and vines that seemed to go on forever.  Years and years of neglect, going back to the previous owners, had allowed the problem to grow exponentially and the solution required a bit of a radical approach.  We had to completely take down everything at the roots.  It took digging.  It took patience.  It took some swearing (ok, maybe that part wasn’t necessary, but I’m me, so what can I say?).  And now, we’re finally getting down to the literal and figurative “root” of the problem.  Of course, the end result was that the whole jungle had to be completely torn up…and some of the weeds did manage to come back, requiring another round of weeding and pulling of vines and roots, but it looks dramatically different because we essentially had to destroy everything in order to fix the area for good. We had to get to the “root” of the problem (I wish I could say the puns were ending…but the root of that goes deep too).  

Like that jungle with its deep roots….the various isms and phobias: racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc, have been present in our society from its inception.  They have deep cultural roots.  And thus is why almost 250 years ago, it’s become such a deeply foundational issue in American society.  And because of its deep roots, our solutions, even the ones that have been meaningful, have not been deep enough to address the problem in totality and thus the result has lacked complete change and the problem continues to plague us.  As far back as the Revolution, when we wanted economic independence from England, and to create a free society, but only to a point.  White landowners got rights.  Women, slaves, and basically everyone else, were left out in the dark.  The greatest American heroes of the Revolution such as Jefferson, Monroe, Madison and even George Washington were slaveowners.  Not saying they were bad people, but they did own slaves, and Jefferson even fathered children with one of his slaves.  But back then, slavery wasn’t seen as a bad thing, because it was considered part of the culture at the time.   It also meant that the white man could have the power and right off the bat, even all men weren’t created equal, and we started very, very far behind the starting line.  

Fast forward from 1776 to 1860.  Slavery was a divisive issue between the north and south.  Racism has its roots in slavery, because the feelings of white superiority, and African American inferiority come from a time when slavery made those two things a virtual reality.  The same could be said for white men’s superiority of women’s inferiority; again culture made it a virtual reality.  Slavery was a part of the culture, both socially and economically, everywhere but especially in the south.  Plantation owners had major investments in their crops, and they required their cheap slave labor to maintain those investments.  Part of why it was so profitable was because they didn’t have to pay for labor.  Even thought it can be argued (and very legitimately) that they should not have been making money off of the blood of slave labor, the problem had grown such roots that it wasn’t going to changed overnight..it would require a cultural change.  And the economic realities, as well as the entanglements of slavery and racism at its infancy, prevented people in the South (and other places too) from embracing the change.  But even when Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slavery illegal under the law, we still fought a bloody war over these ideals.  And when the war ended at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865, all seemed like it might be well, but it was clear that even though the war was over, the sentiments had not been deterred, as evidenced by the assassination of Lincoln, and the reality that the Reconstruction, basically allowed the South to return to its life before the War undeterred.  Changes were made, but they didn’t address the root of the problem, and so it continued to fester.  You can’t eliminate the weeds without pulling by the roots.  Cutting off the tops, will only lead to weeds returning eventually. 

Fast forward to 1960.  The Civil Rights movement was in full bloom. Great strides were made all throughout the 20th Century for equality, not only based upon race, but of gender and other areas, and there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, tragedy and triumph, but the law finally caught up to the times.  Or so we thought.  And it continued up to present day, with gay rights, transgender rights etc.  And even with all the advancements, plenty of things happened in the shadows.  But we’ve made some progress.  

So why are tragedies like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so, so many others still happening?  And furthermore, why is it that African American live their daily lives facing threats, hardship, and just plain looked at differently, just because they are black?  Why is any of this happening in 2020?

Hopefully you’ve noticed a parallel in this historical narrative: we’ve never dealt with the most fundamental problem, and that goes back to a famous quote:  “We’ve eliminated racism from our laws, now we must eliminate it from our hearts and minds.”  The kicker is eliminating it from our hearts and minds.  Because we’ve never eliminated it from our hearts and minds.  Because we want to have the ability to think and feel as we wish and we don’t want others telling us how to think. And we don’t want to tell others how to think.  And really, we’re allowed to think and feel the way we want; there’s really not a legal black and white (no pun intended) reason for people to think a certain way.  That’s because its opinion based, and we’ve been raised to believe that we’re entitled (I’ll get back to that word later) to our own opinion.  If one chooses to believe that black people are inferior, they can choose that (and yes, before you start hurling things, I don’t prescribe to that way to thinking…its just an example…see the logic to the end), but what they can’t do is discriminate, or attack something because of the color of their skin.  Or their gender, or numerous other platitudes that have nothing to do with someone’s humanity.  There is always that unspoken part of free speech: you have to right to say whatever you want, as long as you don’t infringe upon the rights of someone else. The second part can get lost, especially this day in age.  We’re very ego centric in our thinking: i.e. I should do what I want to do, rather than considering how it will affect other people.  

But being allowed to feel a certain way, often leads to other things.  Take Adolf Hitler.  One of the reasons he hated the Jewish people was because when he was a young man, his artwork was denounced by leaders of an art school who happened to be of the Jewish faith.  But instead of growing from the experience, he turned his hate on an entire religion, and through his evil hateful rhetoric turned an entire country against them and more.  And that all festered from one thought and perception, and the choice to act on it in an evil way.  There is also some scientific evidence that lends credence to the notion that you can inherit feelings from our genes.  

I believe that in order to create a truly free and equal society and to eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia and all the other labels we use to discriminate, we must change how we think and feel about it.  We must eliminate it from our hearts and minds.  We must let go of the notion that we are better than anyone else for any reason.  We must break the cultural cycle that recycles these ideals…and make the change through education, and kindness and understanding.  We must model to the various groups from leadership to neighbors that have created and sustained a racist system, how a peaceful transformation can take place.  And we must do it now.  

While there is nothing that can be said to legitimize the idea of superiority of one human or another, we cannot break the cycle without addressing those feelings and thoughts, in an honest open way.  We can easily get over our fear of telling others how to think, by simply avoiding that all together; flip the notion upside down and instead focus on a honest, open discussion.  We can no longer run from uncomfortable conversations; that’s part of why little progress has been made.  But we can have the conversations in a healthy way, that eventually leads to healing, understanding and change.  

An honest open discussion, is really the only way to get things out in the open.  Because an honest open discussion leaves out the notion of absolutes such as “I am right and you are wrong.”  Instead of insisting on our way, have an honest discussion and let that influence be the change we want to see.  Bear in mind that there is no logical argument that could be used in defense of racism.  But feelings aren’t always logical, so having an open, honest discussion is the only way to put things like that to rest.  

Another important part of having a honest open conversation is that we must let go of the hate we feel, and channel our dislike for people in a more healthy way.  That is not to say we have to like everyone..we don’t, but we must tolerate everyone and get along.  Its easy to give into stereotypes when we are angry, but in this case we cannot: villify all law enforcement because of the irresponsible actions of some police officers NOR villify an entire race of people because some African Americans turn out to be thugs.  Stereotypes are the foundation of a lot of this turmoil, and that needs to go.  “It’s not too late to let go of our prejudices.” (Henry David Thoreau). 

We also cannot give into a biased media, that constantly pumps the most negative things on our TVs.  How many of you were honestly aware that there were many protests throughout the country the last week that were non-violent…even some where law enforcement stood with the protesters and the leaders recognized and legitimized the concerns of the protesters?  Perhaps that was lost behind the image of a burning police station in Minneapolis, cops in Buffalo throwing down a senior citizen, or a certain leader in Washington DC, tear-gassing peaceful protesters so he could stand in front of a church and wave the Bible around like a professional sports athlete might wave a trophy.  Even if you missed it, those relationships between law enforcement and protesters happened, and that’s a very healthy step to healing the wounds created.  

Last but not least, is the need to change our system, in a way that doesn’t leave people behind.  There’s a great West Wing quote that occurs after a mass shooting that says the following:  A conservative lawyer makes the following accusation of liberal lawmakers: “ The most insidious thing is that you make it out that you don’t like guns, but really you don’t understand that there are people that do like guns…you don’t like the people.”  The parallel is palpable.  I am one that guns are not an active part of my culture, so I do not understand those who cling hard to their second Amendment rights, and I do take issue with those who think we can’t at least ban assault rifles (because honestly, can’t we give the deer a fighting chance?) but that does not mean those people are wrong, or they are evil.  They are just different, and have a culture that’s different than mine.  And in America, that’s ok, because America has no inherent culture of its own; its a melting pot of pieces of all sort of different cultures.  We cannot change our society, and an inherently racist system, while at the same time leaving people behind.  That’s why we need the honest dialogues, the peaceful protest that can heal, and then approach the change from a healthy place.  We need to make a greater effort to accept cultures that we may not understand, and to approach the changes in a healthy, kind and understanding way.  And lastly, we must elect leaders that share those ideals, and cast out those that don’t.  Protests and Politics must go hand-in-hand.  

With the news that Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, we now find ourselves with the two candidates, one of whom will be the next President of the United States. Joe Biden and….him. I remember how I felt after the 2016 election, and I felt compelled to write the letter below. To be clear, I wasn’t a firm Bernie supporter, and this is not to say I’m against Joe Biden, but Sanders was a candidate that I respected greatly, and who would’ve made a fine candidate in his right. But more than one candidate, I seek to see a unified Democratic party, that throws off its history with corruption and election manipulation. So I penned the following letter:

An open letter to Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee:

Charlotte Bronte once said:  Life is so constructed that the event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation. It occurs to me that I’ve often felt that sentiment applies to politics, especially lately. 

I find that Bronte’s quote speaks to the fact that for as long as there has been politics, there has existed a utopic dynamic that those who elect, seek from those who are looking to be elected.  More often than not that utopic vision……that expectation, as Bronte would call it…..cannot match the reality of the choices available.  Because there is often is no candidate that crosses every “T” or dots every “i” for all of us. And we are disappointed.  Because we feel we are forced to reconcile the gut-wrenching question of which of our beliefs…..which of our dreams…..which of our hopes and yes, even which of our ethics, do we compromise for the “greater good.” 

I, being far more cynical than most, reconciled to myself the nature of choosing between the greater of two evils in elections a long time ago. But even when expected, disappointment still has its sting.  Even with Presidents like your old boss, there were moments where I felt there was something lacking.  And for me, he was one of the greatest presidents we’ve seen since FDR.  FDR, who reminds me a lot of another progressive, one who has been leading a revolution within the Democratic Party.  Who exposed and called out corruption within the party….corruption and manipulation that reared its ugly head during the 2016 primary which more than likely affected the outcome of the election.  And it seems the party has learned little of those lessons, because some of the same corruption, and manipulation occurred this time around as well.  

There is little doubt that the DNC has serious corruption issues, and has manipulated the election towards more centrist, establishment candidates, such as yourself.   Granted, I don’t consider those candidates bad people (certainly not akin to who we have now), but it calls into question whether the true will of the democratic masses were reflected in the primary results.  Perhaps the majority did speak, but because of the other mitigating factors and in some ways gross manipulation of the results, we might never know.  But I fear that the manipulation was covering up the true will of the people.  

But this is not a time to look backwards.  This is a time for the Democratic Party to unite.  And that in itself is the point of this letter.  In 2016, the party failed to unite, and they lost the election as a result.  Mr. Biden, you cannot afford to make the same mistakes, or the American people will have to endure 4 more years of this President.  You are not the perfect candidate.  People do have some serious issues about your past voting record including the Iraq war, that you cannot easily explain away and nor should you try.  But ultimately, while the past matters significantly less than what you will do for America’s future.  You need to convince the electorate that you have learned from your mistakes, and that you are wiser and stronger than before and that you are ready to lead everyone, not just those who agree and love you, but those who perhaps don’t and maybe never will.  

You need to embrace Senator Sanders in the ways that Mrs. Clinton could not in 2016, because Mr. Sanders’ ideas are legitimate, they are viable, and the movement he has created represents real people….people who have hopes and dreams of seeing business as usual change in Washington, who want to see someone truly champion the middle and lower class, and a group of people who if they are embraced, might just be the difference in this election.  And you’ll restore democracy to the Democratic party (after all, its right in the name).  

You cannot ignore the corruption; you must call it out, even if the corruption benefits you.  Be transparent, be open and be clear.  Right now, nothing really stands between you and the nomination, so you need to stand for something more than your opponent.  Because your opponent has no problem with corruption, especially since it usually benefits him and he will not champion anyone but his own interests.  The stakes have never been higher.  Bush may have had his incompetent moments, Romney may have had conflicting interests, heck, even McCain (whom I regard as one of the last great conservative lawmakers) had shortcomings at times, but both of them still represented a core conservative party that has since been blinded and/or silenced by this charlatan who now presides.  And remember if you win, you will be the President of the entire United States, not just those who agree with you.  So why not start now by uniting the party, so that you can then take that success and unite the country if you win?

The country is tired of partisan politics.  The country is tired of bickering and things not getting done because of pettiness.  The country is tired of being polarized and having a leader that divides them instead of unites them.  Mr. Biden, you have a chance to change all of that, which is an honor and a privilege and something that doesn’t come every day for every person.  So I implore you.  Change the narrative.  

The goal before you is a steep hill, but as you keep saying in your campaign, you’ve often taken hard roads to get where you are.  So you should know what that is like and have an idea where to start.  You won’t win back every Bernie Sanders supporter, or Warren, or Buttigieg or any of the others in the crowded field, out there, but you have to try anyway. You have to show your ultimate empathy….your ultimate understanding, to those who might not return it, or return it in a volatile way.  It’s not fair, because you might already believe you’ve done a great deal to make us all believe.  But can you really afford to leave anyone behind?  Other administrations have left people behind…..some of them in loads, and one of them leaves more behind every day.

Sir, I’m well acquainted with this type of task.  I’m a professional musician.  We strive for a lifetime to create beautiful music, something that we are always pursuing because there’s always more things that can be done for the music, and more people that need to hear it.  We persist, even though the goal is almost certainly one we will never achieve, but its the journey…its the act…its the vocation that makes it all worth it.  So, I believe, shall be your journey to become President of the United States.  By being with all its people and not resting until it is so.

If you do all of that, and more, I’ll be proud to cast my vote in the name of democracy in November.  

Sincerely,

Daniel A. Brownell

I hope you are all healthy and safe. With so much chaos, and calamity amongst us, I thought it would be good for you to read something that is quite near to my anal-rententive heart and something that has nothing to do with coronavirus. So let’s talk about salsa.

A disclaimer…this is one of my favorite soapboxes to get on. My wife will be grateful that I’m sharing this with you all so that you can all tell me I’m crazy too. In fact I think she might be interested in making T-shirts….”The “I think Dan Brownell is nuts club.” I think the world may run out of fabric too quickly, but it’ll be a boom for small textiles businesses.

So we have a dear friend who once made something called apple salsa. And I took a bite, with a little cinnamon cracker, and while the concoction was delicious, a little red light was going off in my head. This was not salsa. Strictly speaking, salsa is the Spanish word for “sauce.” But come on, you and I both know that salsa is that thing you have with chips. Its tangy, sometimes very spicy, and includes tomatoes, peppers and cilantro. If its not that, its not salsa. Its a beautiful, delicious concoction of something. Call it Apple Cinnamon paste. Call it Delicious Mystery dish of which we are thankful but will not call salsa. But don’t call it salsa unless its actually salsa!

Here’s another one. Salad. Salad is a dish with greens, croutons and some form of dressing. Sometimes you can add meat if its a chef salad, and sometimes some fruit, but it has to be a foundation of greens. If its not, its not a salad. So if you put fruit in a dish and call it salad, or if you put…well anything in a large dish and call it salad, don’t. Its a wonderful fruit cocktail, or whatever you have in it, but its not a salad. Again, the dictionary disagrees with me, but just because he shares my name doesn’t mean Dan Webster knows everything!

So make good food during your time as shut-ins, but remember. If it ain’t salsa, or it ain’t salad, don’t call it such. Invent a new name.

Many of you are surely sitting at home, uncertain of how things will progress over the next few weeks. I join you as one of them. I know I won’t be at school and my church duties will be significantly altered. But beyond that, it’s uncertain.

My friend Bill Doolittle often speaks of life being two concentric circles. On the inside are the things we can control, and that circle is often very small. On the outside in orbit are the things we cannot control, and that area is much bigger. We often spend our time worrying about the things in the outside circle because we wished we could control more things. The control is comforting, because we don’t trust in other things to handle those things we cannot control.

For example, we can’t control much about this coronavirus. We can’t control the fact that it exists, we can’t make it go away, and we can’t make our lives go back to normal, or even control what that normal will be. In the most extreme cases, there are aspects of our lives we can’t control now because of the virus. These are very legitimate concerns.

However, we can control how we feel about it, our reaction to it, and our influence on others about it. And the silver lining is that that control can be even more meaningful that those things we can’t control. For me, I find that even though I won’t be at school, and my church time will be significantly altered, I can rest a bit after what’s been a long, spring and a long year. I can get in some overdue organ practice, and prepare more significant preludes and postludes than I might’ve been able to do before. I can find new ways of engaging the worshiping community with social media and online sources. Perhaps I can also do some writing, work on my personal health, create some new habits, and maybe even get outside into the garden and start the spring cleaning early.

So in this time, I encourage you to find the silver lining, and find greater positive meaning in an otherwise stressful situation.